by Marian Tee
Soleil’s teary laugh cut her off.
“You think I haven’t forgiven him? You think that is what this is all about?” She swallowed. “How can I not forgive him when he’s saved my life more than once? I haven’t even been able to stop loving him, and I doubt I ever will until…” She bit her lip. “The reason I can’t make myself face him is because I am too ashamed. He saw me dying, and he so he was forced to lie about loving me and taking me as his heartkeeper. He didn’t know then that it would be for forever. My curse ensures that whoever terminates the union will die, and he didn’t know that when he saved me.” Tears ran down her face. “He saved me, and in return I have forever closed the door on any chance of him taking the other woman as his heartkeeper---”
Zari protested, “But she already belongs to the demon duke---”
“If Alexandru belongs to someone else, will it stop you from loving him?”
Zari paled.
“Exactly.” Soleil smiled sadly. “And we may say that his grace and his heartkeeper are in love now, but how do we know it won’t change? How do we know that maybe in the future she will not find herself loving Ilie---” She took a deep breath. “The marquis will not even entertain such an idea, of course, not only because of his honor and his friendship with the duke, but because he thinks it will hurt me.” Soleil’s fists clenched. “That’s why I’ve decided to request for the spell that would permanently erase my memories of him.”
Her heart ached at the words.
She thought about the marquis’ wolfish smile and the wicked gleam in his silver eyes---
She thought about the way they danced in the ball.
She thought about the way he sounded when he asked her to be his heartkeeper.
Be my heartkeeper, ma lisse.
Take my heart.
Share your soul.
Spend eternity with me.
She remembered the way he rocked her in his arms, and how he began to bleed tears of blood, which had fallen on her cheeks.
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
Soleil squeezed her eyes shut.
Liar.
Liar.
Liar.
But she couldn’t blame him for not saying the truth, could she?
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
She was almost tempted to cover her ears so she wouldn’t hear his words, playing over and over in her mind. Desperately, she tried to mentally hum the lilting notes of La Vie En Rose, but it didn’t work.
None of it worked.
The world was too, too silent if he was not with her.
I love you, Soleil.
Be my heartkeeper.
She whispered, “If I d-don’t remember him, I will not be hurt---”
Someone knocked urgently on Zari’s door, cutting her off, and when Zari opened the door, it was to find one of the school guards trying to catch his breath. “Lady Zari. Lady Soleil. Someone’s trying to break into ANEX.”
Soleil was the first one to recover from her shock, and she demanded, “What? Who?” But she had already started running as she spoke, and the guard did his best to catch up with her.
As they ran down the stairs, the guard huffed out, “It’s Lord Ilie, milady.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A crowd of students had gathered in front of the gates, preventing Soleil from seeing right away what was happening. Most of the boys were either yelling or booing while the female students appeared distressed and almost embarrassed.
Forcing her way through the crowd, Soleil finally emerged in front and she gasped when she saw ANEX’s highest-ranking security officers jeering at the marquis as they used the shields of the school to repeatedly push Ilie back.
She wanted to shout at them to stop, but she knew they were within their rights at what they were doing. Since her ordeal, access to ANEX had been indefinitely withdrawn for the marquis. Any attempt of the marquis to enter would be automatically considered an attack against the school.
Surely he knew that, too?
She moved forward, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see past the school’s shield of invisibility, but the moment she did, the marquis stiffened, his head jerking up.
“Soleil?”
Oh. How it hurt, oh dear Lord, how it hurt to hear her name on his lips.
Her scent reached out to him, and even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she was there. “Soleil, answer me.”
She asked brokenly, “What do you think you’re doing, milord?”
He shook his head as he slowly forced himself to get up. It was clear that his body was still struggling to accept her soul, and that his power wasn’t at full force. “Should I not be the one to ask you that?” He stared at her as he spoke, and it did feel like he could see her even though common sense told her all he would be able to see was rows upon rows of weeds.
“Should I not be the one asking about your sanity?” Ilie’s voice was hoarse with pain. “Should I not be the one asking about what you plan to do?”
Soleil froze, realizing that somehow he knew about her plan to have her memories erased. The only way he could have known was---
Curse you, Fleur.
Forcing herself to speak between bloodless lips, she said, “You should go. You are breaking the rules, drawing attention to the school---”
“Do you think I fucking care? Do you think there’s anything I care about except you?” The marquis lifted his head. “You hear that, you fucking demon-hating school---”
The guards blasted him away, causing Ilie to fly back---
The Demon Duke of Brimstone caught his friend in time, his enormous black wings creating strong gusts of wind with every movement. Behind him, an impressive-looking winged horse landed, and astride him was the stoic-looking Marquis of Sangre. On the other side of the duke, the Marquis of Aquarius stepped down of a platform made entirely of water.
The students behind Soleil fell silent in a mixture of fear and awe. At that moment, faculty members had also started to come out, but they, too, were unable to speak when they realized that it was Brimstone’s lord and his Galere that were causing the uproar.
