Page 99 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

Julian huffed, shaking his head. “A simple creature?”

“You were in a bar fight a few hours ago,” I reminded him, wishing I could find it in myself to laugh.

He shrugged, a cocky grin hanging on his lips. “In fairness, I didn’t start it.”

Not really.

“You aren’t charming your way out of it,” I warned him. “We don’t need any more trouble.” I took the letter back and folded it carefully.

About that...it was a bit more than a brawl.

“Do I want to know?”

“Probably not.”

I sighed as the crushing weight on my chest grew heavier. “Sometimes I think we should have listened to Celia.”

“Oh?” His lips twitched. “She’d love to hear that.”

“I mean it.” I dropped onto the bed and grabbed a pillow. “We should have run off to some private island and just waited for everyone to forget about us.”

He lifted a brow, and I didn’t need to hear his thoughts to know what he was thinking.

“We still could,” he said after a moment.

I started to roll my eyes, but he pressed a finger to my chin. “We could go to my place near the Keys.”

“The Keys?” I repeated. This was the first time I was hearing about this.

“Remind me to send you a list of our homes,” he said breezily as though having a real estate portfolio with multiple properties on every continent was no big deal. “I have an island in international waters.”

Despite everything that was happening, I found myself smiling at how casual he made it sound. “Of course you do.”

“It was my sanctuary before...” His gaze ghosted over me, and I knew what he was thinking. Before we had met. Before we had become each other’s safe harbor. “It’s where I was for the last thirty years.”

I swallowed as that information formed a knot in my throat. “Is it a good idea to go back?”

“That depends.” A slow smile that promised his mind was currently in the gutter spread over his beautiful face. “I wouldn’t mind spending another thirty years in bed if you were there.”

“Napping?” I said dryly.

“I suspect we would get very little sleep.” His thumb traced my jawline, his tongue darting over his lower lip, and I knew he was already planning those thirty years.

Every ounce of me ached to go—to leave all of this behind—and be selfish. We deserved that. Neither of us had asked to be tasked with protecting magic and fighting nefarious vampire factions. Why couldn’t we just walk away? We probably couldn’t save magic anyway. Not with everyone around us hellbent on destroying one another. Staying here might be a death sentence. Hadn’t Ginerva’s letter warned me as much? Compared to that fate, thirty years in bed with Julian sounded like an excellent use of what time we had left.

“What do you say, My Queen?” he asked softly.

“I want to go,” I whispered, not daring to look into his eyes. “But we can’t.”

I know.

The sadness in his words squeezed my heart, settling there and adding more weight to my already heavy load.

“Hey, remember when I was just your fake girlfriend?” I tried to sound light before that heaviness broke us.

“That feels like a lifetime ago.” But he smiled.

“And now, look at us.” I forced a grin on my face. “I’m a Queen with death threats of my very own, and you’re hanging out with the Mordicum.”

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