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“Tomorrow?” I breathe, both thrilled and terrified at how quickly everything is happening.

“Tomorrow,” he confirms. “But first, we must prepare.” His expression shifts, becoming sharp and calculating—the same expression he wore while plotting how to cover up Henry’s murder. “We’ll go to the barns when we wake.”

I blink, pulling back. “The barns? Why?”

“To choose your pet, of course. You’ll need to select someone who pleases you. And you’ll need to do it before you’re turned.”

Pet.

Like me. Like Sophia, Matt, Jake, Victoria, Aurora, and all the others who were everything from friends to enemies in the past few weeks.

“I assumed I’d feed from the fountains,” I say slowly, grappling with it as I speak. “Or animal blood. Or from glasses, like at the celebration tonight.”

Aerix’s wings pull tight against his back—a warning sign I’ve learned to recognize.

“You are my consort,” he says, his fingers tightening at my waist. “Therefore, you will have only the best. And the best is feeding from the source—warm, fresh, and willing.”

He studies my neck, his pupils dilating, as if assessing exactly how willing I am right now.

“I’ve never... I don’t know how to...” I hesitate, trying to find the right words. But it’s impossible to have the right words when I’m not even sure about my own thoughts.

“I’ll teach you everything,” Aerix promises, his thumb tracing my lower lip. “You had your first taste of power tonight. Imagine how it will feel when you’re the one doing the taking. Imagine how strong you’ll feel. How powerful.”

I think of the times Aerix has fed from me—the initial sting that melts into a heady, overwhelming pleasure.

The way my body responds to his bite, craving it, needing it.

But for some reason, I’ve never imagined myself with the fangs, piercing someone else’s warm skin, their blood flowing down my throat. ..

“Does the thought of drinking from humans disgust you?” Aerix asks, yanking me out of my thoughts. “Do I disgust you?”

“No.” My eyes widen, and I place a hand on his chest, unsure how he could ever think that.

“Nothing about you could ever disgust me, Aerix. I love you. I trust you.” I hold his gaze, letting him see the truth in my eyes.

“And if feeding straight from humans is what you want me to do, then I want to learn it. I want to do it right. For you. Always for you.”

The air stills around us, and I can barely breathe as I wait for his reaction.

“You mean that?” he finally asks, his eyes searching mine.

“Yes,” I say, not having to think twice. “Show me how. Teach me everything. I want to learn it all—from you. Only from you.”

The tension drains from his wings, his arms coming around me.

“You’re so brave. So perfect,” he murmurs in my ear, although he pulls back instead of kissing me again.

“Tomorrow, you’ll die with my venom in your veins.

And then, you’ll rise as mine. You’ll be my mate, forever.

My family by blood that I’ve always wanted but have never had the luxury of truly having.

Not really. Not since I left the Winter Court. ”

I study him carefully, watching him, his eyes shining with a vulnerability that makes me wonder if he’s holding something back. There was something in the way he said family... like it hurts him to want it. Like it’s something that was dangled in front of him, but never actually in reach.

“You’ll be what I never had,” he continues, his voice rough with emotion. “You’ll be my everything.”

“I already am your everything,” I whisper, as if I speak too loudly, he might not believe me.

“Promise me you’ll never question our love,” he says suddenly, his hand coming up to cup my face, his eyes so intense it’s like they’re burning into my soul. “And you’ll never fight what you’re becoming.”

“I promise,” I reply without hesitation. “You’re my world now, Aerix. I won’t fight it. I won’t question it. Because I’m yours —always. Forever.”

Satisfaction spreads across his features, his wings rustling with pleasure. “Good,” he says simply, and then his lips are on mine again, more insistent this time, almost desperate.

What would Sapphire think if she could see me now? Would she recognize the girl she grew up with? Or would I be a stranger to her—just like how the version of me from Presque Isle has become to myself?

The thought of Sapphire fades away as Aerix’s kisses deepen, his touch growing more deliberate. There’s something different in the way his hands move over me tonight—not with his usual hungry possession, but with a careful reverence that makes my breath catch.

“What is it?” I whisper against his lips.

His eyes meet mine, something ancient and knowing in their depths.

