All That Bleeds by Frost Kimberly

Author:Frost, Kimberly [Frost, Kimberly]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781101553879
Publisher: Penguin Group
Published: 2012-01-02T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Merrick said he wanted to see the area she’d walked through on her way home from the Xenakis party, so she led him out the back door to the lakeside path.

“Tell me what it’s like to wield the muse magic.”

“You expect me to answer questions when you don’t?” she asked.

He shrugged, the hint of a smile playing at his lips.

“That hardly seems fair.”

“If life were fair, we would’ve been lovers the first weekend we met,” he said.

She slid a glance at him and raised her brows. If he thought he could continue to throw her off balance by flirting, he was mistaken. She was, after all, an experienced public figure, and she was certainly used to being propositioned by men. The only reason he’d flustered her at all was because she was attracted to him, too. But she realized there was an advantage to his being different. With a lot of men, she had to walk a tightrope by flirting in a way that made them feel good without promising too much. Yet Merrick flaunted his unflappable control, making her trust it. Also, being outside, bathed in the afternoon light, their walk was very public.

She smiled at him and widened her eyes with mock innocence. “From the very first weekend?” The back of her hand brushed his arm in a light caress. “And, if it had started then, would we still be lovers after all these years? If life were fair?”

“What do you think?”

She paused thoughtfully, then shook her head. “I doubt it. By nature, muses flit. Lots of passionate love affairs. Men, though not always prone to monogamy themselves, don’t like to share. Long relationships are hard to sustain. Before my parents’ generation, muses either didn’t marry or they married a lot.”

He smirked.

“Ventala aren’t known for their long attachments either,” she said. “Our correspondence probably lasted much longer than a full-blown affair would have. Maybe we’re lucky there was a wall,” she said. “What do you think?”

“Anticipation can eclipse actual events, and I do like my letters. The way the ink soaks into the heavy bond paper. The sexy sweep of the letters.” He licked his lips. “You’ll have to work pretty hard to be better in the flesh.”

She laughed. “A challenge. I do like challenges.” She glanced at the lake, a glacial blue stretching to the far shore and a thick forest of evergreens. “You asked what it’s like to wield muse magic. The magic can be used in a couple different ways. The side effect of having it is being able to infuse my voice with persuasive power to influence people, but I don’t use that much because it borrows power that should be used for greater things. Using power for persuasion is also against Etherlin rules, but you may have noticed that I occasionally break Etherlin rules,” she said, shrugging her brows.

“Using it for inspiration with aspirants, that begins like a dance, an exchange of energy and ideas. I can almost share their thoughts and follow them forward.

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