I sank my teeth into her throat and she screamed and I knew it wasn't in pain, but in the most exquisite pleasure she had ever known.

The orgasm rocked her body as I fed, and it was echoed in my own until I forced myself to release her neck, to ease my body down beside hers. I held her gently in my arms until the waves of pleasure subsided. It was, I knew, beyond ordinary release. Beyond even, preternatural sensation. Beyond anything I had ever known, and certainly far beyond anything she had ever imagined.

Breathless, she whispered, "I never knew it was...it would be like..."

"It's not. Or not with anyone else, 'Beta. It never has been."

She looked up, surprised. "Really?"

"I'm as stunned by it as you are," I told her. "Though, perhaps, not surprised. I've been told that sharing blood with one of The Chosen can be overpowering."

She snuggled closer into my arms. "It was. And wonderful. But -"

"But?" I felt the cold finger of panic touch my heart. To me, in my mind, that act of lovemaking, of blood sharing, had bound this woman to me. I thought I had claimed her as my own, and she had claimed me as hers. It hadn't occurred to me that she might feel differently. "You still have doubts?"

"I..." She seemed to search for words. "Making love to you is heaven. Beyond heaven. But it tells me nothing of living as...as you must live. Nothing of being...what you are."

I lowered my head, my heart sinking. "I thought it would be enough."

Her palm cupped my face. "It may very well be, my prince. My love. But I'm not yet at death's door.

Can you not give me time to know more? After all, it's more than the decision of a lifetime. It's a decision for all time."

"What can you learn in time that you don't already know?"

"I could be with you. Live with you. As you do."

I was impatient, angry, perhaps, but unsure why. I suppose I wanted her unabashed acceptance, rather than something so noncommittal.

"My love," she said softly. "You told me that once I knew your secrets, I would be bound to you for all my days. Be they many or be they few. I have no desire to alter that decree. I wish to be with you, from this day forward. That I know. My only uncertainty lies not with you, but with myself. I need to decide whether my days with you will be those of my mortal lifetime - or the endless days of eternity. And for that I need more time." She brushed her lips over mine. "Do you understand my feelings, love?"

I swallowed. "I do, but I don't like the notion of waiting. Anything could happen, 'Beta. As long as you remain mortal, you cling to the fragile lifetime of a mortal. The smallest accident or illness could take you from me before I could do a thing to prevent it. By the Gods, woman, your family perished of the plague."

"But I did not. It was weeks ago - and I'm not ill. Not with the plague, at least."

I sighed, pulling her tightly into my arms. "I don't think I can let you go, 'Beta."

"Give me a few days, my love. Enough to become used to this idea. Enough to...to adjust, to understand and accept. Please?"

I stared at her for a long moment, at the genuine feeling in her eyes. And at last I said, "Yes. I will give you the time you ask for, if you will give me something in return."

"Anything," she whispered, and blushing added, "though I believe I've already given you all that I have of value."

"What you've given me is priceless. What I ask is even more so. Give me your hand, Elisabeta. Be my bride. Marry me. Tonight."