No Rest for the Wicked (37 page)

body. As the glass rained down, he murmured against her hair, “We won it.”

Her breaths were ragged. “I-I don’t understand,” she finally said once the glass had fallen.

“Katja, you... died.”

She pulled back. Tears streamed down her face. “What did you say?”

“You died. Fifteen minutes after the moment from which I just took you.” At her

dumbstruck expression, he bit out an explanation detailing the scene, the difficulties, the

incredible power of the fire. He explained her choice.

She swayed, and he caught her with his good hand. “I asked you to come back for me? I

told you about my sisters?”

“Yes. I had no idea this was what you sought. Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I would have tonight! And before that, I just... couldn’t.” She bit her lip. “I let go?”

When he nodded, she said, “I must have recognized something. Seen something that made

me trust you completely.” Her brows drew together. “Bastian, I didn’t just trust you with

my life.” She caught his eyes. “I trusted you with my sisters’ lives as well.”

He said quietly, “I was humbled by it.”

Riora suddenly appeared, perched on the edge of her altar, with a visibly emotional Scribe

following, stepping on snapping glass.

“I had an interesting conversation with my champion,” Riora began. “And he proved

possible yet another impossibility. I alerted the vampire to the fact that once you got your

hot little hands on the key, he would lose you forever. History would be changed. The

future would buckle and grind to fit the past. You would never have found him, because

you wouldn’t have suffered the death of your sisters. And a vampire chose to relinquish

his Bride rather than have her suffer that horror and guilt. To spare you pain, he chose to

give you the key, even believing he would lose you forever.”

“Is this true?” Kaderin asked Sebastian with a catch in her voice. “Y-you would do that?”

In answer, he rasped, “Want you happy.”

Her tears ran freely.

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“Why these tears, Katja?” he asked. “You will have your family back, I swear it. Do not

cry.”

“What’s on your mind, Valkyrie?” Riora said from behind them. “Don’t make me go

digging for it.”

On her mind? Good question. There were too many thoughts to sort through. And too

many feelings. Her heart felt rent in two, choosing between her family and the vampire she

was falling for.

Did she love him? She thought she might, but how did one know? Most didn’t trust their

own feelings anyway, much less if they were unpracticed for so long.

But Kaderin had always trusted her instinct.

She could now accept that instinct had commanded her right from the start not to hurt

him, all the way back to that first morning. “I can’t not know him, Riora.”

“What are you saying?” he asked, seeming not to breathe.

“I don’t want to have to choose.”

He dragged her against his chest with his good arm, resting his chin on her head again.

“For my part, if I could know for a day that I’d won you, it would be worth it.”

“But you wouldn’t remember winning me,” she said against him.

“Wait.” He set her away to give her that half-grin. “Katja, my arm is broken.”

“I know!” Kaderin cried, her voice breaking. “Why do you sound so bloody delighted

about that?”

“It should have been healed,” Sebastian said. “I was never struck with a boulder until the

serpent woke. Your crossing the cable woke it, and when you didn’t cross... ”

She sucked in a breath, and her eyes widened.

“Very good, vampire,” Riora said. “Kaderin told you time travel would work. And you

told her you can’t go to the past to change the future. You were both right.”

“I don’t understand how this is possible,” Kaderin said. “He changed the past. The present

should be different. And you said he had to choose—”

“Ah, I... told a little lie. I wanted to see if it was possible for a vampire to surrender his

fated Bride.” She inclined her head at them. “And thank you both for your cooperation.

Now. Truthfully. You can’t go back and then change the future.”

Sebastian’s expression grew dark. “Riora, that’s exactly on our agenda right now.”

“Scribe! Ribbon! Shears!” In the blink of an eye, a scarlet ribbon was rolled out over the

altar, stark against the marble. Scribe laid scissors into her outstretched palm. “This ribbon

is time, from past to present.”

She leaned down to the end of the ribbon representing the past and cut a sliver a few

inches up. “I’ve gone back and extracted something from time, but the rest of the ribbon

remains wholly unchanged. Vampire, you were absolutely right—to a point. You

unquestionably cannot go back in time to change the future. That way lies madness.” She

frowned at Kaderin. “Really, Valkyrie, you should give him more credit. He is a scholar.”

She shrugged and continued, “But magic allows us to go back and nab a few things now

and again. A mystical parlor trick.”

“I won’t forget him?” Kaderin couldn’t stop shaking.

“No, not at all. But when you use the key, do not attempt to get clever with it. Time is

living and fluid but refuses to allow the past to be. Thrane’s genius was that he discovered

doors to the past could be opened, but time would shut them immediately to prevent

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) instability and chaos. So he created a key that would open millions of doors at the same

time. Keeps a body busy closing all of them. The hope is that your door is the last to get

shut down, because if you get locked out, you will fade.”

Riora tilted her head at Kaderin, then turned that sharp, cutting stare on Sebastian. “Look

at Kaderin’s relief, vampire. For some reason, your pull on her was stronger than a

blessing bestowed by a goddess”—she stretched her fingers out, examining her nails—“of

no mean power.”

“Blessing?” Sebastian asked. “The blessing?”

“You?” Kaderin whispered. “It was you?”

“Yes.” Riora studied her. “That’s why I was perplexed that your attraction to a vampire

could neutralize it.”

“Why?” Kaderin demanded. “Why did you do it?”

“You blamed yourself for your sisters’ deaths, and yet you were too strong to die. Your

sorrow was debilitating the Valkyrie covens.”

“Why numb everything? I haven’t felt joy, humor, love.”

Riora delicately coughed, clearing her throat. “That was a bit unintentional.” She turned to

Sebastian. “You, and you alone, have freed her to feel. And it is time she should.”

