Page 139 of Eternal Devotion

Mordecai

Daylight hours had come and gone. I hadn’t left his side. Couldn’t. Not after what I’d done. After what I’d let happen. Regret, guilt, and sorrow ate me alive. My dead heart ached for a life taken too soon.

I thought of his mother and the new man in her life who made Ensley squirm with jealousy. I thought of the father he’d said goodbye to many years ago, whose death he felt responsible for. I thought of his friends, Ziggy, Mars, and Poet, and their enthusiasm for role-playing games. I thought of the job he barely liked, and the boss who treated him poorly.

“I’m so sorry.” If I could have cried, I would have.

“What choice did we have?” Cristofer stood in the doorway, hovering, knowing I was upset. “He knew what he was getting into. It was a risk.”

“He didn’t know.”

“You act like it was you who killed him.”

“Go away, Cristofer. Leave me with my grief.”

I heard his sigh and sensed his reluctance to leave, but the door snicked closed, and I was on my own.

With my uncle’s sanity restored, the three of us had managed to break the steel bar keeping the trapdoor closed. It was a feat, but we tore the concrete plates holding the hooks right out of the ground. Lou’s fancy sealing agent didn’t matter when the whole framework peeled away.

By then, the hunters were gone. Fearing they might return with an army, we left quickly. When Valerius heard the news, he would warn them off. We had the elder, and Valerius’s reign had come to an end.

If he was smart, he would go into hiding and pray we never found him.

I’d transferred Ensley’s inert body to the mansion. I laid him on the bed we’d shared a few times before he learned about my tainted existence as a heartless vampire. A demon. A cursed one. Before I’d fallen in love and questioned everything I stood for.

Ensley had never flinched at hearing the truth. He’d embraced our differences and loved me back. If only I’d not been so stubborn. If only I’d allowed a conversation.

It was too late for that.

I rested my hand over Ensley’s unbeating heart, his skin cold and colorless. Earlier, I’d stripped him of his bloody clothes and washed his lifeless body, so he was clean.

An icy breeze blew through the open window, billowing the curtains I’d drawn aside when the sun went down. The smell of a winter storm tickled my nose. The brisk November air would no longer bother him. Those days were gone.

I paced the room for a time to distract myself but eventually returned to the chair I’d drawn beside the bed. I sat and took in every aspect of his beautiful face, admiring the way his hair fanned the pillow.

The door creaked as someone opened it. I figured Cristofer had returned. The man was irritatingly concerned over my wellbeing. Glancing over my shoulder, ready to tell him to bugger off, I discovered my uncle. Tall and robust, sharply dressed and with a presence that commanded authority.

A wave of anger roiled in the pit of my stomach.

Since waking him, we’d barely spoken ten words to each other. He’d since fed properly and had regained his formidable good looks. In a few days, he would return to Romania and dispose of the usurper, if he still dared walk the halls of the ancient castle.

I didn’t know what would happen to Valerius, but I didn’t care. Iulian would reclaim the throne. Power would be restored. The human hunters would retreat in droves with their newfound knowledge, only to wreak havoc on our kind another day. The war would never end. I didn’t know what that meant for our future. Time would tell.

The only thing I cared about was Ensley and the life he never got to live thanks to me.

“Stop sulking, child.” The snap in Iulian’s tone was familiar. “You act as though humanity is worth cherishing. It’s a pitiful existence, and you know it. He’s better off.”

We’d never agreed on that point, but I remained silent. Everything I stood for had crumbled to dust. Iulian and I had been fighting semantics for four centuries. I’d never forgiven him for changing me, but now…

“I should be damned to hell if such a place exists.”

“You can no longer accuse me of doing wrong, Mordecai. From this day forth, your sins are as great as mine. Remember that.”

His words stung.

The door clicked, and I was alone again, despair and remorse my constant companions.

Based on the pull of the moon, I figured it was shortly past eleven, roughly twenty-four hours since Ensley had fallen.