Guild Hunter 04 - Archangel's Blade

But most of all, you loved us until none of us knew what it was to live without being adored.” Cupping his face again, she touched her forehead to his. “If I got a second chance, don’t you think our babies must have, too?”
    Her whisper didn’t wipe out his grief over their loss, but it touched it with the glow of hope. And having this woman in his arms, that was a gift no one could ever take away. “Ingrede or Honor?” It mattered not to him, the essence of her indelibly inked on his soul.
    “Ingrede lived another life, was another woman.” A kiss on his jaw, followed by a scowl. “I’m Honor, so don’t suddenly start thinking I’m going to put on skirts and be a stay-at-home wife.”
    “You can do whatever you wish to,” he said. “So long as you don’t go far from me.” He wouldn’t allow that, couldn’t stand it. “Almost a thousand years I’ve waited for you. I can’t give you that distance.”
    “Dmitri.” It was a long time later that they spoke again, his need for her a deep well that would never run dry. “I’ve got no desire to put distance between us,” she said, brushing his hair back, caressing his jaw, constant touches of love. “The position at Guild Academy for a teacher of ancient languages is still open. I’m going to go for it.”
    “Good.” Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles. “We’ll marry at daybreak.” His wife would wear his ring, be his in every way.
    “Old-fashioned.” Laughter, familiar and new, wrapping around him, binding him. “I hope you know you’ll be wearing gold, too.”
    “I’ve waited an eternity to wear it again.” Body and soul, she owned him. “I’m yours. Always.”
    Mists in her eyes. “I love you.”
    “Even if I’m no longer as good a man as you once knew?” Never again would be, his soul too battered, too threaded through with violence and darkness.
    “We’re both of us a little beat up—that’s what makes us interesting.”
    He wanted to laugh, but his chest ached. “Do you wish to be Made, Honor?” If she chose the firefly life span of a mortal, this time he would go with her. It was no choice, but a simple truth.
    Honor went motionless. “I can’t be anyone’s slave, Dmitri. Not ever.”
    “That won’t be a problem.” Then, because this was Honor, who knew him as no other did on this earth, he said, “You’ll only ever serve me.”
    “Arrogant man.” Rising to straddle him, she touched her nose to his, rubbed in that familiar way. “At the start, I thought no, I could never be one of the monsters. But we never had a chance, Dmitri. I want that chance. I want a hundred lifetimes with you.”
    He didn’t give her the opportunity to change her mind, greedy for every instant,ery second. “We’ll begin the process after the marriage ceremony.”
    “Do you think the Guild will still accept me?” It was a worried question. “The Academy’s never been prejudiced against vampiric instructors, but . . . my friends.”
    “If they are your friends, they’ll stand with you.”
    Yes. Having faith in the strength of the relationships she’d built, she laid her head against him, this man she’d fought death itself to find. “Tell me what you did, what you saw, after I was gone.”
    A strong hand fisting in her hair, possessive and dark. “I’ve lived many years.”
    “That’s okay,” she said, spreading her fingers over his heart. “We have eternity.”
     
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    Riaz caught a flash of midnight hair and a long-legged stride and called out, “Indigo!” However, he realized his mistake the instant he turned the corner. “Adria.”
    Eyes of deepest blue met his, the frost in them threatening to give him hypothermia. “Indigo’s in her office.” The words were helpful, but the tone might as well have been a serrated blade.
    That did it. “Did I kill your dog?”
    Frown lines marred her smooth forehead. “Excuse me?”
    God, that tone . “It’s the only reason,” he said, holding on to his temper by a very thin thread, “I can think of to explain why you’re so damn pissy with me.” Adria had been pulled into den territory during the hostilities with Councilor Henry Scott and his Pure Psy army a month ago, had remained behind to take up a permanent position as a senior soldier. She had fought