big castle up on a mountain, with gargoyles on the roof and a moat. Instead, this is something out of Town and Country magazine.”
How am I going to let you go, he wondered.
Sarah walked over to him and took his hands. “Okay, sphinx. You need to talk to me before we go in and see the big guy. Let’s just lay it all out on the table. I can tell you’re uncomfortable here and around those males—”
“It’s not about them. I don’t care about them anymore.”
“Anymore?”
“They were my Brothers. All of them. But that was a long time ago. A forever ago.”
She frowned. “Family doesn’t stop. There is no past tense to family, Murhder.”
Murhder just shook his head. He didn’t have the energy to argue the point or explain himself. Instead, he was oh, so very aware that time was passing fast and this mission to see the king, which he had started out on with such purpose, was devolving into a rock-solid hell-no that he was going to be unable to counter.
“I need you to know something,” he whispered as he stared down into her golden eyes. “Even if you can only know it for now and a little bit longer.”
“What?” she breathed.
“I love you.” He brushed the smooth skin of her cheek. “I’ve fallen in love with you, and I just … some things need to be said, even if they’re wrong.”
“But it’s not wrong.” She turned her head and kissed his palm. “It’s not wrong between you and me. None of this is wrong …”
Her eyes, as she looked up at him, made him wish he still believed in a higher power. Life had taught him otherwise, however, and there was no un-learning the lesson that destiny was a douchebag and loss was more likely than gain.
He placed her hand over his heart. “I am yours. And that is forever, even if your memories of me are not.”
“I refuse to believe you can take all this from me.” She shook her head. “How can you reach so deep into my mind, into me? You are permanent in my life. In me. And I love you, too.”
They met halfway, her rising up onto her toes, him lowering himself down. And as their lips met and melded, the kiss was a kind of vow, a promise of ever after that would ultimately not be kept by her, and always kept by him.
Murhder wouldn’t have had it any other way.
He would rather bear the pain of all that could have been for the rest of his nights than have her suffer even a day of that burden of grief.
Besides, he told himself that even though their love would be one-sided, better that than never-have-been.
The paneled doors slid open. Tohrment looked grim, but then again, the Brother had never been a party.
“Wrath will see you now.”
Okay, wow, Sarah thought as she was led into a vast, empty room that had a chandelier the size of an SUV hanging from the ceiling and a rug like a park lawn in the center. Not that she spent a lot of time checking either of those two out. Nope, pretty much the only thing she saw was the massive male sitting beside a crackling fire. Now that was what she’d expect the king of the vampires to look like. The male had long, straight black hair falling from a widow’s peak, black wraparound sunglasses, black leathers and a muscle shirt, and a face that was cruel and handsome by turns. Tattoos ran down the insides of both his huge forearms and a large black stone glinted on one of his fingers.
The golden retriever who was curled up at his feet was a little surprising, and sure, that armchair he was parked in wasn’t exactly a George R. R. Martin–worthy throne, but the impression he made was so overwhelming, you could have put him in a Finding Dory kiddie pool and he’d still have looked like a badass.
Oh, and the males lined up around him were no slouches, either, and she recognized the handsome blond one from her arrival at the training center. Next to him was another male with a goatee and tattoos on his temple, a stocky one in clothes that were straight out of GQ, and a third with mismatched eyes, purple hair, and a lot of piercings.
No one was smiling. No, wait, the blond guy with the electric-blue eyes gave her a little wave.