Nicodemus held my hand, leading me inside. I felt a sense of calm with his skin against mine.
The sensation of letting anyone touch me was new and was like a balm of aloe on a heavy sunburn I hadn’t realized I had.
The only indication being how weary I had become from so many years, and now the sense of relief…
I’m certain he could feel how much I felt it, since his hands hardly left my body in one form or another even as we sat.
He guided me by placing a hand on my back, pushing his chair close to mine so our knees touched.
The feast began, and Nicodemus was careful to serve me so I didn’t touch anything, but I still worried.
My hands were sweaty, and I could feel them on the utensils, which I noted were made of wood. Perhaps to burn later?
Several Fae leaders sat opposite us. The only indication of them being of higher rank was simply their appearance, since the majority of them had a glamour, making them look more human.
I could see through some of them easily enough, but the two females and the male in front of me had a glamour that was perfectly intact, even for someone as old as me. Powerful magics even for their kind.
The male looked like he might be from the Unseelie court, assuming they still ruled the lands of Fae, and was in deep conversation with Raven in hushed voices.
She seemed to be looking at him with skepticism as he gestured to an apple on the table that was uncut, as a lot of the fruit was. Many Fae creatures tended to eat the peels of such sweet things.
“It’s all about choice—just look back and you’ll see that what once was might not be when you look again for the future. That’s why focusing on the present is so—”
“I didn’t know the Fae knew things about the underworld,” Nicodemus whispered to me, leaning over when he saw I was listening to their conversation. He could hear much better than me.
I smiled at him, spooning another piece of gnocchi from my soup into my mouth.
“You’d be surprised how much they know. There’s a lot of skepticism that they protect the old gods now, which is ironic because for years they were known to hunt them.”
“Hunt them? Why would anyone hunt a god? For sport?” he asked, confused.
I laughed, and after a moment he understood that I was just pulling his chain. “Very funny.”
“Well, I don’t have all the answers, you know,” I said, laughing. “I thought we were close to the same age.”
The last time I had let my plague spread intentionally… babies cried, children were unable to move, their bodies rotting in the streets.
At one point to protect the women and children from sickness, I was herded into a church…
God would protect them, they had said.
As horrible as it had been, it was nothing compared to how I felt after I had done what I had done.
I wish there had been a point when I was doing the spell that I had thought to back down, but I had been so determined... I knew that if I had even an ounce of doubt, it would have ripped me apart.
So I hadn’t, and feeling it die, this living, pulsing thing that I couldn’t even explain...
My heart fluttered, my eyes closed, and a small smile spread across my face as he pulled back. Slowly I peeled my eyes open, and then felt my neck prickle.
My eyes whipped around the room. Raven stared at us, seeing something. I swallowed hard, trying not to think about it. I didn’t want to know our future; I was already worried.
“So when will you two be finishing your union?” asked one of the female Fae across the table. She had flowing golden locks and bright-purple lips.
Her hair was adorned with flowers of all colors, and her thin golden gown was hardly an excuse for clothing. Her thin pale fingers expertly peeled a kiwi with her long nails.
The other female next to her, with a deeper golden-woody color to her skin and bright-green eyes, wore a much simpler blue gown. Her hair flowed around her in natural waves and her feet were tucked under her. She smiled and nodded.
We both looked at each other nervously, unsure of how to answer.
“Tonight,” Raven said, her hands clutching her black attire, looking only at her plate of untouched food instead of us. “They will do it tonight,” she repeated, looking up—directly at me.
Something about her tone reminded me of how I had once told her that I could have made a choice right then and there to let her eat the ice cream I had been holding. I hadn’t, though.
She wanted us to finish it tonight; she was asking me to.
Did I still trust her now that she knew the past and future? Did I have a choice? Had she become lost to the ties of fate?
“I don’t think—”
I placed a hand on Nicodemus’s arm, stopping him, still looking at Raven. She looked me in the eye again.
For a moment her eyes became clear, the deep ocean blue that had been there once before looking back at me.
A part of her was still there, and as my gaze moved back to my husband, I also noted the male Fae next to Raven close his eyes with a small nod as if in relief.
The Fae had found my beloved and pulled me from isolation; bearing me ill will wouldn’t benefit them.
Even though Raven knew my many truths, I was certain she could see how I had changed. Certain that in sparing her life, perhaps she would do me the same kindness if I were in danger.
The power of a dead lay line merging with the lay line here? Would my curse destroy it too? Slowly my head began to nod, my decision made.
“Yes, tonight we plan to finish.” Though I had no idea what that entailed other than a blood exchange and me giving up my powers.
A sacrifice of something you hold dear to your heart, in order to protect the one you loved.
To become one of the night for him? Even if I was still cursed, my powers had brought me nothing but misery.
My only hope was that he could protect us from Iona when she came for us, which she would, I had no doubt.
I would become a vampire’s bride—his main food source for as long as we walked this earth.
Even if it meant I would have to feed from him as well on occasion, sharing our essence and immortality. At least that was how it seemed to be done.
I didn’t know enough about the royal vampire bloodline. Only that they could live without ever finding their mates, but they would wait for as long as it took sometimes to make sure their offspring were better off.
Finding their beloved meant passing on strong gifts to their children. Even though Nicodemus had never displayed any, it was fully possible he had some.
Tonight I would give up my ties to the earth gladly if it meant I got to walk with him for eternity.
