Highland Vampire Read Online Free PDF

savoring the scent of roses, was exactly why Jankyn was not the man for her. He could not have even looked out upon the garden if the sun was shining in the window.
    "Greetings, Efrica."
    Startled, she looked around and saw David sitting on the floor, his back against the stone wall. That was odd enough, but looking more closely, she realized he looked pale. As she stepped closer, she also noticed that he trembled slightly. Quickly kneeling by his side, she lightly touched his face, wondering if he was fevered.
    "Are ye ill?" she asked.
    "Nay, only weakened." He smiled faintly. "I took Mistress Fiona for a stroll in the gardens and lingered longer than was wise. ‘Twill pass. I can abide the sun, ye ken, but must be wary when 'tis at its strongest, and I forgot that for a wee while."
    Efrica sat down beside him. She wondered how long he had sat here, for she had not seen him or Fiona in the gardens. He had the look of his father despite his dark red hair. The purity of his features, his lean, graceful body, and his dark golden eyes marked him as a MacNachton. Obviously there were other less welcome similarities as well.
    "Do ye need anything? I could help ye to your chambers."
    "Nay. Och, aye, a wee bit of Father's wine might speed my recovery, but I try to resist that cure. I wish to marry, ye ken, and that sort of thing can alarm a wife."
    "Aye, but do ye mean to ne'er tell your wife about the MacNachtons? Ne'er return to Cambrun?"
    He shook his head. "Nay, I willnae live a lie nor scorn my kinsmen." He sat up a little straighter. "I want to wed Mistress Fiona, and it appears her family welcomes my wooing of her. I have begun to carefully prepare the way for the truth, though it may need to be hidden from her kinsmen, at least for a while. Howbeit, I cannae hide all that I am from my wife, can I?"
    "Nay, ye cannae. Especially if ye feel the need to, weel, mark her as your mate."
    David nodded. "I feel it. That will be the hardest thing to explain. I fear I could lose her because of it, but I will have to tell her ere we wed. I but hope to make her love me enough to accept it all."
    Thinking of how the dainty, brown-haired Fiona looked at David, Efrica smiled. "I think she does care for you."
    "I think so, too, but it needs to be deep and strong. Father warned me that some women cannae accept it all. Aye, my mother couldnae. 'Tis why she wouldnae marry him. That and the fact that she foresaw how he would look as she aged, that he would soon look more like her son than her husband."
    Efrica knew that feeling. "That could also cause ye some trouble, I suppose."
    "I dinnae think I am of that ilk. I have aged as I should thus far. I dinnae heal as easily or as fast, either. Most of us who are bred of both worlds do live long lives, but nay so long as to raise much more than admiration in others." He started to stand up, smiling when Efrica moved to help him. "My strength is returning. Since meeting Fiona, I have occasionally cursed my heritage, but there are some verra good things about it, too."
    When he took a step, he was a little unsteady, and Efrica quickly linked her arm through his. "Do ye want to go to your father now?"
    "Wheesht, nay. I just need a bed to lie on, and mine suits as weel as his. He isnae in his chambers now, anyway, but in the ledger room, or whate'er it is called. He has been hard at work in his search this last sennight."
    Efrica ignored the curiosity in the look he gave her as she walked with him. "He said something about researching his heritage, but exactly what does he search for? I thought the MacNachtons had already gathered all that was kenned about their heritage yet he apparently has some questions about his own."
    "He does. We dinnae ken it all. 'Tis difficult for a MacNachton to travel in search of information, aye? Dangerous, as weel. Not long afore our laird wed Lady Bridget, one of ours was caught whilst aroaming and brutally executed. The priest of a village declared him a demon, ye