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.Not cowardice, he objected, flowing across the room with his usual grace until he loomed in front of her, towering over her, making her feel small and feminine instead of an Amazon woman.She wasn’t tall by any means; she was compact, certainly not fashionably slender.It was a strange thing to have such complete and utter confidence in herself as a warrior, and yet none at all as a woman.You are tired, csitri, that is all.Come lie down in my arms and let me hold you while you rest.But first, I must see to your injury.He had often called her csitri, his tongue caressing the word.She had no idea what it meant, but that single word made a swarm of butterflies take flight in her stomach.She stared up at him, afraid to move or blink, terrified he would disappear, that her perfect dream would shatter.She didn’t want him to see her injury.In her dream she wasn’t supposed to have an injury.She’d always been able to control her dream, but lately, reality had crept in a little too much.He gripped her chin in his hand and turned her face toward the light of the flickering fire, a small frown settling over his rugged features.Your face is bruised.Those bruises shouldn’t have been there.What was wrong that she couldn’t keep her wounds out of her dreams anymore? Was she that tired? Reading her thoughts, as he always did, her warrior swept her hair from her face with gentle fingers.You never say my name.Even as he pushed the words into her mind, his fingers moved to the bruises.At once Solange felt the ache in her bruised face recede.She hesitated.How to explain without hurting his feelings.This is a dream.I made you up.I don’t have a name for you that feels right.He smiled at her, his eyes now very, very blue.Have you ever considered that maybe I made you up? That you are my dream?She would love to be someone’s dream, but doubted seriously if that would ever be so.In real life she was abrasive, her only protection when she felt too much.Sometimes it seemed as if she went around with her heart shredded all the time.Somehow I think someone like you could have come up with a better dream.Someone like me? I am a warrior who has spent a thousand years looking for my lifemate.I know exactly who she is and what qualities she has.Solange sighed.This conversation skated too close to having to admit her shortcomings.She didn’t want to remind him of all the times she whined about being alone and afraid and tired.I made you Carpathian.I didn’t mean to, you know.I respect Juliette and MaryAnn’s husbands.Lifemate, he corrected gently.When we are bound, soul to soul, we are called lifemates.That binding goes from one life to the next.She smiled at him and sank down beside the fire.He filled the cavern with his masculine strength.That’s a beautiful concept.Juliette is very happy with Riordan, her lifemate.He’s bossy, but really, after watching them, I can see he does everything to make her happy.As I would you.I have waited too many years, csitri, and my time on this earth draws to an end.I have ingested vampire blood in the hopes of entering the camp of our greatest enemy and spying on them.I will be unable to come to you.Already the blood is consuming me, perhaps faster than I believed it could.I will have only a few risings to complete my task before I must seek the dawn, or go down fighting.I could not find you in this life, but hold hope for the next.Her heart nearly stopped beating.Panic set in.Full-blown panic.Dreams didn’t end like this.Nightmares did.He wasn’t real, but he was the only reality for her when life closed in and she had nowhere else to go.She’d fallen in love with him, as silly as that sounded.This man with his warrior’s scars, the face of an angel and demon, all in one, this man with the soul of a poet.No.I refuse to let you go.I won’t.You’re all I have.You can’t leave me alone.He touched her hair, rubbing the silky strands between his fingers.Believe me, little one, I would prefer to stay with you in our dream world.You have so many times gotten me through moments I found not a little troubling.But I have a duty to my people.Her throat clogged with unexpected tears.If I am the lifemate you talk of, isn’t your first duty to me?His smile was sad.Had you truly been my lifemate, when I heard your voice, you would have restored colors and emotions to me.You’re feeling sad.I can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice.Merely a trick, csitri.I wish for these emotions and draw from memories.You have sustained me these last few years, and I thank you for that.No! I won’t give you up.It was selfish of her.He had a right to his nobility and sacrifice.Hadn’t she sacrificed her entire life for the women of her species? But to give him to the vampires
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