She drops the cushion and snatches the iron from my hands. “I’m going to strangle you with this cord and enjoy every minute of it.”
“So will I. But before we get erotic, can you tell me what this is about?”
“What’s this about? Youleft!”
“Of course I did.” I shrug. “You were safe. You were with your friends. I wasn’t needed.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it. You’re the head of Sanctus. You have justice to dispense—”
“Technically,you’rehead of Sanctus. We signed the paperwork. You own this place outright. So that means what happens to Astor is up to you.” I frown at the vampire dripping blood on my larch floor.
Her mouth twists. Even battered and bloody, she is so beautiful I can barely stand to look at her. “What if I don’t want—Hey!”
I grab the iron from her and start working on the cuffs. “Do you know how impossible it is to stay here in your presence, when every corner of this estate reminds me of you? I can’t walk in the Midnight Garden without remembering our night together in Paris. I can’t step foot in Sanctus Club without hearing you cry my name. My private apartments reek of your ginger and myrrh scent. When I drink blood, I taste raspberries. I tasteyou.” I furiously rub at the sleeve of my shirt, dimly aware of a burning smell rising from the expensive fabric. “Living here without you istorture. I’m tearing myself to pieces, but if this is the only way I can love you, by leaving this place, then I’ll do it.” My head snaps up, my eyes meeting hers. “Because Idolove you, Arabella. I love you so much that I’m setting you free of me.”
She looks stunned.
“Gideon…”
“Please leave.” I turn back to my shirt. I’ve burned a hole near the cuff the size of a 20-pence piece. “I have the last of my things to pack.”
A hand closes over mine, wrenching the iron away. “Gideon, youfool. Look at me.”
It takes everything I have to turn my head up to hers. I’m trembling. The only thing keeping me upright is a thin strand of foolish, impossiblehope.
A pair of dark eyes meet mine, the edges softened by a halo of golden light. Her eyebrow twitches.
“Gideon, I love you.”
Did she just…
My bloodsings.
Never have three words felt so much like magic.
“You… you’re sure about this?”
“Of course I’m sure,” she snaps. “I’m Arabella Lestrange. I’m always sure.”
A slow grin breaks out across my face. “It’s impressive how someone so beautiful and brilliant can be so humble.”
“Humilityisdifficult, especially when I’ve never been wrong in my life, but not as difficult as it is for me to admit these words, so don’t make me do it again. I love you, Gideon Blake, and Iforgiveyou. I can’t promise I won’t occasionally want to rearrange your guts, but I’ll do it in pretty shapes like flowers and hearts. BecauseI love you.”
“I—”
She kisses me.
I say this as a vampire who’s had a long life filled with pleasures – you haven’tliveduntil you’ve been kissed by Arabella Lestrange. The woman’s tongue is silk, her fingers knitting in my hair, possessive and decisive. Her little moans are the only music I ever wish to hear. She keeps her eyes open, those golden haloes dancing as they draw me in until I am utterly under her spell.
She loves me.
I tug the cord from the wall. The iron hisses and smokes as it burns through my shirt, but I leave it, not caring if I burn the whole damn building down. I push Arabella back, back towards my fancy sofa, already imagining how she’ll look luxuriating on the luxe fabric, surveying her kingdom through the windows, her legs spread wide while I kneel between them. I’m so busy imagining it that I almost trip over Astor’s body.
“Why’d you bring him?” I say. “I’m down for a threesome, but this is a bit kinky even for me.”
She raises her eyebrow at that. “I thought to make him a gift, for saving my life. Although he did almost triumph. You justhadto do a whole supervillain ‘I’ve got you now’ speech, didn’t you?”
“What happened to ‘thank you for saving my beautiful neck, Gideon’?”
