Dianne Sylvan [The Agency 02] The Agency, Volume II (epub) id

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.The midwife pressed cloths between the woman’s legs; she had fully expected the woman to die, but somehow the bleeding had slowed and stopped, her womb closing as soon as the baby was out.But the baby…the baby never had a chance.Suddenly there was a strangled coughing sound, and a tiny wail went up--heads all around the room snapped toward the bundle of bloody blankets that was now wiggling.Oaths, curses, exclamations followed, and the woman was weeping, everyone was weeping.Exhaustion swept up over me, and I nearly dropped the violin.I sagged back onto the bed, shaking, overcome by what had just happened—it had to be a coincidence.There was no way, it simply wasn’t possible…There is so much in you that you don't even see yet…one day you will be a force of nature, my darling.The last thing I heard before I passed out was the distant sound of the midwife, telling my neighbor he had a son.*****The path up the mountain wound and doubled back on itself as it climbed the steep stones.It took hours to reach the top and the night was half over before I surmounted the flight of carved steps that led to the temple.The guards remembered me, and moved back to let me pass.If they were surprised that I had returned, they gave no sign.I knew he would be waiting for me, and sure enough there he was, cross-legged on his mat as if he had not moved this whole time.He looked at me evenly, eyes traveling from my face down to what I carried, then back up again, waiting.I came to stand in the same place I had last time, in the pool of light shining down from the sky overhead.I bowed.He inclined his head toward me, still unspeaking.I smiled, lifted the Tempest, and began to play.Breathing Lessons150 years he has walked the Earth, and in that time he has learned a few things, among them the sad fact that something wished for, longed for, ached for, if obtained, is almost always a disappointment.Almost.They sway, his hands resting at Rowan’s waist, the Elf’s arms around his neck, one hand curved warm beneath the collar of Jason’s shirt.Jason takes a breath, the combination of scents intoxicating: curry, chai, books, Elf.Spice and softness, the ancient and the moment, and he wants to wrap himself up in it and etch every second in his memory.Rowan’s head rests against his shoulder, and he can feel their pulses slowly coming into synch; it’s something vampires do, gradually bringing their prey’s heartbeat lower and lower to calm them and make it easier to feed.Contrary to the myth, it isn’t in his kind’s best interest to harm anyone.Rowan isn’t his prey, but he can’t help it—he wants to disappear into his would-be lover, to dissolve breath by breath and beat by beat.He slides his hands around Rowan’s back, up along his spine, feeling muscle and vertebrae, fascinated by the way he moves.So human, and yet so alien.Jason has had many, many men in his bed, of many shapes and sizes, but few immortals, and never an Elf.There’s something subtly different here, some wild grace that defies description—he hopes fervently that he’ll have a chance to find the words, as he learns every last inch of the slender body in his arms, inside and out, and soon.He has absolutely no idea where to begin.The night has been as close to perfect as he could manage, but now that they are alone in the candlelit safety of his quarters, he is nervous again, his mind trying over and over to run down the list of things that could go wrong.This isn’t a back alley blow job or a quick fuck in the file room…it’s Rowan.His Rowan.His Rowan, who leans back to look in his eyes, smiling.“I’m nervous too,” he says.“All of a sudden this is very, very real.”Jason breathes him in again, wishing for a second that the Elf also smelled like Xanax.“We can stop here, if you want…if you’ve changed your mind.”In answer, Rowan removes his hands from Jason’s neck.The abrupt loss of warmth and the possibility that the Elf might, in fact, have changed his mind both make Jason’s stomach tumble down to his knees.But Rowan takes a step back, reaching up to his ears, and removes the inhibitor, then the control on his wrist.He places them on the coffee table and returns to the embrace, this time ignoring the music as he covers Jason’s mouth with his own.*****Sara had come over to help Rowan get ready, but really all she was doing was making him even more anxious.He’d been trying to think of the evening as just an outing between friends, and not dwell too much on the terrifying possibility—no, probability—of more, but her giggly presence sitting on the bed made him feel like he was preparing to sacrifice himself in some bizarre sexual rite, or worse, a wedding.“So where are you two lovebirds going?”He stared at himself in the mirror, wishing it were autumn.Thanks to the unrelenting sun and humidity of the Texas climate his summer hair was a dusty sort of grey-brown with a few stalwart strands of dark green.In a couple of months it would be a brilliant cacophony of browns, gold, green, and red-maple-leaf scarlet, and it was one of his favorites.At least his eyes were interesting right now, a green-blue-silver combination that mirrored perfectly the reflections of the trees on Lady Bird Lake.“Dinner,” he answered belatedly.“There’s an Indian restaurant I wanted to try [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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