Page 207 of Cherish

“On the dresser in my room,” he answers with an “obviously” look. “Some of us don’t feel the need to flaunt our position every second of every day.”

“Hey! Esperanza put this crown on, not me. She said it needed to go a certain way because of my ridiculous curls.”

“Don’t be saying mean shit about those curls. They’re one of my favorite things about you.”

“I thought my brain was your favorite thing about me.”

He grins. “I have a lot of favorite things.”

“Ditto.”

“I do want to talk to you, though,” he says, and his face grows serious.

Which has every electron in my body firing overtime as I scramble into a serious sitting position. Is he finally ready to share the secret I know he’s been keeping?

“I’ve been thinking about the Circle.”

“The Circle?” I ignore the disappointment in my belly. “What about it?”

He glances at his watch. “If things go according to plan, in about two hours, you and I are going to be the head of it.”

I study his face, trying to figure out where he’s going with this. It’s not like this is news, after all. Unless he is trying to break something to me. “I mean…” I take a deep breath as I blurt out what I’ve been mulling over these past weeks, in between TVs, Celestial bears, and Shadow Queens who are way too much trouble. “We don’t have to be.”

Hudson rears back like I actually balled up my stone fist and hit him. “What does that mean?”

“It means—” My voice breaks, and for a second the offer I want to make gets stuck in my throat. But then I remind myself that this is a partnership and a relationship that is going to last forever. For that to happen, both sides have to get what they need. If Hudson needs this, then I want to be the one to provide it.

And if he doesn’t? Then at least I’ll know that we discussed it, and we can start this next era of our lives free from coulda, woulda, shouldas.

The thought gives me the strength to clear my throat and finally say, “If you want to go up on that dais today and assume the role of vampire king and queen instead of gargoyle queen and king, then I’m with you.”

He blinks at me. Then asks, “You want to be vampire queen?”

“I want to be whatever you and I decide together is best for us,” I answer.

He lifts both brows, a sign of just how big a loop I’ve thrown him for. “I thought we already had. We’re building a life in the Gargoyle Court.”

“We are,” I agree. “And I’m not proposing we give that life up altogether. They’re still my people. They will always be my people. I just… You’re my mate. And I don’t need you to sacrifice something you’ve wanted or expected to have your entire life for me.”

Hudson leans back to stare at the ceiling for several long moments. “I told you only a few minutes ago that what I’ve wanted my entire life is you. And now that I have you, what I want is to build a life together, doing something that we believe in somewhere that we can live and love and grow and thrive together. I thought that was the Gargoyle Court for you. I know it is for me.”

“It is,” I tell him. “I love the Gargoyle Court more than anything else on this earth…except for you. Which is why I had to be sure that it was right forus.”

“It’s right for us,” he tells me with the utmost certainty. “I have a plan for the Vampire Court, but it does not include Jaxon or me. I haven’t shared it because I haven’t figured out if it’s even feasible yet, but I think it is. And I think it will work. You just have to trust me, Grace.”

There’s a whole lot in that last sentence, and there’s even more in the face of the man who said it to me. “I do trust you,” I tell him. “I also know that you have a tendency to choose what’s best for me over what’s best for you. And that’s why I had to ask. Because I want what’s best for us, not just what’s best for me.”

I see the moment it sinks in, the moment he realizes—truly realizes—that I’m doing the one thing he swore he’d never ask me to do. Choosing him above everyone. Above everything. Forever.

And this time when he looks at me, his eyes shine as brightly as any star. “I love you, Grace Foster.”

“I love you, Hudson Vega.”

He grins. “I know. Which is why we’re going to go to that invocation, accept the titles of gargoyle king and queen, and spend the rest of our infinitely long lives showing Alistair and the Bloodletter how it’s fucking done.”

I laugh, because if that’s not the most Hudson Vega thing ever said, I don’t know what is. “Damn straight we are.”

“Okay, then. Stop trying to give your Crown away and help me figure out the answer to one last problem I’ve got.”

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