Page 71 of Vows Forged in Blood

“Elias,please,” I’d begged of him, my voice breaking as tears streamed down my face. He held my gaze for a long moment and then something lit in his stormy blue eyes, as if an idea had struck.

“Everyone out!” He’d suddenly demanded. “Now! Lady Dahlia needs time to say goodbye in private.” My mouth had gaped in horror. He couldn’t possibly be serious! He wasn’t just going to give up hope!

“No. No, gods damn you! I’m not giving up, there has to be something! I won’t say goodbye, I won’t fucking do it, Elias, I—” He’d gripped my shoulders then and leaned in, lips close to my ear so even the other vampires’ hearing wouldn’t be able to pick up the words.

“Dahlia, he needs your blood. You can save him…amate’sblood is the only thing strong enough to pull him back from this.” A mate’s blood. Elias had pulled away, looking at me again seriously, showing me the truth of the words. I didn’t understand how it was possible, but if there was even a chance it would work, I would give him every last drop from my veins.

“Out!” I’d screamed, putting as much authority as a Consort into my voice as I could, pulling myself up to my full (and relatively unimpressive) height, but the effect was enough. The others had all scurried quickly from the tent and Elias had secured the flap behind them. The word had echoed through my head as we’d coaxed Alaric to drink.

Mate. Mate. Mate.

I try to make sense of it all now. I don’t pretend to know just how profound the bonds of matehood between vampiresare, but even as a human I know enough to understand that this is no small thing. Mates are exceedingly rare, only a handful documented over the last millennium…and mates are never human. Ever. I don’t understand how this could be possible. I’ve always mocked Enid’s steadfast belief in fate and signs and kismet but now…it seems as if the universe brought me to Alaric, brought him to me, as if everything was conspiring to put the two of us together because…because I’mhis.

I inhale deeply before letting it out slowly.

“It’s true,” I say softly to Takara. “I didn’t know it until I arrived here, but Elias knew. He was the one who realized that I might be able to save Alaric because of it.”

Though a part of me is so damned happy at the news that I’m Alaric’s, that we belong together on some cosmic level that I can’t even properly understand, the other part of me is angry that he kept it from me all this time. Spitting mad, actually.

“I had my suspicions,” Takara says leading me to the raised pallet where Alaric had lain…gods, how long had it been? Hours? Days? New furs had replaced the blood and sweat-soaked ones. We sit down and she holds my hands in hers. “Are you alright? I can’t imagine what that news might mean to you, especially as a human…”

“I’m…I don’t know. Part of me is relieved, part of me is happy, part of me is angry, part of me is afraid…mostly I’m just confused and there are just too many other things clamoring in my mind for me to process it fully right now. I need to know where Alaric is. I need to talk to him.”

Takara digs one fang into her bottom lip.

“He’s…gone.” I blink. Surely I couldn’t have heard her correctly.

“Gone?”

“Gone. To battle.”

I leap from the bed. “What!? He just nearly died, what in the fucking seven hells is he doing riding off into battle again already!?”

“You know the answer to that,” she says pointedly and I scowl at her. She quirks a brow right back and I exhale, throwing my hands up. I do know the answer. It’s in his blood. It’s his duty. And I can only imagine the wrath boiling within him right now after what happened.

“Alright, fine. But still!”

“We’re getting reports that it’s turned, that his presence back on the field has shifted everything and they’ve rallied and beaten the Revenants back. It should be done soon, Dahlia.”

Well, that’s something, but I’m still…I don’t even know what I am. Mad. Worried. Terrified. Tired. Hungry. Happy. Grateful. It’s all too much. I storm out of the tent, Cyrus and Viktor glancing at me with looks of concern from their spots flanking the entrance. I don’t even know where I’m going or what I’m doing, I only know that I’m beyond frustrated and all of the emotions I’ve been feeling for the last…

“How long has it been?” I snap, tired of not even knowing if it’s been hours or weeks. “Since I left camp.”

“A day and a half only, my Lady,” Malcom answers as he strolls up, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

All of the emotions that I’ve been feeling for the last day and half are all mixed up and threatening to overwhelm me at any moment. I pace furiously, trying desperately to calm my thoughts, but everything is like a cyclone inside my mind.

And then I feel him.

I whirl just as a group of soldiers round the corner into the clearing in front of Alaric’s tent. Some are limping, all are bloody and dirty, but they’re beaming and cheering. A victory then. And then I see him at last.

Alaric pauses for a moment when he sees me, our gazes locking. Everything else falls completely away then. There is only me and him and nothing else in the world matters, nothing else in the world even exists. He’s covered head to toe in blood and gore, his hair hanging in damp tangles around his face, the hilt of Night’s Fury gleaming darkly over his shoulder. His golden eyes are blazing with a wild intensity and locked entirely on me. I gasp quietly: he’s never looked so fierce…or sexy.

A determined, hungry look settles over his face, making my heart race and my lips part. This isn’t a prince looking at his Consort. This isn’t a man looking at the woman he might love.

This is a vampire looking at his mate.

And the look is enough to set me on fire.

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