Dark Curse by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online Page A

seduction that slid over her senses, like velvet playing over her skin, arousing her. Lara had heard those words before, long ago when the aunts sang her to sleep. They sang of a great love story. A man—as dark as sin. A woman—bright as light. Only that woman could save him from the worst suffering of honorable death, or the worst fate of becoming the vampire. She had the power to restore his lost emotions, to restore bright, beautiful colors to the world. The love story had been the one beautiful thing in her life as a child and she had clung to it, needing something to hang on to.
    Te avio päläfertiilam. Éntölam kuulua, avio päläfertiilam . You are my lifemate. I claim you as my lifemate. The words were so beautiful, so connecting, she could feel them echo in her heart and mind. They had been the words in her story and she dreamt of them, thought them romantic. But the man hadn't been so seductively beautiful and so utterly dangerous. And he certainly hadn't taken his lady's blood without permission. It was wrong. A violation she would not permit.
    Ted kuuluak, kacad, kojed . I belong to you. É lidamet andam . I offer my life for you. As he spoke the words in that perfectly calm, soft voice, he gripped the handle of the knife and yanked it from his body. Blood gushed down his side. He held out the weapon to her, handle first.
    Lara swallowed hard, raising her gaze from the wound to his face. There was no anger. No expression at all. Just a strange serenity that shook her. She moistened her suddenly dry lips and reached out to take the knife. Her fingertips brushed his. Electricity sizzled up her arm. He merely opened his arms wide, presenting his heart as a target.
    Pesämet andam. Uskolfertiilamet andam. Sívamet andam. Sielamet andam. Ainamet andam . His teeth flashed very white in the darkness. "I give you my protection. I give you my allegiance. I give you my heart. I give you my soul. I give you my body."
    She realized he wasn't talking figuratively, but literally. He was offering to stand there while she drove a knife into his heart and took his life. This was no vampire. She had no real idea of what he was, but the words he was uttering were in the Carpathian language, a language as ancient as her aunts had been. And the words were a ritual that bound two halves of the same soul together. She had never believed in that love story, not truly, even though she knew the kinds of things that could be wrought with elements and energy and magic. But as he spoke each word in that soft, seductive tone, his black eyes glittering with possession and absolute determination, she could feel the ties forging like steel between them.
    "Are you crazy? You have to be out of your mind. Don't stand there like an idiot. You need to stop the bleeding."
    His eyes never left her face. Sívamet kuuluak kaik että a ted. Ainaak olenszal sívambin . "I take into my keeping the same that is yours. Your life will be cherished by me for all my time."
    She flung her head up, her red braid whipping across her shoulder, glacier blue eyes crackling and glittering with anger. "Really? Is this what you call cherishing me?" She pressed a hand to her neck where the thin trickle of blood continued. "You took from me without permission. Without asking. Without one thought for how I might feel."
    All the while she reprimanded him, her gaze kept dropping to the blood pooling at his side. He had to stop it. If he was Carpathian—and he had to be—he could close the wound on his own and keep his life's essence from flowing away.
    Te élidet ainaak pide minan . "Your life will be placed above my own for all time." His expression didn't change. He kept his arms outstretched, presenting her with a kill target. His black gaze never left her face. His expression was utter, absolute serenity, although his eyes blazed with a dark possession.
    Fury shook her. "You won't have a life if you don't heal yourself."
    Te avio päläfertiilam. Ainaak sívamet