“The Council approved our plan,” I say. “We’re moving on Damien at dawn.”
She goes still. I can hear her heartbeat quicken—that beautiful, vital rhythm that reminds me why I’m doing this.
“Today? But what about the wedding? What about—”
“This ends this morning. One way or another.” I sit up, pulling her with me. “I need you to stay here, Poppy. In this suite. Don’t open the door for anyone except the two men I’m about to introduce you to.”
“Two men?”
“Lucas and Bastine. They work with my security firm. For Marcus. They’ll keep you safe while I’m gone.”
“While you’re—” She stops. Processes. “You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”
The question deserves an honest answer.
“If I have to.”
“And if you don’t have to?”
I think about Damien as he was in 1852. Dying of consumption, reaching for my hand, trusting me to give him a future. I think about the time we spent together before Vienna tore us apart. The man I knew is gone—buried under 146 years of grief and rage—but some part of me still hopes.
“I hope that’s the case. That there’s another way,” I say. “But I don’t know. I won’t know until I’m standing in front of him.”
Poppy is silent. Then she takes my face in her hands.
“Come back to me,” she says. “That’s all I ask. Whatever happens with Damien—whatever choice you have to make—come back to me.”
“I will.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
She kisses me, her lips soft but insistent against mine. The kiss carries the weight of vulnerability and dread. When she pulls back, her eyes are calm and focused.
“Okay,” she says. “Introduce me to my babysitters.”
A knock at the door. Marcus’s timing, as always, is impeccable.
I answer it. Lucas stands in the hallway—early forties, built like a boxer, with the kind of face that suggests he’s seeneverything and nothing surprises him anymore. Behind him, Bastine: younger, leaner, but just as formidable.
“Sir,” Lucas says. “We’re ready.”
“Come in.”
No unnecessary words. Professional to the bone.
Poppy has risen from the bed, wrapped in a robe. She looks impossibly soft standing in the dim light—human and vulnerable and precious.
“Poppy, this is Lucas and Bastine.” I gesture to each in turn. “Lucas will remain inside the suite with you. Bastine will cover the hallway and the balcony approach from outside.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Her voice is steady despite everything. “I’d shake hands, but I get the feeling this is more of a ‘nod and get to work’ situation.”
Lucas’s mouth twitches—the closest he’s come to a smile since he’s worked for me. “You’d be correct, ma’am.”
“Poppy. Please. ‘Ma’am’ makes me feel like I’m being detained.”
“Poppy, then.” He glances at me. “We won’t let anything happen to her.”
