My Forbidden Desire by Carolyn Jewel Page B

a sob, but it didn’t work. God, what a pathetic noise that was. “I can’t live like that. Knowing the truth about what it is. I won’t.”
    Xia slid to the edge of the mattress and extended a hand to her. “Come here.”
    “What for?”
    He made a face. “Just do it, all right?”
    She put her hand in his, and he pulled her onto the bed. Alexandrine knelt on the mattress, talisman in her hand while he grabbed the broken ends of the thong and tied them together. He put the thong around her neck.
    “I don’t want it.” But she was still gripping the carving like her life depended on her holding it.
    “It’s going to take some doing to get that off you without damaging you.” His palm lingered on her nape. “I can’t do it here. Not now. That kind of magic takes preparation. You understand me?”
    “But you’ll get it off me, right?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “I will.” He pried her fingers open. “I’m just going to look at it, all right?”
    “Okay.” She felt like her mind was being split in two. Half of her wanted to stop him from even looking at the amulet, and the other half, apparently the weaker half, wanted him to take it off her, because she knew she didn’t have the strength to do it by herself. Not again.
    She ended up putting her hands on his shoulders for balance. He went still. Statue still. Then, after a bit, he tilted back, taking her with him so that the amulet swung away from her body. He slid two fingers behind the carved stone.
    The very minute his hands touched the amulet, she fell into his mind. God, it was crazy insane. Things like that didn’t happen. Couldn’t happen. People didn’t leave their bodies and go visit someone else’s head. But the world dropped away. She was touching Xia’s mind, and what she found there brought a scream to her throat.

    Chapter 9
    A lexandrine fell and fell without hitting bottom, and when the whirling sensation stopped at last, Xia’s mind surrounded her. He wasn’t doing anything about it, not yet. In the first instant of their touching, she knew him immediately and intimately. His hatred of her went bone-deep. He hated her for what she was. For being a witch. For being Rasmus Kessler’s daughter. But he wanted her, too, and that was scary, feeling all that hatred and desire coming at her. At the center of what he was, there was a cold, deep universe that pulsed in time with the beat of her heart. Magic. His magic. Narcotic magic.
    As her dizziness receded, she got flashes of his physical experiences. He gripped her amulet so tight the edges cut into his palm. The sharp bite of the stone hurt her, too. His other hand was in contact with her. Or maybe that was her touching him.
    Disoriented by her inability to separate his sensory information from hers, she swayed. The motion helped her separate herself from him. She tried to right herself but couldn’t, because she didn’t know which way was up or down, left or right. Fear vibrated through her with a low bass tone so subtle she almost didn’t recognize what it was. It was Xia’s power flowing through her.
    This can’t be happening.
    She flattened her hands over her ears. “Get out of my head.”
    “Alexandrine.”
    He was so achingly beautiful. His voice was so beautiful; she wanted to listen to him forever. Especially if he said her name like that, slow and soft. Her head cleared a little. Not much. And when it did, her stomach rolled up. She pried open her eyes and found herself looking into Xia’s neon blue gaze.
    “Alexandrine,” he said again.
    Her dizziness faded enough for her to realize she was still kneeling, still gripping his shoulders, and that he was on his knees, too. He had an arm around her waist. Underneath her shirt. An accident, that. He only meant to keep her from falling backward off the bed. Nevertheless, his fingers splayed over her bare back. He clutched the amulet in his other hand, and she could still feel the pain in his hand.
    “Breathe,” he