“How?” Kat frowned, chilled.
“Well, take Sir Bors’s son.” Closing the oven door again, Ridge turned to lean against the counter, muscles shifting as he crossed his arms. “He was so furious when he was denied the chance to become immortal that he became a follower of a magical demon. He attempted to sacrifice Arthur in an act of death magic that would have destroyed us all. Luckily, Arthur and his knights got to him first.”
“My God.” Kat rubbed her hands over her face. “So you’re saying if I become a Maja, I won’t be able to risk children.”
Ridge shrugged. “You can have them. You may not want to raise them. Many Majae put their children up for adoption on Mortal Earth. That way the child has a chance of a reasonably happy life, without ever knowing about the one-in-a-hundred chance of winning the genetic lottery.”
“And that’s the real reason Lancelot made no attempt to contact my mother.”
“Yeah, that would be it.”
After Kat ate, she and Ridge retreated to his bedroom. “Sun’ll be coming up in an hour,” he told her.
“I’ll go into the Daysleep then.”
Kat nodded. Grace had told her vampires had to sleep during the day as their bodies recharged. They needed the magical energies of the Mageverse every bit as much as blood.
Ridge stepped closer and drew her into his arms. “But I’ve found over the years,” he purred, “you can do a lot in an hour.”
EIGHT
Ashaft of rose light woke Kat. She opened her eyes to the sight of a glowing stained-glass window, apparently designed to render the sunlight safe to vampire skin.
She blinked sleepily, enjoying the play of color through the muscular unicorn the window depicted.
Roses wreathed its thick blue neck as it pranced through a sunlit wood to greet a blond lady in a long medieval gown in dark blue and gold. Ivy twined up the great animal’s spiral horn. The woman looked as besotted with the unicorn as he did with her no-doubt virginal self.
Kat sympathized. She felt pretty besotted herself.
Turning on her side, she gazed down into Ridge’s sleeping face, painted in glowing color in the window’s light. He appeared younger asleep, his handsome features relaxed, almost boyish. A curl of dark hair brushed his forehead. His shoulders looked very broad and tanned against the soft linen sheets.
He’d made such slow, sweet love to her the night before. When they’d come, she’d seen magic burst around them like a fireworks display, though thankfully there had been no horrific visions.
Today they would make love for the third time. Chances were she’d come into her full Gift then. Ridge had said sometimes it took more than three times, though never less.
Kat almost found herself hoping it would be more, because afterward, Ridge would have no reason to stay.
Would he?
Settling onto her elbow, she frowned uneasily at the thought. Was she allowing herself to get too involved? As supportive as he’d been, she was nothing more than an assignment to him. A pleasant assignment, maybe, but still, just another mission, like all his others over six decades as a vampire of Avalon.
But Kat knew she would not forget him. Ever. She’d never had a lover like him, and it wasn’t just the biting—which was a hell of a lot more fun than she ever would have thought. Nor was it simply his lovemaking, spectacular and life-changing though it was.
It was the look on his face when he’d seen her fear for her mother, the compassion in his eyes when she’d told him about her sister’s death. And the way he’d held her before the sun came up, his arms warm and strong. As if she were something precious.
As if she were more than an assignment.
Ridge stirred, green eyes slowly opening. The sun must have set.
He smiled the moment he saw her, a lazy, sated curve of the lips, and stretched, his beautiful torso arching as he extended brawny arms. He caught her waist and tumbled her down across his chest. “That was a serious look you were wearing when I opened my eyes.”
“Thinking.”
“You know, if it’s about your sister, you don’t have to go through with this.” His gaze turned serious.
“I’m sure Lance and Grace would be happy to help me track that bastard down and take care of him.
You’d have your closure.”
Kat studied him. “But I thought you guys needed the reinforcements.”
“Yeah, but as I told you last night, there’s a price to pay, and it’s pretty steep. You can still back out.” She hesitated. “No, actually, I can’t. I need to do this, Ridge. That monster murdered my sister, destroyed my childhood, and drove my mother crazy. I want to get the bastard myself. I have to.” Then a new thought struck. Kat tilted her head, considering it. “And too, there’s the way Grace saved my mother. If I had that kind of ability, I could keep people from suffering the way I did. I could stop bastards like my sister’s killer before they had the chance to ruin so many lives. That’s worth a little sacrifice.”
Ridge nodded slowly. “Yeah, I’ve always thought so. I’ve never regretted becoming Magekind because we do so much good. But it’s not a choice to make casually.”
“I’m not making it casually.” Kat bent down and kissed him slowly, thoroughly, before lifting her head again. “But I am making it.”
Ridge smiled. One big hand lifted to trace the line of her cheekbone. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”
Kat blinked at the change of subject. “Umm.”
“Guess not.” He caught her by the back of the head and drew her down. “You are”—he breathed against her mouth—“incredibly beautiful. Those big, smoky eyes, those soft lips . . .” He kissed her, taking his time, a slow seduction of tongue and teeth and lip, teasing, yet so gentle her breath caught.
His fingers traced the line of her jaw, the rounded curve of her chin, and came to rest on her pulse, pounding hard in her throat.
Kat moaned, shivering a little at the sweet pleasures he spun with his lips, his tongue, his long fingers, the motions so delicate, yet producing such intense sensations.
“You’re good,” she panted. “Damn, you’re so good.”
He smiled as he nibbled his way down toward her br**sts. “You’re so inspiring.” When his mouth found her nipple, the pure, intense delight drew her spine into a bow. He rumbled in response to her hot reaction and settled down to lick, tongue swirling, teeth gently raking. She bit her lip and let her eyes drift closed.