Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104842 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Jason,” Tiago rasped, “speak to him. Do it now.”
“He’s not going to shift because he’s mad,” I promised him and everyone else, knowing I was on speaker.
“His eyes are—”
“His eyes may flicker gold for a moment, but he’s fine,” I assured Tiago. “He needs only to breathe. He’s not a slave to his beast. He has complete control.”
“No, you are—”
“I’m right,” I declared. “I know. Just stop and take a second.”
“Jason, he is pacing and—”
“In and out,” I said, doing it with him. “Breathe in for a count of four, hold it for the same, then breathe out to four.”
It was quiet but for the sound of a lot of people doing my combat breathing.
“Hey,” I called out.
“Again,” Tiago directed everyone, and I was the proudest of him for calming because normally, he panicked.
“Varic. Love.”
Low, guttural grunt that I knew and loved the sound of.
“I have a question.”
One breath, then another and another, and then, “Tell me.” His voice was gravelly and low, more a slow rumbling growl than anything else.
“Do you think we could have a ceremony only for us when you get home? I mean, I’d like to wear a ring and—”
“Yes,” he said hoarsely, then coughed. “Yes,” he said again, this time stronger.
“I really want that.”
Another breath, like he was calming, swallow ing down so much anger, taking it back in.
“Originally we were going to have that handfasting ceremony, and I know your mother wanted to perform it, but with everything that’s happened…”
“It’s going to be a wedding. Nothing less.” He sounded better. Like himself.
“I feel like I’ve been cold since you left.”
He was quiet on the other end.
“Like the loneliness is bone deep.”
“I have the same chill, like iron shards in my spine.”
He was as wrecked as I was.
“I miss your face,” he murmured. “Your smell.”
Simple words that meant the world.
“I suspect,” I said, smiling into my phone, “that you took out some of that, of missing me, on Alrek.”
His annoyed huff was all him, and I was happy that his fury had passed.
“So we could have this wedding soon?”
It was strange. I never thought of myself as a man who wanted to be married, but the world I lived in now, it was all attachments that needed to be sealed with words and blood, and I knew both would be exchanged when we spoke our vows. I needed to be his consort in more than name, in more than words spoken between us. A ceremony was required for our union, and it had to be witnessed, and I needed a ring.
“Sooner than you imagine,” he told me, the gravelly rumble returning. “But it will not be a small ceremony. I spoke to Countess Minsi, who you were so clever to call for help, and she is making our wedding arrangements as we speak.”
“She is?” I could hear the hope in my own voice.
“Yes, she is,” he assured me, his tone absolute. “Also, I sent the plane you’re supposed to be flying out on to New Orleans to collect Ode and Duro, so they will arrive in Malta in two days. Three days from now, you and I will speak our vows in front of however many people can make it to the palace in that timeframe. I sent emails out, but I’m not announcing it on our social media accounts. I don’t want a circus, just a wedding.”
“You called your mother, of course.”
“Of course. And knowing her, she’ll make certain that anyone who matters will be there.”
“I know you,” I teased him. “You don’t care who’s there.”
“I care that my parents are and Ode for you, and I will have Hadrian and Tiago stand at my side, and my guards will be there as well.”
He was quiet a moment.
“No one knew they were invited to our wedding,” I murmured to him. Normally, no one but the nobility was allowed to attend any gathering of the nobility. “Did you make Tiago cry?”
“I don’t think—oh. Yes. He’s crying.”
“Aww,” I said, chuckling. “I want all my people there as well. Even Zev.”
He groaned.
“You like Zev.”
“I tolerate Zev because I know he’d trade his life for yours, and of course I expect him to be there, but everyone else, all the petty, squabbling rabble, I couldn’t care less.”
And by squabbling rabble he meant the dene, those vampyrs from the noble houses he had no patience for at all.
“I don’t care who I offend. I refuse to have the ancient rituals, like drinking blood with everyone, and there will be no receiving line of people before the wedding that it takes an entire day from dawn to midnight to get through. None of that.”
“Shouldn’t there be?” I cautioned him. “You belong to all of the Noreia.”
“I owe them safety, guidance, fairness, and justice in all matters. That I will give.”
“Nothing else?”