These last couple of weeks...
They had been miraculous.
She was miraculous.
Now their time together was over.
Valerius opened the door to his house and listened to the silence. He shut and locked the door, then walked up the stairs to the solarium where Agrippina's statue waited.
He refilled the oil in her lamp before he realized just how stupid he'd been, both as a man and as a Dark-Hunter.
He hadn't been able to protect Agrippina or Tabitha from the pain that was life.
Just as he couldn't protect himself.
But then, maybe life wasn't about protecting. Maybe it was about something else.
Something even more valuable.
It was about sharing.
He didn't need someone to protect him from the past. He needed the touch of a woman whose warmth chased away those demons. A woman whose very presence had made the unbearable bearable.
And in all these centuries he still hadn't learned the most valuable thing of all.
How to say "I love you" to someone.
But at least now he understood what feeling it meant.
His heart shattering, he touched Agrippina's cold cheek. It was time to let go of the past.
"Good night, Agrippina," he whispered.
Stepping down, he blew out her flame and walked out of the room that had been hers alone and into the one he had learned to share with Tabitha.
Tabitha came awake to find herself alone in her old bed. She closed her eyes and wished herself back to childhood. Back to the days when all of her sisters had shared this house with her. Back to the time when their worst fear was not having a date for the prom.
But time was ever fleeting.
And there was no way back.
Sighing, she rolled over and realized that Valerius wasn't with her. She felt the absence of him immediately.
She got up and pulled on a bathrobe her mother must have left in the room for her. As she walked past the dresser, she paused, then stepped back to see a ring on top of it.
Her heart pounded as she recognized Valerius's signet ring on top of a folded-up note.
Picking it up, she read the handful of words.
Thank you, my lady Tabitha. For everything.
Val
Tabitha frowned. Was it a kiss-off? Oh, yeah, that was just what she needed right now.
Why not?
She was almost angry until she read it again and realized that he hadn't signed it "Valerius."
He'd used her nickname for him.
A nickname he hated.
Her throat tight, she tucked the note into her pocket and kissed the ring he'd left her. She slid it onto her thumb and went to bathe.
Valerius was dreaming of Tabitha. She was laughing in his ear as she lay beneath him.
It seemed so real, he could almost swear he felt her hand on his back...
No, now it was buried in his hair.
And then she moved it away and ran it over his hip, down his thigh until she cupped him in her palm.
Growling in pleasure, Valerius opened his eyes to realize it wasn't a dream.
Tabitha lay on her side next to him. "Hi, baby," she whispered.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, unable to believe she was real.
She held her hand up to show him his ring. "How could I be anywhere else given the curtness of your note?"
"My note wasn't curt."
She scoffed at him. "I almost thought you were telling me to hit the road."
"Why would you think that? I left you my ring."
"Consolation gift?"
He rolled his eyes at her misbegotten reasoning. "No, that ring means that the wearer is worth his or her weight in gold. See?" He held it up so that she could see the regal crest.
A slow smile spread across her face. "I'm worth my weight in gold?"
Valerius moved her hand to his lips so that he could kiss it. "You're worth a lot more than that to me."
Her eyes misted as she looked up at him. "I love you, Valerius."
He'd never heard anything more precious to him. "I love you, too, Tabitha," he said, his voice thick.
Her smile widened as she pulled him into her arms and kissed him senseless.
She literally tore her shirt off before she wiggled herself up under him.
Valerius laughed at her eagerness before he kissed her gently on the lips.
She wasn't in the mood for that. They made love furiously, as if they wouldn't have another chance again.
Afterward, they lay in each other's arms. Valerius toyed with her hair as he contemplated their future. "So what do we do now, Tabitha?"
"What do you mean?"
"How do we make this relationship work? Kyrian still hates me and I'm still a Dark-Hunter."
"Well," she said raggedly. "Rome wasn't built in one day. We take it one step at a time."
Little did she know that those steps were going to be horrific.
The first one came the night of her sister's wake. Valerius had driven her to her parents' only to pull up short as they realized Kyrian, Amanda, and Julian and his wife Grace were there.
The animosity was tangible.
Tabitha had meant to stay with Valerius the entire time, but her Aunt Zelda pulled her away.
"I'll be right back."
Valerius nodded as he went to get something else to drink.
Julian and Kyrian cornered him in the kitchen.
He sighed wearily as he waited for them to start in on him. He set his cup down.
Kyrian grabbed his arm.
Valerius was about to lay him out cold when he realized that Kyrian wasn't hurting him. He pulled back Valerius's sleeve so that the scars of his execution were visible.
"Amanda told me how you died," Kyrian said quietly. "I didn't believe her."
Valerius jerked his arm away. Without a word, he started away from the two Greeks.
But Kyrian's voice stopped him. "Look, Valerius, I have to tell you that it literally kills me every time I see you. Can you imagine what it would be like if I had the face of the man who nailed you to the wood?"
Valerius gave a bitter laugh at the irony. "Actually, I know exactly how you feel, General. Every time I use a mirror, I too see the face of my executioner."
He may not have been twins with his brothers, but they looked enough alike that it was hard to see himself in a mirror without seeing them. It was why he was so damned grateful Dark-Hunters didn't cast reflections unless they wanted to.
Kyrian nodded. "Yeah, I guess you would. I don't suppose I could bribe or bully you away from Tabitha, can I?"