“But you do it with such ease.”

“I am a very powerful Egyptian priest who has been spellcasting through over a dozen resurrections. There is only one spellcaster more powerful than I am and she is no more.”

“All right. So what do we do now?”

“Now? Now we get dressed, for I find it hard to think when I know you are so readily naked.”

She laughed at him. “I could say the same!”

He looked down at his bare body. “Although, it might make the Phoenixes feel right at home.”

“True!” She lifted her chin and dropped the coverlet to the floor. “Let’s go!”

He got his first real look at her fully naked body and his reaction was instant and blinding. She was pale perfection, only the tips of her fair pink nipples providing color on an otherwise monochromatic theme. But her paleness suited her, like the white of a living marble statue, all alabaster curves made warm and inviting; crafted by an artist’s loving touch. All of this tempted him beyond reason. He could smell her still…only now she smelled of him and the knowledge was provocative.

He still did not know what had come over him; how he had managed to find himself with a lover after so many years of abstinence. And it wasn’t as though he had put any effort into that abstinence. It had just come to be. It had suited him well. Sex was such a messy thing.

And now he wanted to get messy. With her.

His aroused thoughts were reflected onto his body and she went prettily pink along her cheeks as she noticed.

“No,” he said, turning to face her and touching long fingers to the delicate curve of her collarbone. “None will see you like this save me.” He traced the bone to the hollow at the base of her throat and touched that vulnerable spot. “Are we agreed on that?”

“I…I don’t want anyone else to see me like this except for you,” she said.

“Then we are of like mind on this. I hope it is a sign we will be of like mind on other things as well.” His words were loaded with sensual promise, and it was not lost on her.

“And I can see you…” She reached out and fingered the tattoo on the back of his shoulder, a twisting together of snakes each devouring the tail of the other. “What is this?” she asked him.

“It is the ouroboros. It appears on the skin when a Bodywalker enters the body of a human. It can show up in a variety of places. For me, it is there.”

“It’s very pretty.”

He smiled at that. “Thank you,” he said.

Then she bent to fetch her dress from the floor. His eyes didn’t miss a single millimeter of movement. She slipped the dress on, hiding almost all of her pale prettiness from view.

“Your turn,” she said. She picked up his boxer-briefs and shyly handed them to him. He found himself resisting the urge to chuckle. What was it about her that made him feel so much lighter? Light enough to laugh even when things were so damned serious?

He took the underwear from her and put it on. He then fetched the rest of his clothes and in short order was impeccably dressed once more, as though their liaison had never happened. But it had happened and the proof of it was in the delicious way she smelled. His mark was all over her.

And it wasn’t enough, he realized immediately. Not for a day. Not for a time. He wanted her for more than he dared to hope. It could go nowhere, he deserved nothing as amazing as she was and he had no life to offer her, but he would steal her for a little while. Would keep her to himself like a treasured secret. If she would have him. She still did not understand the scope of his crimes against her and all things living. Were he a more honorable man he would tell her and be done with it, but he didn’t want the teasing light in her eyes to go away.

This was exactly the sort of selfish behavior that had gotten him into this mess in the first place. But clearly he had not learned his lesson well enough because he found he did not care. Truth would come to light in time. Until then, he would hold her to himself like a thirsting man would cradle a teaspoonful of water.

For Viève’s part, she looked at him with consternation. He looked as though he had never even touched her…where she was certain there were his handprints all over her skin for all to see. She would be facing the world with the knowledge that she had been fundamentally changed in this short hour. She’d had her first lover. She could tell because of the slightly sore places she felt throughout her body. Otherwise there would be nothing but an all too brief memory to go by.

She bit her lip nervously. What did this mean for them now? These had been stolen moments away from the world, but now they were heading back into it and life would continue as before. Was this all there would be? Was this all she would have? Oh, if that were the case she wished that she had paid better attention! She had been so overwhelmed by his passion that she’d been swept up more than she’d been a true participant. Now it was over and she had only memories to go by. Not nearly enough memories. She hadn’t even really gotten the chance to touch him. Not in all the ways she wanted to.

She found herself reaching out to him, her hand touching his biceps through his shirt, feeling the play of strong muscle there. He reached out for her, ringed his arm around her waist, and dragged her up against his body. Startled, she looked up into his eyes.

“We shall discuss this some more at our next opportunity,” he said, his voice a low growl of feeling.

“You mean…” She was almost afraid to ask. “You mean you wish to do this again? Another time?”

“And another. And another. As long as you will have me.” He frowned then. “But Viève, there are things about me, about my past, that I am afraid will take you away from me eventually. Know that, even though I am too cowardly to tell you what they are, I do not mean to purposely deceive you. I simply…” She watched him swallow. “I simply need, for a moment, to be with someone who does not see me as the villain that I am. It is selfish, I know, and I fear the way this may come to make you feel, but I am hoping this moment of honesty will be enough for you to realize I would never mean to cause you any pain, and so perhaps you will be better able to bear my deception.”

“What is it you think you have done? I cannot imagine it being as bad as all that. You do not seem to be a villain to me.”

“The words of a naïve woman. But,” he said quickly before she could take offense, “I like that you are so able to see a part of me that might yet be redeemable.”