As Shadows Fade (The Gardella Vampire Chronicles 5)

No. She didn’t believe that. She’d seen the look in Max’s eyes, the look that had blazed there once before when he saw her rise free from Lilith’s pit of hell. Yet…

He tumbled her onto the bed, a narrow, lumpy affair, then stood over her for a moment. Max looked down with eyes that had become inscrutable again, and she thought, Here it is. Now he’ll make the excuse, call it duty, draw upon Lilith…

“Victoria,” he said, his voice rough. She gathered herself up at the tone, ready for it… Then, instead of speaking, he came forward, down to her, his hands settling on either side of her, pressing into the thin pallet. And he kissed her.

His lips moved over hers, soft and sensual this time, tracing the contours of her mouth as gently and thoroughly as one might sculpt soft clay. She could scarcely breathe… the kiss was so exquisite in its long, slow melding and tangling of lips and tongue, the scrape of teeth, the gentle suction. It seemed to go on and on, and her world spiraled around her into this imprint, this learning of gentle mouth to gentle mouth.

After a long while, he moved. Propping a knee on the bed next to her, Max smoothed his free hand up along the side of her throat to play in her hair, lifting her face closer to his. Then he released her mouth. “Perhaps I should have bathed first, but”-he kissed her again-“I was bloody damn tired of waiting for you.”

Victoria nearly laughed in relief, understanding now that earlier, just after he released her from that heated moment against the wall, what she’d seen in his eyes was… not uncertainty-no, Max would barely comprehend that emotion-but perhaps a bit of regret or discomfort for the rough-and-tumble way in which he’d taken her.

She lifted and met his mouth halfway, her kiss telling him that she didn’t care, that his sweaty male scent and damp, hot body were home to her. Home and Heaven.

And she wanted more.

Sebastian watched the door close to the chamber he and Victoria-and Anton?n-had shared, and turned away. Michalas and Brim seemed to be merely surprised and amused as Max dragged Victoria into the chamber, unaware of any undercurrents. But Wayren’s all-knowing colorless blue eyes snagged his.

He pulled away from her gaze, but not before he recognized the look therein: perceptive, and perhaps even satisfied. Perhaps.

What was missing was condemnation, judgment. At least from Wayren.

Victoria had given him enough of that in her steely, furious look, and she had avoided him since. Alas. Perhaps one day she’d understand what he’d given her, besides a long, hot kiss.

And Pesaro. In that brief, measured look before disappearing with Victoria, he’d sent both acknowledgment and warning. Acknowledgment of Sebastian’s purpose in the bold move-but of course not a hint of gratitude. And warning as well.

The warning had been unnecessary.

Even now Sebastian wanted to bristle at the man’s arrogance… but the desire ebbed and faded into something emptier. The trip to Muntii Fagaras to retrieve the last two rings, somehow, from Lilith would be a long one, now that Pesaro had returned to the Venator fold and staked his claim.

That thought gave him a needed distraction. Was Max’s reinstatement bound to be a blessing or a curse when dealing with Lilith?

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Victoria asked, soaping Max’s broad, square shoulders from where she knelt behind him.

The much-needed hot bath had been ordered some time ago, and though he’d settled with a great groan into the steaming water, she still felt the urge to touch him. There was nothing, she found, like the feel of warm male skin slick with lemon-rosemary soap and water.

He craned his head to look at her. “You haven’t figured it out for yourself?”

“Obviously you had something planned, because you missed at least five chances to stake him,” she replied archly. “And I understand now that you were intending to finish the Trial by getting the blood on the vis bulla that you were already wearing… but why? You could have killed that vampire in one or two strokes instead of nearly getting killed yourself.”

Max snorted. “Nearly killed? You’re mistaken. I was not in any danger of dying by the hand of that vampire, Victoria. I knew exactly what I was doing. I had to get blood on the vis and then twist the ring around into my skin, and wait for it to empower me again. It took a few bloody moments for that to happen.”

“Well, you looked as though-”

“And looks can be deceiving, can they not? Speaking of which, Vioget’s… er… shall we say… added incentive for me to survive was completely unnecessary.”

Victoria sat back on her haunches, water dripping all over her lap and streaming down her arms into the rolled-up sleeves of the shift she’d donned. “I rather hoped you’d been too distracted to see that.”

“I was meant to. Was that not the purpose?”

“Not by me.”

“Indeed not, although, from my vantage point, you didn’t seem terribly vexed at his actions. I know why he did it. He had the audacity to think I needed his help.”

From any other man, that might have sounded like so much bravado, but coming from Max it sounded just about right.

Before she could reply, Max slid down into the water, submerging his head completely. This left his knees and a good portion of his powerful legs angling up from the oval wooden tub.

When he reappeared, it was with a little surge that slopped water over the sides, sending a renewed wave of rosemary and lemon scent into the air. His hair was slicked back away from his clean-shaven face, its ragged edges plastered to the sides and back of his neck.

“I was vexed with Sebastian,” she said. “I didn’t want you to think… well-”

Max shifted in the tub, splashing water yet again, so that he was half facing her. “I knew you’d been with him for three days while I was at T?n, Victoria. And so did he.”

“Nothing happened.”

“Of course it didn’t.”

“Then why wouldn’t you even look at me when you came in for the Trial? And after? Especially after. You acted as if I didn’t even exist.”

Max’s look was a combination of pity and satisfaction. “That bothered you, did it? The truth was, Victoria, I needed no distractions before the battle. You of all should understand that. And after… well”-he lifted that arrogant brow of his-“I knew it was only a matter of time before I had you exactly where I wanted you. There was no need to be exchanging pining, lovesick glances or tearful embraces after the Trial. I had other things on my mind.”