Page 11 of Taste of Fate

Tavi let out a breath that sounded like she’d been holding it a while, and a small smile played on her lips as well. “I think I can handle being friends.”

“Good, me too.” I flipped the dagger once more, the blade’s sharp tip pointing directly at my sternum. “Shall I begin?”

She stiffened. “You don’t have to, Cyan. I appreciate your willingness, but I believe you’ll keep your vow.”

“I do have to. I said I would.” My grin widened, probably looking a little unhinged with a sharp edge pointed at myself. “I’m not going back on my word now.”

For some reason I couldn’t explain, it felt important to do this. The ritual needed to be carried out, and not just to follow through on what I said. Carving our vows with silver was a sign of integrity and honor, partially because it was a painful, uncomfortable process.

No amount of pain would make me honorable, not even if I was covered in head to toe in vows to keep. Maybe it was punishment I craved, the burn and hiss of the silver cutting apart my flesh like no other weapon could. Some days I wondered why I didn’t drive the silver dagger straight through my heart.

And then I remembered that I simply didn’t deserve such an easy exit. If Kalix had to suffer, so did I.

But he was gone, and right then I had to think of how to write out my promise to Tavia. Not dwell in the past.

The vampire written language was made up of characters and pictographs based on phonetic sounds as well as concepts. There was no direct translation of her name, so I’d have to combine characters to make a single depiction that symbolized her. It came to me quickly with a rightness that could only be attributed to inspiration.

“Do you want to see your name in our language?” I smirked and pressed the silver point to my skin before she could react.

The pain of the first cut had me hissing in a breath. It had been fifteen years since I made my vow to the clan, and I’d forgotten how much it burned. The surrounding skin turned bright red, but no blood fell. Silver cauterized surface wounds like these, and I would heal in minutes, but it always left scars behind.

And it hurt like a bitch, but no more complaints would slip past my lips. I continued drawing the character for Octavia, a combination of the symbols for brave and human female into the left side of my chest.

When I finished her name, I held the knife aside so she could see. Tavi looked pale and not as impressed as I’d hoped.

“My name?” She swallowed and met my gaze. “You have my name as a permanent mark on your body forever?”

“Well, yes. You are the subject of my vow,” I explained. “It wouldn’t hold much weight if I didn’t name who I was making the vow to.”

She blinked. “Right. It just seems…significant.”

“It is.”

“I know, but not in the sense that you’re making a vow, but…” She brought a hand to her mouth, gaze drifting to the side like she was thinking. “Do vampires get married?”

The sudden change in subject threw me for a loop and I narrowed my eyes. “It’s not exactly the same as a human marriage, but many of us do have long-term romantic partners, yes.”

“And do you make vows to each other? When you find that person and decide to become partners for life?”

I laughed. “No, it doesn’t really happen like that.”

“No?” Tavi cocked her head.

“Long-term is not the same as a lifetime for us. We live for eight hundred, a thousand years at best. Nobody expects to stay together for that long because any multitude of things can happen in that time.”

“Oh.” Tavi looked thoughtful, and from what I could tell, a bit disappointed. “I guess that makes sense.”

“When vampires get together as a couple, they just…do that, get together. There isn’t really any pomp and ceremony over it. They’ll stay together for fifty, a hundred, maybe two-hundred years. If they can conceive, maybe they’ll raise a child or two to adulthood. And then eventually they get bored, drift apart, and see other people.”

My chest had finally stopped burning and I looked down to see her name rising from my skin in delicate, new scar tissue. The cuts had already closed up and it looked damn good, if I did say so myself.

“The only exception to that is blood mates, which is a lifelong thing and subject to pomp and ceremony.” I scoffed. “It’s incredibly rare, and thank Temkra for that. Being shackled to one person for the rest of your life sounds like a fucking prison to me.” I rubbed gingerly over the fresh scar tissue, which itched slightly. “Sorry, how did we get on this topic?”

“Oh, no reason. I was just curious.” Tavi let out a long breath and raked a hand back through the long waves of her hair. “You may, uh, continue with the vow, I guess. Unless all you need is my name?”

“Oh, no. The whole thing needs to be spelled out.” Bracing myself with a breath, I pointed the blade to my skin again. “Here we go.”

I started above her name to ensure I gave myself enough room. With each symbol I carved into my flesh, I spoke my vow out loud.

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