Page 127 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

“Anything, my lady. Don’t be afraid.”

She raised her chin, firming her shoulders.When I came here, I was afraid. Nobody could understand me. But you learned. When I’m with you, I feel heard. I don’t feel invisible anymore.

I opened my mouth, and she put a finger to my lips.

What I’m trying to say…She took a deep breath, hands trembling.When I see you, the whole world becomes bright. Everything feels possible. I adore you beyond words.

“Surely you know that I feel the same. Cirri, you’re everything I hoped for. Everything… I thought I would lose. Most days I wake up and I can’t believe you’re real, that this is my life.”

The faintest, shaky smile crossed her lips.Then you do know how I feel. There’s not a single day I wake up and don’t want to be with you. But… this is hard to ask.

“For the third time,anything,” I growled, cupping her face with utmost caution. “And the third time is always the charm.”

I would give her anything. Books, palaces, children. Jewels or silks. All the paper in the holds, anything else she desired.

She could ask for anything and I would give it with open hands.

The sight of my terrible hands around that beautiful face… it was that image I had in my head, the tainted reflection of theprincess and the monster in the glass, that made my stomach drop to my feet when she finally asked.

I want to be with you forever, she said, staring up at me with those eyes.This doesn’t have to end. I want you to keep me, Bane.

Anything but chaining her for eternity. Anything but forcing her to live through the times when things were bad… when I wasn’t even capable of pretending to be civilized.

When I was truly a monster to the bone.

But the same monster roared at me now, screaming and rattling the bars of my mind—it knew I would never give her up. It knew it was selfish, and delighted in that fact.

It knew I would say yes. I loved her, and I would give her anything she wanted.

I want you to give me your blood.

Chapter 31

Cirri

My heart raced, slamming against my ribs as Bane gazed down at me.

“Cirri…” he breathed.

I believed that I loved him. No, IknewI loved him. Somewhere along the way I had stopped seeing him as a hideous beast, and I saw only the good in him.

And I wasn’t willing to lay down one day and let death have me, ripping me away from all I loved.

My only fear was that he didn’t feel the same. Maybe he adored me, but it wasn’t a love strong enough to want me forever.

Fear iced my spine, my palms going clammy.

I want to be with you, I signed, unable to stop my hands from trembling.I feel that I am your true mate, Bane. Nobody else. Only me.

He exhaled slowly, taking my hands, and the fear was choking me, an almost physical presence in my chest that threatened to crush my heart and lungs.

Bane was going to tell me no, that I had it all wrong. That I wasn’t a true mate, not worthy of centuries with him, that the horrible portrait of me was the only memory he would ever want.

His eyes gleamed, amber and soot, flashing with his predator’s nightshine as he looked at me.

I swallowed, my throat tightening. Even if he told me no… I refused to cry.

“You feel that because you are,” he said softly. “You are the only one for me, as I am the only one for you. There will never be another.”

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