Page 116 of Turn That River Red

“Marry me,” he says.

I blink, certain I misheard him over the rush of the river. “What?”

Ambrose never breaks his eye contact. “I’m asking you to marry me.”

I stare at him. The wind pushes down across the river, lifting up sprays of cold water that, just for a brief second, shimmer into rainbows.

“Can you do that?” I blurt out.

Ambrose laughs and rubs his hand along the side of my neck. “I can do whatever the fuck I want,” he says. “And I want you to marry me.” He drops his forehead against mine. “Only if you want to, of course.”

I laugh, feeling delirious. “I daydreamed about this,” I whisper. “When I thought you—when I thought you were a preacher?—”

“So what do you say?” He grabs my chin and lifts my head, his eyes burning into mine. “You’re already mine. Nothing’s going to change that. But you can be Mrs. Echeverría if you want.”

This time, when I laugh, the laughter turns to tears, hot and wet and impossibly happy. I can’t think about the logistics of this—that he’s immortal and I’m not. That he’s a killer, not a preacher.

But here is, giving me the two things I’ve always wanted. The two things I never thought I could have.

Freedom—

And love.

EPILOGUE

THREE MONTHS LATER

MERCY

“Don’t you dare come in here!”

I turn away from the mirror just in time to see Charlotte slam the bedroom door shut. “You can’t see her yet!”

“I will break this door down,” Ambrose says from the other side.

“No, you won’t.” I stand up, the long skirt of my wedding dress swishing as I walk. Charlotte’s pressed against the door, squeezing the handle in place as Ambrose tries to rattle the doorknob to get in. She grins at me and winks.

I only met her a week ago, but she already feels like my friend.

“Let me see her!” Ambrose shouts.

“Calm down.” I slide up against the door and press my ear to the wood. “What’s wrong? I thought you said everything was ready to go.”

“It is. I just wanted tomake sureyou’reokay.”

Charlotte makes a show of rolling her eyes. “He’s so dramatic,” she whispers to me, which makes me grin.

“I heard that!”

“Baby, I’m fine.” I know what he’s worried about: that I’m going to change my mind. About him. About the wedding. About this life we’re starting together. For the last two months, he’s asked me over and over if this is what I want, being with him. And every time, I told him the same thing.

“I haven’t changed my mind,” I say to the door. “Now go down to the beach like you’re supposed to.”

“Say it again,” Ambrose orders in that way he does, which makes me blush since Charlotte’s here. She notices, too, since she’s a Hunter, and gives me a rather lascivious look that just makes my blush deepen.

“Stop teasing her, Charlotte,” Ambrose snaps. “Humanita, say it again. One more time before we start.”

“I haven’t changed my mind.” I turn toward the door and press my hands up against the wood, imagining that Ambrose is doing the same. “This is what I want. To be with you.”

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