Page 163 of A Debt of Darkness

Her voice is soft and I lean back on the sofa, relaxing as she comes to me. I nod and her eyes burn, but there’s a touch of sadness I don’t like.

“You didn’t have to do this.”

“Of course I did,” I grumble. “The least you could do is tell me you like it.”

She blushes and I want to devour the color as her cheeks turn pink. “It’s beautiful.” Her eyes catch the painting behind me. “Why is that here?”

I drum my fingers, pretending to be annoyed at such a ridiculous question. I knew Ivy wanted the painting moved before I tasted her blood and I hope she’ll find some peace in the tranquil waters and elegant lilies.

“You know why, lea.”

My wife sits next to me and plants a kiss on my cheek, uncertain how to say thank you. She’s adorable like this. Flustered. Breathless. Startled. So beautiful it hurts to look away.

Something’s wrong.

I know it. Ivy knows it. She’s going to have to learn I know it. Our bond makes it harder to hide things and we’ll get comfortable with some uncomfortable truths. I pull her against me and hope she’ll say something, hoping Ivy will take this step unprompted.

“When does it end?” she asks.

I glance down as she risks a quick look up.

“When do I get to see the sun again?”

My stomach knots itself, aware I’m about to hurt her. There are too many moments like this and my wife is about to sustain another injury I can’t protect her from. I’ve seen the longing looks at the boarded-up windows and noted her desperation to wander in the gardens or the woods. I lied to myself, promising myself it was because she was suffering as she turned—and now I must face this. For her. With her.

“It took me centuries, Ivy. It depends on you as well as your sire, and you were half-vampire. It would help if you would feed properly.”

I swallow, hating myself for wielding this blow. Her fire burns less brightly and the stars that light her heavens retreat into the shadows. My wife stifles a sob and I want to fix it. I need to fix it. Not for my sake. For hers. Ivy might not see the light of day, but she’s my sunrise and my sunset, my beginning and my end.

“If you’d like, I’ll bring you a picture,” I whisper, pulling a polaroid from my pocket. Its pinks and oranges fade into blues and purples, washing the photo with a palette almost as stunning as her. “Every sunset, every sunrise, lea. If it makes this easier for you. Even just a little.”

She nods and I feel her tears through the cotton of my top. I smell their salt as her fingers glide over the glossy photo, tracing the sunset she’s missed.

“I wouldn’t change it, Henry.”

My heart beats for the first time in a millennium, shocked in starting by a confession so startling it catches me off guard. She pulls away and stares up at me with eyes the color of a rose. Her irises match her collar, the one she hasn’t even asked to have removed. Even when she screamed and railed against the pain burning through her or the visions dragging her into despair.

I run my fingertips over its rubies and she smiles, bothsad and happy.

“I mean it,” she says, determined to make me understand something I already know. “It wasn’t planned and it wasn’t perfect, but it’s right and I wouldn’t change a thing if I had to do it again. That includes everything with Izzy. You’re right, we have time and it doesn’t have to be fixed today.”

There’s her fire, there’s her fight.

Ivy’s alight and alive and she burns with the flames of a thousand suns. She was born to be a queen and she’s already taken to giving orders, commanding everyone around her. Matt and Ryan obey her without question, and the coven is calmer in her presence.

“Do you have any?” she asks, tensing. “Regrets?”

I shake my head.

“Ryan says you hate being King.”

I’m going to kill the fucker.

I’m going to track the asshole down and tear him limb from fucking limb for telling my wife the truth.

I gave him and Matt strict instructions not to tell Ivy, and the bastard has disobeyed me. It’s an affront and an insult I cannot let stand. It never would have happened before Ivy came along and I bet he melted at the sight of her fluttering eyelashes and caved like a pathetic weakling.

“I wasn’t meant to be a king, lea.”

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