Immortal Confessions Read Online Free Page B

waiting for me, even
though she was not supposed to be.
    “Where were you?” she said flatly. “Catching
deer? Or is it salmon this time, as your hair is wet?”
    “You mean trout,” I said, pushing past her.
“Salmon do not live anywhere near here, Annabelle.”
    “Don’t speak to me like I’m a child!”
    I turned and stepped into her, so we were
only a hand’s-breadth apart. To my surprise, she didn’t back down.
“What is it to you, Milady? I am not your betrothed, that you
should be concerned about my whereabouts at night.”
    “I was worried,” she said softly. “I heard
Fiona say she’d been looking for you—”
    Wonderful. There went my peaceful night.
    “— and I looked everywhere, sure you had
to be within the castle grounds, but you were not here.” She looked
at me steadily. “Is it because you are with someone else? Being
intimate with another woman?”
    I gave her a faint smile, and tilted her chin
up so we were only an inch apart. “I am with another woman, the one
I’ve been sneaking off to see.” I kissed her cheek lightly, and
then I tried for her lips, already imagining how soft they would
be.
    Instead, I got a resounding slap. It didn’t
hurt me, being vampire, but it sure got my attention.
    “Cad,” she said bitterly. “Don’t pretend that
you care for me. You’ve been here not even a fortnight, and already
bedded two different women. I’ll not be the third.”
    I gave her a wounded look, trying to regain
my composure that was for some reason failing me. “I told you why
that was. I needed a place to sleep—”
    “You had sex with them, Devlin. You were not
chastely sleeping next to them for money, as you let me believe. I
asked around. You’re infamous for the lovers you’ve had. The man I
asked went so far as to say you’d have anyone that would have
you.”
    Now I was offended. “That’s not true.”
    “Stay away from me,” she said in a warning
tone. “I’m to be married the day after tomorrow. I’m not going to
give myself to a rake who doesn’t care for me—”
    “I do care for you,” I blurted out. “It was
nice to spend those nights with you reading, to hear your passion
in your voice.”
    “Take your coin,” she said, throwing it at me
and stalking off. “And leave.”
    I stood there for some time, considering my
options. I picked the purse up, finally, trying to make sense of
all I was feeling. Then I went to Anna’s father’s study, sat in his
overstuffed chair, and settled in for the night. Going to Fiona, if
that was indeed her name, would just result in an argument, no
matter that I didn’t smell of anything but myself now. I had no
desire to bed her, even to give myself a place to sleep.
    That lasted only a half hour; the chair was
uncomfortable, being much too small. Instead, I stretched out on
the nearby sofa, and slept there. As much as I knew it was risky,
this being Anna’s father’s study, I wanted to be alone tonight. I
felt chastened by what Anna had said, though I didn’t understand
why.
    So what if she’d pointed out things about me
that weren’t noble? They were true, and that was how things were. I
was stuck in this low social class now, and there was no way I’d
ever ascend again into the upper class with no money and no name.
Hell, back then, money couldn’t buy a title, unless it was a real
fortune. So why not have the small pleasures that were allowed me?
What was wrong in that? Didn’t my immortality give me a warrant to
do what I pleased, within certain guidelines? I considered that for
a while, and wasn’t sure.
    I decided one thing that night, though. I was
going to bed Anna before I left, whatever else happened.
     

Chapter Two

    I renewed my efforts to seduce Anna the next
day. I turned up the charm, catching her alone when I could and
quoting all the romantic poetry I could remember. To my dismay, she
saw right through me. In the midst of one of my long-winded odes to
her, she told me plainly that she