“This explains much,” Sebastian said, then rocked on his feet.

“We’ve got to get you bandaged up.” Kaderin leaned into him to help him stand, alarmed

at how pale his face had grown. How much blood had he lost?

“Kaderin, he’s bleeding all over my temple,” Riora said. “And by the way, Valkyrie, you

owe me for a skylight.” Riora turned from her. “Scribe? Where are you? Scribe!” And

then they were gone.

“Are you going to be able to trace us?” Kaderin asked.

“Of course,” he grated, but he was barely able to get them back to her flat.

Stubborn vampire. He’s been hiding how weak he is.

In the bedroom, his legs gave out. When she helped him to the bed, he fell back but

clenched her wrist. “You’re not going without me.”

“Your sword arm is injured. You won’t be able to defend yourself in a battle.”

Sebastian said, “You’ve waited a thousand years, you can wait two more days.”

She shook her head. “I’d be taking you into a war where you are the enemy.”

“I’ll take that chance, Katja. Do not do anything until I heal.”

She hesitated, then said, “I won’t go until you’re healed.”

He nodded, then passed out immediately.

She meant what she’d said. There was no way he could accompany her. A vampire on a

battlefield with an army of Valkyrie? Not going to happen. Her own sisters would likely

try to kill him.

But she was not leaving him when he needed her. For the last two nights, when not

chaining her up, he’d been a hero to her. He’d salvaged the competition for her, given her

the finals, and then won the key. Not to mention that he’d saved her life.

And then, when faced with the choice of her happiness over his own, he’d chosen hers.

At every turn, he made her feel protected, cherished. And she would respond in kind.

Her relief when she’d found out she wouldn’t forget him was staggering. What did that

say? What did it mean that she was as delighted about that fact as she was to be going

back for her sisters?

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) Before she used the key, Kaderin would contact the coven and let them know she was

okay, though she was sure they’d already felt her return. She would see Sebastian mended,

giving him as much blood as he could drink.

She’d waited a thousand years. Two or three days wouldn’t matter in the great scheme of

things, would it?

Sebastian woke feeling incredible.

A warm, sleeping Valkyrie was draped over his chest, and he clutched her to him, amazed

by all that had occurred. Memories trickled in from that hellish haze after he’d lost her, but

he pushed them away.

Because he’d gotten her back.

All that mattered was that he had Kaderin safe with him.

He’d gotten her back.

When she didn’t wake, he slipped from the bed to go shower and to examine his arm. He

stood, waiting for the black dots to cloud his vision but saw none. The bones in his upper

arm and elbow felt as though they had already started to knit, and he could tell the

shredded skin and muscles were connected, at least. He might not even need the sling

she’d fashioned for his arm.

When he returned, showered and dressed, she was awake.

“I’m going to be healed by tomorrow,” he told her. “We can go for them at sunset.”

“Sebastian, once we get close enough to my sisters, they could kill you themselves.” She

looked away. “They would not hesitate as I did.”

“I’m going with you. There’s no question of it. What if you don’t make the door? Then I

definitely will lose you.”

“Even if we wait for you to heal, you can’t defend yourself without risking one of my

kind.”

He drew his head back. “I would never hurt them.”

“I know that,” she said quickly, “but they’ll want you dead.”

“I’m going, Katja. It must be so.”

She studied his face for a long moment, then exhaled with a subtle nod. She turned her

back to him, drawing her hair over one shoulder, baring her beautiful neck. “Then you

have to be strong.”

He swallowed tightly. “You’re inviting me to drink you?”

She said over her shoulder, “You have been for a day.”

And I’ve missed it? He joined her in the bed, turning her to face him. “No wonder I feel so

damned good.”

She glanced up from under a blond curl, and said in a throaty voice, “How good?”

He stilled. “Remarkably.” Even with his body so beaten, his cock swelled in anticipation.

“Tremendously.”

“We’d have to be creative,” she said, with her eyes already flashing silver. “So we don’t

hurt your arm.” Her idea of creative was to strip off his shirt that she’d slept in, then lay

back at the foot of the high bed, positioned for him with her shining hair spread out, and

her nipples already hard.

“I like creative,” he rasped, ripping off his own clothes. His hands itched to touch her in a

million different ways and places. He wanted to kiss her for hours.

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“This should work, don’t you think?” she asked. “Are you sure you’re ready?” The look

he gave her made her say, “Okay, okay! Just checking—”

Her words died in her throat when he crouched down and eased her legs open. He loved

kissing her between her thighs and would take any opportunity to taste her. She cried out

at the first touch of his tongue to her wet flesh, and moaned when he languidly suckled

her.

“Bastian, please,” she finally whimpered. “I need to feel you inside me.”

He pressed a kiss to her thigh. When he stood, her knees fell even wider apart in blatant

invitation. For him. This was still so new to him—to have this beauty asking him to be

inside her was still unbelievable.

He gripped his shaft and positioned himself at her entrance, then reached forward to cover

her breasts with his palms. She arched, pushing into his hands until he squeezed and

groaned at the feel of her soft flesh.

As the head of his cock pressed deeper, filling her, she moaned with each inch. When she

took him as far as she could, his knees went weak, but from pleasure.

With her legs locked around his waist, she undulated her hips, slowly at first, but soon she

was so frantic he thought he might come just from her working her sex on his shaft.

“More, Bastian!”

I’ll always give you more, he remembered vowing that first day. Until I die. He had to

hold on...

He leaned down and licked her stiff nipples, one and then the other, but when she threaded

her fingers in his hair and arched her back, it made him want to come even more.

He rose, about to pull out and take her with his mouth again. But she grasped two of his