He pulled away and wrapped his tiny arms around Karson’s waist. Karson ruffled his hair, his voice coming out rough. “Take care of you sister.”
Billy glanced at his sister strapped in a car seat waiting for him. “I will.”
“Thank you.” Sandy watched as Billy climbed in the car. “We’d given up hope of ever having children, so it was a miracle when we got the call. God works in mysterious ways, don’t you think. If something is meant to be, He always finds a way to make it happen, even against all odds.”
She could have been talking about the story of the king of vampires and the novice witch. There was no other way to logically explain how I ended up in Church Heights, a remote wilderness town you’d struggle to find on a map and met him. Our connection; we felt fated. At least that’s how I felt about him. I swallowed down a swell of emotion as the words drifted softly to my heart.
Paul slipped his arm around her back. “We’ll love them like our own, because from this day forward, they are.” He shook Karson’s hand again.
Sandy handed me a business card. She baked and sold cakes. Lottie would love that. “Here is our number, please call anytime you’d like to speak to them, and come and visit.”
How I managed to speak without my voice cracking, I couldn’t be sure. “I know you’ll take great care of them.”
Paul opened the car door for his wife and closed it behind her. We waved goodbye.
Both children turned, their eyes fixed on us, Billy’s hand pressed against the window.
“Those children are already cherished. Sandy and Paul will provide a stable, loving home for them,” Karson said as we watched the car until it disappeared down the road.
He looked down at me when I couldn’t respond over the lump in my throat. “Are you crying, Amelia?” He looked awkward and mildly confused, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with a crying woman. “We couldn’t keep them.”
I wiped at my tears. “I know.”
“We can’t have children right now, it’s not safe …”
Right now.Did that mean he was open to having children despite what he’d said earlier? “I’m crying because I’m happy for them.”
He kissed my temple and slipped his arm around my back. I nestled against his chest.
“Your heart is good,” he said, his voice still husky. “And I will do whatever it takes to keep it that way.”
I peered up. “What do you mean?”
“If the grimoire falls into the wrong hands, I will fight in your place.”
I placed a palm on his chest. I had never felt I had a purpose before this. I had merely existed. “It’s my duty, what I’m born to do.”
“You could be killed. You could be up against not only other witches but vampires. For most witches, battling with vampires is a death sentence. Even if you had trained your entire life and had the skills.”
My jaw gripped so tight my teeth clanked. “I have the skills, I held Sarah off.”
He snorted. “You are fast, but not as fast as a vampire. With your powers you have strength, but you are not as strong as a vampire. You have your wits, but intelligence can only go so far in battle.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but the truth was, he was right. He wasn’t trying to put me down, he was being brutally honest and everything he said was to protect me.
His voice dropped back to something low. “Besides, when you are forced to kill, with each death, a part of your heart darkens until all that’s left is darkness.” He drew in a deep breath and let it out again. “I will spare you that while I walk this earth.”
Over the centuries, he’d been forced to kill hundreds, maybe thousands. My chest twisted at the toll that must have taken on him. “Is that how you feel?”
“You know the effects, I’ve shown you.”
He’d showed me inside his head, the rage, the anger, the terror he felt. But I knew there was much more to him than what I saw. “Do you still feel like your world is nothing but darkness?” I asked softly.
He looked down at me. “No, you are the light I didn’t realize I was missing, and I will not let it go out.”
I pressed a kiss to his cheek and smoothed his thick hair. “You are your own light. Your heart is good too, even if you can’t see it.”
His brows pinched and he looked away, his voice coming out ravaged—almost pained. “I’m not good, Amelia. If you think I am, you are going to be bitterly disappointed.”
