“Because your father is obsessed with bloodlines. And half vampires are weak. Even though you were the younger son, spending time with a mundane would have been an intolerable embarrassment.”
Tiernon nods. “But those with both vampire and sigilmarked blood? It’s as if both sides of them are multiplied somehow. It doesn’t matter that we were young, that we’d never discussed children. The thought that wecouldhave children—that his own grandchild could one day rival him for power? You would have been slaughtered in front of me. Just like Lucius was today. I wouldn’t risk it. I couldn’t. The threat always hung over my head. I knew if I ever visited you again, if I ever even looked like I was going to go near the Thorn, you were dead.”
I stagger away, leaning against the wall. Rage wars with vindication within me. But beneath both is a heavy, aching sadness.
Tiernon watches me. “I knew that of all the things I could do to push you away, leaving without warning was the one thing you would find unforgivable. It was the best way to keep you safe. It’s why it’s so dangerous that you’re here, Arvelle. It’s why I’ve been trying so hard to get you out. If my father finds out you’re the same girl I loved for all those years … he’ll kill you just to punish me.”
Dizziness sweeps through me. “What did he do to you in that dungeon?”
“Don’t, Velle.”
“He tortured you, didn’t he? So you would tell him who I was.”
Tiernon’s jaw twitches, and I feel my lip tremble. His voice … “You screamed so much, you ruined your vocal cords.”
“I was still transitioning fully into a vampire. I didn’t heal properly. My father decided it was another example of my weakness.”
But Tiernon never gave me up. If he had, I’d be dead. And Evren and Gerith likely would be too.
I push the heels of my palms against my stinging eyes. “I spent so many years hating you for leaving me, and you survivedtorturefor me? Why didn’t you tell me when I first got here?”
Tiernon captures my wrists, pulling me closer once more. “Nothing has changed, Velle. It’s not safe for you in this place. I didn’t want you to know because it was better for you to hate me. It was better for you to forget about me altogether and leave.”
I hate it when he does this. Ihateit when he makes decisions like this for me, out of his misguided belief that it makes me safer. Some part of me is still convinced that if he had told me all those years ago, we could have faced it. Together.
I push the thought away for later. If there’s one thing I’m learning, it’s how precious each moment with him is. “You know, I fantasized about all the ways I’d hurt you if I ever saw you again.”
Tiernon gives me a surprisingly sweet grin, leaning ever closer as I glower up at him. “I’d expect nothing less.” His expression turns tender and his hand cups my face. “I wish I’d been there. I’m so sorry about Kassia. I … I bribed someone. Months after, when it was safe. I needed to know you’d survived. My contact told me you were alive, and it never occurred to me that Kas wouldn’t be.”
My eyes prickle. I’d known Kas hadn’t thought Tiernon was right for me. But she’d loved him becauseIloved him.
I rest my head on Tiernon’s shoulder, suddenly exhausted, wrung out. Tiernon strokes my hair, and it’s like I’m fifteen again, my head on his chest as I look up at the dark shadow of his face beneath our sturdy oak.
“I missed you more than I miss the sun,” he says hoarsely. I lean back so I can see his face, and his thumb traces my cheekbone. “If you stay in this room I’m taking you to bed.”
I swallow, my mouth suddenly dry. Gods, that’s all I want. “I know.”
His eyes harden. “I don’t want pity sex.”
“Shhh.” Rising up on tiptoe, I press my mouth to his.
Tiernon doesn’t move, his body stiff and unyielding against mine. I nibble his lower lip until he opens his mouth for me, my tongue gently stroking his.
My head spins, and my back hits the cool wall. I let out a yelp, but Tiernon swallows the sound, thrusting his tongue into my mouth.
His hands are voracious, sweeping across my hips, my back, mybreasts, as if he’s memorizing every inch of me. He cups my ass with a groan, pulling me even closer, and I grind against his length. When he nips at my neck with sharp, lethal teeth, my skin breaks out in goose bumps. I let out a low moan, arching my neck. “More.”
“Gods, Arvelle.”
I kiss his throat in return, pulling his skin into my mouth and marking him. Tiernon lets out a pleased grunt, angling his cock to rub against my clit. Choking on a gasp, I yank desperately at his tunic.
Learning how he protected me, learning how much he gave up … how much he suffered for me, all while Ihatedhim … I need to feel him skin to skin. Now, now, now.
Pushing my hands away, Tiernon pulls his tunic over his head, and I suck in an unsteady breath, my hands immediately caressing smooth, warm muscle. His mouth finds mine once more, and I sweep my hands across his strong, wide shoulders, down the bumpy ridges of his abs, aiming lower …
Rip.
My tunic disappears, immediately followed by the band securing my breasts, and Tiernon … stares. I shiver, my nipples hardening. His gaze is like a caress, slowly moving up to my face. I inhale sharply at the vicious, raw need in his eyes.
