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Prologue
~Victor Galt~
Isle Aux Monstres – 1840
I stood alone in the temple, alone on the island in the middle of nowhere, alone with my thoughts and the memories of Claire’s screams of terror and pain echoing through my mind and my heart.
It should have been me.
It was supposed to be me.
That my mate, the love of my life, the woman with whom I’d shared but one kiss and a promise of an eternity together, had sacrificed herself to protect my worthless life was gut wrenchingly painful.
Such a waste.
It should have been me.
I stared at the sarcophagus that my men had constructed for me, my fingers lightly tracing the intricate lines carved into the wood. I’d asked for a simple oak box. But I should have known that they wouldn’t be able to resist creating a more ornate resting place for me.
That my beloved had been reduced to ashes by a mob of mortals, and I would be lain to rest in a gilded tomb was just one more in a succession of injustices.
That I lived and she died…well, that would be taken care of soon enough. Or as close to it as I could accomplish on my own.
When my friends had brought word of Claire’s fate, I’d begged for them to end my life as well. I’d run like a coward to safety, leaving her behind. I did not deserve to live.
But they could not.
Would not.
Claiming that her life had ended on her terms as she’d wanted it to.
To save me.
So a compromise was born.
I would retreat to my island. I would crawl into my coffin, and I would whither for eternity. My self-inflicted punishment would be to starve, to decay and to never again walk the Earth without Claire by my side.
Torpor was said to be agony for the vampires resigned to its fate.
Agony was no less than I deserved for allowing my mate to take the death that had been meant for me.
I lifted the lid of my sarcophagus and climbed inside. The rich velvet lining was warm against my skin, the padding provided by my men the softest down beneath my back.
But I knew the comfort would soon be replaced by nothingness. The spells carved into the tomb by the witches who had been willing to help me would rip my soul from my body soon enough.
I would never again fully wake to a world without Claire beside me.
All that would remain for me was pain.
Which was no less than I deserved.
Pulling the lid closed over myself, I closed my eyes and waited for the darkness to consume me. The tears that slid down my cheeks were not for me. But for her.
Always for Claire.
