Page 191 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

He didn’t look at her as he rose. Instead, he turned to me.

“What now?” he asked.

I bit my lip, hoping I was right, hoping I’d understood the cryptic prophecy correctly. I walked toward my throne slowly and took it. The weight of my crown dropped onto my head. It felt heavier than normal. Perhaps because it bore not only the weight of my responsibility but my entire future as well.

Standing, I turned to the new Queens and lifted it from my head. “Ever as three bound. Ever as three free.” I swallowed back the fear that threatened to choke me. “If we return the magic, we’ll be free. Everyone will be free.”

Quinn rose. “And vampires will no longer control the source?” She grinned, her shoulders slumping in relief. “Sounds good to me.”

I looked to Aurelia. She didn’t move. Instead, she stared at me. “We give up the crowns?”

Panic seized my chest, but I managed a nod.

“But...” Her eyes searched mine. “...what if you’re wrong? What if the source needs the Queens? What if...”

I understood her fear. I felt it, too. It was a gamble based on a riddle found in an old book. “My father believed it,” I said slowly, “so much so that he tied his curse to these thrones. He believed no Queen would ever give up that much power.” I paused and lifted my chin. “I believe we are better than that.”

She considered for the longest second of my life before standing.

Lysander moved to the side; his gaze cast away as Aurelia moved to my side. Quinn joined me at my other. We walked to the edge of the dais, staring at the black water lapping from the chasm in the stone.

They took off their crowns.

Ever as three...

“Together,” I murmured. In unison, we threw the crowns into the water. I reached for their hands and waited.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

JULIAN

The world returned with startling clarity, vivid and overwhelming, even for my vampire senses. I sat up, wincing, and looked around, meeting the confused eyes of everyone surrounding me. Even my mother’s face was drawn in shock as if seeing everything for the first time. The colors were brighter, tinged in a golden light, even though the night sky sheltered us. Smells crowded my nostrils: the thick perfume of the wedding flowers, the scent of spilled champagne, the musty brine of Venice. Someone moved, and my head whipped toward them with predatory instinct, the sound so crisp and loud that it was disconcerting. And under my skin, in my veins, magic roared.

“What happened?” I asked my mother. She shook her head, her eyes searching the room for clues. It was like we’d been shaken from a deep sleep and emerged into a new life. I placed my hand on the stone to push up and caught sight of my wedding band. A new fear overtook my confusion. “Where’s Thea?”

My mother’s mouth opened, but someone else called out to me.

“I’m here!”

I nearly collapsed with relief, but when I lifted my head to track her, my heart stopped. Thea rushed toward me, her wedding gown soaked with blood, her hair tangled in wild waves over her shoulders. I jumped to my feet and moved in long, fast strides, meeting her halfway.

“You’re okay,” she sobbed, running her hands over my chest and repeating those two words like she needed to say it to believe it.

I gripped her shoulders, looking for the origin of the blood, but didn’t find a scratch. As soon as I was satisfied, I crushed her to my chest as my heart slowed to a more normal rhythm. “Thea...”

She didn’t need me to ask. Instead, she clung to me and repeated the entire story. I listened with numb shock, torn between my relief that she was safe and my horror at what she’d endured.

“There’s something else,” she whispered. “To break the curse, we had to sacrifice our crowns. It was the only way to free you.”

“Sacrifice?”

“We gave magic back to the earth.” She pulled back enough to study my face, her eyes darting around us. I knew why and my arms tightened around her.

“I can feel it.” The leash on magic was gone. It flowed freely now through all of us. I’d never known magic unbound from the Queens. “Everything is different.”

“Not everything.” She placed a reassuring hand on my chest.

I gazed down at her, at my wife, at my mate, and managed a smile. “Not that.”

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