Page 29

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.

She was my 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.”

“I’m ready.” I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep from grinning in amusement. Kerainne was so obsessed with punctuality that she’d never meet up with a person so late that it left no time for the other one to get ready. Unless she was looking for an excuse to call it off.

We stepped through the portal and arrived at the same fountain by Lake Coeur d’Alene. I remembered that twenty-five years ago, the portal had been inside a tunnel under a building. Had the portal been moved? Or was the building gone? I would have to ask Kerainne later.

Unlike yesterday, the area was crowded. Cars clogged the streets and people milled about everywhere. Large vessels that resembled riverboats were on the lake.

“The parade’s on Sherman, so we better head that way,” she said brusquely.

The cold gave her an excuse to keep her gloved hands in her pockets and her hood made it harder for me to see her facial expression. Though I was dying to talk about what happened last night, I held back. The next move would have to be hers. And if she wanted to pretend nothing happened, so be it.

Instead, I pointed at the various decorations outside of the restaurants and storefronts, asking her the meanings of each.

As I’d hoped, this cheered her, and soon I was treated to a never ending stream of cheerful chatter about garlands, wreathes, and some figure called Frosty the Snowman, who she seemed to adore as much as Santa Claus and his reindeer.

When we reached the crowded street, found a vantage point, and the parade began, Kerainne’s giddiness increased.

I hadn’t seen her like this since Nikkita was a child and we took her to fairs and festivals.

Now she was basking in the happiness of all the other children in our vicinity, exchanging smiles with them and clapping as various floats, vehicles, and even people on horseback came through all decorated for Christmas.

Though I didn’t dare remark on it, I found it odd that everyone here was behaving as if it was Christmas now when that was a whole month away.

Even though yesterday was Thanksgiving, I hadn’t seen any harvest or turkey decorations.

After the parade, we followed the crowd to the park to watch the fireworks.

Since Kerainne was so short, she had trouble seeing everything, and it was only amusing to see her turning and weaving to peer around the people in front of her before I felt bad.

With a whispered word, I used a levitation spell so she floated high enough to see.

Fireworks were at least something I knew. Originating in China and perfected even better by the people of Mei Lu in Aisthanesthai, they evoked a primitive delight in almost every bipedal being. It was a pity the technology behind them eventually led to weapons of war.

Watching Kerainne light up at the children’s shrieks of delight brought back question I’d often asked myself over the centuries.

Why hadn’t she and I had a child of our own?

She had to have experienced at least a few Yearnings, but she must have made certain to avoid me when those came.

The few times I’d tentatively began to broach the topic of having a baby, she’d shut me down or change the subject.

I forced the depressing subject from my mind and instead focused on being here with her now, while she was happy. I reveled in that happiness to the point when the Christmas tree and other lights downtown came on, I cheered with Kerainne until my throat was raw.