Darkness Rises by Dianne Duvall

Author:Dianne Duvall [Duvall, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Paranormal
ISBN: 9781420129793
Publisher: Zebra Books
Published: 2013-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Krysta strolled through Duke’s campus, Étienne at her side. Her mind raced with everything she had learned earlier. Her heart raced at his nearness.

Oddly, it almost felt as if they were out on a date.

Maybe he was just naturally gallant, opening the car door for her, often guiding her with a hand on her lower back. Even his speech sometimes seemed old worldish.

He was from another era.

“This is so weird,” she said.

“What is?” he asked, his sharp eyes searching every shadow.

He had said he loved strong women. Well, apparently she adored strong men, because in his warrior mode he was breath-stealingly, heart-racingly appealing.

Tearing her gaze away from her gorgeous companion, Krysta kept an eye out for glowing orange auras. “Me walking and talking with a man born in the nineteenth century.”

“Actually, I was born in the eighteenth century. Seventeen eighty three, to be exact.”

Unreal. She was lusting after a man born over two hundred years before she had been born. “So, you lived through the French Revolution?”

He nodded. “The Reign of Terror.”

Honestly she had forgotten almost everything she had learned about the French Revolution and knew only the dates (roundabout) and that thousands had died under the guillotine. She wanted to ask if he had lost anyone to Madame Guillotine, but thought it too morbid. “That must have been . . .”

“Bad,” he said, his face clouding.

She shouldn’t have said anything.

Then she realized . . . “You lived during Napoleon’s reign?”

He nodded. Glancing at her from the corner of his eye, he smiled faintly. “Your mouth is hanging open again.”

“I’ll bet it is.” This was so crazy. “Was Napoleon really short like everyone says?”

“Oui.”

“How many languages do you speak?”

“Not many. I’m fluent in half a dozen or so and know a phrase here or there in half a dozen more.”

“That many?”

“Older immortals know far more. Seth knows them all. David, too, most likely.”

“All?”

“Even those that have long since been forgotten.”

Krysta wished she were fluent in more than one language. She had learned Spanish in high school, but had forgotten most of it. And her college career had been cut short by a vampire attack and her resulting obsession with hunting vamps.

“Say something else in French,” she requested.

A series of lilting indecipherable words flowed smoothly from his tongue.

“What did you say?” she asked curiously.

“Something I can’t repeat without you either blushing furiously or striking me.”

“Was it naughty?” she asked with a smile.

His smile turned wicked. “Very naughty.”

Now she really wanted to know what he had said.

“Does it trouble you?” he asked hesitantly.

“What? You talking dirty to me in French?”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, that I’ve lived so long.”

“No.” And she wasn’t sure why. “Maybe because you don’t look your age.”

He grimaced. “I should hope not.”

Quiet fell.

A breeze ruffled their hair. His, she knew from burying her fingers in it, was thick and as soft as silk.

“This isn’t working,” he pronounced.

Crap. She shouldn’t have brought up his age. “Why? Is it because you think I’m too young for you?”

“What?” He stopped walking and faced her.

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