Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(118)

Not ever.

I felt my mouth part in awe and I desperately wanted to kiss him. And through my kiss I wanted to draw away his demons, absorb his emotion, take it away from him forever.

Before I got the chance to attempt this feat, his eyes opened and he murmured in a way that said he was trying to reassure me even though it was him I sensed reliving a nightmare, “It was a long time ago, sweetling.”

“It bothers you still.”

His hand went from my neck to my hand on his face. His long fingers curled around mine and he drew my knuckles to his lips, brushing them there.

Then his eyes locked on mine and he repeated, “It bothers me still.”

I understood then why people acted the way they did around him and I shared, “You’re a vampire hero. They admire you.”

“They do,” he agreed in a casual way that said it mattered very little to him and went on. “They also fear me.”

I was thinking they probably should. He could hunt down thousands of vampires on his own, that was pretty freaking scary.

“What does this have to do with me?” I asked.

He rested his hand still holding mine on his chest. “Because of the status they’ve placed on me, people take an interest in what I take an interest in. That, plus other annoying things, goes with the territory. However with you, I marked you twenty years ago and waited. This isn’t my usual behavior. Your behavior isn’t the usual concubine behavior either. This intrigued my people and they started watching and waiting to see what would happen. Now, I fear, they’re no less intrigued.”

“So, in a way, we’re like the mortal and vampire Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, without the weddings and such, of course,” I muttered.

I felt relief sweep through me when the air cleared, his face softened and his lips twitched.

“Something like that.”

Well, that was one question answered and, as usual, it made sense.

Now for the one that might freak me out, not that the last one didn’t.

“Why do you think you can make me safe from my dream?”

He rolled us to our sides, pulling me up so I was face-to-face with him and gathering me close.

“You remember the conversation you overheard this morning?” he asked and I nodded.

How could I forget?

He continued, “I think you’re attuning yourself to me.”

“Yes, I remember you saying that. What does that have to do with –?”

He interrupted me, saying, “You’re dreaming of The Sentence.”

I fell silent but my heart tripped.

His eyes grew contemplative. “Has your mother or one of your aunts explained The Sentence?”

They hadn’t, as such. I shook my head deciding not to lie out loud.

“Edwina? Stephanie?” he asked.

I shook my head again, this time not nonverbally lying.

When he spoke again, it sounded like he was speaking aloud to himself, not to me. “Then you must have somehow sensed it from me.”

“Sensed what from you? What’s the sentence?”

His eyes refocused and he murmured, “It’s not pretty, sweetheart.”

“I could guess that,” I replied.

His lips turned up before he began to explain, “The Dominion created The Sentence for mortal and immortal mates who would not denounce each other. They did it in hopes that the others being tortured or yet to be caught would spare their partners from this by quickly denouncing them. What they understood, and I reminded them, as did Cosmo, Stephanie and other advisors at the time, was that a vampire’s vow is his or her bond. He, or she, will never denounce any vow, no matter what might befall them.” He took in a breath then continued, “In many cases, when vampires mate, their claimings are a promise, not a vow. There is a nuance of difference but it’s there and for a vampire that nuance is crucial. The understanding being that eternal life with another may not work out after centuries. To promise forever opens the relationship to Severance. To vow forever, never. However, in most cases when a vampire took a mortal as a mate, during the claiming they vowed to be with their mortal forever. This, a vampire would never denounce. The Dominion was, however, with some experience of the behavior of mortals, counting on the mortal being less devoted. Unfortunately, they were wrong and dozens of Sentences were carried out.”

“Let me guess,” I whispered, “the mortal was hanged, the vampire burned.”

He gave me a squeeze and nodded, but said, “Worse.”

What was worse than that?

He answered my unasked question, “It happened simultaneously. The fire was lit so the mortal could watch the burning commence. Then the hanging proceeded so the vampire could watch his beloved swing before he died.”

I knew that too but I still gasped when Lucien confirmed it.

“The Dominion enjoyed one success from this,” he informed me. “It proved a healthy deterrent from any such future matings.”

I dropped my head, looked at his throat and muttered, “Not surprising.”

He kissed my forehead and I tilted my head back to face him.

“I don’t remember my dream but that’s what it felt like,” I told him.

“I’ve no doubt that’s what it is,” he replied.

“Why am I dreaming about that when I didn’t even know it existed?”