Until the Sun Falls from the Sky (The Three #1)(125)
Author: Kristen Ashley

What was he talking about?

And more importantly, why was I alive and being held snug and tight to Lucien?

My eyes opened then I blinked.

Lucien’s arm around my back shifted, his hand drifting up my spine, his fingers tangling in my hair.

“She’s awake, Teffie. I’ll phone you later when I know more.”

His fingers moved, twisting a lock and my heart skipped a beat.

“Right. We’ll speak soon.”

Then I heard a beep and I knew he was done.

I had a second to process this before Lucien shifted. He ended settled on his side, his other arm going around me, pulling me up so my head was not on his chest but on the pillow and I was eye-to-eye with him.

God, his eyes were beautiful. Nine days and I thought I remembered everything but I forgot just how beautiful his eyes were.

“You slept deep, sweetling. How do you feel?” he asked gently, his fingers still playing in my hair, his other arm holding me close to his heat.

“Uh… what’s going on?” I whispered cautiously.

“You’re about to tell me how you feel,” he replied.

“Well… uh…” I trailed off.

He hadn’t killed me. In fact, looking at him, he didn’t look angry at all. He looked like Lucien except better. Way better. His eyes filled with concern and a warmth so deep I’d never seen anything like it. His face was soft. His voice was gentle and quiet.

Was this part of the taming? Your prey figured it out, took off and you got to go after her and do it all over again?

Oh God, I hoped that wasn’t it. Like, I really, really hoped that wasn’t it. Seriously, I preferred it if he’d kill me.

“When’s the last time you ate?” Lucien asked when I trailed off and didn’t start again.

“You mean, ate and kept something down?” I asked back and watched his eyes flash and his mouth go hard.

Oh boy.

“Yes, the last time you ate and kept it down,” he replied, his voice now tight but somehow not menacing.

“Well, the night before…” Oh shit. I didn’t want to go where I had to go. Well, I had to say it because I knew he wouldn’t let it go. “The night before I took off.”

“Ten days,” he murmured, surprising me when he looked thoughtful, not angry at my mention of my escape, his arms going tight, his eyes moving over my face then they locked on mine. “That was foolish, my pet.”

Okay. Now. Seriously.

What was happening?

“We need to get you food,” he declared. “Do you have the strength to go with me to a restaurant or do you wish for me to go and bring something back? If the latter, tell me what you’d like. And I’ll warn you, you’ve slept twelve straight hours, not counting however long you were asleep before I found you. It’s not morning. It’s one in the afternoon.”

Learning this, I felt my eyes go wide as my lips parted. Then I felt my stomach flutter when he took in this look, his face again went soft and his fingers stopped playing in my hair and fisted gently in it.

Still, he’d just asked me what I wished and inferred he’d go off and do as I asked.

Was this a new tactic?

“Uh…” I mumbled, not alert enough to process this, defend myself, figure out what was happening. Not alert enough for anything.

He rolled me so I was on my back, he was looming over me but his torso was deep in mine and his face was super close.

“Leah, my love, we cannot delay in getting you fed and rested. We need to get back home. There is much we need to discuss but more, there is much that needs to be done. Teffie and Cosmo have captured Katrina and Marcello. The Council has sanctioned their torture and burning and I need to get back and see to that. So now I need to find you food, feed you, get you in a decent bed with sheets that don’t feel like cardboard, you need to rest, we need to talk then we need to go home.”

Okay, there was a lot there.

First, he’d called me his “love”. He’d never done that. Never, ever, ever.

Second, The Council sanctioned torture and burning?

Third, Lucien was going to “see to that”?

“What’s going on?” I repeated.

“Leah –”

“Lucien,” I cut him off. “What is going on?”

“We’ll talk about it later, after you’ve eaten, you have some of your strength back and we’ve moved to a different hotel.”

“We’ll talk about it now.”

“Later, Leah.”

“Now, Lucien!” I snapped, still fatigued, definitely, but not so fatigued I was going to fall for his games. Not again. And he needed to know that. “I want to know what’s going on, now, not later. I don’t want to die ‘at home’ as you put it. I don’t understand why you’re delaying it. I don’t get why you’re still playing me. Just do it. Drain me and get on with your life.”

His brows shot up. “Drain you?”

“Yes,” I hissed. “I knew when I left that you’d hunt me and I knew leaving you gave you the right to feed until I was dead. So what are you waiting for?”

His brows knitted, his eyes narrowed but contradictory to the ominous look stamped on his features, his hand left my hair to frame the side of my face.

And furthering his contradictions, his voice was soft and sweet when he replied, “I’m annoyed with you for making the very unwise decision to attempt to escape me considering the danger you knew was inherent being away from me when you might dream. Not to mention, you and Edwina had been attacked by vampires who stated vile intentions so you also knew the dangers were not singular but many. Nevertheless, it would be reckless of me to punish you for carrying through this rash decision by killing you, my pet, considering that would significantly f**k with my plans for spending eternity with you.”

I stopped breathing.

Yes, stopped breathing.

Entirely.

So it came out in a gust of air when I forced a, “What?”

Lucien smiled and he used his whole face to do it. I’d never seen him smile that openly and the effect was staggering.

Then he dipped his face closer to mine and whispered, “I plan to spend eternity with you.”

I stared.

Then I whispered back, “You do?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“I… I…”

Oh my God!

Was he serious? Or was this another game?

“How? Why? When did you…? But you can’t,” I stammered.