“I’m memorizing you,” he says softly. “This version of you. The warmth of your skin. The sound of your heartbeat.” His fingers trace down my throat and across my collarbone, his touch cool and gentle. “Because tomorrow, everything changes.”

“Does that bother you?” I ask. “That I’ll be different?”

“Different, yes,” he murmurs. “But still mine. Always mine.”

He undresses me with deliberate care, each movement unhurried, as if we have all the time in the world. And when I stand before him, the dawn light filtering through the window, his eyes darken with appreciation.

“Lie down,” he says, gentle, but still commanding.

I do as he asks, watching as he removes his own clothing, his wings folding and unfurling with fluid grace. The sight of him still takes my breath away—all lean muscle and deadly elegance. It always will.

And now, always has a new meaning.

Because it’s forever. Until the end of time.

I can barely wrap my mind around the concept of immortality, but right now, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is Aerix. Him and me together, right here, right now .

He joins me on the bed, his body hovering over mine without touching, his wings creating a canopy of shadow above us. Then, slowly, he lowers himself, skin against skin, the coolness of him making me gasp.

“Your heart,” he says, pressing his palm against my chest. “It’s racing.”

I reach up to touch his face, trailing my fingers along the sharp angle of his jaw. “Only for you.”

His smile is tinged with something that might be sadness.

“This is the last time I’ll ever feel your heartbeat like this,” he says, and then he’s making his way down my body, kissing every inch of me, as if committing it to memory.

When he reaches my hip—the place where he carved his name into my skin—he lingers, tracing the raised scar with his tongue, as if memorizing the grooves of it.

“This will remain,” he says, looking up at me with possessive satisfaction.

“Any scars from when you were human will stay with you through the transformation. It’s why I marked you when I did. ”

The realization hits me with sudden clarity. “You always planned to turn me.”

“From the moment I saw you, I knew you were meant for me.” His fingers tighten on my thighs, his eyes pleading, as if he needs me to understand. “The gods designed you for me, Zoey. And tomorrow, I’ll give you the finishing touches, binding us in the most intimate way possible. ”

His eyes burn into me now, desire swirling in their inky depths.

“But if you knew,” I say, breathless, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would you have been ready to hear it?” He crawls back up my body, his face hovering just above mine. “Would you have believed that you were meant for this darkness? Meant for me?”

I think back to that terrified girl in the bunker, pleading for her life. The girl who fought against Aerix’s control at every turn, who clung desperately to her humanity. Who tried to stab him in a hopeless attempt to escape.

I’m so, so glad I didn’t escape—that he never wants to let me go. That he’ll keep me with him, safe from all the monsters in this realm who have been trying to kill me since I followed Sapphire into that stream and my life changed forever.

“I don’t know what I would have believed,” I say honestly. “But I’m ready now.”

“And what made you realize you’re ready?” His voice drops lower, his magic swirling around us in cool currents.

He’s watching me with that familiar look—the look of a man who wants nothing more than to be loved.

“It was when I realized I love you,” I tell him, and his wings shudder, and then they’re folding closer around us and his mouth is on mine again, the kiss deeper, more urgent. Like he’s afraid this will be the last time I’ll be soft beneath him. And I kiss him back like I’m not afraid at all.

My dark, deadly prince—the one who kills in a flash if anyone ever crosses me—is mine. Forever.

This has always been my destiny. He has always been my destiny. He might have known it first, but now I know it with absolute certainty, too.

As we lose ourselves in each other, his hand slides between us, finding the places that make me gasp and arch against him. His fingers move with worshipful precision—mapping me, claiming me.

“I want to remember you like this,” he whispers against my throat. “Warm. Alive. Breakable. Mine.”

When he finally moves over me, his hips settling between mine with agonizing slowness, I feel the full weight of what I’m giving up—and what I’m gaining.

My humanity for eternity. My mortality for power. My old life for one with the man I love.

The stretch of him inside me pulls a gasp from my lips, and he stills for a beat, like he wants to memorize the sound. Then he moves—slow and devastating, deep and controlled—as if he’s carving the shape of forever into my body. Like this is a ritual, and I’m the altar.

And as we lose each other in the shadowy cocoon of his wings, I realize this isn’t just goodbye to my humanity.

It’s hello to my forever.