“Enough of this,” Silviu murmured grimly as he helped his friend straighten.
But Ilie only shrugged him off. “I must make her hear me out.” He didn’t care if he was disobeying the man he had sworn to protect and follow throughout eternity. Silviu had his loyalty but it did not make him more important than his woman.
Looking back at where he knew his heartkeeper was, he called out roughly, “Come out, Soleil---”
Soleil shook her head, crying.
He whitened. “I can smell your tears, ma lisse.”
She cried harder.
“I am sorry I lied,” he said hoarsely. “I am sorry beyond words and if I knew how much it would cause you pain, I would not have lied.” He swallowed. “And yes, I did care for her still even though I had already known you by then but I think it was more because I was used to the feelings and I did not think it possible it could fade so quickly---” His voice broke. “But when I saw you dying, I knew then, ma lisse. I knew that I loved---”
“I don’t believe you.” Soleil bit her lip hard, using the pain to give her strength, to remind herself that she could survive even when she was hurting.
“Then tell me---”
Ilie charged towards the shield, and the guards repelled him off. He fell to his back, but he forced himself to get up again.
“Tell me, ma lisse. Tell me,” he begged rawly, “what I should do to make you believe me---”
Another attack against the shield, another blast, and he fell to his knees.
She covered her mouth to keep herself from crying out.
He stared at her with eyes that could and couldn’t see. “Tell me, Soleil.”
She pressed her hands harder against her trembling lips.
“Do you want me to leave the Galere so you can be sure I won’t see her again? Do you?”<
br />
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Will you really do that for me?”
“No.”
“Then why did you even ask?” Soleil gasped, laughed, and cried. Oh, Ilie. And she cried harder when she saw his lips curve in a weary smile. Oh, Ilie---
“Because if you were selfish enough to ask me that, then you would have given me a reason to stop loving you.” His eyes seemed to capture hers past the shields. “But you won’t ask me that, will you?”
No.
She was unaware that she had connected with him in her mind until she heard him answer gently, Then I have no reason to stop loving you.
Her heart lurched.
She watched him stand up.
Stop this madness, milord. Please.
Mihail clasped Ilie’s shoulder. “No more, Marcovici. You know we can only let you get away with so much.”
Ilie stared at the vampire. “Try stopping me.”
Behind him, the demon duke sighed. “There is no reasoning with him.”
“I say we let him do his worst,” Adrijan murmured under his breath. “It is not every day we see the wolf lord going bat shit over the woman he loves---” As he spoke, Ilie had once again charged towards the school’s invisible shield, and this time, one of the more obnoxious school guards decided to show off. Another spell was added, and it struck a blow against Ilie, enough to make him bleed.
In the distance, wolves began to howl, the sound ominously aggressive.
The duke and his Galere all lost their smiles when they saw the blood trickling at the side of Ilie’s temple.
Soleil dug her fingers into her palms. Ilie. You’re bleeding.
Come out and heal me.
Please stop this.
Then come back to me.
It can’t be that easy.
It is. So come out. You are the heartkeeper I need. The one I will always love, and even if you die, I won’t go back to loving her. As far as I’m fucking concerned, she looks like a boy to me now---
Do not make me sound gay, milord, the duke interrupted gently.
Then stop eavesdropping.
Or you could use a more private thread of communi---
Soleil cut both friends off, saying, I’ll come out if you manage to break it. She closed her eyes. There, she had said something selfish. She had given him a reason to stop loving her.
Ilie pushed himself up. Alright.
Her eyes flew open. What? I’m being selfish! Didn’t you just say---
Ma lisse. The smile in his voice sliced into her heart. Do you believe you can fool me just like that? You are a romantic, and what you are truly asking for is proof – a grand gesture so that you may let go of all your fears.
He stared at her, using his scent to guide his gaze straight to his heartkeeper’s. I’ll break this shield for you then. He shook his head. If I had only known this was the type of courtship you wanted---
And then suddenly he was ramming the defenses in his wolf form---
Ilie!
I would have ceased sending you flowers and just fucking got rid of the town hall for you.
His claws tore a breach through the defenses, but warding spells struck him at the same time, and his wound started to bleed anew.
Serves me right, loving one of the Trois Belle Lames---
Another attack against the shield---
More breaches.
More blood.
Soleil couldn’t bear it anymore.
She started to run.
The barrier dropped the moment she crossed past it---
Ilie crashed in the ground when he suddenly found nothing to break past.
He opened his eyes tiredly just as Soleil dropped to her knees in front of him.
She started to cry. It took all of her strength to drag Ilie’s wolf form to her lap, but she managed to do so.
In her mind, he told her hoarsely, If we fight again, Chalys will be trembling in terror because what would you ask of me then?
She choked back a laugh. Oh, Ilie.
Using what little power he had left, Ilie switched back to his human form and reached up to touch his heartkeeper’s face. “Would you have me take down Brimstone’s own castle, perhaps?”
