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“Oh, we will.”

Kenton grinned. “I don’t doubt it.”

“Anyway,” she returned to her story. “Lady Isobel sensed it was so right away, soon after the counter-curse took effect. It is the reason you did not know of the Balance for so long. Only when the bloodline spread did you begin to sense their threat. But Lawrence insists the Cheld are only dangerous when necessary. With a few minor exceptions, of course. The counter-curse’s very nature ensures it is so.”

“Of course,” he teased. “Just the extremists who hate all vampires, threat or not.” Grabbing her wrist, Kenton pulled her atop his lap. “Lawrence has attempted to convince me as such for many, many years.”

Readjusting her knees so they were tucked in beside him, Alessandra tried to get into a comfortable position.

“But you never believed him.”

There. Settled in nicely, Alessandra reached for him, weaving her hands into his thick mass of black hair.

“If he’d told us the full truth, we may have.” Kenton pulled her closer with a hand on either side of her waist.

“If he’d told you the full truth, you would have had the means to wreak even more havoc.”

Kenton laughed. “Is that what he told you? That we ‘wreaked havoc’ across the centuries?”

When his hands slipped under her shirt, Alessandra knew their discussion was nearly over.

“Something like that.”

When he pulled her down for another kiss meant to claim her, Alessandra willingly acquiesced, giving herself completely over to his firm but gentle ministrations.

“Mmmm.” The sound, deep in his throat, made her wish they were back in his bedroom rather than out here in the garden.

“Is it true?” she said, pulling up to look into his eyes. The merriment she’d seen there was so foreign to the man she’d met, she wanted to ensure it was still here.

“My love,” he said, lifting her out of the seat in one swift movement, “the only thing I’m planning to wreak havoc on right now is you.”

Desire pooled in her core as she contemplated his promise.

“But I do have one question before I render you speechless.”

“What’s that?” she asked, laughing at the promise she knew he would keep.

“You mentioned gaining two brothers,” he said. “But I don’t remember asking you to marry me.”

Alessandra lifted her chin in defiance. “You may come from the Middle Ages,” she said, “but your medieval way of thinking is a bit outdated here.”

“Is it now?”

“Yes. It is. In my time, women don’t always sit around and wait for men to tell them what they want.”

He raised his eyebrows theatrically. “They don’t?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “They don’t.”

“I’ll bite,” he said, giving her a flash of fang. “So what is it that you want, love?”

Alessandra kissed him first. A soft touch of her lips to his, full of promise.

“I want you, Kenton Morley. And I will have you. So I’m not even asking if you’ll marry me. I’m telling you that you will.”

Which is when he tilted his head back and laughed, loud enough to wake the neighbors, if Lawrence and Laria had been asleep. And when he was finished, he scooped her up, effectively ending their discussion.

Smiling against his chest, Alessandra gave a silent thank you to her ancestor Lady Isobel. For her curse, for the Balance, and for everything that had brought them together.

Their story would last an eternity. Alessandra would ensure it.