Page 126 of A Vow of Blood and Tears

She dashed out the door, heels clicking, hand pressed over her mouth as her shoulders shook. I was right behind her, hunched over to avoid Wyn’s wrathful attention, and led her up the stairs.

“Second floor, balcony, go,” I whispered, and Cirri dashed upwards, her skirts whipping around the spiral staircase just ahead of me.

She stopped at the top, the door opening onto a wide terrace that overlooked the Bloodgarden, her breath coming in little gasps. The faint strains of music echoed through the still night.

In the open central courtyard of the keep, with the garden spread before us and the full moon high overhead, I could almost believe it was a fairytale, one in which I wasn’t the beast, but the prince.

And here was my princess, leaning over the balustrade to touch the bloodroses that had grown high.

For a moment, I was speechless at the sight. Could she really be mine?

Cirri turned around, face still flushed.I want to ask you something.

“Ask away.” I joined her at the balustrade, glancing down into the darkened garden. Nothing moved in those shadows. “For you, I am an open book.”

Cirri licked her lips, eyes darting between me and the garden. Once or twice her hands moved, but she cut off her words each time she started.

Finally, she held out both hands, palms down, and bobbed them up and down in an outward movement.

I stared at her, understanding the motion, but my mind failed to make any sense of it. Surely she was not asking…

Children, she said again, then rested her hand on her lower stomach for a moment.Are you… do you want them?

“I can’t say…” My voice was rough. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I can’t say I thought it likely, so I didn’t anticipate asking. But yes, if I could have all my hopes and dreams answered, I would want children.”

Her cheeks were redder than ever.With me?

I took her hands, ran my thumbs over her palms, felt the calluses on her fingertips. “That goes without saying, my lady.”

Cirri swallowed hard, staring down at our interlaced hands.

“I can’t see them with anyone else,” I admitted softly. “There’s so much I can’t see with anyone else. But if you thought… if you thought I would demand that you bear them, if you didn’t, well,wantthem, especially with me—”

Ancestors, I was rambling.

She shook her head, pulling her hands away.I do want them, with you. Someday. When things are better.

Cirri took a breath, closing her eyes and pressing her hands to her flushed cheeks. I was feeling hot myself, my cock aching hard, imagining filling Cirri with seed and her belly swelling round withmychild…

Something I had not envisioned for myself. They had been one of the things I was sure I would give up forever.

Bane. There’s something else.

“Anything.”

She opened her eyes, the deep green nearly black in the moonlight. The light haloed her, limning her pale skin and crimson hair in silver.

She rose onto her tiptoes, laced her hands around my neck. I held her waist, always pleased when she dared to kiss me, her soft lips moving carefully over mine.

Kisses, children, the gift of her blood… if my life was proof of anything, it was that nothing in life was fair. I didn’t deserve her, but having her made me want to live up to that worthiness.

She made a soft sound, a sigh, nipping at my lower lip until I opened for her. Carefully, so carefully, I slipped my tongue around hers, holding still so she wouldn’t cut herself on my fangs.

Cirri’s weight pressed against me, her hands sliding down my shoulders and over my chest.

She stood upright slowly, opening her eyes again. Peering into my soul, it felt like, reading something there.

Bane, she said, faltering.

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