Page 25 of The Dancer and the Dark
“No, but see, it is. It should be. If you were with a human, you would know what he did for work.” He walked toward her and took her hand, getting down on one knee in front of her. “Ninety-nine percent of the vampire world doesn’t even know you exist. I did that partly to protect you and partly to protect myself. I was… afraid to scare you off. If we marry—”
“We don’t have to—”
“If we marry” —he gentled his voice— “it will mean we are binding ourselves together whether you decide to change or not. You would have to accept more of my world.”
She stared at the ground, and her normally expressive face was a mask. “Would that be riskier than what we have now?”
He took a breath. “At this point, it would actually be safer for you to be known as my wife than as my human lover.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Lovers come and go. Mates, husbands, wives, they have… status. Socially and financially, you would be seen as my partner in the immortal world, so the allies I have cultivated over the years would be forced to extend that relationship to you as well.”
She nodded slowly. “Got it.”
“But that is not why I want to marry you.”
She looked up. “Why do you want to marry me?”
“Because I’m a selfish bastard and I never want anyone else to put his bloody hands on you for the rest of your life; you’re mine.”
She blinked. “Well… that’s honest.”
“Iloveyou for all the reasons previously stated. You’re brilliant, kind, funny, and make me enjoy being a living fossil. But I want tomarryyou because I’m a bloody selfish bastard.”
“And to keep me safer.”
“And that. But no matter what you choose, know that Iwillkeep you safe.” He leaned forward and captured her lips with his own. He allowed himself to be enveloped in her scent, let his amnis flood over her skin. He wanted to surround her, consume her.
Be consumed.
And yet he needed to say the rest. He needed to give her the knot of words that threatened to choke him.
“Never doubt that I love you with every fiber of my being,” Gavin said as he pulled away. “But you need to make some decisions, Chloe. Deciding to be with meor notis about more than just children or aging or any of that. It’s about living your life.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Right now you have a life in the human world. Or you could. You could leave me” —his fangs ached in his jaw, threatening to erupt— “marry a human, and have a normal life. Have a normal family.”
“Gavin, I don’t—”
“If you haven’t thought about it, you need to.” He stood carefully. “You need to at least consider it, or you will always harbor doubts.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So I should marry you, but before I do, I should think about leaving you and marrying a random human I’ve never met?”
“You need to think about the future you want, whether it involves me or not.”
She stood and huffed out a breath. “Are you serious?”
“Of course I am.”
She stared at him, then started walking away. “Stupid vampires and their stupid—” She spun around. “You know, maybe I should go on a few experimental dates with some humans while I’m in California. Maybe just try a couple of guys out, see what I think?”
He bared his teeth and felt his feet leave the ground.
“Yeah.” She crossed her arms. “That’s what I thought.” Chloe rolled her eyes and continued walking toward the house.
Gavin tappeda pen on a yellow legal pad. “I was trying to be… moderate. Reasonable.”
