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It was a suggestion Sebastian hadn’t even considered. “Do you think it would work, Victor?” he asked, looking up to the master vampire with hope.

“I don’t know,” Victor replied, and Sebastian’s shoulders fell. “I suppose it’s worth attempting. It would provide more insight on your magic, either way. And more knowledge would benefit the coven. However!Iwill be the one to bite her.”

Sebastian opened his mouth to argue, but quickly shut it again. Now that he’d reconciled with the coven, it made sense that Victor would insist on Turning her. Everyone in the coven had been Turned by him, and she would never truly be part of the family if Sebastian did it instead. “Very well,” he agreed.

“I also want to try fighting the shadow before we burn the paintings.” Isabel’s declaration brought the gaze of all three vampires on her. She stood up tall and repeated, “I want to try fighting her. Maybe if we can defeat her, the curse will leave your paintings and we won’t have to burn them.”

The room fell silent while the vampires considered the suggestion. “It would still hurt you, Isabel,” Sebastian finally replied. “Last time I attacked her, the bruises showed up on your body. If wekilledher? It only makes sense that you would die as well. I’m even more sure of it than if we just burned the paintings.”

“Then so be it, Sebastian! If I’m likely to die either way, I’d rather die fighting to save the art you love than standing by and watching the flames as my life flickers out. I’ll take Victor’s bite, then the two of us can enter one of the paintings and fight. If nothing else, I’ll have the satisfaction of dyingmyway.”

Sebastian curled his hands, channeling his frustration into tightening his fists. Everything was spiraling out of control, and worse, Remus, Josephine, and Victor were witnessing it! And seemingly agreeing with Isabel, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by. The only way to overcome the stress…was to let it go.

“Alright,” he replied. “We’ll try it. But even if we manage to defeat the shadow and make it out alive, I’m not risking it not working. Once we’re out, I’m still burning the paintings. I tried to take shortcuts already, and all it did was waste 3 days of precious time.”

“We’ll see.” Isabel crossed her arms and glared at Sebastian, earning herself a snicker from Remus. “I’m ready to go to our room, now. We can talk more about this when we don’t have an audience. No offense, you three.”

Sebastian hung his head and began walking toward the small door which led to the living spaces. He didn’t bother to look back to see if Isabel was following; he could hear the soft brushing of her feet against the floor a half step behind him.

They stepped silently into his private chambers and Sebastian locked the door behind them. He allowed the robes to fall from his shoulders, revealing the ruffled white shirt beneath, and sat on the wooden desk chair backwards. He folded his arms across the chair back and rested his forehead on them, eyes closed to allow himself to recenter.

“It was supposed to be a joyous reunion when you found out I’d regained my memories,” Isabel grumbled and collapsed onto the bed. “But you’ve managed to ruin that. Good job.”

A wave of guilt washed over Sebastian, and he looked up at her. “I really am sorry,dolcezza.Having your memories back means you should remember how intensely I’ve always loved you. You’re the flame which keeps my heart from being swallowed up in darkness! And because of that, I am willing to destroy my life’s work. Our memories. The paintings I have Walked through thousands of times when I couldn’t hold you in my arms.”

As he spoke, Isabel softened little by little until she rose from the bed and came to face him. She placed a hand on either of his cheeks and lifted his face. “You are an idiot, Sebastian, but I love you, too. So instead of wallowing, let’s fix this problem so we can go back to beinghappy.”

Sebastian nodded and caressed Isabel’s face tenderly. “I don’t deserve you,” he said, and she nodded in agreement, a cheeky grin spreading across her face. “Rude!” The pair began to laugh and Sebastian rose from his chair to take Isabel in his arms. “Once this is all over, I look forward to a long,longlife together. But we have huge obstacles in our way.”

“We’ll take them one piece at a time. We can start with gathering all your paintings into one place. That’s doable, right?” Isabel kissed the bottom of Sebastian’s chin, and he felt the smallest amount of stress leave his shoulders.

“Yes. I still don’t know which plan we’re going with, but I do need to talk to Victor for a few minutes, alone. Why don’t you write your letter while I go back to the throne room?”

Isabel eyed him, a frown on her face. “Why do you need to talk to Victor? Remember you’re not keeping things from me!”

Sebastian chuckled and gave her a squeeze. “I just need to talk to him about ways to get my paintings out of the Louvre. Sending them there helped lure you to me just like I hoped, but now I need them back. And I can’t just walk in and take them. The contract still has a year left.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Don’t be gone too long, okay? We have lost time to make up for before we jump into danger again.” She waggled her eyebrows and Sebastian felt himself immediately respond. He hurried out of the room before losing himself to Isabel’s offer, mentally swearing the conversation with Victor would be as short as possible.

CHAPTER33

Vernazza, Italy. 15 June, 2007

Despite having only been there for a single day, stepping back into Sebastian’s castle felt like Isabel was finally coming home.It’s the centuries of memories speaking,she reminded herself, a smile playing with the corners of her lips. What had been a confusing and scary place before was now warm and full of intimate moments.

“Remember the first time you brought me here?” she asked as they stepped into the crumbling structure and locked the door behind them. “I swore that someday we’d restore the castle to its former glory. But look at it now! Everything we did has been undone and more.”

Sebastian nodded and carried their bags to the bedroom, where Isabel had already collapsed into the bed. “I can’t believe you haven’t even bought new sheets since my last life,” she teased, smirking at his offended expression. “I know, I know. You’re a sentimental being and can’t seem to get rid of anything that reminds you of me.”

“Guilty,” he replied and dropped onto the bed next to her. “Are you ready for a long day? Walking up and down those stairs is going to be pretty exhausting, even for me.”

“You’re the one who refused to hire movers with the truck and insisted we would load it ourselves,” Isabel complained. Which was 100% true; Sebastian was insistent that nobody except the two of them could touch the paintings. Even though the people who packed, unpacked, and displayed the ones at the Louvre had no issues…

The plan was to get every single painting upstairs today, so tomorrow morning they could load everything into a large moving truck and begin the drive to Venice. Yes, they hadjustgotten back to Vernazza, but Sebastian insisted there was no time to lose.

Isabel sighed and sat up. “We might as well get going. Why don’t I start at the far end of the dungeon and bring paintings to the stairs, and you can start carrying them up? Then, when all the rooms are cleared out, I can start carrying them up with you. That should help my wimpy human body be helpful longer.”

“That does make sense,mio amore.Just don’t get so distracted by moving paintings that you forget to eat and pass out on me.”