“Then I will wait. I will respect your marriage to Cole, as long as I get you these two days to myself. As soon as he leaves you, or you see fit to leave him. A hundred years from now, two hundred, it doesn’t matter. I will wait. I want you. I want to marry you,” he says huskily.
“For real this time?” I half joke as the tears start to well up.
He laughs and says, “Yes, for real this time. And to show you I mean it…” He leans over to the bedside table and opens the drawer. He pulls out a small box and my heart nearly stops. He opens it and I have to sit on
the bed as my knees give out. Putting my hand to my mouth, I am speechless. He drops to his knees. “It’s not an engagement ring,” he says. “Even I have more sense than that. Think of it as a promise to me, that you will be my wife. One day. In return, I will continue to want only you, my sweet.”
I stare at him, unable to form words.
“Accept the ring and wear it on your right hand if you can make this promise to me. But let me make this perfectly clear, Aefre, if you don’t accept it, then I will fight for you. I will fight for you, and I will rip your marriage apart at the seams to win you and you know that I can. One way or the other, I will make you mine. How I go about it is up to you.”
I smile inwardly. Even in the face of declarations of epic love, he has to show his dominance. I knew all along that I would accept it. It is all I ever wanted from him. I just wanted to see how much he would tell me if I stayed silent.
“I accept it,” I say with a shy smile and he returns my smile with that heart stopping made-just-for-me smile. He slips it onto my finger, a nine-carat square cut blue diamond with two emerald-cut clear diamonds nestled either side in a platinum setting. Not usually one to shower anyone with gifts, he has dropped about ten mil on jewelry for me in the last week. Oh yes, a girl is definitely used to this now.
With my three men by my side, I know that whatever comes next, I’ll be ready for it.
EPILOGUE
Pevensey, England, 1066 – Aefre
I learned of my sire’s proclivities soon after I met Eloise and she mentioned it. I didn’t understand what she meant, and it was playing on my mind, so I planned to asked him. He was furious with me for stowing away on William’s ship and putting myself in danger, but he accepted it when I told him I couldn’t bear to be apart from him and showed him how happy I could make him by being around. William was more than delighted to have me aboard, much to Constantine’s ire, although he told me in no uncertain terms to stay aboard once we reached the coast. Which I didn’t.
After pleasing my sire that night, I asked him about those proclivities as I lay on top of him.
He studied me closely for a few moments before he said, “It is nothing for you to worry about, my love.”
“Tell me. I want to know,” I demanded.
“Always so curious.” He smiled and kissed me to distract me, but I was burning with curiosity about something that horrible woman knew that I didn’t, about my sire, my love.
Pulling away, I said, “Constantine, tell me. What did she mean?”
He sighed, “Oh, Aefre, you are not ready to hear about such things.”
“I am,” I insisted. “I want to know everything about you.”
“I like certain things,” he said eventually. “From the women I am with.”
I started at the use of the plural. “Women?” I choked out.
He rubbed his face with his hand. “Yes, Aefre. I have told you about a Vampire’s nature.”
I flinched, yes, he has told me, but I didn’t like hearing about it.
“What things?” I whispered.
“I like to be in complete control of them. They are like slaves,” he said then, I thought to shock me.
“Slaves?”
“Yes, slaves. To do with as I wish, when I wish, only as I wish. To do with as I please.”
I must have looked shocked as he closed his eyes briefly. “I told you, you weren’t ready to hear of this.”
“You hurt them?” I asked, horrified.
“Sometimes, yes.”