thought, but it wasn't Maggie's. It was his.
I don't know ... I'm not doing it ... I don't understand! Maggie had no idea how to send her thoughts to another person. But she didn't need to, it was simply happening. A pure line of communi cation had been opened between them. It was a fierce and terrible thing, a bit like being fused to gether by a bolt of lightning, but it was also so wonderful that Maggie's entire skin was prickling and her mind was hushed with awe.
She felt as if she'd been lifted into some new and wonderful place that most people never even saw. The air around her seemed to quiver with invisible wings.
This is how people are supposed to be, she thought. Joined like this. Open to each other. With nothing hidden and no stupid walls between them.
A thought came back at her, sharp and quick as a hammer strike. No!
It was so cold, so full of rejection, that for a moment Maggie was taken aback. But then she sensed what else was behind it.
Anger ... and fear. He was afraid of this, and of her. He felt invaded. Exposed.
Well, I do, too, Maggie said mentally. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. It was that her fear was irrel evant. The force that held them was so much more powerful than either of them, so immeasurably ancient, that fear was natural but not important. The same light shone through each of them, stripping away their shields, making them transparent to each other.
It's all right for you. Because you don't have any thing to be ashamed of! The thought flashed by so quickly that Maggie wasn't even sure she had heard it.
What do you mean? she thought. Wait ...
Delos
.
That was his name.
Delos
Redfern . She knew it now, as unquestionably as she knew the names of her own family. She realized, too, as a matter of minor importance, an afterthought, that he was a prince. A vampire prince who'd been born to rule this secret kingdom, as the Redfern family had ruled it for centuries.
The old king was your father, she said to him. And he died three years ago, when you were fourteen. You've been ruling ever since.
He was pulling away from her mentally, trying to break the contact between them. It's none of your business, he snarled.
Please wait, Maggie said. But as she chased after him mentally, trying to catch him, to help him, something shocking and new happened, like a second bolt of lightning.
CHAPTER 9
S he was in his mind. It was all around her, like a strange and perilous world. A terribly frightening world, but one that was full of stark beauty.
Everything was angles, as if she'd fallen into the heart of a giant crystal. Everything glittered, cold and clear and sharp. There were flashes of color as light shimmered and reflected, but for the most part it was dazzling transparency in every direction. Like the fractured ice of a glacier.
Really dangerous, Maggie thought. The spikes of crystal around her had edges like swords. The place looked as if it had never known warmth or soft color.
And you live here? she thought to
Delos
.
Go away.
Delos
's answering thought came to her . on a wave of cold wind. Get out!
No, Maggie said. You can't scare me. I've climbed glaciers before. It was then that she realized what this place reminded her of. A summit. The bare and icy top of a mountain where no plants-and certainly no people-could survive.
But didn't anything good ever happen to you? she wondered. Didn't you ever have a friend ... or a pet ... or something?
No friends, he said shortly. No pets. Get out of here before I hurt you.
Maggie didn't answer, because even as he said it things were changing around her. It was as if the glinting surfaces of the nearby crystals were sud denly reflecting scenes, perfect little pictures with people moving in them. As soon as Maggie looked at one, it swelled up and seemed to surround her.
They were his memories. She was seeing bits of his childhood.
She saw a
I don't know ... I'm not doing it ... I don't understand! Maggie had no idea how to send her thoughts to another person. But she didn't need to, it was simply happening. A pure line of communi cation had been opened between them. It was a fierce and terrible thing, a bit like being fused to gether by a bolt of lightning, but it was also so wonderful that Maggie's entire skin was prickling and her mind was hushed with awe.
She felt as if she'd been lifted into some new and wonderful place that most people never even saw. The air around her seemed to quiver with invisible wings.
This is how people are supposed to be, she thought. Joined like this. Open to each other. With nothing hidden and no stupid walls between them.
A thought came back at her, sharp and quick as a hammer strike. No!
It was so cold, so full of rejection, that for a moment Maggie was taken aback. But then she sensed what else was behind it.
Anger ... and fear. He was afraid of this, and of her. He felt invaded. Exposed.
Well, I do, too, Maggie said mentally. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. It was that her fear was irrel evant. The force that held them was so much more powerful than either of them, so immeasurably ancient, that fear was natural but not important. The same light shone through each of them, stripping away their shields, making them transparent to each other.
It's all right for you. Because you don't have any thing to be ashamed of! The thought flashed by so quickly that Maggie wasn't even sure she had heard it.
What do you mean? she thought. Wait ...
Delos
.
That was his name.
Delos
Redfern . She knew it now, as unquestionably as she knew the names of her own family. She realized, too, as a matter of minor importance, an afterthought, that he was a prince. A vampire prince who'd been born to rule this secret kingdom, as the Redfern family had ruled it for centuries.
The old king was your father, she said to him. And he died three years ago, when you were fourteen. You've been ruling ever since.
He was pulling away from her mentally, trying to break the contact between them. It's none of your business, he snarled.
Please wait, Maggie said. But as she chased after him mentally, trying to catch him, to help him, something shocking and new happened, like a second bolt of lightning.
CHAPTER 9
S he was in his mind. It was all around her, like a strange and perilous world. A terribly frightening world, but one that was full of stark beauty.
Everything was angles, as if she'd fallen into the heart of a giant crystal. Everything glittered, cold and clear and sharp. There were flashes of color as light shimmered and reflected, but for the most part it was dazzling transparency in every direction. Like the fractured ice of a glacier.
Really dangerous, Maggie thought. The spikes of crystal around her had edges like swords. The place looked as if it had never known warmth or soft color.
And you live here? she thought to
Delos
.
Go away.
Delos
's answering thought came to her . on a wave of cold wind. Get out!
No, Maggie said. You can't scare me. I've climbed glaciers before. It was then that she realized what this place reminded her of. A summit. The bare and icy top of a mountain where no plants-and certainly no people-could survive.
But didn't anything good ever happen to you? she wondered. Didn't you ever have a friend ... or a pet ... or something?
No friends, he said shortly. No pets. Get out of here before I hurt you.
Maggie didn't answer, because even as he said it things were changing around her. It was as if the glinting surfaces of the nearby crystals were sud denly reflecting scenes, perfect little pictures with people moving in them. As soon as Maggie looked at one, it swelled up and seemed to surround her.
They were his memories. She was seeing bits of his childhood.
She saw a
Similar Books
The Jackal's Share
Christopher Morgan Jones
All That Remains
Michele G Miller, Samantha Eaton-Roberts
Mr. Muse
Kelly Ethan
Sarazen's Vengeance: Book 1.1
Isabel Wroth
The Girl Who Ran Off With Daddy
David Handler
Dangerous Place For Love
Sam Crescent
Before I Say Good-Bye
Mary Higgins Clark
Promise You Won't Tell?
John Locke
The Adventures of Johnny Vermillion
Loren D. Estleman
Richfield & Rivers Mystery Series 1 - Combust the Sun
Andrews, Austin