Love Me to Death (Underveil, #1)(39)
“The feeling is mutual.”
Her voice softened and came from closer to where he was. “Don’t you even want to know what I found out?”
“I’m sorry. Yes. Please tell me.”
“Its real use is for elf bonding ceremonies. It’s where the humans get their hand-binding traditions. The elves wind it around the wrists of both partners, and if the partners’ souls are suitably paired, which yours are because they touch on the cord, it will fall away once the union is consummated.”
Her news was greeted with absolute silence.
After a few moments, she continued. “It’s like when the bedsheets were checked the morning after the wedding in other cultures to be sure the deed had been done, only much more civilized.”
“Nothing about the elves is civilized,” Nikolai answered. “They just cover everything in sparkle and glitter and call it refined. They are blood-hungry killers just like the rest of us.”
“Leave the hate aside, Niki. Are you hearing me? Getting rid of the cord is easy—well, if you can tolerate sex with a human, it’s easy. Personally, I couldn’t do it. But look on the bright side: because she’s human—or a human derivative—you can’t get her pregnant or catch any diseases. Then, you need to make sure she becomes immortal. If she’s really what Fydor thinks she is, it would benefit us all if you turn her as soon as possible.”
Elena swallowed and took a silent, deep breath. Good God. What was she? How could her becoming immortal benefit a bunch of beings that were nothing more than assassins? She wouldn’t do it. Never.
“Actually, now that I think about it, you should turn her first. Sex with a vamp would be as bad as doing a human, but at least she’d be hardier and a lot more fun, right? Well, as long as you didn’t let her bite you.”
Nikolai didn’t respond.
“Don’t tell me you’ve become attached to her. Surely you’re not that weak.”
“I’m not weak, Aleksi.”
Elena’s heart sank. Being attached to her was weakness? Stupid brutes. Loveless, horrible creatures.
“Well, then do what you have to do,” Aleksandra said. “Turn her, f*ck her, and get rid of her.”
Nikolai sat on the bed across from Elena in the total darkness for a long time after Aleksi teleported out. Fydor suspected Elena was the Uniter. Why then, would he want her destroyed? The Uniter would end the war that was brewing… Surely Fydor didn’t want the war. Surely…
He stood and paced in a small pattern between the beds. It was essential to turn her in order to make her safe. Could he do it? He’d never witnessed a human change into an immortal of any kind. He didn’t know the first thing about it. Only that his blood triggered not only her eyes to change but also the markings to come to the surface. His blood was the catalyst. He was the catalyst.
The words were branded on her very skin. “From the blood of a warrior I rise.” His blood.
Could Elena be the Uniter? It certainly looked that way. Perhaps it wasn’t physical power that was needed to save the Underveil. Maybe it was inner strength, and in the limited time he’d had with her, he’d come to discover she was more powerful than anyone else he knew.
She would become a vampire. The very thing he’d sworn vengeance against. The species he’d hunted and slaughtered every time he caught one breaking the law. And yet, somehow that didn’t make a difference at all to him. He wanted her. Needed her no matter what she became. She was his.
Sitting on the bed, he laid his hand on her, getting oriented in the dark. She was on her side, facing away. He smoothed his palm over her shoulder to her neck, then leaned over and kissed her jaw. She didn’t react. “Elena?”
He ran his fingers over her cheek and found it wet. Tears.
“Are you okay?”
“Just do it.” Her voice waivered, and it felt as though his insides had crumbled.
Perhaps she assumed he still planned to execute her, or maybe she was emerging from a bad dream. “Do what?”
She jerked away and shuffled to the top corner of the bed. He reached for her through the darkness and found her crouched on the mattress against the wall, trembling.
Night had fallen long ago, and he had failed to even light the fire. He needed to see her. He reached over and pulled the matches from the bedside table and struck one. The look of horror on her face froze him in place. “Do what?” he repeated. The match burned down to his fingers and snuffed out, leaving the smell of charred flesh.
“What you have to do to break this cord and free me from you,” she said in the darkness. “Just do it and get it over with.”
Something was up. Something bad. “Exactly what is it I’m supposed to do to break the cord, Elena?”
When she didn’t answer, he struck another match and lit a lantern hanging on the wall. Surely, a tiny bit of light just for a few moments wouldn’t give them away. The cabin was buried under feet of snow, and no one knew of it other than Aleksi, and he was sure she’d been careful to not be observed when she had teleported in. Since his mother’s traitorous marriage to his uncle, she was the only person he could really trust…well, aside from Elena, but right now, he wasn’t even sure of that, based on the look she was giving him.
“Talk to me,” he whispered.