Embrace the Night

Page 15



Images imprinted themselves on her mind: the black silk of his hair, the dry warmth of his lips, the width of the shoulders beneath the voluminous folds of the black cloak.

And then he lifted his head, and she gazed into his eyes. Fathomless gray eyes that seemed to see into her and through her.
Eyes filled with an immeasurable anguish that went deeper than sorrow.

Abruptly, he rose to his feet, as if he feared she had seen more than she should. His hand disappeared inside his cloak and reappeared with a book.

"For you," he said.

It was a volume of poetry, exquisitely bound. The pages were of fine parchment edged in gold leaf.

She would not have cared if the book were old and ragged, not if it came from him. But this… aside from her music box, it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"Thank you." She gazed up at him, clutching the book to her breast. "Will you read it to me?" "If you wish."

She held it out to him, felt a shiver of delight race up her spine as his hand brushed hers. After removing his cloak, he lowered himself to the floor, his back braced against her bed.

Opening the book, he began to read. The poem was a song of unrequited love, filled with dark imagery and sensual innuendo.

His voice was deep, resonant, mellifluous. It conjured up images of moonlit nights, of faraway places and forbidden desires, of fair maidens and armored knights on white chargers, of love lost and love found.

The lamplight cast deep shadows over his profile and haloed his hair with silver.

He turned the Page, and his voice filled the room, winding around her, cocooning her, until she was no longer a helpless invalid, but a fairy queen holding court on a golden cloud, a sea nymph riding the back of an enchanted porpoise, an elf dancing on the petal of a fragrant blossom.

There was magic in his voice, in the wondrous rhymes, in the very air around them.

She gazed at his profile and saw an arrogant warrior riding fearlessly into battle, a swarthy outlaw demanding justice, a proud knight in tarnished armor.

She had no idea how long she had been staring at him before she realized he had stopped reading.

She felt the color rush to her cheeks as his gaze met hers, and she felt suddenly confused, as if she had just awakened from a dream. It had all seemed so real, and as she looked deep into Gabriel's eyes, she realized that he had been the warrior, the outlaw, the knight in tarnished armor.

Gabriel stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. Her eyes, as blue as the sky he had not seen in over three hundred years, were no longer the eyes of a child, but the eyes of a girl on the brink of