“You know you only need ask me and I would do anything for you.”
“Kiss me, Eve. Let me feel your warm lips, let the sun beat down on us as we celebrate our love.”
A smile touched her lips. She stood on the tips of her toes, brushed his mouth gently, softly. With a groan, Alexander crushed her to his chest, and they were soon lost to the blinding light of their passion.
Chapter 20
Elliot heard Alexander’s jubilant cheers. It gave him hope, a feeling he had not dared let enter his thoughts until now.
Grace raced to the door eager to witness the miracle. “All is well,” she called back over her shoulder, her brilliant smile illuminating her eyes as she hugged the jamb. “He is cured.”
“I understand it must be difficult for you.” He turned to Leo and Ivana, who were his companions in the gloomy shadows. “You could have been human again too.”
Leo shook his head. “I would have it no other way. Of course, if it were possible we would drink the cure without hesitation. But I am elated to hear my brother’s cries of joy when I know he has suffered for so long.”
Elliot put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “As have we all.”
Ivana cuddled into Leo’s chest as he wrapped his arm around her. “I wish there had been enough for all of us,” she said with a sigh. “I wish we could all find a way out of this nightmare. But I, too, take comfort knowing one of us is at peace.”
When Alexander and Evelyn came back through the door, happiness radiated from them bold and bright. Knowing that his brothers could not step forward, Alexander came over to them.
“I cannot thank you enough.” He hugged Leo, kissed him on the cheek ten times or more before bringing Ivana’s hand to his lips and offering a respectful bow.
Amidst their chuckles and expressions of love and gratitude, Elliot glanced at Grace. He knew her well enough to know her weak smile masked a sudden pensive mood. Taking a deep breath, she put her palm to her stomach, nibbled on her bottom lip and observed the merriment like a spectator, not a participant.
“I do not wish to wait any longer,” he suddenly blurted. One way or another, he would ease his wife’s suffering. When her eyes grew wide, he added, “I am more confident after witnessing Alexander’s success.”
He held out his hand, used his ability for mind manipulation to ease Grace’s troubled thoughts for what would hopefully be the last time.
“You’re sure this is what you want to do?” Grace said as her small hand settled into his. “We will still take Christoph home if you’ve changed your mind.”
To be able to walk in the sun with his wife and child, to give Grace the gift of a child of her own, and another one hundred reasons he did not have the time to give thought to, convinced him taking the cure was necessary.
He caressed his wife’s cheek, tried to stop his fingers from trembling when he recalled Alexander’s terrifying cries as the cure destroyed the poison in his blood. “Come the morning I will walk with you in the sun. When we return home, we will promenade in the park. Eat ices to cool our lips. But during the healing process, I ask that you remain in the Great Hall. I ask you to stay up here with Evelyn until Leo sends for you.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “You don’t want me to stay with you?”
“I don’t want you to be frightened.”
Grace shook her head vigorously. “I won’t let you go through this alone.”
Elliot smiled weakly. “I can feel you with me.” He touched his fingers to his heart. “You will always be in here.”
“What if I were the one lying on the cold floor of a crypt, writhing in agony?” Grace said abruptly. “Would you sit in the Great Hall warming yourself by the fire?”
Elliot gripped her hand. “Wolves could not tear me away from you,” he whispered.
Grace gave a curt nod in recognition, pressed her palm against his and wrapped her fingers around tightly. “Then we understand one another.”
They all went down into the chamber, followed the same procedure as before. This time, Ivana had no choice but to stay. Now only two of them had the ability to compel Elliot to sleep.
It felt strange biting into his skin. He had expected the sharp points of his fangs to meet some resistance, like human teeth biting into a tough piece of beef, but they sank into the flesh with ease.
Elliot drank a mouthful of his own tainted blood and swallowed it quickly. He waited the required five minutes before downing the contents of the small brown bottle. The liquid raced down his throat, the sudden sharp pang in his stomach making him jerk.
“What’s happening?” Grace said, her frantic gaze darting over him.
“I can feel it trickling through my veins.” Elliot closed his eyes briefly as the cure spread through his body. His blood bubbled and boiled in response. “I should lie down.”