“All those times that he visited you, what did he want?” Vicca cut in. Unlike her earlier hostility, I could see I’d gained something like respect in her eyes. Maybe respect was too generous a term. More like tolerance.
I glanced at Andre, whose brow was furrowed.
“Before I came to the Isle of Man, I had no idea I was a supernatural. I thought I was going insane.” I got some snickers from that statement. Vampires and their screwed up senses of humor. “Now it seems as though he was keeping an eye on me. I think once I was Awoken, something changed. That’s when he increased his presence in my life.”
“So, since you came to the Isle of Man, the devil’s approached you to chat?” Holloway asked.
“He’s done a lot more than just chatted with me.” I regretted the words almost immediately. Andre’s jaw clenched and unclenched, and his hands tightened along the armrests. The crowd began to whisper, their voices rising.
“Are you telling us you’ve carried on a relationship with the devil while you’ve been with our king?”
Andre rubbed his face. “It’s not quite that simple,” he said. “It wasn’t … consensual.”
Some of the audience hissed, and I sincerely hoped that was on my behalf.
The Elder that was questioning me cleared his throat. “We will adjourn and discuss all that we’ve learned in private. This meeting is over.”
It only took them three hours to come to a decision.
I stood at a window in one of Andre’s side rooms, staring at the night outside. My thoughts were dark.
I heard Andre rise from the wingback chair behind me. My hair stirred as he pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. One of his arms wrapped around my waist and the other slinked over my breasts. They really liked that.
Yo boobs, behave.
His hand laid flat over my heart. “It beats slower, soulmate.”
“I know.” I turned in his arms so that I faced him. “If I di—”
Andre pressed a finger to my lips. “No talk of death tonight.”
A knock on the door sounded. A moment later it opened. “They’ve come to a verdict.”
A verdict. Like this was some trial. The vampire led us back to the room we’d been publically interrogated in.
When we entered, the room stood. The vampire who led us here now directed us back to our seats.
Just as I was about to sit down, Andre caught my arm. “Not yet.”
I turned my confused stare from him to the crowd.
One of the Elders made his way through. I thought he would stop before us, but he came right up to me and took my hand. Then he did something even stranger: he knelt and kissed my knuckles.
“We welcome you, Gabrielle Fiori, daughter of the late Elder, Santiago Fiori, as our sire’s soulmate.”
Over his shoulder, I saw an entire room of vampires genuflect.
When the Elder stood, his face was grim. “We will protect you, come what may.”
I nodded, blinking rapidly. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but it wasn’t this. A weight lifted off my chest to see all these people supporting me. And okay, as far as fan bases go, mine were a bit more morally depraved than the norm. But I’d take it.
“We would request a public Joining to formally recognize you as our queen and host a celebration in honor of your union.”
“Joining?” My eyes questioned Andre.
He glanced down at me, a troubled expression on his face. “The Joining will require some consideration on the part of my soulmate.” Andre returned his attention to the Elder. “But we accept the celebration.”
Chapter 27
“What is a Joining?” I stood, arms crossed in Andre’s study with him and Oliver, who sauntered into Bishopcourt ten minutes ago from who-knew-where.
Andre leaned against his desk, his gaze tracking my every move.
Behind him Oliver poked at a shrunken head Andre had on one of his shelves. The fairy let out a squeal when the head began to snap at him, its teeth clicking together.
“It’s our version of a union, soulmate.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head at that. “As in marriage?”
Andre’s mouth thinned, but he nodded.
Oliver snorted. “Sabertooth, you’re boning the dude on a nightly basis. Best make an honest man out of him before you knock him up.”
Andre and I both glared at Oliver.
“Keep talking, and I’ll knock you out,” I muttered.
“So violent,” Oliver said. “Andre, you might want to rethink this whole Joining business—spousal abuse might happen with this one.” He nudged his head towards me.
“Oh my God, Oliver.”
“No Joining will occur in the near future,” Andre stated.
“Oh.” Oliver deflated.
If I was being honest with myself, I deflated a bit too. It wasn’t that I wanted to get married—excuse me, Joined—anytime soon, but hearing Andre say those words so definitively just … threw me off. I wanted to be the demanding, indecisive one, dammit!
As if he read my mind, Andre gave a longsuffering sigh. “Soulmate, I would love nothing more than to Join with you, but I will not ask you to take on anything you’re not ready for. You already have my heart and my love.”
Awww. My skin began to glow at his words.
Oliver looked between us. “Are you guys about to have hot, sweaty, monkey sex?”
We both ignored him.
“But there will still be a party?” I asked. A party that I probably wouldn’t be around to enjoy.
My heart thumped weakly in my chest, and I shook my hands to get blood flowing through them. They were cold and clammy. Over the last couple days my circulation had gotten especially bad.
“That is what I agreed to, yes,” Andre said.
“Had you even considered asking for my opinion before you agreed to that?” I asked.
“Oh,” Oliver winced, “bad move, Andre boy. Boning will clearly be put on hold till this gets resolved. If the anti-Christ here ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
“Who invited you in here anyway?” Andre demanded, turning on the fairy.
