NocC 026 - Lauren Hawkeye - The Darkling's Desire - Harlequin 2012-11 by Nocturne Read Free Book Online Page B

amongst the Darklings, a human with a touch of other who understood them
and, more importantly, helped them.
    Anastasia decided it would be wisest to keep her mouth shut all
around.
    “Hold still.” Anastasia willed her mind to another place as
Esme scolded her and continued to doctor her hand. Jasper stood at full alert,
his stance belying his years spent as a soldier. Every few moments he paced to
the window, stared out for a moment, then returned.
    Anastasia tried to tell herself that it was because he was
guarding her that he was being so distant, but deep down she knew better.
    What they had shared in the woods had been the result of
stress, of frustration. It had nothing to do with his feelings for her.
    Now that Jasper knew what she was, he would leave as soon as
honor told him that he could. He knew that she would no longer try to
assassinate Aubrey Hart, that she understood that they were all pawns in the
Council’s game.
    The Council would likely send someone else after Aubrey, but
his priority was Anastasia’s well-being. Darklings, as a rule, did not much care
for those beyond their outer circle.
    He was no different. Aubrey was not his concern. Anastasia was.
His presence in her life would only bring more danger to it, and so he would
finish his own mission and return to Lviv.
    He would stay far away from her, would never risk awakening her
powers, whatever they might be.
    She would never see him again.
    “I have a gift for you.” Anastasia winced as Esme
unceremoniously dunked her injured hand into a bowl that smelled of herbs and
vinegar. The tonic worked its way into her open flesh, into the pinpricks where
the needle had passed through her hand, and burned like the fires of hell.
    She hissed and, finally letting the stresses of the day take
over her, glared at Esme. The older woman simply raised an ultrathin red eyebrow
and sniffed, and Anastasia knew that she had been chastised thoroughly.
    She sulked while listening to the witch’s heels click across
the floor, crossing the room and then returning. Though she could feel Jasper’s
presence by the window, she didn’t look at him.
    It hurt too much to do so.
    “You have someplace else to be healed?” Esme again sat down
beside Anastasia and pulled her hand from the liquid with a gentleness that
didn’t match her tone. She rubbed a soft towel over the skin, wicking away the
beads of moisture, then held the hand up in the light.
    Anastasia saw that the edges of the wound had sealed themselves
together, and while the skin surrounding the cut was still a bright pink and
would probably scar, it no longer looked angry with its crimson blood and
curling skin.
    “Thank you.” Experimentally she flexed the hand, finding that
it felt much better. She looked at Esme and smiled, though she knew that the
smile didn’t reach her eyes.
    Jasper was going to leave. Any moment now he would leave.
    She was healed. He didn’t need to stay.
    Esme studied Anastasia’s face but said nothing. Instead she
pushed the book that she had retrieved from the other side of the room across
the table to Anastasia. Faded leather that might have been green once upon a
time covered the pocket-sized pages, and the smell that seeped up from the cow’s
skin was ripe with magic and age.
    Esme nodded when Anastasia looked at her questioningly, and so
Anastasia gingerly peeled the cover back from the pages. The title page was
written in a language that she didn’t understand, and she opened her mouth to
tell Esme that, but before she could speak the words rearranged themselves on
the page into English.
    Startled, she gasped. Jasper whirled around at the sound, and
she met his eyes, momentarily forgetting about the text in front of her. When he
saw that she was fine, he nodded stiffly, then turned back around.
    It was as if they had never been together. Irritated now,
Anastasia returned her attention to the witch.
    “The book will make itself readable for those who need to use
it.”