“I love you,” I whisper. “I know it’s too soon. I know you have every reason not to believe me. But I love you, Poppy. I’ve loved you since you handed me that laminated cheat sheet and started rambling about your ex’s chakra-aligned girlfriend.”
She laughs into my chest. “That’s a terrible origin story.”
“It’s ours.”
“It’s ours.” She tilts her head up. “So what happens now?”
“Now I tell you about Damien. About Prague. About why he’s here and what he wants.” I stroke her hair. “And then we figure out how to face him. Together.”
“Together,” she repeats.
“If you’ll let me.”
She pulls back enough to look at me. Her eyes are bright with tears she’s not letting fall.
“One condition.”
“Anything.”
“No more secrets. No more ‘protecting me’ by keeping me in the dark. If we’re doing this—whatever this is—we’re doing it as partners. Equal partners. Even if one of us is immortal and the other one can’t get through a wedding without carbs.”
“Deal.”
“And—” She hesitates. “If Damien is really as dangerous as you’re making him sound, I need to know how to protect myself. And my family.”
“I’ll tell you everything. All of it.” I pull her close again. “Starting now, if you want.”
“Not now.” She yawns against my chest. “Now I need to process. And maybe panic quietly for a few hours. And definitely not tell Sage she was right, because she’ll be insufferable about it.”
“Sage can never know.”
“I know.”
We stand there, wrapped around each other.
I told her the truth, and she stayed.
For the first time in two hundred and fifty-seven years, I’m letting myself hope that maybe—just maybe—this story ends differently.
CHAPTER 18
POPPY
We stand in the garden alcove for a long time, holding each other, neither of us willing to break the moment.
My boyfriend is a vampire.
I keep turning that sentence over in my mind, waiting for it to feel real. Waiting for the horror to kick in, and my survival instincts to scream at me to run. But all I feel is peace.
Two hundred and fifty-seven years old. Born in 1769. Drinks blood.
And he loves me.
“We should head back,” I say finally, my voice muffled against his chest. “Before my family sends out a search party.”
“Your mother has been watching the garden entrance for the past fifteen minutes.”
I pull back. “How do you know that?”