“She did.” He immediately pointed to me.
I shook my head at Oliver and gave him a look that said, You are so lucky I like you.
“She may have invited you in,” Andre said, “but I am ordering you out.”
“Sheesh.” Oliver slid off of Andre’s desk. “I’m leaving I’m leaving.”
We watched the door as it clicked shut. “It continues to astonish me that a creature like him could ever be friends with anyone,” Andre said.
“Hey!” I said indignantly. “He’s my friend.”
“All the more proof that you harbor the heart of a saint.”
Now he was just trying to butter me up.
Andre came over to me. He took my hands in his and he knelt. The image of him down on his knees shook me. His wide shoulders and the dangerous glint in his eyes said without words that he was a man more prone to violence than to love. But here he was, beseeching me with his body. “None of this matters so long as you are mine and I am yours. And I am still yours.”
Seeing that kind of ferocity surrendering to love undid me. My throat worked. I squeezed his hands. “And I’m still yours.”
Andre stood, a smile lighting his features.
I could run from the thought of marriage, but I couldn’t run from our bond. We were already joined—and had been since the bond was Awoken in me.
Andre understood that, but he’d let me live amongst my pretty illusions until I came to terms with it as well.
He leaned in and kissed me, his hands still holding tightly to my own. I pinched my eyes shut.
Till death do us part.
“So when’s this shindig, and what should Leanne and I wear to it?” Oliver asked when I found him hanging out in Andre’s dining room.
Andre had wandered off to a series of private meetings with some of his coven members, leaving me to my own devi
ces for the time being. And my own devices included hanging out with the little devil that perched on my shoulder—a.k.a., Oliver.
Oliver quickly slipped the phone he’d been on into his pocket, but not before I caught a flash of …
Ew.
Dick pics.
“Hello?” Oliver snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Earth to Gabrielle. What’s the dresscode?”
“You just assumed you were invited?”
He picked up the margarita sitting in front of him and slurped it down. He’d gotten Bishopcourt’s chef to make him one, and by the smell of it, one with a little alcohol. Oliver would manage to swing that.
“Of course I’m invited,” he said. “I’m your BBF, and you always invite your BBFs to parties, so, formal, I take it?”
I shrugged. “I have no clue.”
He huffed. “You’re supposed to know these things—it’s your celebration after all.”
“Well, I seriously doubt we’re going to have a casual cookout, Oliver. Use your own judgment.”
Oliver raised his eyebrows. “Whoa, someone needs to loosen up. Actually,” he said, his eyes alighting, “both you and Andre could use a good roll in the hay—minus the hay, because ew, we’re not beasts here.”
Geez, did literally everything come down to sex with this one?
As I stared at him, I realized, Why yes, yes it did.
“There are a lot of things I need. I hate to break it to you Oliver, but sex is not exactly topping that list.”
“Then your list is wrong.” He peered over the rim of his glass. “Also,” he said, eyeing me, “I seriously doubt that.”
“Whatever, Oliver.” I drummed my fingers on the countertop. “By the way, where’s Leanne?”
Oliver checked out his nails, right now painted Robin’s Egg Blue. “She’s busy—with a man.”
My brows shot up. “She has a hot date?” She hadn’t mentioned anything the last time I saw her.
Oliver took a dainty sip of his margarita. “Eh,” he lifted a shoulder, “it’s a new development. She foresaw a chance encounter with a crush of hers. Not that she didn’t want to be here. It was a tough call—spending the evening with a hot date over a depressing mess like you.”
I gave him an arch look. “And yet you’re here.”
Oliver sniffed. “It was a tough call for her. An easy one for me.”
Just when I thought Oliver was about as rude as they come, he went and said something like that.
“—Plus, I already got laid twice today. I had room to fit you into my schedule.”
And there he went ruining it.
“Oli-ver,” I laughed. I pushed his shoulder with a little too much force.
“Aaaaiieeeek!” Oliver screeched as he toppled off his chair.
I cursed. “Oliver?”
Suddenly a hand holding a still-full margarita shot into view. “Saved the alchy! Oh—and I hate you.” A moment later the rest of Oliver popped up.
“Sorry!”
“You wait—next time I’m choosing the beefy dude over your ass.”
Trouble was, there’d be no next time.
Once Oliver left, I found Andre back in his study. He reclined in his chair, his feet kicked up on his desk, his phone cradled against his ear.
“…Chief Constable,” he was saying when I entered, “I’ve been doing this for a long time. Far longer than you. You’d have to take this place apart brick-by-fucking-brick before you got your hands on her.”
My gooseflesh puckered when I realized he was talking about me to Chief Constable Morgan, my former boss.
Andre’s eyes darted to me, his expression heating.
Andre swung his feet off the desk. “I can promise you two things,” he said into the speaker. “One, you will never lay a finger on her. And two, if you think to try again, my wrath will make the devil’s look like child’s play.” He dropped the phone onto the receiver without waiting for a response.
“Soulmate,” he said, his voice gentling. He stood and came over to me. “I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”
I shook my head. “You’ve been coordinating my safety this whole time, haven’t you? While I’ve been hanging out with Oliver.”
