Phury gripped the arms of the chair and started to stand. He just couldn't listen to that tenor's voice. That glorious, soaring tenor reminded him so much of -
Zsadist appeared at the edge of the forest. Singing.
He was singing... It was his tenor in Phury's ear, not some CD from inside the house.
Z's voice surfed the aria's peaks and valleys as he came forward over the grass, moving closer with each perfectly pitched, resonant word. The wind became the brother's orchestra, blowing the spectacular sounds that breached his mouth out over the lawn and the trees and up into the mountains, up into the heavens, where only such a talent could have been born.
Phury got to his feet as if his twin's voice, not his own legs, had lifted him from the chair. This was the thanks that had not been spoken. This was the gratitude for the rescue and the appreciation for the life that was lived. This was the wide-open throat of an astounded father, who was lacking the words to express what he felt to his brother and who needed the music to show something of all he wished he could say.
"Ah, hell... Z," Phury whispered in the midst of the glory.
As the solo reached its zenith, as the tenor of emotions was struck most powerfully, the Brotherhood appeared one by one from out of the darkness, pulling free of the night. Wrath. Rhage. Butch. Vishous. They were all dressed in the white ceremonial robing they would have worn to honor the twenty-fourth hour of Nalla's birth.
Zsadist sang the last delicate note of the piece right in front of Phury.
As the final line, "Vi piaccia dir!" drifted into the infinite, Z held up his hand.
Waving in the night wind was a tremendous bow made of green-and-gold satin.
Cormia came to stand close at just the right time. As she put her arm around Phury's waist, she was all that kept him steady.
In the Old Language, Zsadist said, "Wouldst both thou honor my birthed daughter with the colors of thy lineages and the love of thy hearts?"
Z bowed deeply, offering the bow.
Phury's voice was hoarse as he took the streaming lengths of satin. "It would be the honor of the ages to pledge our colors unto your birthed daughter."
As Z straightened, it was hard to say who stepped forward first.
Most likely they met in the middle.
Neither said anything while they embraced. Sometimes words didn't go far enough, the vessels of letters and the ladles of grammar incapable of holding the heart's sentiments.
The Brotherhood started to clap.
At some point, Phury reached out and took Cormia's hand, drawing her close.
He pulled back and looked at his twin. "Tell me, does she have yellow eyes?"
Z smiled and nodded. "Yeah, she does. Bella says she looks like me... which means she looks like you. Come meet my little girl, brother mine. Come back and meet your niece. There's a big empty place on her crib, and we need the two of you to fill it."
Phury held Cormia close and felt her hand rub the center of his chest. Taking a deep breath, he swiped his eyes. "That's my favorite opera and my favorite solo."
"I know." Z smiled at Cormia and referenced the first two lines, "Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar." "And now you have a little hand to warm in your own."
"Same can be said of you, my brother."
"So true. So blessedly true." Z grew serious. "Please... come see her - but also, come see us. The brothers miss you. I miss you."
Phury narrowed his eyes, something sliding into place. "It's you, isn't it. You've come to the community center. You've watched me sit on that swing afterward."
Z's voice grew hoarse. "I'm so damned proud of you."
Cormia spoke up. "Me, too."
What a perfect moment this was, Phury thought. Such a perfect moment with his twin before him and his shellan beside him and the wizard nowhere in sight.
Such a perfect moment that he knew he was going to remember for the rest of his days as clearly and as poignantly as he lived it now.
Phury kissed his shellan's forehead, lingering against her, giving thanks. Then he smiled at Zsadist.
"With pleasure. We'll come to Nalla's crib with pleasure and reverence."
"And your ribbons?"
He looked down at the green and the gold, the lovely satin lengths intertwined, symbolizing the union of him and Cormia. Abruptly, she tightened her arms around him, as if she were thinking exactly the same thing he was.
Namely, that the two went perfectly together.
"Yes, my brother. We're absolutely coming with our ribbons. " He looked deeply into her eyes. "And, you know, if we have time for a mating ceremony, that would be great because - "
The hooting and hollering and back slapping of the Brotherhood cut off the rest of what he was going to say. But Cormia got the gist. He'd never seen any female smile as beautifully and broadly as she did then while looking up at him.
So she must have known what he meant.
I love you forever didn't always need to be spoken to be understood.
From New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward comes a once-in-a-lifetime event: a unique volume that delivers a behind-the-scenes look at Ward's "to die for"1Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
You'll find insider information on the Brotherhood, including their dossiers, stats, and special gifts. You'll read interviews with your favorite characters, including a heart-breaking conversation with Tohrment and Wellsie, conducted three weeks before she was killed by lessers. You'll discover deleted scenes - accompanied by the whys behind the cuts - in addition to exciting material from the J. R. Ward message boards and the answers to questions posed by readers about the series. You'll learn what it's like for J. R. Ward to write each installment of the series, and in a fascinating twist, you'll read an interview with the author - conducted by the Brothers. For the first time ever, you'll see an original short story about Zsadist and Bella, and witness the miracle of their daughter Nalla's birth and the depth of their love for each other. This is a compendium no Black Dagger Brotherhood fan should miss... and an insider's guide that will seduce you as powerfully as the sexy band of Brothers and the "ferociously popular"2world in which they live.
Read on for a sneak peek... and look for The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide, coming in October 2008 from New American Library.
Bella paced around the PT suite in the training center on shaky legs, orbiting the examination table. She stopped regularly to check the clock.
Where were they? What else had gone wrong? It had been more than an hour...
Oh, God, please let Zsadist be alive. Please let them bring him back alive.
Pacing, more pacing. Eventually she paused at the head of the gurney and looked down the length of the table. Maybe it was the stinging distress she felt; maybe it was the panic; maybe it was the desperation; but she found herself thinking of when she had been on the thing as a patient. Two months ago. For Nalla's birth.
God, what a nightmare that had been.
God, what a nightmare this was... waiting for her hellren to be rolled in injured, bleeding, in pain - and that was the best-case scenario.
To keep herself from going crazy, or more likely because she was already nuts and her brain wanted to cough up memories that would make her stay in the land of the gaga, she thought about the birth, about that moment when both her and Z's lives had changed forever. Like a lot of dramatic things, the big event had been anticipated, but when it had arrived, it nonetheless had been a shock. She'd been in her eleventh month out of the usual eighteen and it had been a Monday night.
Bad way to start the work week. For real.
She'd had a craving for chili, and Fritz had indulged her, whipping up a batch that was just as spicy as she liked it - which meant you didn't want to get it on your lips for the burn. When the beloved butler had brought the steaming bowl to her, though, she'd abruptly been unable to stomach the smell or the sight of it. Feeling nauseous and sweaty, she'd gone to take a cool shower, and as she'd lumbered into the bathroom, she'd wondered how in the hell she could possibly fit another seven months of the young getting larger in her belly.
Nalla, evidently, had taken the random thought to heart. For the first time in weeks, she moved strongly - and, with a sharp kick, broke Bella's water.
Bella had lifted her robe and looked down at the wetness, thinking for a moment that she'd lost control of her bladder or something. Then light had dawned. Although she had followed Doc Jane's advice and avoided reading the vampire version of What to Expect When You're Expecting, she had enough background to know that once your water breaks, there's no going back.