分节阅读_112

  s wandering again around the
  spa.
  he followed my gaze. ”not ected, is it?” he asked, his voice
  smug.
  ”no,” i admitted.
  ”no o piled skulls in the ers; i dohink we have
  cobpoihis must be for you,” he ued slyly.
  i igeasing. ”it's so light… so open.”
  he was more serious whe's the one plaever have
  to hide.”
  the soill playing, my soo ahe final
  chords shifting to a more melahe last note hovered
  poignantly in the silence.
  ”thank you,” i murmured. i realized there were tears in my eyes. i dabbed
  at them, embarrassed.
  he touched the y eye, trapping one i missed. he lifted his
  finger, examining the drop of mly. then, so quickly i
  't be positive that he really did, he put his fio his mouth
  to taste it.
  i looked at him questioningly, and he gazed back f moment before
  he finally smiled.
  ”do you wa of the house?”
  ”no s?” i verified, the sar my voitirely masking
  the slight but gey i felt.
  he laughed, taking my hand, leading me away from the piano.
  ”no s,” he promised.
  the massive staircase, my hand trailing along the
  satin-smooth rail. the long hall at the top of the stairs aneled
  with a hohe same as the floorboards.
  ”rosalie a's room… carlisle's office… alice's room…” he gestured
  as he led me past the doors.
  he would have ued, but i stopped dead at the end of the hall,
  staring incredulously at the or hanging on the wall above my head.
  edward chuckled at my bewildered expression.
  ”you laugh,” he said. ”it is sort of ironic.”
  i didn't laugh. my haie fiended as if
  to touch the large wooden cross, its dark patina g with the
  lighter tohe wall. i didn't touch it, though i was curious if the
  aged wood would feel as silky as it looked.
  ”it must be very old,” i guessed.
  he shrugged. ”early sixteen-thirties, more or less.”
  i looked away from the cross to stare at him.
  ”why do you keep this here?” i wondered.
  ”nostalgia. it beloo carlisle's father.”
  ”he colletiques?” i suggested doubtfully.
  ”his himself. it hung on the wall above the pulpit in the
  vicarage where he preached.”
  i wasn't sure if my face betrayed my shock, but i returo gazing at
  the simple, a cross, just in case. i quickly did the mental math;
  the cross was over three hundred ay years old. the silence
  stret as i struggled to my mind arou of so many
  years.
  ”are yht?” he sounded worried.
  ”how old is carlisle?” i asked quietly, ign his question, still
  staring up.
  ”he just celebrated his three hundred and sixty-sed birthday,” edward
  said. i looked back at him, a millioions in my eyes.
  he watched me carefully as he spoke.
  ”carlisle was born in londoeen-forties, he believes. time
  wasn't marked as accurately then, for the on people anyway. it was
  just before well's rule, though.”
  i kept my faposed, aware of his sy as i liste was
  easier if i didn't try to believe.
  ”he was the only son of an angliiving birth
  to him. his father was a maao
  power, he was enthusiasti his persean catholid
  ions. he also believed very strongly iy of evil.
  he led hunts for olves… and vampires.” i grew very still at
  the word. i'm sure he he went on without pausing.
  ”they bur of i people — of course the real creatures that
  he sought were o catch.
  ”wherew old, he placed his obedient se of the
  raids. at first carlisle oi quick to
  accuse, to