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Jesse shakes his head and sighs. “She was a child when father turned her, but Eden, she’s older than me. She became a vampire fifty years before I was turned, and feels that as the oldest, she is the rightful heir to the throne.”
I try to do the math in my head, but my brain doesn’t seem to be functioning at full capacity. All I know is Jasmine is over a hundred years old.
“She’s far more dangerous than she appears,” Jesse goes on when I don’t respond. “Do not underestimate her.”
“I won’t,” I say softly.
And he’s right, she is angry. But there’s more to it than that. I know I didn’t imagine the jealousy I noticed when we first approached her, hand-in-hand. The way she called me a concubine like I meant nothing. Like I’m beneath her, and Jesse shouldn’t be wasting his time with me when he could have her. Jesse even implied as much when they were arguing. He asked her if she thought she should be his mate.
His sister. Yuck. She may not be biologically related to him, but they’ve lived as siblings for nearly seventy years.
“Are you angry with me?” he asks, and my head whips in his direction.
“Angry?”
“For calling you my mate,” he clarifies, and I can see the unease in his dark eyes.
“What does that mean, exactly?” I ask, then shake my head. “I mean, I know what a mate is, but what does it mean to vampires, specifically?”
“It means we belong to each other. That I hold you in the highest esteem, above all others, and you feel the same for me. That we are partners, confidantes, best friends, and lovers. For all eternity.”
For all eternity. The words echo through my mind again and again, my eyes unseeing as I try to figure out how I feel about them.
“Please, Eden. Tell me what you’re thinking. How you feel.”
“Can’t you tell?” I ask, meeting his gaze.
“No. Your emotions are all over the place, and I can’t seem to find one that rings louder than the others.”
I swallow thickly. “Eternity is a long time.”
“Do you not think you will love me until you die?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “It’s just so new, and…”
“It’s okay,” he says when my words falter. “Much like my sister’s existence, I’ve sprung this on you with no warning. I’m sorry.”
I cock my head. “Do you think you will love me until I die?”
“I will love you until I die,” he says, his voice low and steady like he’s speaking a solemn vow.
“How do you know that?” I ask, my eyes wide and burning.
He lifts my hand and presses it to his cool, hard chest. “Because when you told me you love me, a mate-bond snapped into place. My heart, dead though it may be, is yours.”
“Mate-bond?”
“Yet another gift from the witches who cursed us,” he says, his lips turning down. “As a way to keep our numbers in check should we become unmanageable. When a mate-bond is formed, the connection is unbreakable…except by death. And when a vampire loses his or her mate, the loss is catastrophic. A vampire loses all will to live and refuses to eat, withering away until the body dies a true death.”
My chest is heaving by the time he finishes. I shake my head vigorously as tears spring to my eyes.
“You have to take it back, Jesse. I can’t be your mate.”
He gives me a sad smile and lifts his hand, brushing his fingertips over the tears spilling down my cheek.
“It doesn’t work that way, Eden. I chose to get close to you, to fall in love with you, but the mate-bond is beyond my control.”
“But when I die…”
