Page 50 of Redeeming the Angel

We made love until we were too exhausted to move.

Afterward, cradled in his arms, I looked into his eyes and my heart swelled with adoration for all that he was.“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you.”His lips caressed my temple.“Marry me.”

Reality splashed over me like a jet of cool water.“I can’t yet.”

“You don’t have to, yet.”His thumb roved over my cheek.“All I want is a betrothal.We can have a long engagement while we figure out how to appease our families and ourselves.We don’t even have to tell our families yet.It can be a secret engagement if that’s how you want it.”

The fervent love in his eyes undid me.That, and the thought of making love to him every night and waking up in his arms.I suddenly couldn’t imagine anythingbutthat.“Yes.I’ll marry you.You may even tell your family and speak with my parents.Though I agree that a long engagement would be best.”

Maybe not so long, a voice in my heart spoke.Because if a seedling had taken root in my womb, I’d want my union with Lucian to be official.

My heart danced with hope at the thought, and only my physical exhaustion from alleviating my yearning quieted it enough for me to fall asleep in my lover’s arms and dream about our wedding.

Chapter Eighteen

Present

Lucian

I awoke in the mid-afternoon, full of mixed triumph, worry, and an extremely painful erection.Having Kerainne Leonine in my arms, kissing her, and feeling her hands in my hair felt even better than my memories.When her body was melded to mine, the emptiness inside me was filled and I felt complete.The sparks of magic that had darted between us confirmed what I knew all along.Shewasmy true-bonded mate.I wondered how much longer she’d try to deny it.

However, I now knew that I couldn’t place all the weight of the future of our relationship on her shoulders.After over two thousand years of knowing her, I’d finally reached an epiphany.I’d always had a hard time understanding Kerainne, and because of that, through the centuries of our on-again/off again courtship, every time I made an assumption about her without making an effort to understand her feelings or her situation, it always backfired.

Last night, before she took me to Earth for Thanksgiving, I swore an oath to myself to stop making assumptions and jumping to conclusions about anything regarding Kerainne.Instead, I’d make an effort to understand why she said or did something instead of making an ass out of myself by thinking the worst.

That vow gave me insight almost immediately after we crossed the portal.The last time I went to Coeur d’Alene, I’d had the single-minded focus to find Kerainne and find out why she was hiding on Earth instead of coming home to Luminista where I’d felt she belonged.

This time, I realized this was truly the place where we’d helped the Schitsu'umsh tribe.Lake Skeetshue now had a different name and almost completely different surroundings.But I could still find a few familiar things.A cliff we used to dive from, now eroded by the centuries to a tall rock, the beach where canoes were kept, and the place where the children would wade and learn to swim.

There’d been so many questions I’d wanted to ask about the past, but I remembered my vow and held my tongue, focusing on the present.It was then that I discovered a new thing Kerainne loved.Christmas.Her pure joy at the mention of lights, parades, and something called the North Pole had me determined to learn more about this holiday.Anything that made Kerainne happy was always of the utmost importance to me.

Then, when we arrived at the Lord Vampire’s castle and Aurora Lee’s parents rushed to greet her, I received another torrent of education.These Earthfolk had known her much longer than the vampires did.The talk of how both Aurora’s and Sylvis’s parents had tried to adopt Kerainne’s daughter and were rejected so this human government forced Xochitl to be in the care of strangers rendered me mute with shock.

It was only then that I realized that Kerainne hadn’t spent those years on Earth living as a princess.Instead, she’d been a commoner.Not only that, but she’d been utterly and completely alone before Xochitl made friends with her bandmates.No family, as every luminite of Medicia were taken by Mephistopheles and the rest were in Luminista.Her sister probably would have found Kerainne and spent time with her if she hadn’t been forced into hiding so she wouldn’t have to marry me.

Guilt curdled my insides leaving me sitting at the table, unable to touch the delicious-looking victuals on my plate until I caught Akasha frowning at me as if worried I didn’t like her cooking.Thankfully, everything was delicious enough to overcome my nausea, even though the guilt remained.

If only I hadn’t behaved so terribly that day.

A measure of my remorse was eased when we went downstairs to watch those strange vampire movies.I saw that at least Xochitl hadn’t had to endure loneliness for long.However, being around all those happy true-bonded couples while my own true-bonded mate sat apart from me, so close but so untouchable, was a different sort of torture.

Then, when I at last got her to come inside my house, the miracle happened.I still didn’t know who had started it, and I didn’t much care.For those brief minutes of our kiss, all was right in the universe.We were both where we belonged.

And even though she’d run away last night, she had to know the truth.Sooner or later, she’d have to quit running.But I would do my best not to point that out to her.Telling Kerainne the truth about things before she was ready to hear them had never worked out and I still don’t know what took me so long to realize that fact.

Therefore, even though I wanted to know if our kiss meant that she’d no longer take me to see the Festival of Lights tonight, I would stay put.Either she would come to me and we’d go, or she wouldn’t and I’d have to wait until next time.Part of me was tempted to go by myself, but no.This was something Kerainne loved.I would experience it with her or not at all.

The wait seemed eternal, no matter how many things I did to pass the time, including selecting an outfit that was warm and hopefully pleasing to her eye.

When at last there was a knock on the door, it took every vestige of my being not to run like an overexcited little boy.My heart did it for me while I walked as slowly as possible.

Kerainne stood on the porch, looking adorable bundled up in a thick purple wool coat trimmed with what looked like lynx or mountain lion fur.Knowing her, it was either fake or salvaged from an already dead animal.I’d learned early on in our courtship that even though she ate meat, she wouldn’t wear the fur of anything that wasn’t either food, or salvaged.That belief further cemented during her times with the tribespeople in what eventually became known as the Americas.I remember how happy she was when faux fur was invented a hundred years ago.

“Hello Kerainne,” I said in the most level voice possible.

She didn’t bother with a greeting and I couldn’t tell if her red cheeks were from the cold or if she was blushing in remembrance of last night’s kiss.“If you still wish to attend the Festival of Lights in Coeur d’Alene, you’d better be ready because it’s time to leave now.”

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