Then she pulled back with a cry as she realized something.
She was immortal. Now that Valerius was no longer a Dark-Hunter, he wasn't.
"Oh, my God," she breathed. "What have we done?"
But the answer was simple. They had just damned her to live out eternity without him.
Four months later Mount Olympus
"Your brother's getting married today, Zarek."
Zarek rolled over in bed to find his wife Astrid staring at him with that unnerving gimlet look that she seemed to reserve solely for him whenever he irritated her. "And I should care, why?"
"He's all the family you have left, and I would like for my baby to know both sides of his family."
Zarek turned back to his side as he pretended to ignore her. But that was impossible. For one thing, he loved her too much to ever discount her, and for another, she wouldn't be ignored.
He felt her hand in his hair as she toyed with it. "Zarek?"
He didn't answer. After Ash had returned to earth with Tabitha, he'd spent a lot of time in the Peradomatio, or Hall of the Past.
Astrid was wearing off on him after all. Being married to her had taught him much about justice.
No, that wasn't exactly true. Being with her was making the past somehow bearable, and now that she was pregnant...
He didn't want his son born into a world where forgiveness was an alien concept.
"It's not easy to let go of the past, Astrid," he said finally.
She kissed his shoulder, sending chills all over him. "I know, Prince Charming." She rolled him over, onto his back, and leaned over him.
Zarek placed his hand against her distended stomach, where he felt his baby moving rambunctiously against his palm. His son was due in only two weeks.
"So, do I need to get dressed for a wedding?" Astrid asked quietly.
Zarek brushed her long, blonde hair back from her face so that he could cup her cheek. "I prefer you naked, in my bed."
"Is that your final answer?"
"What's wrong, Tabitha?"
Tabitha turned around to see Valerius behind her. He looked completely elegant in his black tie attire, but then he always looked that way. Unlike her, he never had a single hair out of place.
Her body wanned instantly at his approach. She wore a strapless wedding dress and was barefoot at the moment, having kicked off her high heels the minute they left the cathedral.
"Nothing's wrong," she lied, not wanting him to know just how sorry she was for all the strife she'd caused him.
And how she really would be the death of him one day.
Her heart ached.
"Are you ready to trade me in yet?" she asked playfully, even though her throat was really tight.
"Never, but there's a large crowd of people out in the backyard who are wondering where the bride is."
She wrinkled her nose at that. "Okay, I'm coming," she said, taking him by the arm.
He led her back outside into the thick of madness that was her family.