Page 68 of Kiss of Light

But he was royalty. And expected to bond with another Vetali. Not just expected, no.Fatedto meet someone and be with them for the rest of his life.

Have children with them.

She clenched her fists as she upped the pace, trying to outrun the knowledge that no matter how much she looked like other beings, she would always be apart from them.

Unnatural. Abnormal. A creature made out of air and magic with no place in someone else’s life.

She shouldn’t have let herself be intimate with him. She’d always known this job would end and they would go their separate ways. She just hadn’t expected to feel so pissed about it.

They climbed uphill steadily for the next three hours. It was gone two in the morning when she finally spotted the rocky outcrop in the distance. It was silhouetted against the moon; a high plateau jutting out over a drop of a couple of dozen metres. It was unmistakable, because on top of the plateau were the ruins of a stone tower, one of the thousands of archaeological remains left behind by the Puebloan people.

She pulled Lemar to a stop and kept her voice low.

“See that peak about two hundred yards away? The one with the ruins on it? That’s where we’re going. We jump at sunrise.”

“Jump?”

“The Gate is just below the lip of the plateau. Only way to get to it is to jump off the edge. And whatever happens, we go together. That’s really important, Lemar.” She gave him a serious look. “We have to jump at the same time.”

He tilted his head to one side quizzically.

“What is the deal with this Gate? What aren’t you telling me?”

“Never mind that. We have other problems. Ravij is probably skulking round and I’m betting he’s waiting for us up there. Stay here while I check it out.”

“Not a chance.” Lemar’s jaw tightened. “I owe him. He’s mine.”

“This isn’t about revenge, vampire. This is about getting you home. So do as I say and stay put.”

She shimmered away before he could argue further. Angrily, he dropped to a crouch. He had never met anyone as stubborn as she was. He wondered briefly what his father would make of her.

Prince Vassago was a cold man. He ruled with an iron fist and had shown the same sternness towards his only son. He wasn’t cruel or harsh, but there was no warmth in him.

Lemar supposed any kindness had been extinguished when his mother died. As immortals, Vetali could live well over two thousand years before they eventually passed on from extreme old age. There were precious few things that could kill them before their time. One of them had afflicted his mother. She had contracted a rare blood disease fatal to vampires when he was a boy.

He’d never really considered it before, but losing your fated mate... for the first time in centuries he felt a twinge of sympathy for his father. He imagined what it would be like if Tala was hurt or dying and his heart gave that double-punch again.

“Fuck.”

He swore softly, dropping his head into his hands. He was going to have to tell her, wasn’t he? That she was the one fate had chosen for him.

That’s when he smelled it. Burned ashes. Right behind him.

Tala shimmered to the base of the outcrop. It was risky because she couldn’t quite see the ground she was aiming for but she got lucky. It was flat underfoot and she reappeared with barely a sound.

There was a well-worn path around the side and up to the top of the plateau where tourists would come to goggle at the ancient structure. The Puebloans, or the Anasazi as they were also known, had populated this whole area as far back as the tenth century and their cultural relics were still being unearthed.

But other humans had lived here much earlier than that. Ten thousand years of hunting, grazing, raising families. Now it was one big open-air museum.

She shifted her gaze upwards. It was utterly silent, apart from the occasional night-bird or nocturnal insect. A faint breeze fluttered through the tendrils of her hair and she inhaled, trying to detect any tell-tale scents.

Nothing.

If Ravij was here, he was hiding down-wind.

She drew her blades, one in each hand. Then she focused on the top of the plateau and shimmered.

As soon as she reappeared she dropped to a crouch, scanning in every direction, knives at the ready.

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