Chosen: Book 1 in the Ancients of Light series by Heather Fleener Page B

adherence to the religious
teachings shepherded by Myrrdyn. As one in Myrrdyn’s own line it
made sense the girl would follow him in all things, Realm and
religious. Lorcan tapped lightly at the gold piece before he
laughingly swept her up into the cradle of his arms and turned
towards the keep, “You’ll be teaching me to pray, Witch.”
     
     

CHAPTER 12
    His good humor from earlier in the evening
returned as Lorcan shadowed them both to the landing of the stone
steps that climbed to the doors of the keep. He turned back to the
crowd that had begun to follow and nodded meaningfully to the dark
haired minx. She was now acting totally contrary to her earlier
display of bravado, trying to remove herself from their stares by
burrowing as close as possible in the fold of his arms. “Kaitriana
is my charge and mine to protect. Any actions to harm this one will
be met with my full and unrestrained wrath.”
    Had his familiarity with the witch and the
light-hearted behavior of their fierce warlord not already caused
murmurs of speculation to begin within the assembled Coven, his
speech would have. Hundreds of faces gazed on in wonder at the
pair; none would dare defy his orders. Lorcan still took it a step
further than required, “Any service you give or deny Kaitriana, you
give or deny me. Be mindful of it.”
    The status he had granted Kaitriana was lost
on her, being unfamiliar with intricacies of the social order
within the Coven of the Vampire. She did appreciate his affirmation
of her protection and felt a twinge of guilt over the surly
behavior she had exhibited a few moments before. Additionally, she
had noted that the lights flanking the doors outside the structure
were modern and electrical powered. That helped bolster her spirits
and her hopes that he too would have one of those bathtub things.
She granted him a hesitant smile and then proceeded to nibble at
her lip, fretting that her earlier behavior may have irritated
him.
    Lorcan frowned down at her as he strode
through the iron doors. Waiting, so that his words would be for her
alone, he gave her a squeeze to accompany his reprimand, “Stop
that.”
    Her frown conveyed her lack of understanding,
what had she done but smile at him after all? Bad humor returning
instantly, her random thought was that she should give him webbed
feet for the night. She glanced back up, noting that his gaze
remained fixed at the corner of her lip. Kaitriana could taste the
salty tang of blood there, evidence of the damage her new fangs had
caused. Understanding dawned; the vampire did not like the scent of
her witchy blood apparently. It wasn’t as though she had given herself fangs, nor purposefully used the
awkward things to inflict injury on her lip. Further, she was
certain that her blood was as good as any, probably better in fact.
More likely, her blood was fabulous given
that she had not started life as a rotten leech.
    She was riled. Given her contrary state, the
realization that he might find her witch-mixed self distasteful
resulted in her harder bite of fang to lip. Blood welled up. In
reaction, his head back dropped back on his shoulders as a loud
groan escaped and his arms tightened reflexively around her. Lorcan
shadowed them to his rooms.
    Arriving in the very center of the chamber in
the comfortable cradle of his arms, Kaitriana was momentarily
distracted. She took note of the large fire in the hearth on the
stone wall that faced the foot of his bed. The overall warmth of
the room generally was highly appealing. Her eyes touched on the
modern lighting and furniture and raised again her hopes for that
hot bath.
    Lorcan gave her a few seconds, eyeing her as
she looked over his things. He then lifted her higher in his arms
and instantly had her full attention. Tempting himself beyond
reason, he lowered his face until it was a mere inch from hers, “If
you do not stop spilling your own blood Kaitriana, I will be hard
pressed to keep my fangs from your neck. This time