Page 15 of Blood Tribute

“Your arms are not up for debate,” he said.

She eased toward him again. “Then where do you intend to drink from me tonight?”

“There’s something I’d like to show you first.” He gestured to the scroll under his arm. “You have my word that it contains no harmful magic. It’s a history text I ran across in the tower. Another Hesperine left it behind, perhaps as a gift for the next homesick wanderer.”

So more heresy lessons were what he had in mind. Well, a history text didn’t sound seductive in the least. If it would give her a reprieve from his other means of persuasion, she would go along with this.

She crossed to her worktable and shuffled her clutter to clear a space in the chaos. “Put it here then.”

He joined her, his gaze falling to her drawings. Suddenly she regretted not hiding them before he had come. Having his eyes on her diagrams made her feel naked in a way even last night’s transgressions had not.

“Is this your work?” he asked.

“Yes.” No use in denying it. Her obsession earned her enough scorn from mortals. She could withstand some mockery from a Hesperine.

The censure and everything else would disappear the next time she picked up her quill. It was so easy to get lost in her work for hours, utterly focused on measurements and materials, unaware of the world around her.

“Your mathematics are so precise.” He tilted his head, studying her plan for a new tower. “And your illustrations are beautiful.”

She started gathering up her sketches. Let him use anything else to flatter his way into her bed. Not this.

“I am no expert,” he said, “but these are very impressive to me. Are there any options for women to become professional architects in Tenebra?”

“Ha, ha.” She rolled up the large sheets of parchment and stowed them under the table.

He unrolled his scroll. “This is an illustration of one of Orthros’s cities.”

Nora stood back, not looking at the page. “I have seen the Order’s illustrations of your den, thank you.”

Dav arched a brow. “How can those portrayals be accurate? Have any of the knights ever been there?”

“No, because no Tenebran who goes to Orthros ever returns to tell the tale.”

“That’s because they prefer to stay.” He gestured to the open scroll. “Is it hard to understand why?”

If Nora’s convictions could not survive the temptation of one architecture illustration, it did not bode well for her efforts to resist his touch later. She went forward and looked at his godsforsaken drawing.

Her expectations crumbled. The exquisite painting portrayed a city of palaces topped with majestic domes. Pointed archesgraced covered portals with vaulted, honeycombed ceilings, and vibrant mosaics adorned every surface. She could never have imagined the elaborate designs in her wildest dreams…but someone had.

She didn’t know if she believed this could be a real place, but even if it weren’t, this beautiful dream had come from a Hesperine’s mind and hands.

“This city was designed by Firstblood Yasamin,” Dav said. “She is one of our greatest architects, the founder of the Yasamini movement.”

“She invented her own architectural style?” All of this…had come from awoman’smind.

Was he lying? Most likely not. Hesperines worshiped a goddess and let females fornicate with whomever they pleased. Why not let them be architects, too?

“This is my favorite city in the world,” Dav said. “The architecture draws inspiration from the human land where both Yasamin and I began our mortal lives. Granted, she is a thousand years older than me.”

That finally tore Nora’s gaze away from the unfairly beautiful illustration. For the first time, she looked into Dav’s ethereal face and tried to see the human he had once been. “You say Hesperines don’t force humans to transform. Does that mean you chose this life?”

“Yes.” A shadow passed over his expression. “My brother and I came from a family of physicians in the Empire. I specialized in mind healing and he in physical healing. After my service in the Imperial Army treating soldiers’ mental wounds, I…needed a change. We went to Orthros together to study with the Hesperines and decided to stay.”

“The Empire?” She gaped.

He caught hold of her fingers, and the sudden touch sent a little shock through her. He spread her pale hand out upon his broad, brown one. “Couldn’t you tell?”

“I assumed you were from Cordium, to the south of here.”

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