The Raven (The Florentine 1)

“She said she left her clothes in your bed only days ago.”

“Aoibhe’s concept of time is somewhat . . . flexible.”

“That’s your defense?” Raven’s voice lifted. “That time is flexible?”

“I haven’t slept with her since we’ve been together. You have my word.”

“Why should I trust you? You told me she was an ally; you didn’t mention you were sleeping together. That’s a lie of omission.”

William’s anger began to grow, his eyes snapping. “You are a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“What’s that?”

“You say no man ever wanted you but when one does—and wants you badly enough to risk everything he’s built for you—you tell yourself he’s a liar.”

Raven took a few steps on unsteady feet, her body clad in a long black nightgown.

“What are you risking? Tell me.”

“I can’t.” His eyes grew shuttered.

“God, William. Just talk to me. Please,” she begged.

He straightened his shoulders. “Some secrets I can’t tell.”

“Why not? Have I ever done anything to betray you? Or hurt you?”

William shook his head.

“Then why won’t you talk to me?”

“Not now, Raven.”

She threw her arms up in frustration. “You’re like a walled city. I don’t know how to get in. I don’t even know what your real name is or when you were born.”

“My name is William.”

Raven lifted her arms in frustration. “You have secret lovers like Aoibhe. I know you feed from humans but you won’t tell me about it. How do I know you aren’t fucking around on me?”

He took a step toward her, his eyes flashing.

“What we share in bed, I’m not sharing with anyone else.”

“Why should I believe you when you keep so many secrets?”

“My secrets are for my safety and for yours. If someone were to realize what I’ve told you already, you’d be in danger. They’d try to exploit you to get to me.”

“I’m already in danger. Being with you puts me at risk.”

“Undoubtedly. Which is why you need to let everyone think you’re simply a pet. I’m convinced there’s a group of traitors in my principality. I’m equally convinced Aoibhe is not one of them. That’s why I need her help.”

Raven’s eyebrows drew together suspiciously. “Need her or needed her?”

William reached for her. “I need to explain. She—”

Raven retreated, avoiding his touch. “She’s alive.”

“The hunters shot her with a poisoned arrow but they missed her heart. I was able to remove the arrow and her body regenerated. I also fed her blood from my private cellar.”

“I thought she was dead.”

“If we hadn’t been there, she would be. You saved her life as much as I, Raven, by distracting the hunters. You gave her time for her body to regenerate. And she knows this.”

“Tell her to send a postcard,” Raven sniped.

William adopted a conciliatory tone. “I don’t think the hunters happened upon us. I think someone in my principality informed them of our location.”

“Who?”

“I have yet to discover their identity.”

“Then it could be Aoibhe.”

“If she’d made a pact with the hunters, they’d have let her go.”

“Not necessarily.” Raven’s eyes moved to William’s. “Do you love her?”

William wore an expression of distaste.

“Of course not. The last time I saw her privately, we had an argument and I told her to leave the Palazzo Riccardi and never return. That was long before I brought you here on the motorcycle.”

“But you rely on her.”

“She is the least of a myriad of evils.”

Raven looked stricken.

William watched her cautiously. He saw the hurt on her face. He could hear her heart and breathing, smell her anxiety. But he had no idea how to reassure her.

Truthfully, her reaction had taken him completely off guard. He didn’t have the emotional awareness or experience that would enable him to defuse the situation.

He simply stood, staring.

Raven waited, hoping for a word or caress that didn’t materialize.

She began to feel the icy fingers of despair encroaching on her heart.

“I know what I felt when they shot at you.” Tears filled Raven’s eyes. “I thought they were going to kill you.”

“Cassita,” he whispered, taking her in his arms.

Her tears rained on his chest as he held her, her shoulders shaking.

“You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met.” His voice broke on the words.

He held her more tightly, as if realizing all of a sudden what her sacrifice meant.

“I’ve been a vampyre since 1274 and no one, no human, has ever come to my aid before tonight. You’ve seen the monster and you haven’t desired death to blot him out of your memory. You honor and astound me.”

Gently, he stroked her hair, brushing kiss after kiss against the top of her head.

At length, she pushed him away.

He looked at her in confusion. “Cassita?”

“I honor you, but you won’t trust me.”

“I just trusted you with my age. I think the better question is, will you ever trust me?” He frowned.

“I’m standing here, William, begging for any truth you can give me. I want to know you.”

He pressed his lips together, his eyes searching hers. But he said nothing.

She looked up at him with tremulous eyes. “Do you love me?”

He took a step toward her, but she held up her hand. “Answer me.”

He spoke softly, patiently. “Vampyres aren’t capable of love. Those feelings were taken with our humanity. As I said, I care for you. I have affection, passion, and respect for you.”

She wiped her eyes and turned away. “I love you, William.”

He froze, his body alert.

“I was drawn to you almost from the beginning. You made me feel things about myself and then I began feeling things about you. That’s why I offered myself to you. I wanted to see how deep our connection could

be. When I thought I was going to lose you, I realized that I love you.”

He moved as if to take her in his arms again, but she resisted.

“For a long time, I thought love was not for me. Men who noticed me were few and far between. Almost all of them just became friends with me. You changed my mind. You changed my world. I started believing that maybe someone could love me and I could love him in return. I felt hope, William. You gave me that.”

“Come here.”

“I am not a cripple,” she said fiercely. “I am not a pet.”

“Of course not.” William’s voice was low, soothing. “You’re my Raven.”

“Don’t you understand? If all you feel for me is affection, I am nothing more than a pet to you.”

“That isn’t true.”

“Isn’t it?” She swiped at her eyes. “You feel something for me, but it isn’t love. You say you’ll never love me. All I’m left with is the affection you feel for a friend, or maybe an animal you saw suffering and took pity on.”

“Don’t put words in my mouth.” His eyes flashed. “I don’t pity you.”

“Perhaps not. But I will never be anything more than a pet in your world. A pet you can’t even trust with your true name. I might not be as beautiful as Aoibhe, or have perfect legs like other women, but I deserve love.”

William gazed at her, his face a mask of confusion and worry.

“I would stay with you, for as long as I lived,” Raven said quietly. “But don’t you see? I’d be miserable. Maybe you can’t ever love anyone. Maybe you can’t love me. I’ll always wonder if today is the day you decide you want someone else and you throw me away.”

“That won’t happen,” he protested.

“You can’t say that. You don’t know the future. But I know my own future, because I know myself. To stay with you, I’d have to give up my hope of having someone love me. I’d have to live with your secrets and my doubts until finally all hope was gone.

“If I stayed with you, William, you would kill my hope.” Two tears trailed down her cheeks. “I won’t let it die.”

“Raven.” His voice was hoarse. “If I were capable of loving anyone, it would be you.”

Raven closed her eyes.

“You say you love me, yet you’re the one leaving?” he huffed.