142
" Answer me, little one. Knowing what we are, would you have sent me to eternal darkness?”
She made a supreme effort to get herself under control. A part of her still could not believe this was happening. A part of her struggled to understand and be fair. “I told you I could accept you, even love you as you are, Mikhail. And I meant that then. The same is true now.” She was so weak, she could hardly speak. “I know you’re a good man, there is no evil in you. Father Hummer said I couldn’t judge you by our standards, and I won’t. No, I would have chosen life for you. I love you.”
There was too much sorrow in her eyes for him to feel relief. “But?” he prompted softly.
“I can accept it in you, Mikhail, but not for me. I could never drink blood. The thought of it sickens me.” her tongue touched her dry lips. “Can you change me back? A transfusion, perhaps?”
He shook his head regretfully.
“Then let me die. Just me. If you love me, let me go. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
143
" Can you change me back? A transfusion, perhaps?”
He shook his head regretfully.
“Then let me die. Just me. If you love me, let me go.”
Mikhail’s eyes darkened, burned. “You do not understand. You are my life. My heart. There is no Mikhail without Raven. If you wish to seek eternal darkness, I must go with you. I had never known the pain and ecstasy of our people’s love until I found you. You are the very air I breathe, the blood in my veins, my joy, my tears, my very feelings. I would not wish to continue a barren, empty existence. It would be impossible. The torment you felt for those short hours without our mind touch would be nothing compared to the hell to which you wish to condemn me.”
“Mikhail”--she whispered his name in anguish--“I am not Carpathian.”
“You are, little one. You have come fully into our world. Please give yourself time to heal, to absorb all this and adjust to it.” He was pleading with her, his voice soft and persuasive.
She closed her eyes against the tears welling up. “I want to sleep.”
Raven needed more blood. The transfer would be easier on her if she had no idea what was happening to her. The healing sleep of the earth might provide her with comfort; in any case, it would speed the healing process of her body. Mercifully, Mikhail obliged her request and sent her into a deep sleep. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
144
" Mikhail lifted her into his arms, urging her legs around his waist. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of him entering her, savoring the slow ride, the natural undulation of her body. “I could live here, like this,” she whispered.
“Funny,” he watched the sensations pouring over her face, felt them filling her mind. “I had exactly the same thought. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
145
" Her state of mind is extremely fragile, old friend. She is trying to assimilate everything that has happened and make sense of it, but it has all happened too fast. The continuation of our species could very much lie with her.
Mikhail nodded slightly indicating his awareness of the situation.
You cannot allow her to suffer this way.
Free will is important to her, Gregori. I will not take that from her unless there is no other way.
And if her mind cannot accept what has happened to her? What she has become and all that goes with that? She could become a deranged vampiress, and we would have no choice but to end her life--and with hers, yours. Do not do that to me, Mikhail.
It was the closest to pleading Mikhail had ever heard from Gregori. Before it came to that, I would put her in the ground and allow her mind to heal.
Gregori read the resolve in Mikhail’s eyes and sighed. If she was mine, I would guard her so close, nothing would have a chance to harm her. Have you considered that she could carry the lifemate to one of us? Perhaps my lifemate? Do not take chances with her just to give her the illusion of freedom. None of us are truly free, he warned. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
146
" A huge black wolf burst from the clearing to join him, loping easily beside him, pale silver eyes gleaming with menace. Together they raced through the narrow passages until they found a large, steaming chamber. The black wolf contorted, fur rippling along muscular arms as Gregori shape-shifted to his true form.
Mikhail laid Jacques’s body gently on the rich soil and lifted away the covering. He swore softly, unshed tears burning in his throat and eyes. “Can you save him?”
Gregori’s hands moved over the body, the vicious wounds. “He stopped his heart and lungs so that he could conserve his blood. Raven is weak because she fed him. She is a smart woman. If he lives, she is the one who saved him. She mixed her saliva and the soil and packed it in tight. It is already beginning to heal the wounds. I will need your herbs, Mikhail.”
“In the cabin.”
“The sun will fry you.”
“Save him, Gregori. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
151
" If she was mine, I would guard her so close, nothing would have a chance to harm her. Have you considered that she could carry the lifemate to one of us? Perhaps my lifemate? Do not take chances with her just to give her the illusion of freedom. None of us are truly free, he warned.
Jacques sent them both a look of reprimand and extended his hand to Raven with Old World gallantry. She took it and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Mikhail rose beside her, his arm sweeping her into the shelter of his body. She needed the contact, the closeness, the solid reality of his hard frame. Greogir, the instant bodyguard, scanned the air, the ground, moving fast as he did so. His body continually blocked the prince of their people and his lifemate from any possible threat.
The three imposing figures surrounded the smaller one, moving as a unit, an honor guard, their paces slow and leisurely, their minds serene, with no hint of impatience or sign of their desire to get on to the night’s work. Hunger gnawed at Mikhail, but that too was kept at bay. When her mind touched his, Raven felt only love and concern, the desire to please her.
Raven enjoyed the feel of the soft leaves under her feet as they moved through the forest. She lifted her face to embrace the wind, inhaled deeply to take in every secret the breeze could carry and would divulge. Every insect, every rustle in the underbrush, every separate sway of a branch, lightened the terrible dread in her heart, pushed the fearful memories a little farther away.
“I can take them away completely,” Mikhail offered gently.