He stopped in front of me, and his knuckles grazed my cheek. “I wanted you to be untroubled for a few hours. God knows you deserve it.”
I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. “Thank you.”
“That does not deserve your gratitude.”
I opened my eyes and gazed into Andre’s beautiful face. That chiseled jaw that led to his soft, supple lips. That straight nose, that shock of dark hair. But above all, those deep, soulful eyes that could make his face look harsh or angelic.
I could draw him in my dreams, and I would. I’d carry his image with me, and I’d remember it when things got really bad.
“What are you thinking of?” Andre’s eyes moved between mine.
I swallowed, pushing down the truth. “Why has no one tried to attack this place?” I asked instead.
Andre frowned, and I had the distinct impression he knew my thoughts had lingered elsewhere. But he answered me anyway. “This place has centuries of complex enchantments. It should be impenetrable to foes.”
He pinched his lower lip, his expression darkening. “But every stronghold has a weakness, and Bishopcourt is no exception. It won’t last forever. We will have to leave—and soon.”
“How soon?” If I could snatch back words, I would retrieve those ones. Here I was, making plans with Andre when I had no right to. Not anymore.
Andre lifted an eyebrow. “As soon as you’d like, soulmate, barring tonight or tomorrow—that’s when my subjects want to host the celebration. But two days from now we could leave.” His eyes glimmered with anticipation. Those wheels in his head turned at this very moment, scheming our escape.
“The celebration will be tomorrow?” Horror crept up my throat, trying to choke my windpipe. All that is holy, that was when I was slated to head to hell.
“Best to get it over with as quickly as possible. The coven’s aware that we’ll have to disappear again soon, and who knows the next chance we’ll have to gather again.”
I found my voice. “We can’t do it tomorrow.” I rushed the words out.
Andre peered at me, his eyes missing nothing. “Why not, soulmate?”
I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water. “Because people are after me!” Devil aside, a celebration in the midst of a manhunt was ridiculous.
“No one will be able to touch you here—unless you are planning another one of your grand escapes. I know you are fond of them when danger is nigh, soulmate.”
I ignored the barb. Squeezing my scalp, I said, “Andre, we can’t just do this … I’m sick.”
He stared down at my chest, his gaze far away. When his eyes finally found mine again, they were tormented. “Please. Let me pretend, soulmate. I can control everything else, but not that. Not that.”
He looked so lost, and damn me, but I would do anything to wipe that expression from his face. I was going to agree to this, like the sucker I was. That meant getting dolled up, chatting with people, standing by Andre’s side for an evening.
“Alright,” I said, as though I really had a say in the whole thing, “let’s have our celebration. Question: will my friends get eaten if I invite them?” I smiled as I said it.
His lips twitched. “Soulmate, I’m more concerned about my subjects falling victim to your friends—Oliver in particular.” The sly devil winked, making me laugh.
“Ah, Dios, that laugh.” Andre’s eyes smoldered as he watched me, and my laugh dried up.
He leaned in, taking my mouth fiercely. His passion was like a damn breaking open. I could feel it pouring down on me. Had I been foolish enough to think that intimacy would curb our lust for each other?
It hadn’t. It had merely raised the stakes.
I left Andre when another call came in and my soulmate started making threats anew. There w
as nothing like hearing your soulmate promise to eviscerate someone to really curb the passion.
I headed down the hallway, pulling out my phone and texting Oliver and Leanne about the celebration.
Once I was done, I threaded my fingers over my head. Restlessness tore through me.
I made a beeline for the back of the mansion, where an expansive balcony overlooked Andre’s backyard.
Reaching the back door, I stepped outside into the chilly night. I didn’t stop moving until I’d reached the very edge, my hands palming the railing. The wind lifted my hair and twisted it in a thousand different directions. I embraced the chaos.
In the garden beneath me, the shadows moved. I startled at the movement, the peace I’d felt a moment ago now shattered.
The darkness seemed to ooze and roll, climbing the sides of the building, heading straight for me. I backed up, but I could not turn away.
I watched as the darkness gathered itself, condensing into a shadowy figure. Then I heard the laugh I had come to know, to dread.
The devil’s form grew more substantial with each passing moment until, at some point, he had the appearance of a flesh and blood human.
I couldn’t look away, even as I continued to back away from him; I could not summon my body to turn its back on something so dangerous.
“Oh no, no, no, Gabrielle. Do not think about leaving. I just arrived.”
My upper lip involuntarily curled, as repulsion warred with cold, clammy terror.
The devil came to a stop in front of me and straightened the charcoal suit he wore.
He scrutinized me, taking in the subtle lines of sickness. “Not doing so good?” He shook his head, feigning sadness. A smile tugged the corners of his lips.
“You killed her.”
He smirked, his strange eyes watching me with excitement. “Take it as a hard-learned lesson: I will kill each and every person you care about until you give me what I want.”
Physically I might be sick, but I was not weak. My courage rose within me, causing my skin to flare with light. “My list of loved ones is short, Pluto. You’d better pick your battles because once they run out, you’ll have nothing to blackmail me with.”