She sobbed and laughed, and when she still could not speak, she simply pressed his knuckles to her lips.
The kiss made the marquis close of his eyes. Her love, her forgiveness, her pain – all of it was in her kiss, and underlying it was her answer.
She had come back to him.
“I love you, my heartkeeper. Believe me. Please.”
A smile wobbled over her lips. “I do, milord.” Her voice caught. “I do.” And I love you, my demon. My wolf. My marquis.
EPILOGUE
One week later
“Lord Ilie Marcovici,” the butler announced. “Le Marquis di Lunare.”
Soleil rolled her eyes as all heads turned towards her husband. Admittedly, he deserved all the fawning and fussing, the way he cut quite the dashing figure in his burgundy coat and tight-fitting breeches.
Even so---
When the marquis reached her, she told him dryly, “Grand entrance, fashionably late…how terribly vain of you.”
Shaking his head, he said with mock hurt, “You always accuse me of things I am innocent of.” He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “You look utterly ravishing, ma lisse.” His gaze dropped to her cleavage.
She blushed. “Ilie!”
He laughed. “May I have this dance, milady?”
She rolled her eyes, saying, “Like I could give it to anyone else, since you made sure everyone hear you threaten to slash the throat of any gentleman who would dare ask me to a dance---”
As he spun her into the dance floor, she let out a little sigh. “Oh, what shall I do now? My reputation as an Incomparable is no more?”
He drew her close, murmuring, “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.” His eyes gleamed wickedly.
Oh no, she knew that look---
And then he was dipping her low—
Ilie, she said warningly.
He placed a kiss just right above her neckline.
Her entire body turned red.
Curse you, Ilie!
She could feel everyone staring at them as he pulled her up.
“What did I do?”
But before she could answer, the marquis was already swiftly leading her to the powder room.
Seriously, Ilie---
I only want to please you. He pushed her inside the powder room, locked the door, and then he turned to his wife.
Lift your skirts up, he ordered her.
Curse you. But she was already lifting her skirts up, and already she could feel herself getting wetter as she heard him unzip his breeches. He turned her around, pushing her towards the wall. Her breasts flattened against the cold surface.
I love you, ma lisse. And then he plunged his throbbing cock into her pussy.
She swallowed back a scream.
The marquis thrust in and out of her, every stroke deep and hard---
Someone knocked on the door. “Excuse me? Is anyone inside?”
Her eyes widened. Ilie!
The marquis chuckled in her ear. Answer her, tell her you will open the door in a minute.
“I am sorry, milady, I will be able to open---”
Her husband reached around her body for her clit.
She choked.
“Is that you, Lady Soleil? Are you alright?”
The marquis began strumming her clit like it was an instrument to play.
She closed her eyes. Curse you, Ilie. Out loud, she croaked out, “Yes. I have just the most p-pressing headache---”
Oh God, Ilie was moving so much faster now, and what he was doing with her clit---
“Just give me a moment,” she panted. “P-please?”
“Of course, milady.”
The marquis cupped her chin to turn her head around so he could capture her mouth with a kiss. I love you.
I love you but I also hate you---aaaah!
The marquis had pinched her clit, and before she knew it she was already coming---
Ilieeeeeeeeeeeeeee----
She cried out into his kiss as her body shuddered against his. A moment later, she felt the marquis give the same telltale shudder, and then his powerful hips were pumping even more furiously against her, his cock shooting out load after load of his cum.
Exactly one minute later, and Soleil stepped out of the powder room, her hair undone, and her gown more than a bit rumpled. Behind her, wind whipped inside of the room from a half-open window.
Lady Mitchell stared at her in dismay. “Oh, my dear marchioness. Was it that bad?”
Inside her mind, her husband said with a smirk, Very, very bad, do you not think?
Shut up. She summoned a smile. “It was, but I am feeling much better now, milady. Thank you for the concern.”
Ilie and his marchioness met halfway in the ballroom. “Another dance?” But he was already spinning her into the dance floor.
She smiled up at him. “Sometimes, you are so very---” Before she could finish, she felt her phone vibrate against her thigh.
At the same time, the permanent wound over his heart blazed into life, the demon duke calling out to his Galere.
You must come at once, Silviu commanded without preamble. A situation has arisen.
How bad is it? Curving an arm around Soleil’s waist, he walked her to the balcony so she could read her message without being seen.
It turns out that you’re not the only one with two heartkeepers.
The connection closed.
When he looked at his wife, he saw that she had already heard of the same issue.
“It seems some humans are involved, and that’s why they have a need of us,” she told him worriedly.
He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “Promise to take care of yourself for me?”
“If you promise me the same thing.”
“You have my word.”
They returned to the ball, and the two other Orpheline sisters joined them.
“Do not risk your necks needlessly,” he warned them.
Fleur rolled her eyes. “Why did I even think that you would be a cool, easygoing older brother?”
“I told you he wouldn’t be,” Aurora reminded her baby sister. “However, he does offer the nicest bribes.”