Page 90 of Forever Midnight

I bow my head slightly. “Thank you.”

“Stay still,” Yves says, still working on my bow tie. “It’s been ages since I’ve had to do one of these.”

“Are you nervous?” Syn asks, sitting in an armchair with one elegant leg crossed over the other.

“Yes. Being in a room full of mortals is always challenging. I just hope my beast stays under wraps.”

“We’re here to make sure it does,” Eros says, squeezing Raphael’s shoulder. “If anything does happen, no one will remember it but us.”

“Thank you.”

Yves finishes, smiling at his handiwork. “Take a look.”

I twist to see the mirror, slightly stunned. “It’s been a long time since I looked like a gentleman.”

Tru chose gorgeous slate blue tuxedos with black accents for us, and something about the look takes me back hundreds of years.

“You’ve always been a gentleman,” Syn says. “Now you just look like one too.”

“Thank you.”

“Isn’t it funny,” Raphael says, gazing at me. “Two of us have found fated mates after all this time. Why now? What does it mean?”

“No idea,” Yves says, leaning on the dresser. “I’ve given it some thought too. All I can figure is that fate has her own timing.”

“Do you think it’ll happen to the rest of us?” Raphael asks.

“Eew, gods, I hope not,” Thorn complains. “No offense to those of you in love, but I can’t understand why anyone would choose just one person.”

“That’s the thing though,” Eros says, his expression somewhat sad. “You don’t choose them. Fate does, and if it happens, there’s no resisting if you ever want to be happy again.”

I nod. “Eros is right. It isn’t a choice. It’s destiny. I believe I was destined to be a vampire, to join this coven, to have all of you. It’s not accidental.”

Thorn scrunches his nose in disgust. “Yeah, well, no thanks. If you’re listening, fate, I’m good.”

“Because that’s how it works,” Eros murmurs.

Yves squeezes my shoulder. “I agree. When and if it’s our time, we just accept it. There is far more joy in that than the alternative.”

“I’ll be going down with the ship,” Thorn quips. “I love my life exactly as it is.”

“Famous last words,” Raph teases.

“I pray fate has something in store for all of us,” Eros says softly. “We don’t always know what we need.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a romantic,” Thorn says. “You deserve to find someone to love for eternity.”

Eros smiles. “Maybe you do too, Thorn.”

He shrugs, chugging his glass of champagne. “I’m good. Are we about ready to do this?”

Yves, glancing at his watch, nods. “Yes, actually. We should get in position.”

My brothers lead me out of the dressing room and down the hall into the ballroom. Tru warned me his parents would make his marriage a big deal, and he wasn’t wrong. There must be five hundred people in the room, all of them watching me as I walk down the aisle with Yves by my side, my brothers trailing closely behind.

It’s hard to fathom everything that’s happened in the last year with Tru. First was visiting his sister Lucia, who now sits in the front row next to Pilar, healthy and past her lowest point. I can still see the hope and happiness in her expression once we showed her proof that all the evidence of her mistake was destroyed. She waves at me with a sweet smile as I take my place up front. I wave back, knowing her presence here makes Tru so happy.

After we tackled that, it was time for Tru to come out to his father, who didn’t bat an eye and was even upset that Tru had thought he had to hide it. He stood up for his son, ready to fight anyone who treated him wrong because of who he is.

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