Damien studied me for a long moment. Then bowed his head. “I don’t know. But, perhaps, one day, you’ll be able to tell me where they went.” He forced a tight smile. “I do miss them very much. Especially my Rosa. She was such a firestorm.”
It wasn’t the answer I wanted, not by a long shot, but it was the only answer I was going to get. “I hope you do find them. The world could use more joy. The fighting, the hate, it feels endless.”
He nodded. “I know.”
Whispering started just beyond the door. Words I couldn’t quite understand called to me. I was reminded of the time when I opened the ballroom door and found Bastien standing shirtless in the greenhouse. His hands covered in dirt.
I knew, just as I had then, that I had the power to see him again. I could walk through the veil of death and return to him. All I had to do was say his name, and it would draw him to me. Touching the bloodstone, I whispered his name and opened the door.
When I awoke, it was not to incense smoke and the smell of frankincense. I was on the ground, covered in my own blood, the metallic scent filling my nostrils.
When my vision cleared, I realized Bastien was right here. And he had the woman I once called Mama in his grip. I tried to force myself off the ground, but my sluggish body struggledto bear my weight. He wasn’t going to kill her. Not before I had the chance to do it myself.
My throat throbbed with pain, torn from whatever death had done to me, but I forced the word through my lips, a broken rasp of defiance.
"No."
Bastien immediately turned toward the sound of my voice.
And when our eyes met, for the briefest, most agonizing moment, he just stared at me, like he couldn’t believe it. Then his sword hit the ground with a clang. Mama collapsed to the ground, weakened by the rot I’d spread inside her, and Bastien Allard, a vampire prince of the Unified Territories, fell to his knees and crawled toward me. Reached for me with bloodied fingers.
"Claire," he rasped.
He was everything. All at once. All-consuming. And just seeing him again made me feel like I was back in his gentle tide, floating down his river. At ease and safe despite the horror all around me.
I swallowed hard around the pain in my throat. “You know the truth. That she sent me. Angelina. She was the one. And I’m sorry. I know this is a betrayal of your trust.”
He cupped my face. His thumbs traced the curve of my cheekbones. “Do you remember what I said I’d do to the convent sisters?”
I blinked. Confused. “There were no convent sisters. I’m a Prideaux.”
He continued as if I had said nothing. “I told you I’d have them excommunicated from the faith. Didn’t I?” I nodded. “I explained, quite clearly, that I’d tear down the Nightfall Convent stone by stone. That I’d make them pay for daring to put ideas in your head.”
“You’d said those things before you knew the truth.”
He drew me an inch closer. “Do you remember when I made love to you on the bed of our enemies? And told you I loved you with every shred of my being and nothing could change that?”
He leaned in, his breath skimming across my lips. The space between us shrank until I could taste his fury.
“But,” I tried to say.
“My wife belongs to no one but me. Not some coven. Not some family. But to me. And only me. And no one,” he said, “no one,harms my wife and lives.”
He leaned into me and pressed his mouth against mine. It was aclaim.Aresurrectionof my spirit. I fisted his jacket, dragging him closer, wanting to drown in him, in the way he kissed me like he couldpullme back to life. I tasted blood. Mine, his, ours. It didn’t matter. All that mattered wasthis.
He eased back far enough to look at me. I stared into the depths of his eyes, seeing him as if it were the first time. Like I had that night we met in the ballroom of Château Corbin. Except this time, I wasn’t meeting the polished vampire prince who was being asked to put on a polite smile for the courtiers. I saw him, every dark, desperate, and unhinged part of him.
"I thought I lost you," he whispered, his voice raw, barely more than a breath. "I thought—" His hands slid down my neck, his fingers pressing against my pulse as if he needed tofeelit, to make sure I was really here. His voice cracked. "You came back to me."
I covered his hands with my own, pressing them tighter against my skin.“Damien himself couldn’t keep me from you.”
Bastien kissed me again. Slower this time, in a way that truly brought me back to life. I’d choose him, again and again, over and over. It would always, only ever be him.
Chapter 42
Châtiment
CLAIRE
