Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(155)

Still, he’d just asked me what I wished and inferred he’d go off and do as I asked.

Was this a new tactic?

“Uh…” I mumbled, not alert enough to process this, defend myself, figure out what was happening. Not alert enough for anything.

He rolled me so I was on my back, he was looming over me but his torso was deep in mine and his face was super close.

“Leah, my love, we cannot delay in getting you fed and rested. We need to get back home. There is much we need to discuss but more, there is much that needs to be done. Teffie and Cosmo have captured Katrina and Marcello. The Council has sanctioned their torture and burning and I need to get back and see to that. So now I need to find you food, feed you, get you in a decent bed with sheets that don’t feel like cardboard, you need to rest, we need to talk then we need to go home.”

Okay, there was a lot there.

First, he’d called me his “love”. He’d never done that. Never, ever, ever.

Second, The Council sanctioned torture and burning?

Third, Lucien was going to “see to that”?

“What’s going on?” I repeated.

“Leah –”

“Lucien,” I cut him off. “What is going on?”

“We’ll talk about it later, after you’ve eaten, you have some of your strength back and we’ve moved to a different hotel.”

“We’ll talk about it now.”

“Later, Leah.”

“Now, Lucien!” I snapped, still fatigued, definitely, but not so fatigued I was going to fall for his games. Not again. And he needed to know that. “I want to know what’s going on, now, not later. I don’t want to die ‘at home’ as you put it. I don’t understand why you’re delaying it. I don’t get why you’re still playing me. Just do it. Drain me and get on with your life.”

His brows shot up. “Drain you?”

“Yes,” I hissed. “I knew when I left that you’d hunt me and I knew leaving you gave you the right to feed until I was dead. So what are you waiting for?”

His brows knitted, his eyes narrowed but contradictory to the ominous look stamped on his features, his hand left my hair to frame the side of my face.

And furthering his contradictions, his voice was soft and sweet when he replied, “I’m annoyed with you for making the very unwise decision to attempt to escape me considering the danger you knew was inherent being away from me when you might dream. Not to mention, you and Edwina had been attacked by vampires who stated vile intentions so you also knew the dangers were not singular but many. Nevertheless, it would be reckless of me to punish you for carrying through this rash decision by killing you, my pet, considering that would significantly f**k with my plans for spending eternity with you.”

I stopped breathing.

Yes, stopped breathing.

Entirely.

So it came out in a gust of air when I forced a, “What?”

Lucien smiled and he used his whole face to do it. I’d never seen him smile that openly and the effect was staggering.

Then he dipped his face closer to mine and whispered, “I plan to spend eternity with you.”

I stared.

Then I whispered back, “You do?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“I… I…”

Oh my God!

Was he serious? Or was this another game?

“How? Why? When did you…? But you can’t,” I stammered.

“I can,” he replied.

“But, it’s against the rules,” I reminded him.

“The rules have changed,” he informed me.

Oh boy. Here we go again. Lucien doing whatever he wanted to do and f**k the consequences.

“Lucien –”

Then he wasn’t lying on top of me and I wasn’t on my back.

He was on his ass in the bed and I was straddling him. One of his arms was tight around my back holding my body close to his. His other hand had sifted in my hair, cupping the back of my head and holding my face super close to his.

The instant he got us in this position, before I processed I was in it and therefore was by no means ready for what he was going to say next (not that I ever would be), he stated, “I’m in love with you, sweetheart.”

Oh my God!

Was he…?

No.

No!

“Don’t,” I whispered, pain piercing through me and I watched Lucien blink.

“Don’t?” he whispered back.

“Don’t do it again. Don’t play me,” I explained quietly and I watched the gentleness fade from his features as fury infused them.

I braced.

“I’m in love with you,” he repeated.

“Don’t,” I whispered, that word breaking in the middle and his hold on me tightened mightily.

“Leah… I’m… in… love with you,” he growled, I opened my mouth but his arms squeezed so hard all breath left me. “He lied to you. My father lied. I told you I did not respect him and you knew he was not a man to be respected. Eating lunch with him, you figured it out. And at lunch, he was on his best behavior. During the attack, he treated you to exactly the vampire he really is. He lied, Leah. Edwina told me what he said and what he said to you about what’s between you and me, every bit of it, was a f**king lie.”