AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I don't think that's something I can decide on my own," he said. "We're getting to know each other. We're having a whole lot of amazing sex, and your friends are doing their best to corrupt me. Which, by the way, I am completely on board with." He paused to smile, but his eyes searched her face. "I also know I should expect absolutely nothing. Tomorrow, you could be gone. There's a good chance that I will never see you again."
"And yet you told Claunek to have me inherit your accounts?" she asked.
He shrugged lazily. "Who else am I going to give it to? I'm unable to have kids, I hate my father, and if my brother is still with the Church, inheriting anything from me would likely get him killed. At least if I give my money and anything of value to you, then maybe you can help someone else."
Which made sense. All that made sense, but it didn't really tell her what she wanted to know. Did he see this as just a business arrangement? Did he care about her at all? Nikki said he did, but Dahlia was too tired, too run-down, and just not ready to deal with all of this.
So she pressed both hands to her face, leaned her head back, and just let words fall from her mouth. "I don't want to be alone. I want a partner. I miss Mei. I know I will never have that kind of relationship again with anyone else, but if the only thing I'm living for is destroying the Church, then what is the point of all of this?" With a groan, she let her hands flop back to her sides. "I want to have a home where I can stop pretending, and just maybe, for a little bit, find somebody who actually matters to me. Somebody who wants me to matter back. Somebody… more than just a friend."
He stepped in, palming both sides of her face. "You, Valerie Dahlia Keegan, are my wife. Myfuckingwife. That is a whole hell of a lot more than just a friend, and I promise that I'm not going anywhere. I can't. When I put that ring on your finger, I cut every other tie I have. So, right now it's all up to you. I can back the fuck off and make this whole thing real fucking casual between us, or you can ignore the fact that I'm fumbling around trying to figure out how to not be an idiot in this open relationship thing we're doing." His thumb swept across her cheek. "Tonight, I had a threesome with a girl I wasn't attracted to so that my friend could get fed. I let her suck my dick while the only thing turning me on was watching you get laid across a filthy alley from me. What the hell else was I supposed to do?"
The air was caught in her throat, and all she could do was shake her head slightly because she felt something. Probably nothing he hoped for, but it wasn't exactly what she expected. She had been braced for it, and the sudden pull could only mean one thing.
"Say my name again?" she begged.
Confusion crossed his face. "Dahlia?" he tried.
"No," she said. "The whole thing."
The confusion faded and a small smile touched his lips. "Valerie Dahlia Keegan."
And it happened again, the rush of it even stronger this time.
"And the other one?" she begged again.
"Valka Sjorensdotter," he said.
This time, the action was faint, almost undetectable. It was the sort of thing she could ignore without even needing to try too hard. Sure, it was still there, but that had been her name for so very long that it would've been miraculous for any tie she'd had to it to vanish overnight. Yes, it would still summon her, but it wouldn't force her to obey. Neither name would.
"It worked," she breathed. "I can feel them both, but neither has complete power over me. And yours - I mean my new name - is stronger." It felt like a weight was vanishing from her shoulders. "Thane, it worked! I really am your wife."
He just stepped in and wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to his chest. "And we'll fumble through figuring everything else out together. I promise."
ChapterEighteen
NIKKI
Nikki had collected enough to bind three men to her last night. Three big, strapping men with enough vitality that she could easily feed on them without harming any of them. Now, she just had to complete their dolls so she could summon them when she needed a recharge. The problem was that she needed scissors. She'd picked up everything else when she got the stuff for Thane's bracelet, but she'd somehow managed to forget scissors, of all things. Luckily, there was a Dollar Store up the street.
So, after putting her hair up in a ponytail and choosing a pair of running shoes, she headed out. Her apartment was on the second floor, in the same wing as Dahlia's, but with the entrance coming off the courtyard instead of the breezeway. Once she reached the ground floor, she turned for the closest corridor - not the one Roarke lived on - but heard voices when she got closer.
Her feet slowed. At first, she wasn't sure she recognized the people talking, and this community wasn't made up of only eidolon. Sure, about three quarters of the tenants were her people now, but there had been some renters before the eidolon descended on this tired apartment complex. Then she heard a voice she knew: Vivian's.
"You know she just told her true name to the whole community, right?"
"So did the hunter, though," another woman said. Nikki was pretty sure that was Laci, just because the two ghosts liked to hang out together.
Then came Karsen. "Are you sure he's an inquisitor, though? I mean, she could just be talking shit to make herself look stronger than the rest of us."
Yeah, he was a phantom who'd only moved in two days ago, right around the time Thane had shown up. Karsen hadn't met Dahlia yet, so he hadn't gotten the chance to sense the vitality rolling in both her and Cain. And while Dahlia claimed a style to her afterlife, calling herself a valkyrie, Cain didn't bother. He was simply Cain, the first of their kind - and he'd mastered all the tricks most of them were still learning.
Then another man spoke up. "Names don't work on the living, Laci. Just the undead. But, if this valkyrie really is as old as they say, she should know better."
Which was when Nikki rounded the corner. "Or she knows different." Offering a smile to Vivian and Laci, Nikki moved to join them, hoping to find out where this was going. "Everyone knows Cain's name. He says it makes the pull weak enough that he can ignore it when he wants or use it to get out of the abyss. Now stop and think about that. Every day, some Sunday school group is talking about him. I bet a body death is little more than an inconvenience to him because of it."
"Says the witch who's gotten real cozy with the supposed leaders of this community," Laci grumbled.
Nikki just scoffed. "When I got here, it was just the three of us. Of course I got to know them. I also learned a few tricks from them."