Raven flashed him a small smile, meant to reassure. Her body moved briefly against his. She was well aware of what a temptation that had been for him, how the other two males thought him insane for not taking the choice from her. “You know I prefer to keep my memories. All of them.”
Mikhail nodded, leaned over, and brushed a kiss over her temple. He felt the weight of Gregori’s pale gaze, his blatant disapproval. He knew he would be facing even more objections when they were alone. Carpathian males never allowed their mates to suffer needlessly. Only Gregori would dare to question or challenge the decisions of his prince. Mikhail usually welcomed the rare clashes. This time he had no way of defending his actions, at least not in a way Gregori would understand. Mikhail just knew Raven needed this semblance of normalcy and the time to come to grips with everything that had happened in her own way. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
152
" Raven woke sobbing, her hands curling around Mikhail’s neck, clutching him to her, hot tears spilling onto his chest. He dragged her closer protectively, holding her as tight as he dared without crushing her. She seemed so fragile and light, so ready to fly away from him. He let her cry, his hand caressing her hair with soothing strokes.
When she began to quiet, he murmured softly to her, tenderly, in his own language, words of reassurance and hope. Eventually she lay, worn out and exhausted, in the sanctuary of his arms. “It will take time, little one, but give our ways a chance. There are wondrous things we can do. Concentrate on the things you would enjoy. Shape-shifting, flying with birds, running free with the wolves.”
Her small fist jammed into her mouth to stop a strangled sound somewhere between fear and hysterical laughter. Mikhail brushed the top of her head with his chin. “I would never leave you to face any of this on your own. Lean on my strength. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
154
" Are you all right? Can I call someone for you? The priest, perhaps? Your family?”
“There is no one, not anymore. I’m Rudy Romanov. You must have heard the news about my parents.”
An unholy vision burst in her head. She saw wolves boiling from the forest, red eyes gleaming fiercely, a huge black wolf leading the pack and bearing straight down on Hans Romanov. From the young man’s head, she picked up the memory of his mother, Heidi, lying on her bed, her husband’s fingers around her throat. For one awful moment she couldn’t breathe. What this man had suffered! Both parents taken from him in a matter of hours. His fanatical father had murdered his mother.
“I’ve been ill with the flu; this is my first time out in days.” She moved closer to him beneath the outstretched limbs of the trees. She couldn’t very well tell him the truth--that she had been involved in the entire horrendous affair. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
156
" Without conscious thought, the words formed in his mind. Te avio päläfertiilam--You are my lifemate.
His ancient language, the sacred words to bind them soul to soul, rose up before he could think, before he could guard against them. He was a Carpathian male, his body buried deep in the body of his lifemate, joined skin to skin. The ferocious hunger would never leave him, and the need to bind them together for all time overwhelmed him. The words poured out of his soul--aloud--from his soul to hers.
“Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam--I claim you as my lifemate. Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed--I belong to you,” he whispered his fierce claim. “Élidamet andam--I offer my life for you. Pesämet andam--I give you my protection. Uskolfertiilamet andam--I give you my allegiance. Sívamet andam--I give you my heart. Sielamet andam--I give you my soul. Ainamet andam--I give you my body. Sívamet kuuluak kaik että a ted--I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Ainaak olenszal sívambin--Your life will be cherished by me for all my time. Te élidet ainaak pide minan--Your life will be placed above my own for all time. Te avio päläfertiilam--You are my lifemate. Ainaak sívamet jutta oleny--You are bound to me for all eternity. Ainaak terád vigyázak--You are always in my care.” With those formal words, a male Carpathian bound his true lifemate to him for all eternity. Once they were said, she could never escape him.
Mikhail really had no intention of binding her to him, but every instinct in him, everything he was, forced the words out of his soul so that their souls were one as they were meant to be. He felt the threads weaving them together, soul to soul as they were meant. Their hearts were finally united, their minds one. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
158
" You’re certain he’s alive?” The question slipped out before she could stop it, just when she was so proud of herself for appearing normal.
“Absolutely, child. He gave me the impression that he would be gone this day until nightfall without the usual means of contacting him.” He grinned at her, a conspirator’s grin. “Personally, I use his pager. He has to be close for it to work, but it’s a thrill when it does. Gadgets fascinate me almost as much as they do him. He always has to have the very latest of any invention. When I visit him, I play on his computer as often as I can. Once I locked the thing up, and it took him a while to figure out what I did to it.” He was absurdly pleased with that. “Of course, you understand, I could have told him, but it would have taken all the fun out of it.”
Raven laughed, she couldn’t help herself. “At last, a man after my own heart. I’m glad someone besides myself gives him a hard time. He needs it, you know. All those people bowing and scraping. It’s not good for him.” Her hands were freezing, so she shoved them into her pockets.
“I do my best, Raven,” the priest admitted, “but we don’t need to tell him. Some things are best kept between us.”
She smiled at him, relaxing just a little. “I agree with you on that. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
160
" Raven.” The voice was warm, sensual, caressing. Calm in the eye of the storm. Black velvet. Beautiful. Soothing. She knew that voice at once.
A curious hush fell in the dining room as Mikhail strode in. He had a hard arrogance about him, an air of complete command. He was tall, dark, well muscled, but it was his eyes, burning with energy, with darkness, with a thousand secrets, that drew immediate attention. Those eyes could mesmerize, hypnotize, just like the power in his voice. "
― Christine Feehan , Dark Prince (Dark, #1)
