Velvet Haven

he was becoming a bloody watering pot.
    “Can’t you just accept me for what I am?”
    Her voice was muffled against his chest. He pulled her back and looked down into her face. “Yes. But I don’t know if I can live with the idea of you in pain.”
    “This is all new, Bran—to me, too. I just need to figure out how to control it. Tonight the pain ruled me. I need to find a way to keep it at bay so that I’m not overpowered by it. I will find a way, because this is how I am, this is why I was born. I was born to save you, and I was born to love you. None of that is going to change just because you don’t want it to be that way. This is how He made me.”
    “And, damn, he made you perfect, muirnin .”
    She jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him tight. She felt so right in his arms. Her energy, that addicting essence of hers, poured into him, and he buried his face in her hair. “Together we’ll find a way for you to get through this. I’ll find a way.”
    “I trust you, Bran. Now it’s your turn to trust me.”
    “I trust you,” he murmured, hugging her tight. “It’s your God I’m questioning.”
    “Don’t. Just believe that this is the way it’s supposed to be.”
    Bran closed his eyes and rested his chin on top of her head. Her teeth began to chatter and he realized she was still wet from her bath.
    “Warm me up,” she ordered, and he carried her to his chamber, where the large stone hearth blazed with light and heat.
    He set her on the floor atop a pile of furs and dried her with a soft towel.
    “This is very . . . medieval,” she said with a smile. “I like Annwyn.”
    “Our ways are old. We worship the moon, the stars, the trees.”
    “Like Druids?”
    “Who do you think gave the Druids their religion?”
    “The Sidhe?”
    “Yes.” He set aside the towel and lay down behind her, warming her back while the fire heated her front.
    “I need some clean clothes.”
    “’Tis the custom of the queens of Annwyn to go unclothed.”
    “Really?”
    “They are displayed for their king’s pleasure.”
    “You’re making that up!”
    “Our ways are ancient. And it is one custom this king is not going to change.”
    Bran let his gaze roam liberally along her body. He took his time studying her, watching as the firelight kissed her flesh. His gaze flickered up to the gentle slope of her shoulder, to the curve of her neck. Reaching out, he trailed his fingers along the indentation of her waist and up and over her hip. Gooseflesh sprang to life beneath his fingers and he felt Mairi sway into him. He liked seeing his fingers against her skin, as if he were marking her for his own.
    “Muirnin?”
    “What does that mean?” she asked sleepily.
    “Beloved.”
    She sighed and snuggled her bottom into his groin. “I like that.”
    He kissed the top of her head, noticing the brilliance of her aura. Pure white. He understood it now. “Do you remember that first night in Velvet Haven?” he asked her. “When I said you were a healer?”
    She laughed. “Yes. I guess you were right.”
    “I never understood it fully. Your aura is white. It means perfect balance. Now it all makes sense. We balance each other, Mairi. You take my pain, and I heal you.”
    “Who would have thought it, that a pair of free tickets to a goth club would change my life?”
    Resting his chin on the top of her head, he smiled. “I have never been grateful for my Legacy Curse. But I am now. It brought me to you.”
    “Well, just as long as you realize when you need juice, it’s this mortal you’re sexing up.”
    He laughed and kissed the top of her head. “You are the only mortal I need.” He kissed her again and brushed his chin against her. “Tomorrow I’m taking you to the reflecting pool. I want to show you where I picked those flowers for you.”
    “Reflecting pool?”
    “Hmm,” he murmured. “You’ll like the nymphs there.”
    “Nymphs? Argh, there is so much to learn about your world.”
    “Shh, this night is only for us. There will be time tomorrow to discuss things.”
    “I have two questions that you have to answer. They’ve been burning in the back of my mind for days now.”
    “What are they?”
    “How old are you?”
    He frowned, knowing where Mairi was going with this. “I stopped counting at three hundred.”
    She sat up, bumping his chin with her head. “That old?”
    “I’m still considered in my prime.”
    She smiled and brushed her fingers