Until the Sun Falls from the Sky(132)
I closed my eyes and burrowed deeper while my heart accepted that too.
Chapter Eighteen
The Nightmare
Stephanie, Cosmo, Avery, Rafe, Fiona, Edwina, his children, his mother and Leah’s entire family attended the Ancient Claiming Ceremony. A ceremony that was performed for all vampire union s. A ceremony that hadn’t been conducted between a mortal and immortal in over five hundred years.
Eschewing the traditional blood red, she wore a sophisticated ivory satin gown, a nod to her culture.
He’d given her diamonds for her ears and wrists and dozens nestled in her upswept hair.
A black diamond already adorned her left ring finger, its matching bands, another nod to her culture, would be placed at its base.
But her exquisite throat was bare.
He took of her blood. She took of his.
When she did this, her nose wrinkled before her lips locked to the wound he tore into his own flesh at his wrist. However, when she suckled, her eyes lifted to his and grew wide with wonder.
Lucien laughed.
He swept his tongue against his wound and drew her close in the circle of his arms.
His voice resonating through the small assemblage, he declared the words of claiming, words he’d said twice before, to Maggie then, five hundred years later, to Katrina.
Regardless of what happened with both of his earlier union s, they were not bitter.
They were only sweet.
And this time, he did not speak them as promise.
He spoke them as vow.
“Until the sun falls from the sky.”
Tears filled her eyes and she pressed deep into his body.
Unlike his commanding declaration, when she spoke she spoke only to him.
In a soft voice, Leah repeated, “Until the sun falls from the sky.”
Cheers went up all around them along with happy sobs but Lucien processed none of it.
The only thing in his universe was the woman in his arms.
* * * * *
Lucien was running, Leah’s hand in his, he could hear her panting even though she had uncommon speed for a mortal, something else she’d picked up from him.
Even so, she was nowhere near as swift as him and he could hear them getting closer.
He wasted precious time, stopped and flung her over his shoulder.
Then he ran.
Their hunting meant that Stephanie had failed. As had Cosmo, Avery, Rafe, Hamish, Jordan, Duncan, Hermes, Orlando and scores of others. His army. His and Leah’s personal guard.
He would never have guessed their defeat. Their loss, which surely meant their deaths, caused a searing pain to slice through his gut but his legs didn’t falter.
“Lucien.” Leah’s voice was harsh, his name broken with his strides.
He didn’t reply. His focus was distance, escape.
“Lucien, let me down.”
“Quiet,” he grunted, his own breath coming fast and short, not from the effort, but from his dread.
“Let them get me.”
Silence, he commanded.
Let them have me, darling. You go.
Of course, being Leah, she wouldn’t leave it be.
We’re not discussing this.
He sensed their pursuers losing ground but he didn’t slow.
Let me go. You need to live to fight so other vampires can be free, she urged, her voice thick with emotion. So my people can stay free.
Not without you, never without you.
They’re counting on you.
I don’t give a fuck. They want it; they can fight for it on their own.
Silence.
Then, So stubbon! she snapped to his brain.
He kept running.
* * * * *
The drug coursing through his system making him weak, he watched Leah walk up the scaffold.
Lydia cried out, the sound the definition of agony.
Lucien’s eyes never left his mate.
Denounce me, Lucien ordered.
Never, Leah shot back, a tremble betraying the strength behind her tone.
He thrilled at her word even as it tore at his heart.
This time, when he spoke, it was a plea, Denounce me, my pet.
I’d rather die with you than live without you.
He nearly smiled.
Drama, he muttered into her mind.
This isn’t funny.
She was absolutely correct.
Using what strength he had, his next words were a command he knew she couldn’t defy.
Denounce me.
Her body jerked, her pale, worn face going all the more ashen. But her eyes were defiant.
Never.
He was stunned and horrified and now unbelievably frightened.
He’d not had to control her mind for years and in those years she’d obviously built up an immunity.
They stopped her under the noose and put it around her neck.
She stood, arms tied behind her back, wearing her ivory claiming gown.
Another defiance, not of him, of The Dominion.
Even facing certain death, she was magnificent.
That vile feeling he’d felt so long ago when he thought he’d broken her, a feeling he hadn’t had in years, ripped through him.
Without delay, they touched the torch to the kindling around his feet.