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This, I know, will kill her.

I cannot stand here and watch my love die. I would rather try and help and die with her than be a spectator.

I feel the heat against my skin, the raging inferno licking and hissing and consuming everything in its path. The wooden stairs are collapsing, the window has cracked, and the glass of the single lightbulb explodes. It is vast, and every instinct in the vampire part of me tells me to run. That this is my end.

But I am more than just a vampire. I am more than just a witch. I am Luca d’Argento, and she is Rosa Capelli. The most important part of who I am, who I will ever be.

I plunge into the flames, ignoring her cries and screams of horror. I wait for the pain, for the sizzle, for the agony of my flesh searing.

It does not come. I feel nothing but a gentle warmth.

I stride towards her, take her in my arms. The remains of her grandfather crumble and fall, yet another old man dispatched to hell.

She gazes up at me, fire hair swirling, green eyes glowing luminous gold. “I thought you were dead …”

“I am not, cara mia,” I say, lifting her up. “I am right here by your side. The place I was always meant to be.”

Chapter 32

Rosa

It’s been a complicated couple of weeks. Alliances formed, enemies killed, a new world forged.

The court was filled with creatures, some of which I’d never even seen before. Still no sign of a leprechaun though. Donna must have been shitting me.

Pietro took over the Serena app. Looks like Tomasso’s tech team handed in their notice the minute he went up in flames. My brother is skilled, and with Yvonne’s help, has turned things around. Shared some truths. Brokered a peace that everyone welcomes, including the loudest and most bloodthirsty. Even monsters get tired sometimes.

We’re under no illusions that the monsters won’t get a second wind at some point, but that’s a problem for another day. Pietro is also exhuming the Grand Ball Sack’s entire life and burrowing into it to unearth all his secrets. Secrets I don’t even like thinking about. I’d prefer to forget he ever existed, but I know things can never be that simple.

For now though? Things are not too bad. My incredible burning-lady routine didn’t cause me any lasting damage, and now I know I can’t kill Luca with it, I feel like it’s less of a burden and more of a potential boost. Or at the very least, a super-cool party trick.

As for Luca, he’s still coming to terms with it all. Still grimacing every time I crack a joke, call him my witch bitch, ask if he wants me to start taking more herbs so I taste better. It’s a lot for him to handle, learning to manage that side of himself, especially as he has always traditionally hated witches. Minnie will help, I’m sure. She’ll get a real kick out of schooling him too.

So, it’s been a lot. It’s been busy. Luca is, effectively, in charge of the whole vampire world now he’s ended the old Cosca Dons, and his newfound witch heritage means that he’s even more powerful. Everyone is watching him, waiting to see what he will do next.

He doesn’t want to be a king, which of course means he’s the perfect person to be one. I’ve been at his side, liaising with the other Vecchissime families, helping him draw up plans that will allow for a fairer and less violent structure. It could be the start of a whole new era. All that rebuilding, restructuring, change? It’s pretty time consuming and means we’re under a lot of scrutiny. There’s always someone or something who wants a piece of us.

Today, we snuck home to the Brooklyn house to try and get some quality time together. More and more now, that’s the most precious of commodities. Even a few hours without a knock on the door, a phone ringing, some damn emergency meeting being called, is hard to come by.

We managed it today by lying our asses off. We called an emergency meeting of our own, telling everyone we needed to see them in the conference room at midnight. That it was super important and attendance was compulsory.

Then, once we knew everybody was there, we snuck off, like a pair of teenagers escaping from mom and dad. Giggling at how naughty we’ve been.

It was so damn worth it. I’m now curled up on his chest, his strong arms around me, both of us weak and tingling after mind-blowingly awesome sex. Luca trails his fingertips over my bare shoulder and nuzzles my hair with his nose. “Fuck. We needed that,” he says seriously.

“I know. Me too. Maybe it’ll get less busy eventually?”

“Maybe. But I was thinking … this place isn’t exactly our secret anymore, is it? How would you feel about us maybe getting our own place?”

Does he sound nervous? I gaze up at him, see that he means it. It strikes me suddenly that despite his centuries-long existence, this is the first time he’s had the chance to build his own home, his own life. He is no longer the pawn of Vincenzo, no longer needs to live at the whim of anybody else.

Then it also strikes me that this is a first for me too. I’ve been around. I’ve had boyfriends, flings. But nothing has ever come close to what this man and I share. We are two halves of the same whole, and his love has lit up my life in ways I never knew possible. It’s not been the most straightforward path to togetherness, but we are here now, and everything was worth it. My eyes sting with tears, and he looks surprised.

“Hey, it’s okay …” he says soothingly.

“I’m not sad! These are happy tears, Luca. And the answer is yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I’d love to get our own place.”

He grins, looks so young for a moment. “Good. I’m thinking maybe a place with a dungeon.”