“So, you do not mind being reborn a vampire?”
“The other option was death, so yeah, I do not mind it though I do miss magic sometimes. On the other hand, my maker and mother allowed me all the freedom I wanted. Immortality allowed me the freedom I wanted. I wondered for a hundred and sixteen years before meeting Ulrik—a man I quite enjoy, something I never thought possible. And I can still do this little bit of magic,” she said. Melora bent over to the roses and used her hand to hover over one of the flowers. Slowly sucking all the water from inside the rose toward her hand. The rose darkened and became brittle, almost aging before my eyes as she held all of the water within her hands, letting it swirl for a moment before putting it back to the rose, allowing it to come right back to life. “Cool, right?”
“Very.”
“Took me a bit of practice. Do not tell Rhea I touched one of her roses.”
I smiled and nodded. “It’s our secret.”
“It all worked out for me—ah, about time,” she replied, turning to face the tree lines.
I didn’t hear it as soon as she did, but I did hear it, the sound of running. Three vampires were rushing right toward us. Knowing one of them was Theseus actually made me very nervous about what I was going to say to him.
“On a scale of one to ten, how pissed do you think he is?” I asked when she hopped off the railing to stand beside me.
She laughed. “Throw away the scale. It cannot handle that much weight.”
“Oh, no.” I groaned, tensing as they came closer and closer, my eyes beginning to pick them up. If my heart could beat, it would have exploded in anxiety.
“They’re here.”
No sooner had she said it, Theseus broke through the trees. He came so fast that the gust of wind he caused had the leaves of the trees shaking. No wonder she wanted us outside. If he came into the house like that, walls would break. He stood there dressed in all black, his dark hair disheveled, his gray eyes wide, almost crazed—no, they were definitely crazed. I heard his brothers come as well, but I did not dare break eye contact with him. Something in me just knew that if I did, he’d genuinely snap. He did not move, only staring at me. I walked down the patio stairs and through the trail of red roses until I was standing right in front of him. His eyes locked on me, and what worried me was I could not see anything in them—other than emptiness. I did not have words for him. How could I even begin?
Instead, I reached up, wrapped my arm around his neck, and hugged him tightly. It took him a moment before he wrapped his arms around my waist, his head lowering beside my neck. Good, we can start from here—
“Ahh!” I cried out in pain as he bit so hard into my skin it felt as if my collarbone had broken. “Theseus!” I called, trying to push him off me.
But he would not release me, and as I struggled, we both fell on the roses. I felt my blood soak into my blouse and drip down my skin. This was different from when he had bitten me before to see what was in my mind. This hurt!
“Theseus, you are hurting me. Please stop.” I winced, and he did stop slowly, his teeth releasing my skin.
However, he did not lift his head or rise off of me.
“I said a little insanity was good, Druella, but this was not a little,” he whispered, finally raising his head for me to see the pained look in his eyes, and my blood upon his lips, and a masterpiece of stars above his head.
My heart ached at his pain.
I did not want this.
I was trying to be good to him, and this was what happened.
“I was here,” I whispered.
“I could not find you.”
“But I was here.” It did not make sense, but I needed him to understand. “I chose to stay here with you. I would not leave—”
He was angry. “I did not think you left. I thought you…you…I thought you were taken from me.”
“I would not allow myself to be taken from you without a fight.”
He brought his head back down, licking the bite mark he’d left on me, and this time, it was more pleasurable. I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my hand on his head. “Let’s stop this?”
Thinking I meant his tongue on my skin, he stopped and tried to move back again, but I held him to me.
“I mean, let’s stop trying to figure out what happened,” I whispered, staring up at the sky. “I don’t want to cause any more trouble than I already have. Can Sigbjørn figure out another way? To understand what is happening? You said you were fine not having your memories. I’m fine, too. Can’t we just start from here? Every time I look into this magic stuff, I somehow end up causing another issue. Can’t we just do whatever other vampire mates do?”
“You admit to being my mate now, no longer my intending?” he whispered, kissing my neck.
“I think I admitted that in other ways a while ago.”
He chuckled. “No more fighting me?”
“No more seriously fighting you.”
He moved, resting his forehead on top of mine.
Reaching up, I brushed the blood from his mouth. “So, what do you say? Can we be normal for a while?”
“Define normal.”
“Not disappearing, no magic. Nothing but Theseus and Druella, a boring vampire couple.”
He lifted his lips into a grin and nodded. “We can do that…until Father demands we stop doing that.”
“How long will that be?”
“Let’s not worry about it now. He’ll give us a break as I cannot bear anything at this moment.”
And just like that, I felt so much better.
Everything I had learned or heard before, I was going to forget. I would not go back to the library. I wasn’t going to do magic or wonder about magic.
Druella Monroe.
Druella Omeron.
Whoever was in the past didn’t matter. I was going to be Druella Thorbørn now.
Free us, the witch in my head called out.
No, I answered her.
And whatever had loosened before tightened once again.
* * *
We didn’t go back into the house, even though I was sure he’d be dead set on completing the mating ritual with me tonight. Instead, he said he wished to show me something beyond the art. And so, we ran through the treetops, hand in hand as if we were teenage lovers, moving at the speed of light. I was more than happy with it…running with him to who knew where—maybe the edge of the earth. The wind ripped through my hair, the scent of pine and fir trees filled my nose, and I jumped higher and forward, happy to be thinking of only this.
“Careful.” Theseus caught my hand arm when the tree branch broke, and I began to fall down the mountainside, pulling me up to where he stood at the thickest point of the tree at the very top. I looked over at the view only a few dozen feet in front of me. The ocean was dark and vast, spreading out in the night. The way the stars blanketed the sky and the waters crashed upon themselves made it feel as if we were alone.
“Have you ever swum with the whales?” he questioned me.
“No.” I grinned. “Is that something vampires do?”
He smiled back. “I do not know about all vampires, but I do. Not needing to breathe has its perks, for unlike the animals on land, sea creatures do not avoid us, and we can see what mortals struggle to do.”