I raise an eyebrow at him as I assumed he would turn up with his conquest in tow, to make a point.
He shrugs. “I fed, that’s all,” he mutters.
“Oh,” I say, that pang in my chest getting worse. His behavior is uncharacteristic of late.
“How’d it go, Kitten?” he asks quietly, as he moves in to hug and kiss me.
“Good. Wonderful in fact. He’s so controlled,” I say in wonder. “I thought there would be more rampaging,” I add with a smirk.
He chuckles. “It’s your age, you ancient crone,” he teases. I punch him on the arm.
“Hey, ow, no fair,” he complains good-naturedly.
“You are not too old to have me smack you down, my boy, you know,” I chuckle.
His eyes narrow as he steps closer and tilts my chin up. He leans in close and whispers against my lips, “Bring it.”
My knees go weak at his close proximity, but remembering myself, I raise a hand to his chest and gently push him away.
“Maybe next time,” I croak.
“Promises, promises,” he teases softly. We giggle together and then turn arm in arm to go to the terrace to continue with our race-watching.
Cole is watching us from the shadows. Uh-oh. I feel ‘that’ conversation coming on. I sigh.
Devon looks at me, then follows my gaze to Cole. “I’ll be outside. Holler if you need me,” he says and beats a hasty exit.
I motion for Cole to join me in the bedroom. He follows slowly, unsure.
He closes the door and turns to me. “Are you sleeping with him?” he asks suddenly, cutting to the chase. A trait I normally admire but this time, I needed time to think.
I should’ve had the balls to ‘fess up before I turned him. Before that even. Before I said yes to his proposal.
Steeling myself, I take a deep breath. “Yes,” I state.
He looks away from me. “I see,” he says quietly. “I knew it somehow, deep down, when you were talking about him the other night. All this time?” he asks.
“For five hundred and six years, my love,” I say, needing him to understand. I take his hand, he doesn’t resist, he can’t. I pull him to the bed and sit. He sits too.
“You said in the chapel that you understand what he feels for me, and I explained to you what I feel for him. It isn’t something we can push away. We have tried, both of us, in the past. He left me and I let him go, but we will always find each other again.” I pause to take a breath. “There will come a time when you will leave me, but we too will always find each other again.”
He looks at me with a lack of understanding on his sad face and shakes his head.
“Yes, my love, you will. ‘Charges always leave their sires,’” I quote my own sire’s words to him. “I left Constantine and Devon left me. You will too. A hundred years from now, two hundred years from now, who knows, but you will go, and you will come back. It’s what we do. It’s who we are. The bond between us is too strong to deny or fight or ignore.”
Silence.
Sighing, I make a decision. “Cole, I love you. I love you so much that I wanted to turn you so I could always love you. You wanted me to turn you so you could love me forever. That will never, ever change now, but I understand if you don’t want to marry me anymore.” I take off my beautiful, precious to my heart, black diamond ring and hold it out to him.
Surprised, he looks from my eyes to the ring and back again. “Is that what you want?” he asks sadly.
“No!” I shake my head vehemently. “I want to be your wife. I want to be yours in every possible way.”
He looks at me, unconvinced and undecided and I start to feel a mild panic. He takes the ring from me and my heart sinks. He stares at it for a long time and just as I am about to give up and walk away, he says, “I gave this to you because I wanted us to be together forever. I still want that.” He pauses and my heart leaps. “You say that I will want to leave you one day, but I can’t imagine that. I don’t want that. Bond aside, I meant it when I gave this to you. Are you only accepting it because you think one day I will leave you and you will be free again?”
My mouth drops open in shock at his words, “Cole, no. The gods, no. I don’t want you to leave me. It’s just… inevitable. I want you by my side forever.” I try to reassure him.
He nods. “And what about Devon?” he asks slowly.