Chapter 19
As our guests took their seats again behind us, Alexandru Vladescu, the ancient vampire who was to preside over our ceremony, reached across the table and rested his hands, which trembled with age, upon our foreheads, compelling both Lucius and I to bow slightly as he offered our families’ equivalent of a benediction.

“We gather this evening to unite, for eternity, Prince Lucius Vladescu and Princess Antanasia Dragomir, and to offer them the blessing of our clans,” he said, fingers surprisingly firm against my head. “From this day forward, as promised in the pact sealed at their births, they shall live – and rule – as one.”

Then he removed his hands, and Lucius and I raised our heads, and I knew that this was one of only two times that I would ever see Lucius Vladescu bow down before another vampire, no matter how venerable, wise or powerful that Elder might be. The next time Lucius lowered his head would be at our coronation as king and queen. If that day ever came…

I shifted my eyes slightly to see Lucius in profile. His straight nose and strong chin and the shock of newly cut black hair that fell over his forehead, as if he couldn’t quite contain that ungovernable side of himself, even for our wedding.

Lucius, who would be the father of my children. The next princes and princesses…

“But first,” Alexandru said, summoning my attention forward again, so I found myself looking into eyes that were familiarly dark. Vladescu eyes, which had seen centuries, perhaps millennia, of marriages and births… and destructions. “First you must accept one another as bride and groom, before your witnesses.”

It was my turn to squeeze Lucius’s hand, my fingers automatically contracting around his, and I drew a shaky breath.

This was the most important part of the ceremony, and although I knew that Lucius wanted to marry me, I felt my stomach clench, too, with nervous apprehension, for the question that was about to be asked wasn’t posed as a formality. In the world that I was entering, where unions really were eternal, the words to be spoken next were meant to give both partners one last chance to reconsider before the die was cast forever.

“Lucius Vladescu,” Alexandru said, voice low, almost ominous, “will you accept Antanasia as your wife, for as long as you shall exist?”

Lucius and I turned to one another, and he took both my hands, and the moment that I saw his face, my apprehension vanished. Not only was his expression still open, unguarded, to me, but I saw again in his eyes the deep love that was always there now, sometimes hidden slightly behind laughter or frustration or the other more complex emotions that my complicated prince experienced, but always there. And on that night, love was all that I saw as Lucius, speaking to everyone – and yet only to me, said gravely, reverently, “Yes, I accept Antanasia as my wife, now and always, for as long as I shall exist.”

Although I’d known in my heart that Lucius would accept me, and that my momentary fear had been unreasonable, I was still relieved – and moved almost to tears – to hear him say those words out loud.

He wanted me, forever…

Then, while Lucius and I remained facing each other, our damaged and whole hands joined together, Alexandru Vladescu spoke my name, and asked me the very same question. “Antanasia Dragomir – will you accept Lucius as your husband, for as long as you shall exist?”

I opened my mouth to speak, hardly even waiting for the sound of the elder vampire’s voice to fade in the quiet night, certain that I needed no time to consider my response. Of course I knew my answer…

But just before the words came out of my mouth, Lucius squeezed my hands in a way that I understood was meant to silence me, and he lowered his eyes, closing himself off from me.

I waited, uncertain, not understanding what he was doing.

And when he raised his eyes again, I saw the last, most hidden part of Lucius’s soul… a glimpse into a place inside of himself that I’d never expected to be allowed to see. Not even if we really did live forever.

Continue to Chapter 20...