Sanctifying Grace (Resurrection) by Elizabeth Davies Read Free Book Online Page A

considered him vampire material (I couldn’t see it myself). That was the only reason Wil had been told. Roman had trusted me with this darkest of secrets for no other reason than he wanted to.
    Wil wasn't happy when I told him.
    ‘You may share his bed,’ he retorted, ‘but I share his mind.’ And on that note he stalked out of the study.
    I rubbed my hands across my face, weary and a little heart-sore. But I did wonder if Wil really understood what kind of mind it was he thought he shared. I had seen for myself how utterly ruthless and alien Roman could be. Had he let Wil see that side of him? Or was Wil being seduced by the polish and charm that Roman exuded? Did Wil truly realise he would soon be tasting the blood he was so arduously studying?
    I had an awful feeling Roman was making a mistake in choosing Wil to be his regalato, but I couldn’t decide whether it was only my dislike and jealousy of Wil that was colouring my opinion.
    I shrugged. Roman read humans the way a literary critic read novels. To him, we were as transparent as children are to their parents. Roman couldn’t be wrong.
    Could he?
     
     
    By the time Roman had risen, just as the sun sank below the horizon (how he knew when this was, if the day was cloudy, was a mystery to me) and had retreated to the study to discuss the events of the day, it was going on nine thirty.
    Roman invited Wil to join us for dinner, (well, me really, because my lover didn’t partake of dinner in the accepted sense: he had his own meal planned) as he did every evening. Wil declined as usual, refusing to look at me. He didn’t want to spend any more time with me than I did with him. Good . I could live with that, for now. But what would happen when Roman resurrected Wil? Would I ever get Roman on his own or would he have to spend all of his time and energy making sure Wil didn’t kill anyone? Admittedly, this depended on whether I would make another trip to the past. The time between our two eras was becoming rapidly shorter: Roman’s time and mine were soon to converge. And what would happen then?
    Wil sorted himself out in the food department and Roman took me to yet another restaurant and watched me eat.
    Will was working in the study when we returned. Roman hesitated by the door, so slightly that if I hadn’t been looking directly at him I would have missed it.
    ‘Go ahead, if you want,’ I said, my off-hand tone at odds with my dismay. I didn’t know how much longer I was to be here; it had been four nights already, almost a record apart from that extended stay during the twelfth century, and I wanted to spend every waking minute with him.
    ‘No, for now I will remain with you. But if you stay in my time any longer then I will need to give Wil more of my attention.’
    ‘Ok ay.’ It wasn't really, but I had no right to object. His life continued without me and decades, even centuries passed when I failed to appear to him. I couldn’t expect everything to stop just because I had turned up.
    ‘His work is at a critical point,’ Roman explained. ‘I only brought him with me to Brecon because the laboratory is not yet complete and until the last pipette is in place, Wil can work on his equations and formulae just as eas ily here as in the laboratory. But he will have to check on progress soon.’ He paused, not sure if I understood. ‘I will have to go with him.’
    ‘Ah.’  Now I got it: if Roman left Brecon then I would almost certainly return to my own time.
    The sudden prickling of tears behind my eyes was almost painful and I battled not to let them fall. I didn’t want to believe Roman would leave me knowing I couldn’t possibly be here when he returned. It appeared he was choosing Wil over me, but in reality, he was choosing his interest and dedication to his science over the inexplicable phenomenon that was me. I was an enigma, a curiosity, something that couldn’t be rationalised. Yet, his understandable fascination with blood was fuelled