"I am-I..." she felt a lump form in her throat. He wasn"t being fair! Her emotions were in conflict with each other and she didn"t know what to do. No it wasn"t that. She knew what she wanted but she was scared.

The lord sighed before turning around to face her. When he looked at her, he decided not to push her any further. The poor thing seemed lost.

Raising his hand, he waited for her to hold it which she did, placing her small hand on his hand. He pulled her carefully, as if any harsh movement would send her scurrying away from him which he didn"t want. He hugged her, keeping her that way for a long time and feeling her hands meekly clutch the cloak he wore. That was an improvement, he noted.

Heidi didn"t know for how long they stood there like that with his arms around her. To her surprise, his chest felt warm and cozy. He smelt musky, sweet like where home was. She didn"t deny her feelings for him and he knew that well.

"It would a taboo, an affair," she murmured softly.

"Sweetheart," he called her endearingly when they pulled apart. Pus.h.i.+ng her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ear, "I am sorry...I told I would wait but I turned impatient. I might seem like a patient man but I am not. I like you. A lot more than Warren or any man could," he gave her an apologetic smile.

"What if I say yes?" she asked softly.

"Things will roll the way they have been working and you will behave like the proper fiance you are with Warren. We wouldn"t want any suspicion caused. But do remember this, just because I want you that doesn"t mean I am not allowed to feed on any other women. I don"t want to risk taking blood from you because that might not be the only thing I take from you. Once the truce dissolves, I will put all my attention on you. Okay?" he asked her in a cheerful voice. Was this his way of telling he would not touch another woman? Her cheeks turned warm at the thought of the future.

"Okay..." she trailed in agreement.

"See, was it that hard to decide?"

"It is really hard to know what you"re thinking," she confessed and seeing him smile she wondered if he was up to something, "It feels like you"re still planning something?"

"I plan to steal you away from my cousin," he replied back spontaneously, "Do you know how much I have been wanting to weave my hands through your beautiful hair. To entangle my fingers as I kiss these lips of yours," he hadn"t kissed her yet her breath had turned shallow with the mere words he spoke. She felt him graze his thumb over her bottom lip.

He didn"t even need to steal the forbidden fruit from the orchard. The apple had fallen right in the palm of his hand and he had no plan to leave it, Nicholas thought seeing her look at him anxiously.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he took her to the side so that they could sit.

"I read that vampires have cold skin with frozen heart. But yours, you have a warmer temperature and your heart beats too," it wasn"t that it was always warm, the temperature of his skin felt like any humans skin would.

"The one you speak of holds true for the average vampires. It is different for the pure blooded vampires," he stated, leaning his back against the wall, "There is a reason why people fear the purebloods. Apart from living the longest out of all the races, and the fact that it would take more than a stake to kill us, some of us are gifted."

"Gifted?"

"You could consider it to be an ability which differs from one pureblood to another. Sometimes...even the one who is gifted would mistake it to be something else. Not much research has been done on it, or rather you could say people aren"t aware of it. It"s secret not everybody shares."

"Are you one of them then?"

"Curious little thing, aren"t you. If I told you it wouldn"t be a secret anymore now, would it?" he chuckled.

A week pa.s.sed by and Heidi heard from Stanley how a new edict had already been placed on the four empires for a period of a month. Had the number of death rate increased to the point where they had to take drastic measures to implement a new edict? When she asked Stanley, the butler had called the south lord an imbecile blockhead who would be the only one to come up with a resort to divide the humans and vampires.

Now that she was officially engaged to Warren, Venetia, Warren"s mother expected her to spend more time at their mansion from morning till late noon along with her and their relatives. This led to her spending less time at the Rune"s mansion as well as around Nicholas. She wasn"t sure if she had to be sad or thankful about it. Just because the lord carried a placid face around the Bonelake empire, that didn"t mean it was the same when it was only him and her. He was teaseful as ever, sometimes even testing her by using a woman to flirt when she was around. He was a s.a.d.i.s.t, if she wasn"t sure about it before she definitely was now.