A knock on the door sounded. A moment later it opened. “They’ve come to a verdict.”
A verdict. Like this was some trial. The vampire led us back to the room we’d been publically interrogated in.
When we entered, the room stood. The vampire who led us here now directed us back to our seats.
Just as I was about to sit down, Andre caught my arm. “Not yet.”
I turned my confused stare from him to the crowd.
One of the Elders made his way through. I thought he would stop before us, but he came right up to me and took my hand. Then he did something even stranger: he knelt and kissed my knuckles.
“We welcome you, Gabrielle Fiori, daughter of the late Elder, Santiago Fiori, as our sire’s soulmate.”
Over his shoulder, I saw an entire room of vampires genuflect.
When the Elder stood, his face was grim. “We will protect you, come what may.”
I nodded, blinking rapidly. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but it wasn’t this. A weight lifted off my chest to see all these people supporting me. And okay, as far as fan bases go, mine were a bit more morally depraved than the norm. But I’d take it.
“We would request a public Joining to formally recognize you as our queen and host a celebration in honor of your union.”
“Joining?” My eyes questioned Andre.
He glanced down at me, a troubled expression on his face. “The Joining will require some consideration on the part of my soulmate.” Andre returned his attention to the Elder. “But we accept the celebration.”
Chapter 27
“What is a Joining?” I stood, arms crossed in Andre’s study with him and Oliver, who sauntered into Bishopcourt ten minutes ago from who-knew-where.
Andre leaned against his desk, his gaze tracking my every move.
Behind him Oliver poked at a shrunken head Andre had on one of his shelves. The fairy let out a squeal when the head began to snap at him, its teeth clicking together.
“It’s our version of a union, soulmate.”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head at that. “As in marriage?”
Andre’s mouth thinned, but he nodded.
Oliver snorted. “Sabertooth, you’re boning the dude on a nightly basis. Best make an honest man out of him before you knock him up.”
Andre and I both glared at Oliver.
“Keep talking, and I’ll knock you out,” I muttered.
“So violent,” Oliver said. “Andre, you might want to rethink this whole Joining business—spousal abuse might happen with this one.” He nudged his head towards me.
“Oh my God, Oliver.”
“No Joining will occur in the near future,” Andre stated.
“Oh.” Oliver deflated.
If I was being honest with myself, I deflated a bit too. It wasn’t that I wanted to get married—excuse me, Joined—anytime soon, but hearing Andre say those words so definitively just … threw me off. I wanted to be the demanding, indecisive one, dammit!
As if he read my mind, Andre gave a longsuffering sigh. “Soulmate, I would love nothing more than to Join with you, but I will not ask you to take on anything you’re not ready for. You already have my heart and my love.”
Awww. My skin began to glow at his words.
Oliver looked between us. “Are you guys about to have hot, sweaty, monkey sex?”
We both ignored him.
“But there will still be a party?” I asked. A party that I probably wouldn’t be around to enjoy.
My heart thumped weakly in my chest, and I shook my hands to get blood flowing through them. They were cold and clammy. Over the last couple days my circulation had gotten especially bad.
“That is what I agreed to, yes,” Andre said.
“Had you even considered asking for my opinion before you agreed to that?” I asked.
“Oh,” Oliver winced, “bad move, Andre boy. Boning will clearly be put on hold till this gets resolved. If the anti-Christ here ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
“Who invited you in here anyway?” Andre demanded, turning on the fairy.
“She did.” He immediately pointed to me.
I shook my head at Oliver and gave him a look that said, You are so lucky I like you.
“She may have invited you in,” Andre said, “but I am ordering you out.”
“Sheesh.” Oliver slid off of Andre’s desk. “I’m leaving I’m leaving.”
We watched the door as it clicked shut. “It continues to astonish me that a creature like him could ever be friends with anyone,” Andre said.
“Hey!” I said indignantly. “He’s my friend.”
“All the more proof that you harbor the heart of a saint.”
Now he was just trying to butter me up.
Andre came over to me. He took my hands in his and he knelt. The image of him down on his knees shook me. His wide shoulders and the dangerous glint in his eyes said without words that he was a man more prone to violence than to love. But here he was, beseeching me with his body. “None of this matters so long as you are mine and I am yours. And I am still yours.”
Seeing that kind of ferocity surrendering to love undid me. My throat worked. I squeezed his hands. “And I’m still yours.”
Andre stood, a smile lighting his features.
I could run from the thought of marriage, but I couldn’t run from our bond. We were already joined—and had been since the bond was Awoken in me.
Andre understood that, but he’d let me live amongst my pretty illusions until I came to terms with it as well.
He leaned in and kissed me, his hands still holding tightly to my own. I pinched my eyes shut.
Till death do us part.
“So when’s this shindig, and what should Leanne and I wear to it?” Oliver asked when I found him hanging out in Andre’s dining room.
Andre had wandered off to a series of private meetings with some of his coven members, leaving me to my own devices for the time being. And my own devices included hanging out with the little devil that perched on my shoulder—a.k.a., Oliver.
Oliver quickly slipped the phone he’d been on into his pocket, but not before I caught a flash of …
Ew.
Dick pics.