Dark Legacy (Dark 27)

"The things I chose to do. I was born a predator, sivamet. I am still a predator, and I will go into the next life a predator. You cannot mistake me for anything else." He stepped into the canoe with complete balance and reached up for her.

His grip was strong and comforting as he put her on the end close to where the canoe had a backrest. It curved at the top in the traditional sense, but clearly Tariq had designed the canoe for comfort.

She worried a little that Dragomir kept insisting she wasn't seeing everything about him. Of course, she wasn't, but she did see what mattered most. He was kind and courageous. He devoted himself to her. He accepted her baby without hesitation. What was he referring to over and over?

She settled on the floor of the canoe and watched him settle opposite her and take the oar in his hand. One strong pull had them gliding fast out over the water. The sensation took her breath away. She loved the quiet of it and the feeling of moving over the wide expanse of the lake. The color of the water was different depending on where the sliver of moon shone, or the depth and the darkness. The farther out they got from the lights of shore, the darker the water appeared.

"This is beautiful," she whispered, looking up at the stars, one hand trailing in the water. "Thank you. You've given me so many experiences I never thought I'd ever have. I appreciate every single one of them."

"I love giving you things you want, Emeline." Another powerful stroke took them gliding farther away from the shoreline.

Her gaze jumped to his face and then drifted over his chest and arms. He was hers. All that unadulterated male beauty was hers. "I love knowing you're mine." She felt a little shy telling him, but at the same time, she wanted him to know. That was more important to her than revealing her embarrassment. He deserved to know what he meant to her.

"Do you feel safe with me?"

"That's an odd question. Of course I feel safe with you." She wrinkled her nose at him, wondering where he was going with that line of questioning.

"Then why are you gripping the edges of the canoe until your knuckles have turned white?"

She looked down at her hands. He was right, she was gripping the edges and her knuckles were white. She absolutely loved the teasing note in his voice. "I'm hedging my bets."

His eyebrow shot up. "You do know I could float us out of the water, turn upside down and still keep you from falling."

She didn't like that matter-of-fact way he asked. "I am certain you can, but I prefer that we stay in the water, exactly as we are meant to."

"Humans are meant to. They don't fly. We fly."

"This part of 'we' is just trying out canoeing and enjoying it. Flying can come later. I watched the children on their dragons and was a little envious, I won't lie."

"The beauty of being Carpathian is you can do both. You can fly by yourself in any form you choose, and you will be able to fly a dragon if you really want to do that."

"I do." She drew up her knees cautiously and one by one pried her fingers from the side of the canoe so she could wrap her arms around her legs and settle her chin on her knees. "Do you remember the first time you ever flew?"

Dragomir shook his head. "Memories faded over the centuries. Even after getting my emotions and colors back, I don't remember much from my childhood. I can remember every vampire and how they fight, what their preferences are in lairs and safeguards, but I can't remember my mother's face."

He sounded crushed by that, but his expression hadn't changed. She realized he often refused or more likely didn't recognize an emotion that was sad or negative. He didn't dwell there. He felt them, but he didn't identify with them. Emeline couldn't make up her mind whether she thought that good or bad.

"I don't think about my parents much," she said, needing to give him something back. "I didn't really have family. Maybe that's why I fought so hard to keep Carisma. I heard her screaming in pain and I just couldn't hate her. She was an innocent caught in Vadim's ugly world." She rubbed her chin on her knees and then put her head down, staring out at the water. "He does that, you know--he hates innocence and does his best to strike at it."

There was a small silence. Two more powerful strokes of the canoe sent them parallel to the shore. "I hadn't thought about that, but you're right. That's exactly what he does."

"He's determined to kill the children, Dragomir. All of them. He targeted them for some reason as well. It wasn't just because he knew it would draw me into the underground city, either. He had a reason he went after those children. I tried to find out about their talents, but then I realized if I knew them and Vadim was in my head, then he would know their talents as well, so I stopped asking. They don't let others in easily, but Blaze, Charlotte and I are closer to them than anyone else here. Probably I have to include Tariq in that as well. Still, I don't think anyone knows what they can do."

"Valentin would know. Liv, the little girl, is his lifemate. What is in her mind, he knows."

"I didn't think of that. I thought he left."

"There was that trouble with the lightning when we were converting you. He came back to protect Liv."

"I don't understand how he would know she was his lifemate. She's too young. I thought it had to do with sexual maturity."

"That plays a huge part," he admitted. "Sometimes being in close proximity over time can make a man aware his lifemate is near. His colors fade but don't altogether leave him. His emotions don't completely disappear and he has a sex drive. One that won't go away. I've heard all kinds of things that tip off the male. Most don't have those luxuries. Valentin most likely discovered it when Vadim brought the child to him to take her blood. Vadim had kept Valentin starving for so long, he thought when he gave him a child, Valentin wouldn't be able to resist killing her. It was Vadim's poor luck that he handed Valentin's lifemate to him."

"What will Valentin do?"

"He will watch over her until she is of age. What else can he do? She's too young to claim, nor would he ever consider it." Dragomir shrugged his broad shoulders and gave more powerful strokes of the oar so that the canoe slipped over the water easily.

Emeline realized he was keeping along the shoreline for her, recognizing that, although she loved the water and what they were doing, she was nervous. She licked at her lips. "I don't know how to swim. I never had the chance to learn. I was more of a dancer."

Dragomir's look wasn't one of shock or judgment. His eyes had gone soft and his incredible mouth curved in that sweet smile that always shook her. "Now you don't have to worry about it, sivamet. You are Carpathian. You can swim, fly or dance up to the stars."

Her breath caught in her throat. She loved dancing. She lost herself in dance. "Blaze's father paid for dancing lessons for me. I was homeless, crawling in his daughter's window at night, and he paid for my dance lessons. That was better than eating regularly, although he let me raid their fridge and cupboards whenever I wanted."

"But you didn't." He set the oar across his lap, his focus completely on her.

She shook her head. "I didn't trust easily in those days. He was a really good man, but I didn't dare wear out my welcome. At first I was very young, and the streets were intimidating. Then I grew up and there was an entirely different set of obstacles."

"You still don't trust easily."

"It's difficult to believe you're for real," she admitted, her hand moving in and out of the water, as if she were dancing on the surface with her fingers. She'd given him her body and her heart. She was fairly certain she wouldn't survive without him, but he was right. There was a part of her that didn't trust that he'd stay. Maybe she'd never be able to trust that he'd stay.

"I'll stay. And if you really want to dance in the stars, we'll do that, too."

"Any time you want to go dancing in the stars, or the clouds, or on the pier, I'm ready," she assured him.

The sound of childish voices drifted on the wind and made Emeline smile. She hadn't seen the children yet and she missed them. She turned her head toward the sound. The boat

glided over the water as the oar cut through it, powered by Dragomir's strength. She made out Danny with Lourdes on his back. Bella ran beside them, calling out to him that it was her turn. The scene was familiar to her. Danny gave the youngest ones rides all the time. It was the two littlest ones' favorite pastime.

Liv had a book in her hands and walked with Amelia, talking softly; the sound carried on the slight breeze, but the words were lost. She was animated as she talked to her sister, occasionally stopping to make a point. Amelia took the book from her when Liv's wild gestures threatened to send the book skittering across the lake.