Page 36 of Across the Sapphire Sea
The flow of blood slowed, but his hips did not. Elias came in his breeches, seed flowing from his shaft in a burst of passionate writhing. Whether or not Valeri came, he didn’t know. Maybe he couldn’t. His body was pliant as if in slumber.
Licking the last trickle of blood from the vein, Elias attempted to close the wounds as he’d seen Valeri do. He watched the skin knit itself back together by unseen magic.
“Valeri?” Elias’s voice sounded different in his own mind. Fuller and more melodious. “Are you all right?”
Valeri didn’t open his eyes, but he smiled. “I will be. Don’t leave me.”
“I would never leave you.”
Elias let up on his wrists, but Valeri didn’t move them, just let them lie harmless above his head. He looked vulnerable like this, and beautiful. Elias palmed his cheek.
“Do you need to drink from me now? Take some of it back?”
At that, Valeri’s lids fluttered open and the golden-brown jewels of his irises focused on Elias. “No. Keep it. I want you to be strong.”
“But…”
“Just give me a moment. I’ll recover.”
Reassured, another thought came to Elias’s mind. “Did you come?”
Valeri let out an endearing giggle. “In my pants like a fumbling boy.”
Elias grinned. “Me too.”
Around them, snow began to fall. Elias stared in wonder. Each flake contained a rainbow of color. Glistening crystals, each one different, falling in silence. He watched a flake land on Valeri’s upper lip, right beside the freckle there. He leaned in to kiss it away.
They lay together amongst the pine needles in the snow and said nothing, because nothing needed to be said. Understanding passed between them without words. Demon with demon; together forever.
10
Elias, Present, 1432 Common Era
They didn’t die on the ship that night or any night thereafter. Aella’s spell had worked on most of the crew, and those who woke confused, she simply spelled again, with stronger magic. Her magic kept the sailors’ suspicions at bay long enough for them to reach their destination eight nights later.
With Remy and Laurence at her back, and Bran Vigny’s witches waiting for her magical call at home, Aella had created a portal for the donors to return through. Elias would miss them, but on land the vampires could hunt for themselves. Bringing humans along on the next stretch would slow them down.
This far north, the spring’s sunshine hadn’t yet completely melted the winter’s snowfall. A white blanket greeted them from the forested shore, glittering in the moonlight, slushy and wet. The Bothnian Bay, being the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, had thawed enough to allow for vessels to come and go.
For Elias, leaving the ship behind was a huge relief. From here they would follow the Kemijoki River to Rovaniemi, then turn north toward the Arctic Circle in search of the ancients.
The settlement at Kemi had little in the way of amenities. They stopped only to purchase additional food for Aella, then continued on foot.
Valeri led the way. He’d been easily irritated since their argument at Rauma. He’d put a stop to the reading lessons with Remy, insisting on teaching Elias himself, but he’d only picked up the borrowed books to do so once, and they’d spent most of that session bickering. The books sat heavy in Elias’s pack now, not that the extra weight mattered to a vampire, but the constant reminder of broken promises niggled at the back of his mind.
Behind them, Remy and Laurence chatted amicably about nothing. Elias wished he could join them. Conversation would pass the time, but Valeri spurned his efforts at small talk, or meaningful talk, or any talk at all really. And he would be furious if Elias walked with Remy and Laurence instead. So Elias was stuck alone in his mind.
Aella and Ash trailed behind the rest of them, but not so far Elias couldn’t hear whispers of their conversation. He sighed, staring at the back of Valeri’s head with half a dozen questions lingering on his tongue, but none he dared to venture aloud.
What happened between you and Laurence?
Why do you hate each other so?
Did you ever love him like you love me?
What went wrong?
What aren’t you telling us about the cure?
