I let go of his shirt to cover his hands, tears stinging my eyes. “We’ll find a way through this.”
He let me choke out the words, gaze rapt on my expression. He seemed to be waiting for my tears because he swept the salty droplets away the second they tumbled from my wet lashes.
Closing the distance, he dropped a whisper-soft kiss on the tops of my cheekbones. “Don’t cry, my beauty.”
If he wanted me to stop crying, that was the wrong thing to say. He kissed my lips as they trembled, slipping his warm tongue into my mouth in a bitter-sweet kiss that would torture me to the end of my days.
I clung to him, pulling him against my body as tightly as possible.
When we broke apart, we were both breathing hard.
“I may not be able to see you,” Kyros said hoarsely, resting his forehead against mine. “But I’ll always feel where you are. We’ll always know what the other is feeling. And sometimes, if we ever draw close enough, we might catch some of each other’s thoughts.”
Fresh tears coated my cheeks. The picture he painted was unbearable to contemplate. To be so close, to constantly feel the other and never touch them or look in their eyes. To live and die in that way.
“We need to run,” I stuttered. “Us. Your entire family. Everyone.”
He pressed kisses along my jaw and up to my temple, licking at my tears as he went. “We’d be hunted by all Vissimo.”
My chest seized in time to my soul-shaking sobs. “Ky—”
The vampire caught my chin, and I stared at him through wet lashes.
“My beauty,” he said in a voice so soft I had to lean forward. “Know that I’ll live for each of those moments. I’ll wake each night to feel your presence within me. The longing to hear your innermost thoughts will bring me joy across the decades.Live for me, my beauty, so that I may experience life through your heart.” He rested a hand between my breasts. “Through your soul.”
I couldn’t see him through the tears.
My words were barely intelligible. “I can’t lose you, Kyros. I’m so sorry for what I did.”
He pulled me against his chest. “This is not a time for apologies and regrets,true mate. They are meaningless with a bond such as ours.” He stroked my back. “Our blood sings. It will sing always, across the ages. Never forget that.”
Pulling back, I did my best to regain control of myself. He was right. If tonight was our last night, this wasn’t a time for tears and pain.
“Before we start,” he said, still stroking my back, “I have a few requests.”
Anything. “Tell me.”
“On the morning of the negotiations, you need to board a private plane with everyone you care about. I am sending all of my Indebted with you.”
That couldn’t happen.
“I want to stay here,” I countered.
His jaw clenched. “I need you away from Bluff City during negotiations. I need to know you’re safe. I can’t stop you from coming back—this is your home—but if you know what’s good for you and Tommy, you won’t ever return.”
Tommy.
He studied me intently. “For Tommy, Basilia. For me.”
I didn’t argue the point further.
“Thank you, mate,” he whispered against my ear.
A shiver wracked my body. It was surprisingly easy to shove aside the demands of the blood bond when Kyros could be lost to me after this night. “There’s more?”
“Yes,” he said, peering at the books on the low table. “You may know this already, but when a human mate reaches the sixth exchange, they have the right to purchase Indebted. I know how you feel about their situation, but I urge you to consider taking on my Indebted after the sixth thrall. You have enough money, and they’ll be able to protect you where I cannot.”
He… was asking me to buy the Indebted. I’d operated in secret this entire time, and yet he was presenting me with a different version of the same plan.