Chapter 66

She rested her forehead on his chest, struggling not to cry. “I am very afraid, Alexander. You attribute all kinds of wonderful traits to me, but I am a woman who had chosen to end her lonely existence before you came. Now you think I will not only choose to stay without you, but I will do so for at least two more centuries. Alone.” “Or longer if you must. The child is most likely a male. He will need you to give him memories that will last until his lifemate is found.” “You can defeat Luther. I know you can do it. There must be a way, Alexander. We have to find a way.” She raised her head to look directly into his eyes.

 “I have examined your memories of him. I know that you bested him once. You caught him by surprise and locked him into the ground with you. He did not expect such an attack by you and it worked. We have only to think of something similar, something he would never expect. I will work with you. He will not think a woman would do such a thing. Do not smile, Alexander, I am serious.” 

He bent his dark head to kiss her. She was so beautiful to him in every way. When he looked at her, she warmed him. When she talked this way, she melted his heart.

 “You are incapable of harming a fly, Miah. You would want to aid me; indeed you would try, but the healer in you would prevent you from destroying another. Even the demons. And Luther is not like the demons you have seen or heard of. He appears beautiful and is more deadly than all others. You would hesitate, and he would kill you. I would never allow such an event to take place.” 

“Then do not confront him until we come up with a plan that will work,” Miah said decisively. “I will not give you to him so easily. I will not, Alexander. You must defeat him and live.”

 “We have been tied together two thousand years,” he replied sadly. ”We are tied together now. What happens to you happens to me. I will not allow him to take you with him,” she said furiously. Her silken hair went flying in all directions.

 “He cannot have you, Alexander. He is using his voice to defeat you, using your own emotions. You are an ancient and the strength of your love is vast. He knows you feel for him while he cannot. It is his advantage. You must separate what remains on this earth from what was lost to you. He is no longer Luther, your twin, your hero; he is foul and unclean and it was his choice.” Alexander shook his head. 

“I wish that were true, my love. It would make my task so much easier, but Luther did not have a choice. He waited long with me, far past the time he would have met the dawn. He waited to protect me even though he lost his emotions centuries before I did. He waited too long for my sake. In the end he was unable to make a rational choice. He was too close. He rose without me and it was done.” He bowed his head in shame. 

“I was struggling with the demon. It was with me endlessly, calling, whispering that all was lost to me. I thought I would rise undead if I did not choose the dawn. There was so much death around us, so much violence. I often wonder if my struggle pushed him over the edge.”

 Miah flung her arms around his neck. “Do not do that to yourself, Alexander. We have enough burdens to bear in our lives without taking on those that belong to others. You must honor Luther’s last request and defeat him. Remember your true brother, the one who shared your life for those two thousand years. He fought to protect you that you might find me, and you have. Your real brother would want your life, not your death.”

 He brushed at the silken ebony strands tumbling around her face.

 “You have given me food for thought, Miah. In the meantime, I must hunt this night for the lesser demons that have invaded the city. They are a foul stench in the air, impossible to ignore.

 “I will send out the quilts and stained-glass pieces I have been working on. I do have a business to run,” Miah said, trying to think of mundane things so that she wouldn’t live in terror of what Luther might do to Alexander. 

“There is no need for worry,” he said softly, his voice magic and so pure Miah felt instantly better. He was like a clear breeze blowing through her body, removing the terrible fear. Miah knew he was using his voice, his magical voice to aid her, but she didn’t mind. She pressed her hands to her stomach and thought of their baby for further comfort. Alexander, like all of their race, would believe she carried a male child. Yet she knew she carried one of the precious females. She had a daughter. 

Fragile. So very vulnerable. Miah took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Was their baby one of the rare females because she had succeeded for a short while in changing her body chemistry enough to walk in the sun? As a healer it was all important to find that answer. Female children were so unusual within their race, and very few managed to survive the nine months’ gestation. 

The one in a century that did, still had to face that difficult first year of life. Miah did not want to have to face that fight without Alexander. She did not want to lose her child and not have him beside her, rock steady, to lean on. Alexander’s eyes met hers with sudden understanding. He caught her to him, nearly crushing her slender body in his arms. Yet at the same time, he held her so tenderly he made her want to cry. 

“It is impossible. Our family produced only one daughter in eight hundred years. Before that, it was nearly a thousand years and she did not survive. We cannot be so blessed as to have a girl.” Miah leaned into him, savoring the heat of his skin, his masculine frame, so different from her own. “I examined her earlier while you went out to feed. The child is female and she clings to life stubbornly. I do not want to face this test alone, Alexander. Find a way to live for us. You are right about Shaina. Without my aid, without her belief in me, she would slip back into her mind. We would surely lose another of our males to the demons. More than that, we would be without a brilliant, rare treasure. I cannot do it without you, Alexander. Live for us.” 

He buried his face in the silken curtain of her hair. “I can do no other than as you command, my love. It is my duty to see to your happiness. I will find a way.” He meant it. She could hear the resolve in his voice. The weariness was gone, as was the acceptance of his own destruction. Luther had held him for two thousand years. Miah would not give him up so easily to his dark twin.

 She would fight with every cell in her body, every weapon she possessed to keep him with her. Luther would not win. It didn’t matter that he was Alexander’s twin and had been a great man once; he was now the biggest threat to her family. She would find a way to combat him. There was a way. Somehow. There was a way. They clung to each other for a few minutes longer, each aware of the other’s thoughts, each determined to find a way to defeat the ultimate demon. “You must go,” Miah finally whispered reluctantly. 

“I have so much to do this rising, and I must attend to Shaina. I have neglected so many of my responsibilities.” Alexander’s smile was slow and sexy, heart-stopping. “I am very pleased that I was able to provide such a distraction for you.” For no reason at all, Miah found herself blushing. At once she ducked her head so her hair fell around her face, protecting her. He laughed softly. “My beautiful woman, I cannot believe you are blushing after all that we have done together.” “At least you didn’t mention my age,” she said. 

“I am not that unbalanced, although I will admit I do not have much practice with women.” He bowed, that curiously courtly bow that always made her breath stop. Miah glared at him. “Go away, Alexander, you have that look in your eyes and I have much to do.” His hand moved possessively over the long curtain of her black hair. “Nothing is more important than satisfying the needs of your lifemate.” His face was innocent and very serious. Miah blinked once, then gave him a good hard shove. “Go tell it to the last century, ancient one. I am a modern woman with many commitments.”