Biting Cold

chapter TWENTY-FOUR

EXODUS

While the ballot box was being filled below us, we celebrated the end of drama with SuperDawgs, fries, and the chocolate-covered cherries Margot brought me as congratulations for felling an evil foe.

Ethan growled happily as I sat across his lower back, rubbing his shoulders. He’d decided he needed a shoulder rub after dinner to erase away all that he’d been through. Since “all he’d been through” had been my idea, I didn’t think I had much room to argue.

I kneaded his shoulders carefully, then trailed my fingertips down his back and up his spine again.

Oh, Merit.

I froze. “You just called my name.”

“No, I didn’t. You’re hearing things.”

“No, not aloud. In your mind. I heard you.”

I crawled off him, and he flipped over again.

You can really hear me?

I smiled at him. I can indeed. “Maybe you didn’t lose the ability to speak silently. Maybe Mallory’s magic just interfered with the frequency or something.”

Ethan’s smile blossomed. It clearly meant a lot to him to be able to converse with his Novitiates—and more that the power he’d had for so long hadn’t been lost to him forever. I believe this calls for a celebration.

We have chocolate-covered cherries, I reminded him.

I was thinking something a bit more physically taxing, he silently intoned, and then he pounced, his fingers trailing the sensitive skin at my hips until I was wiggling and squealing in a really unflattering way.

I hated being tickled.

But I’d power through it.

I dreamt of Ethan, but the dream wasn’t a harbinger of grief…it was ecstasy. He found me on a boardwalk beside a vast blue sea and we danced until the sun lifted above the sky, my skirt of liquid black silk flowing around us. Boats with huge white sails bobbed upon the water, dancing around our island retreat as we spun to the melody of a song I couldn’t hear.

I woke to the sound of a light tap on the door with a smile on my face. Ethan was still asleep; the automatic shutters still covered the windows.

I unlocked the door and peeked into the hallway. It was quiet and empty, but a silver tray sat on the floor just outside the door.

“What is this?” I quietly asked, holding the door open with a foot while I picked up the tray and brought it inside. I sat it down on a table near the door and looked it over. Two pastries. A cup of coffee and a cup of hot chocolate, both still steaming. Orange juice, cutlery, and a tidily folded newspaper.

“This, I could get used to,” I murmured, picking up the paper.

“Talking to yourself, Sentinel?”

“Just ruminating on how much Margot spoils you. Pastries and coffee, delivered nightly?”

“A man cannot live on meat and potatoes alone. What’s in the news?”

I glanced down at the paper. “Sex. Violence. Rock and roll.”

Ethan was already out of bed and on his way over. That he was half-naked—clad only in thigh-hugging boxer briefs—was even more distracting than you’d expect.

He grabbed a pastry and took a bite.

“I’m going to take a shower,” he said, then turned and walked away. I appreciated the view and also got a pretty good look at the dark tattoo that marked the back of his calf.

“Hey, what does the tattoo mean?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, then stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

It was worth a shot.

It wasn’t until I’d dressed and rebelted my katana that I saw the small burgundy box that sat on the bed. It was bound in a white silken ribbon and topped with a perfect bow.

“Ethan Sullivan,” I murmured. “What did you do?” My heart thudded in anticipation.

I picked it up and shook it gently. Something moved around in there, and I didn’t hear any obvious ticking. I pulled off the ribbon and dropped it on the bed, then lifted off the top.

A small white card was tucked inside, bearing only the letter E.

I lifted the card.

Beneath it, on a small pillow of white satin, was a silver key.

I didn’t need to bother asking what door it opened; its small white tag was inscribed: MASTER’S SUITE.

Ethan had given me a key to his apartments.

For a moment, I stared down at the unfamiliar weight in my hand and considered the access it offered me. It wasn’t the key to a consort suite, where Ethan could stash me as a lover. It was a key to his room—his home—allowing me access whenever I liked, whenever I chose.

However awkwardly we might have started, and however many stops and starts we might have had along the way, there was really no denying it now: Ethan Sullivan and I were in a relationship.

My, how things had changed.

He stood in the House foyer, back in his cassock again. But while the clothing was the same, there was something different about him. Something I hadn’t seen in a long time. He looked peaceful. And maybe even hopeful.

“You’re leaving?” Ethan asked.

“I think it’s best. They believe I committed the murders here, and now that Dominic is gone, there’s no evidence it wasn’t me. Besides that, there’s work I need to do. Apologies I need to make.”

“Good deeds?” Ethan thoughtfully asked, but Seth’s expression remained serious.

“Ensuring justice is done, that those who deserve blessings receive what they ought. We have both been fortunate, you and I. We’ve had multiple lifetimes to make decisions, face consequences, right our wrongs. I’ll go forward with that motive in mind, and I will try to rebalance the lives I disrupted. And speaking of which…,” he said, then pulled a glint of gold from his pocket.

He extended his hand. My gold Cadogan medal dangled from his fingers. “I believe this is yours.”

I took it from him and clenched it in my fist. “Thank you. How did you get it back?”

“He wore it in the battle last night, and I snatched it. I thought you’d prefer to have it. I’m sorry it was taken from you in the first place, and glad I can return it.”

Ethan stretched out a hand. “Good luck on your journey. If you need shelter, you’ll find a home in this House.”

Seth took Ethan’s hand with obvious gratitude. “Your friendship is appreciated.” He smiled at me. “And yours, Ballerina.”

I smiled at him. “Good luck. And Godspeed.”

“To you as well, Merit. Ethan, I hope our paths will cross again, but under more favorable circumstances.” With that, he disappeared down the sidewalk, through the gate, and into the night.

Ethan looked at me. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be. Are you?”

“As you said. These are exciting and terrifying times.”

We walked upstairs to the ballroom. It was full of vampires again, the atmosphere as tense as it had been when Darius had taken the stage. But this tension was different. There was less fear in the anticipation. The vampires shuffled nervously, a low buzz of excitement in the room. Would we defect from the GP, or would we wait for the GP to once and finally deem us unworthy?

Malik and Ethan made their way to the stage, the ballot box on the platform between them. I searched their expressions for any hint of what was to come but found nothing there.

Ethan raised his hands, and the crowd went silent. “Your ballots have been cast,” he said, “both by you and by your brethren outside the House. The final vote was close. Only eighteen votes separated the sides. It is clear you are divided on this issue, on the future of this House. I take that as an indication of your thoughtfulness, your attention to the weight of this decision.”

The crowd murmured nervously.

“By a majority vote of this House,” Ethan said, “its vampires have determined to defect from the Greenwich Presidium.”

The vampires erupted into noise. Some cheers, some jeers, some tears. I stood still in the midst of the chaos and kept my eyes on Ethan’s.

For a long moment I held his gaze. I thought about how far I’d come and where we might be going next. I thought about Ethan and the life he was intent on giving me, even if that life existed in the midst of a new kind of chaos. A new reality for Cadogan House and its vampires.

For now, with his emerald eyes locked on mine, where I was going didn’t seem so scary.