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He stares down at my hand as he sketches a line along my palm. “And how did he say vampires fall in love?”
My teeth sink into my tongue as a shiver threatens to quiver through me. “Well, he told me that it takes them a very long time to find the love of their life, a few centuries at least. But when they do find their one and only, they love them for eternity. Which seems a little extreme if you ask me. I mean, vampires are immortal. That means they love the same vampire forever. Literally.”
His gaze elevates to mine. “You don’t buy into the theory that a vampire can love only one vampire forever?”
I lift a shoulder. “I’m sure it’s true for vampires, but I spent a lot of my life living around humans, and it definitely doesn’t work that way for most of them. Maybe a few, but not all of them.”
He absentmindedly nods. “And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Have you ever been in love?”
“Yeah, all the time,” I tease. “In fact, I try to fall in love every week, at least. But it’s actually quite tiring—falling in love, I mean—so I’ve been on sort of a love sabbatical for the last few months.”
He rolls his tongue in his mouth, suppressing a grin. “So, falling in love is tiring? Glad to know. Guess I’ll try to avoid it, then.”
“You probably should.”
“I definitely will.”
“Good.” I can’t stop a smile from rising on my face. “You know I’m just kidding, right? I’ve never actually been in love. I’ve barely been able to talk to anyone over the last decade, well, minus Legend, let alone give my heart and soul to someone.”
A bit of relief combined with concern washes across his expression. “Did humans not talk to you while you were in their realm?”
“No, they did talk to me sometimes, but the stuff they said wasn’t very nice and only required a one-sided conversation.” I pretend to be engrossed with the view to the side of me.
He cups my chin and turns my face toward his. “What sort of stuff did they say to you?”
“It doesn’t really matter. After I turned eighteen, I didn’t have to be around people anymore.”
“It matters to me.”
“Why?”
He shrugs, his gaze blazing with such intensity that I expect his eyes to shimmer violet again. But they remain a piercing, persistent blue. “Because I want to know what your life’s been like. I want to know what happened to you when you left here. I want to …” He pauses, taking a measured breath. “I want to know all about you.”
“My life in the Common Realm wasn’t that fascinating,” I assure him. “It pretty much consisted of bouncing around foster homes, going to school, and working. Humans weren’t fans of me, so I tried to keep my distance as much as possible. It got kind of lonely, yet I never really wanted their company, which really never made any sense. But it’s how I felt.”
“You probably felt disconnected because you weren’t surrounded by your own kind.” He lowers his hand from my chin, positions himself in front of me, and places his hands on the railing, pinning me between his arms. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that. That I didn’t save you that day.” He gazes off over my shoulder, a portrait of regret. “I should’ve saved you.”
“What happened to me wasn’t your fault,” I tell him, thrown off by his sadness.Why does he care so much about this? About me? What isn’t he telling me? “You were like, what? Eight years old? How were you supposed to save me?”
“Because I should’ve … I should’ve gotten to you quicker.”
I can hear the sizzling of skin scalding. I want to reach back and flick his fingers away from those damn rings, but his arms secure me where I stand.
“Jules, what happened to me, it wasn’t your fault,” I try my hardest to alleviate some of his guilt.
“You can’t even remember what happened.”
“Yeah, so what? Just because you didn’t get to me in time, doesn’t make it your fault. Besides, you were a child, so even if you had gotten to me in time, I highly doubt the situation would’ve ended well. It probably would’ve ended worse … with more deaths.” A dull ache prods at the center of my heart. Desperate to get rid of the feeling and the sullen mood lingering between us, I aim for a joke. “And then who would’ve been around to figure out who I am and kiss me without my permission?”
He doesn’t so much as crack a smile. “Do you know that werewolves love forever, too? We’re not immortal or anything, but we love just as fiercely as vampires. Maybe even more so.”
“I didn’t know that. Honestly, I don’t really know much about werewolves.”
He quietly sighs, his gaze meeting mine. “I know, and I’d like to change that.”
