Page 79 of The Royal Street Witch
“You want to be with me, don’t you? I know you do.”
“I do, of course I do. But what about my mother? Will they tell her? I send money to our elders, to my mother…”
“We will figure that out. I’ve got a lot of money hidden, Aster. I’ll pay your elders. And yes, the news will make its way to your mother, but you are the one we’ve been doing business with now, and you already know that you’ve been fired.”
“You can’t pay my way forever.”
“Yes, I can.” He cracks a smile. “This is it. It’s our out. Let me show you the world. And you will always have a home to come back to. You can rent it out, for God sakes, make a fortune off of that.”
“Over my dead body,” I warn.
And he raises his hands in surrender with full lips whispering, “Okay, okay.”
“My aunt gets a cut of everything your family pays me. If I stop bringing her the money—”
“You’ve lived your entire life doing what everyone else wants you to do. It’s your turn to do something for yourself. Do you get that? I will send your aunt money every week if that’s what it takes. But you need your freedom too. You deserve it.”
“If Franklin tells Violetta…I don’t even know what will happen. It will all come crashing down.”
Bastian grabs my chin, forcing our eyes to meet. “Then let it. Let go.”
I’ve struggled so much, trying to hold the weight up—what if I just walked away? What would happen? What would it be like to live life on my own terms? In love with a vampire? It seems so clear now. I can choose that. I can choose to let it all go. But can I give up everything I’ve worked for?
“What do I tell my family? There’ll be repercussions. But I don’t want to lie anymore.”
“Then don’t. Send a letter on the day we leave. Tell them everything. Suffer the repercussions. Accept your fate. But for God’s sake, live your life for you.”
“What if they come after me? After us?”
“Then we fight. Fight for the freedom you so deserve.”
“We fight,” I whisper, a finger gliding along my garnet rings.
Bastian nods, his hunger is growing. I can hear the growls in his stomach, the hitch in his breathing, and I realize my legs are shaking because maybe this is really it. Maybe this is the freedom from the life that has been forced on me since my birth. I’m ready for it. I’m powerful and have been carrying this coven on my own for six years. I can just come clean. I can just accept my fate. I fell in love and I didn’t mean to, but I did. I gather my bottom lip between my fingers and nod my head softly.
“Okay.”
“Okay?” he says, his hand running down the back of my wet hair.
“Where you go, I go. Okay. I’m a capable witch. I can make money many ways.”
And his lips spread and my lips spread and we smile together at a terrifying yet thrilling unknown. He kisses me hard, so hard, and everything in my body yearns for him. The want and desire pull in my belly, and his hands grab a firm hold around the back of my neck—all I want is him. Forever.
Why did it take me minutes to decide, when I have never been so sure of someone in my entire life?
“Bastian, I need you,” I whisper against his cheek and he groans, picking me up from the edge of the bathtub and carrying me to his bed. Laying me on the sheets, he slowly untucks the towel from my chest and shakes his head.
“I’ve missed this,” he sighs, and just when he pushes on top of me, there’s a rapping at the door that can’t be ignored.
“Open up or I’m coming in,” Cassius calls, and Bastian’s fangs push out and he bucks in anger.
“You need to eat, anyway,” I whisper and kiss him before slipping out from under him and pulling on a dress. My heart is racing from desire, but I’ve learned what’s best for Bastian. And being hungry after not having sex for as long as we have is not a good combination.
The door opens as Bastian drops to his back on the bed, and Cassius knows he’s interrupted something. A disgust washes across his face as if saying, “At a time like this?”
“Satisfied?” Cassius asks, looking me dead in the eye, and I feel my eyebrows practically touching my forehead.
“Shut up, Cassius,” Bastian says, sitting up, arms propping on his knees.
