Page 187
Or their fucking faces.
Idril steps in front of me. Her hand tightens, squeezing my forearm gently. And just like that, my anger dissipates.
“They’re vampires, Soren.” Laughter dances in her eyes. In that moment, I realize the only ones afraid were Caelan and I.
By the Mother.
Idril turns and places her palm on the door. She glances uncertainly over her shoulder. “Do you think… I mean, can we go outside? Just in the back?”
She bites down on her bottom lip, studying me like she’s dissecting my reaction to her question.
It feels like my chest is caving in. The whole time she’s been here, she hasn’t been allowed outside. She’s been stuck inside—a prisoner.
I don’t hesitate with my answer. “Fuck yes we can.”
The smile she gives me is so wide and so beautiful that for a second it feels like I got the wind knocked out of me. And I know… I’ll never be able to deny her anything.
Idril opens the door, practically vibrating with anticipation. I follow behind her, only realizing she’s not wearing shoes once we’re away from the house. When I point it out to her, she throws her head back and laughs, like concern that she’ll injure her feet is the funniest thing she’s ever heard.
Her laugh sounds like wind chimes and magic. Like the wind itself is laughing with her, swirling around each note and enhancing the tone, perfecting it with her joy until it sounds like the peaceful essence of nature itself.
With the sun shining down on her, it’s not hard to believe she may actually be made of magic. There’s something inside of her—something pure that radiates from her core. I don’t know what it is.
For that matter, I don’t know what she is.
Maybe that should bother me, but it doesn’t. She’s a blessing from the Mother. My Omega—my Mate—promised to me by Fate itself. There’s no wolven—past, present, or future— who will ever be as lucky as I am.
And I get centuries by her side. So much longer than wolven normally get with their Mates.
Idril makes her way toward the back of the castle, picking her way across the soft grass. She turns, angling her face toward the sun, and her lips curl into a soft smile.
“You know you’re going to live for a long time, right?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, reaching out and lacing our fingers together. Looking up at me with a soft, shy smile on her face, she asks, “Is this okay?”
Everything inside of me melts at that smile. “Of course. You never have to ask. You can touch me anytime, anywhere.”
The wind kicks up, lifting Idril’s hair so it streams behind her in a gentle breeze.
“What did you mean? When you said I’ll live a long time?”
I wish I hadn’t blurted it out, but it’s so easy to forget how little she knows about the world. She’s so strong, smart, and pragmatic that I forget she’s spent the last two decades locked away, her access to everyday knowledge heavily limited by her father.
“The chances of a human being Fated to a Supernatural might be rare, but they do happen.”
The excitement in her eyes when she realizes I’m not going to withhold information makes me want to tell her every single thing I know about this world.
“When a human and Supernatural seal their Bond with a mating bite, the human’s lifespan changes to line up with their Mate. Vampires, obviously, can live for more than a thousand years. Some have survived almost two thousand.”
Idril nods. “I knew they lived a long time, but I had no idea it was that long.”
“I’m not sure, but I imagine that my lifespan will be extended along with yours,” I add. “Wolven are long-lived, but not like vampires. Even our oldest Elders don’t survive much past a thousand years. That’s partly why there’s more of us than there are of them. Biology has its own way of evening the playing field.”
“That makes sense,” she murmurs. “Wolven don’t live as long, but it’s not nearly as difficult for you to reproduce.”
I squeeze her hand. “Exactly.”
We stop around the back of the castle. I inhale deeply, taking in the seemingly perfect afternoon. The sky is bright, not a single cloud in the perfect blue sky above us.
