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“This is your true self,” he told her.
She looked into his face, really looked at him with her new eyes for the first time. She trailed her hand through his hair, fascinated by the feel of him. She traced his brow, then ran her finger along his cheekbone, down to discover the contours of his lips. She felt his sigh on her fingertips.
Now she could see him as he truly was. Their Grace Union showed her the soul behind the windows of his eyes. She sank through the layers inside him, more complex even than the myriad flavors of his blood. “Now I understand what you mean whenever you tell me it will take you centuries to know me.”
“We have millennia now.”
She held onto him, enfolded in his embrace, knowing it was finally true.
She had the Gift.
Long moments passed by, she knew not how many. Her sense of time had altered. Even the city bells of Selas that counted the hours were not to be heard in this veiled realm of their own. The world they had left behind in flames felt like another life.
“I know you have questions,” he said, “but right now, you need blood and time. I’ll tell you anything necessary for your peace of mind, and then I want you to focus on your own needs, all right?”
Already, his seductive voice was all she could hear. But he was right. There were things she should ask him before she slipped back into the delirium of bloodlust. “Just tell me if Solia is all right.”
“Yes. When I brought you home, she was holding her own. The Charge will keep her and everyone else safe. Knight is with Zoe.” His expression softened. “You should know that your sister gave us her blessing.”
“On our love?” Cassia asked, scarcely daring to hope.
“On your Gifting.”
Cassia gasped.
“Can you let that be enough for now?” Lio asked. “There will be time to deal with the rest of the world later. Will you forget with me that anything beyond our tower exists?”
Her most sacred choice had not cost her Solia’s love. Yes, that was enough.
“I can scarcely see beyond you and me,” Cassia confessed.
“Good. Nothing matters to me right now except taking care of you. Will you let me do that?”
“Have you not yet realized, my Grace? You no longer share me with the rest of the world. Nothing matters to me except you.”
He framed her face in his hands, stroking her. “I cannot tell you what that means to me.”
“You needn’t tell me. I can feel it in our Union. I can smell it on you.”
Scents hung in the air, as heavy as the clouds of steam blanketing her new skin. Amid the fragrance of roses and moonflowers, her nose picked out his musk.
“Let me introduce you to your new form,” he said. “There are things I want to show you about your body…and your magic.”
At that invitation, her fangs sprang to their full length in an instant, and she groaned in surprise.
He tilted her head back to look at her mouth. “I’ll never tire of watching that.”
“I just drank from you.” Her words slurred around her fangs. “How can I need more blood already?”
“You’ll be hungry all the time at first. That’s why we’re naked in a locked tower covered in veil spells.”
Laughter bubbled out of her.
He beamed at her. “Not that I would mind if all of Selas heard my screams and envied me for my Grace’s appetite.”
She let out another peal of laughter.
He gazed down at her as if he truly were the most fortunate person in the world. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh as a Hesperine.”
