“And how do you intend to do that?” asked Aurora.
Tammi cocked her head. “I’m going to start with seducing the fae chef who made those hush puppies I ate this morning.”
Aurora unscrewed the top of her flask, before sighing and closing it again. “I don’t think I can keep drinking whiskey all day. It doesn’t feel quite right in the sunlight, especially with the kid here. And I don’t think my valkyrie body fancies it as much.”
“So what will you do with the daylight hours?” asked Rosalind.
“I was thinking of forming a goth band, with black and white clown makeup.” Aurora scratched her cheek, mulling it over. “Do you think a valkyrie can be a goth?”
“Anyone can be a goth,” said Rosalind, her voice deadly serious. “You just need lots of fishnets, I think.”
Aurora nodded, frowning. “I’m learning to play synth.”
Tammi sighed. “I can’t plan beyond the fae chef, to be honest. Since this all began in May, everything seemed to happen so fast. I feel like, one minute we were at Thorndike’s campus, getting ready for a party. The next thing I know, we’re living in a vampire city with a demon army. And I kind of like it.” Tammi pointed at Rosalind. “Plus, you’re apparently a goddess, with a lover who happens to be the hottest man who has ever walked the earth.”
Rosalind shook her head. “Don’t call me a goddess. I’m going to get a big head.”
“Well then you’d be a perfect match for Caine. Speaking of which, I think he was looking for you.”
Rosalind rose, brushing the dust off her black pants. As she walked through the grass, some of Caine’s memories flitted through her mind—Stolas in his arms, Malphas pleading with him for help. The starlight gleaming through the cherry trees.
She swallowed hard, thinking of the day when her parents had died. The place where Tammi began the story at Thorndike wasn’t the real start. It had begun in Maremount, that terrifying and beautiful place where she’d started her life. It had begun in blood and madness, in the darkness and the rain when Caine had killed her parents, and it ended here in the quiet light of day. Across the Gelal Fields, demons milled around in vibrant colors, gilded in the sunlight. They were feasting on an array of foods: barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, chocolate cakes. No wonder they hadn’t wanted to become vamps again.
As Rosalind walked deeper into the Gelal Fields, she caught a glimpse of Erish and Ambrose, striding side by side by the blackthorn grove. Erish looked at her husband with an expression of absolute worship, touching his cheek. Looks like they’re no longer trying to kill each other.
She found Caine standing by Malphas, by the lone sycamore tree where they’d once stood, summoning their shadow magic to build the shield together, where their memories had seeped into her mind.
As she moved closer, she studied the two brothers—the dark and the light. Malphas had once said of Rosalind and Miranda that he’d loved them both, and that’s how she felt about these two brothers. She loved them and needed them both, in different ways, but Caine truly had her heart.
Malphas turned as he saw her approaching, and his silver eyes met hers for a moment. He bowed to her, then walked away, taking her approach as his cue to leave.
Caine watched Rosalind walk over to him, his eyes lingering over her body, the way they always did.
She smiled. “I heard you were looking for me?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, sunlight bathing his skin in amber. “It’s nothing urgent. It’s just that I believe we agreed to a plan, whereby if we survived the battle, we would spend the rest of our days naked in my room.”
Rosalind nodded. “I don’t remember that plan.”
“I’m sure we made it.” His face grew serious. “I told you, I want to make a home with you.”
“Cherry trees in the stars.”
He nodded. “Will you miss being human?”
She shook her head. “I feel human when I’m with you.”
“Funny that. I thought the same thing about you.”
Rosalind stared into his eyes—the irises pale silver, rimmed by a deep pewter, the black lashes framing it all, and in them, she could see his darkest memories still flickered there, still haunted him. She cupped his face, breathing in his delicious scent of peat and lightning storms.
His breath warmed the shell of her ear. “So what’s next for us?”
“Maybe we need to free ourselves from our old memories, and make new ones. We need to make our own world.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, moving in close enough to feel his heart beating against her chest.
“Yes,” he whispered. “We make our own world. We write our own stories.”
Rosalind stood on her tiptoes, letting her body brush against his. Whatever happened to them next, she would follow him to the ends of the earth, and into the seven hells. And she knew he would do the same for her—the two orphaned monsters whose bodies glowed like starlight when they embraced.
Thank you so much for reading the Vampire’s Mage series.
For more of the dark, seductive world of C.N. Crawford, please check out the best-selling Dark Fae FBI series.
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Acknowledgments
We’d like to thank our wonderful editors Tammi Labreque and Robin Marcus, and our cover designer Mirella Santana. We also thank our ARC team, Crawford’s Coven, and Author’s Corner for their inspiration and moral support. As always, I’d like to thank Mike Omer/Alex Rivers for his feedback and moral support.
About the Author
C. N. Crawford is not one person but two. We write our novels collaboratively, passing our laptops back and forth to edit each other's words.
Christine (C) grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and has a lifelong interest in local folklore - with a particular fondness for creepy old cemeteries. Nick (N) spent his childhood reading fantasy and science fiction during Vermont's long winters.
In addition to writing fiction, we love to hear from our readers. Come join us in C.N. Crawford’s Coven if you want to hang out with other urban fantasy readers! https://www.facebook.com/groups/cncrawford/
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Divine Hunter (The Vampire's Mage Series Book 4) Page 24