Broken (The Captive #5.5)(61)

She threw her arms around him. "It doesn't matter. I don't need a ceremony; this is permanent for me also. I've never been so happy before!"

"Neither have I, wife," he whispered as he nuzzled her ear.

She giggled and pressed closer to him. "My husband," she whispered. "You are my heart."

His arms constricted around her as love swelled within him. "You are my soul."

***

Camille glanced up when Genny approached where she sat alone at the large table. There was a needle and thread in Camille's delicate hand, she'd been trying to learn how to sew and Atticus had brought in a woman that was helping to teach her. Genny stopped to admire the colorful blues, purples and yellows weaved throughout the beautiful tapestry her sister was creating.

"You want to learn now, don't you?" Camille inquired with a teasing smile.

At first the idea of it hadn't been overly appealing to her, but seeing what Camille was creating and knowing what she knew now, it would probably be best if she did know how to sew, at least to make clothes. "I do."

Camille released a small laugh. "I never thought I'd hear you say that, but I'll teach you if you would like."

"I would." Genny pulled out the chair next to her. "But we have to talk first."

Camille lifted an eyebrow and placed down her needle and thread. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, well yes, sort of." Genny leaned toward her as she explained everything that Atticus had told her last night. "We can start over there."

"Or we could be killed," she whispered when Genny was done speaking. "We have no idea what awaits us over there."

Genny rested her hand on top of Camille's and squeezed it. "I won't go without you, but if we go somewhere else they will hunt us down. I can't lose him Camille; I can't lose either one of you."

Camille's eyes fell to the gold ring on her index finger and widened considerably. "Genny…"

"It may not have been the traditional ceremony but he's my husband now."

Camille's eyes came back to hers; tears bloomed in their vivid blue depths. She threw her arms around Genny and laughed as she hugged her close. "I'm so happy for you."

Relief filled Genny as she hugged her back. She hadn't been sure how Camille would take the news. "Thank you."

Camille reluctantly released her and sat back. "We have no idea what may await us over there."

"We've never had an idea of what awaited us," Genny said. "Our lives have always been a never ending game of not knowing where we were going to sleep, where Marie was going to leave us, what Felix was going to do next. It will be uncertain in the new land too but at least we can start over. We can make it a home and hopefully we can stop living in fear."

Camille wiped at her eyes before smiling at her. "You're right," she agreed. "This will be a new beginning."

"It will," Genny promised and squeezed her sister's hands.

"Are you sure you would like me to teach you how to do this?" Camille asked as she turned back to her tapestry.

"It would probably be best if I knew how to sew if we're going to stay clothed."

"I don't know, I think Atticus prefers you naked," Camille teased.

Genny laughed and shook her head at her sister. "Well he doesn't always get what he wants."

Camille pulled out another needle and some more thread and set Genny up to start a new project. In less than thirty seconds she managed to stab herself with the needle but they were both laughing as Camille patiently taught her what to do.





CHAPTER 21


Over the next couple of weeks, Atticus worked to get ready to leave England as secretly as possible. In order to not alert his father to his plans, he had decided to harvest solely the blood of animals for the journey. Normally a number of humans would make a sea voyage with them but he wasn't willing to take the chance of any word getting out that he was acquiring humans. Knowing that he was being monitored, he had taken to draining some blood from the horses in the stable on a daily basis.

Merle took the bottled blood to his ship in saddlebags and hidden under his tunic at night and stashed it in the cargo hold. Merle had two humans already living on board his ship, but that wouldn't be enough to supply four vampires for a possible month or more without risking the lives of the humans. That was if the journey only took a month, none of them were familiar with this trip and they wouldn't be traveling with the normal amount of crew that such a journey required. It would only be him and Merle navigating the unfamiliar waters. That was why he planned to stash at least enough blood to get them through two months at sea.

Genny also gathered blood from the animals that she and Camille hunted in the woods. This wasn't a deviation from her normal routine, and neither was bringing the animals home so he doubted anyone would question it, especially when the animals were released out the door again for everyone to see, just as they always had been. The only deviation was that he or Arturo was always by Genny's side when she entered the woods, he didn't dare leave her alone after his father's threat.

When it was finally time to leave, there would only be two trunks of clothing going with them onto the ship. Everything else would be left behind and he was perfectly content with that.