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lashes brushing his cheeks. Her hand trailed
upwards, brushing the ponytail of his long black hair aside. When
her fingers reached his neck, he tensed. She stroked the pale skin
above his collar and then his ear. He turned, leaning into her
touch.

    “ You won’t hurt
me.” She didn’t know whether she was saying that to him or to
herself. “I know you won’t.”

    “ Amerii,” he
muttered and opened his eyes. They slid to meet hers, filled with
incredulity. “You do not fear me? You do not think I am a
monster?”

    She shook her head and
stepped around him, trailing her fingertips along the line of his
strong jaw. He was beautiful even when he looked so frightened. The
sight of his fear made her want to comfort him, to show him her own
feelings in the hope that he would find some reassurance in them.
She wanted him to know that she truly didn’t fear him and she
didn’t think he was a monster because of his bloodlust. His eyes
narrowed, dark red and penetrating hers, searching deeply as though
he needed to see the truth in them. She cupped his cheek and held
it.

    “ I have never
feared you, not once since I met you that night, and I have never
thought you a monster,” she whispered up at him, holding his
gaze.

    His gaze shifted to her
throat and then back to her eyes.

    “ Would it help
if I said I wanted to feel it... that you have no idea how much I
want you too?” she said.

    His eyes narrowed and
brightened.

    Evidently, it would
help.

    “ I’ve thought
about you ever since that night, Van. I’ve dreamed of
you.”

    “ Dreamed?” he
husked, his voice echoing eerily, and moved closer to her, his eyes
zeroing in on her neck again. “Tell me... tell me this isn’t
wrong... tell me I am not overstepping the mark... tell me what you
dreamed.”

    He certainly was embracing
worry at least. Fear and worry. Both negative emotions. Amerii
wanted him to feel others, ones that were positive. Happiness,
desire, love.

    Love.

    Regis had been teaching
Van to lose control so he too could achieve that
feeling.

    So far, Regis was the only
Varkan capable of love. If she could, then she would help Van know
it too.

    “ Tell me,” he
pleaded as his hands caught hold of her upper arms and he neared
her.

    “ This isn’t
wrong,” she said and closed her eyes when he kissed her jaw.
Tingles swept through her, hardening her nipples against her white
vest. “This isn’t wrong and you aren’t overstepping the mark. It
doesn’t matter that I’m royalty. I’m free to fall in love with
whomever I choose.”

    “ Love?” he
whispered against her throat, his voice tight again. “Tell me what
love is. I fear I still do not understand it.”

    Amerii smiled and sighed
as his lips caressed her neck, soft and slow, tender and warm. He
was so gentle with her. He worried so much about her. He didn’t
want to hurt her and had tried to protect her from himself. Perhaps
he already knew love but couldn’t recognise it.

    “ Do you feel as
though you’re flying and falling at the same time?”

    Silence.

    “ Yes.”

    Her heart beat harder.
“Then this is love. Love is flying and falling at the same
time.”

    Her eyes shot wide when he
licked her neck and then his teeth scraped it a moment later. He
wrapped his lips around the graze, encircled her waist with his
arms, and pulled her close to him. She tilted her head to one side,
her hands pressing into his chest. Each brush of his tongue over
the small cut made her shiver. His body trembled against
hers.

    “ Van?” she
whispered and was surprised at the hunger in her voice. “Do you
want to bite me?”

    His breath shuddered
against her neck. “More than anything.”

    She frowned. “Then why
don’t you?”

    She could tell that he was
holding back. He wanted more than the tiny drop of blood he must
have taken from the scratch. She wanted more than that
too.

    He kissed along her
shoulder, caressing it with his fingertips and pulling the strap of
her white