Page 100 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

“I would hardly call it hanging out.” He wagged a finger at me. “But you’re wrong. You were already a Queen when I met you.”

“A Queen directs her own empire,” I recalled the words he’d spoken to me once in Paris. Back then, our lives felt so complicated as we struggled with our feelings for one another. Now? I shook myself free of the thought. It wouldn’t get us anywhere to relive the past. I pointed to the letter, choosing to focus on Ginerva’s warning instead. “Too bad I can’t trust my empire.”

“We have people we can trust. Jacqueline. Lysander. Sebastian.”

“Camila?” I said with a snort.

“I wouldn’t put her on the list,” he admitted. He took a deep breath and shifted onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. “The Mordicum wants my help.”

“Your help?” I repeated. I hadn’t heard him correctly. They wouldn’t come to a pureblood vampire for assistance, especially if that vampire’s mother was Sabine Rousseaux. “Are they suicidal?”

He chuckled softly. “That’s pretty much what I said. They claim a monster is coming after vampires.”

“Coming after how?”

“You don’t want to know the details,” he said darkly.

I laid down next to him, placing my head on his chest. “Why come to you, though? Why not Camila or someone sympathetic to their cause?”

“I think that’s why they need me.” He absently brushed a hand over my hair. “They need a pureblood. They need the Council. If they’re telling the truth, all vampires are in danger.”

“Maybe they should have considered that before they started attacking innocent vampires.”

His hand stilled. “No vampires are innocent. Sometimes you forget what I am.”

But I wasn’t having it. “I think vampires are so obsessed with their own superiority that they forget they share plenty of mortal traits,” I told him, turning my face to meet his downturned eyes. When he didn’t respond, I continued, “Humans are just as capable of being homicidal maniacs, you know? Humans act out of love, fear, desperation, and I think that’s true of vampires. All creatures do, and in all species there are good apples and rotten ones.”

Julian inhaled sharply before sighing. “You’re right, but…”

“I’m not trying to justify the actions of the Mordicum, though.” I pulled away slightly, propping myself up on an elbow. “I think they’re rotten apples, but maybe...”

Julian didn’t speak. He waited, letting me work through my own complicated feelings.

“Maybe they’re just up against a wall.”

“Purebloods have treated most turned vampires as inferior for ages.” He brushed a hand lazily down my shoulder. “Even me. Part of me understands where they are coming from, but I will never condone their actions.”

Sometimes I still dreamed of that night at the opera—the bloody horror of it all. Those nights I woke up drenched in sweat, my stomach churning. “Me neither.”

“And if they’re right?” he asked, his expression serious. “What if there is a monster attacking vampires?”

I shuddered at the thought. Not only because most of my friends—most of my family—were vampires, but because I knew we were vulnerable. Between the threat of the Queens, the Vampire Council’s constant interference, and everything else, the last thing we needed was another enemy. “We have to be prepared, and we might have to work with them, but we still have to hold the Mordicum accountable.” I believed that, but I couldn’t just instantly accept allying with them either. “There’s just one more thing. How are we going to do all of this? A coronation? Figuring out who betrayed Ginerva? Dealing with Willem? Your family’s new matriarch?”

“Don’t forget the Third Rite and the season coming to Venice,” he added in a flat voice that told me he’d been asking himself the same thing, “and the wedding.”

The wedding. In the midst of all the chaos, I’d forgotten completely we were even engaged. Given that we were mated and our lives were bound together, it hardly seemed necessary.

“We could just skip it.” I dared a look at his face and found it stony. “Or elope.”

“We aren’t skipping the wedding,” he said firmly.

“It’s just a chance for Sabine to show off her—”

“It’s a chance for me to show off my mate,” he cut me off. Pushing up, he brought his eyes level with mine. “I’ve waited lifetimes for you, and no matter what else is going on in our lives, I will never take our love for granted. I want to marry you. I want to kiss my bride and dance with her and cut cake and make love to my wife.”

For one moment, the rest of the world fell away, and I saw what he’d done. We’d been so wrapped up in darkness and drama I’d almost lost sight of what was really important. Us. We’d fought to get here and there were more battles ahead, but why we were fighting was important, too. And I wanted that day, too, even if only to give me a taste of what we might find at the end of all of this.

“Okay,” I said softly. “Let’s get married.”

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