“I offer you peace.Surrender the Warden to me, and I will leave your lands untouched.Your people will prosper.Your legacy will endure.”
Blade roars, but there’s pain in the sound.Pain and temptation and the terrible weight of responsibility.
Then the aspect hovering over Tessa and me solidifies fully, and when I look up into its eyes, I see my own reflection staring back.
“Vampire.Ancient one.You who have walked this earth for centuries, watching everyone you love grow old and die.”The voice softens, becomes almost gentle.“You fear for her.Fear she will leave you as all the others have.Age and die, crumble to dust while you remain eternal and alone.”
Through the bond, I feel Tessa’s spike of fear, not of the creature, but of the truth in its words.
“I can change that.Give her to me.Let me bind to her fully and I will make her immortal.Stronger than human.Harder than ice.She will never age, never sicken, never leave you.”
The image forms between us, Tessa, transformed.Beautiful, terrible and eternal, eyes glowing with the same cold light as the mark on her shoulder.Powerful beyond measure.Mine forever.
“All you have to do is step aside.Let me complete the binding.And she will be yours in ways you’ve never dared dream.”
The temptation hits with physical force.
Because God help me, I want it.Want her immortal and untouchable.Want to never feel the terror of her mortality, the constant awareness that every day with her brings me closer to the day she dies and leaves me alone again.
I could have her forever.
All I have to do is nothing.Just step aside.Let the creature take what it wants.And in return—
Tessa’s hand finds mine.
Through the bond, I feel her love.Her trust.Her absolute certainty I won’t betray her, not for any promise, not for any price.
And I remember Catherine.
How I thought I could control the feeding, control the bond, keep her safe while still claiming her.How I was wrong.How she died because I put my wants above her needs.
I won’t make that mistake again.
“No.”My voice is rough but steady.“She’s not yours to bind.She never was.”
“You would condemn her to mortality?To death?”
“I would give her the choice.”I rise to my feet, pulling Tessa up with me.“Something you’ve never offered.Something you can’t offer, because control is all you understand.”
The Khorvath’s eyes narrow, the pits of nothing focusing with terrible intensity.
“Foolish.”
It reaches for Tessa, massive hand made of black ice and infinite cold.
I put myself between them.
The cold hits me with the force of a freight train, driving me backward into Tessa.Through the bond, I feel her trying to pour strength into me, trying to help me stand against this thing.
But it’s too much.Too old.Too vast.
My knees begin to buckle—
And Tessa steps forward.
Not away from me.Not away from the Khorvath.Butforward, placing herself directly in the path of that terrible hand.
“You want bargains?”Her voice rings out clear and strong.“Here’s mine, go back to whatever void spawned you, leave this world and everyone in it alone, and I won’t spend every day of my human life finding ways to make you suffer.”
