Vampire in Atlantis

his mouth for shouting at her.
    “Don’t cry for me, Princess. Don’t ever waste your tears on me.”
    “But it’s all my fault,” she whispered. “I chose this life for you. I caused you to be a nightwalker, to suffer the bloodlust and the years and years of torment. All my fault. How you must hate me.”
    She fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands, but he could still hear her sobs, and the hard, blackened shell covering his heart cracked a little bit more.
    “No,” he said, lifting her into his arms. “Never, ever think that. You gave me the chance to live. To do something worthwhile with my life. It is not your fault that I failed so spectacularly.”
    She lifted her tearstained face to him. “But you’re not failing anymore. You aren’t. You’re making the world a better place now. You keep saying you’re a monster. Even a monster can be redeemed, Daniel. The gods themselves teach us that. Are you so arrogant that the precepts of the gods and their teachings about forgiveness do not apply to you?”
    He kissed the tears from her cheeks, one by one. “Forgiveness is a pretty concept, mi amara . But some things are too horrible to be forgiven. I have helped to take down some of the worst monsters in history, and still the scales are not balanced. When will I ever be able to do enough? When will I ever be able to live at peace with my past? Never. Only death will give me peace.”
    “Then you condemn me to live another life without you?” She put her arms around his neck and stared fiercely into his eyes. “Do you think I will allow that? Think again, blacksmith, before you try to defy a princess of Atlantis.”
    Her soft sniffle diminished the effect of her proud words, but he knew what she was trying to do for him, and his soul warmed with gratitude that she would even make the effort.
    “I can never deserve you,” he said solemnly.
    She flashed a beautiful smile, the tears still glittering on her lashes like miniature stars in the moonlight. “No? Well, you have the next thousand years or so to try, but not a day longer.”
    “There’s more,” he warned her, trying to make her understand before he began to believe her foolishness. Before he began to hope. “I am blood-bonded with Quinn. Ven’s wife’s sister Deirdre died because of me. Everyone I care about dies. You would do well to stay far away from me.”
    “This blood bond, was it to save Quinn’s life, as you did with me?”
    “Well, yes, but—”
    “And the other. Deirdre,” she said, persisting even though he could see the pain in her eyes and hear it in her voice. “Did you love her? How did she die?”
    “No. No, I didn’t love her. I tried to save her, but she’d lost so many years to torture and despair. She threw herself in front of a death meant for me in order to escape her pain,” he admitted.
    “I know that other women have been part of your life, but I don’t care. I can’t be jealous of them or angry with you for any friendship or solace you found when you believed me to be dead. I already lost you once,” she whispered. “I will not lose you again. Stop trying to make me leave you.”
    He cast around in his mind for something—anything—that he could say to convince her, but she wasn’t giving him time to think. She was so warm and soft in his arms, and her body against his made him want to take her, over and over again.
    She kissed him, and he forgot trying to be rational and stern and noble. Instead, he kissed her back, with everything his soul felt but his mind wouldn’t allow him to say.
    “Daniel,” she whispered, a long time later. “I’m feeling dizzy again.”
    He grinned. “I have that effect on you.”
    Her answering smile was faint. “Yes. No. I think—”
    Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slumped against him. He caught her and gently placed her on the grass, hurriedly stuffing the backpack under her head. The damnable Emperor was taking its toll on her, and they were running out of time. She was growing weaker and weaker, and he was helpless to do anything to prevent it.
    He leaned over her to reach into the backpack for another bottle of water, and was relieved to discover that her pulse and breathing were both strong. It was temporary, then. A little rest would surely make her better.
    He felt the shift in air pressure even before he heard the shout. Somebody was coming in, and coming in fast. He rolled to the side and shot up, daggers in hands, to