Epilogue
Silas raised his wine cup. "To your marriage," he said, smiling on Tristan and Siobhan. "At last I may wish you happiness." "And long life?" Tristan added, raising an eyebrow.
"And that," the scholar said, laughing.
Siobhan wrapped her arms around her husband"s waist, cleaving to his side. "Very long indeed." She had wept for Sean, and she was still afraid of what would happen when they caught up with her brother again, as she knew they must. But she hadn"t shed a tear for her mortality. Tristan was her heart"s true mate, the only man who could ever have known her for exactly the brigand she was and loved her even so. At the moment of her body"s death, she had looked into his eyes and known he would always be with her, would always protect her. The devil"s knight was hers.
Tristan kissed her hair. "Sebastian and Andrew can manage the castle until we return," he said to Silas as he held her close, his arm around her shoulders. "Master Nicholas will help them whether they want him or not. But Silas, will you watch over my daughter?"
"Emma will help you," Siobhan added. "Clare seems to understand that we must go away..." Her voice trailed off for a moment as she thought of exactly what the little girl had said. "That we must go away to war," she finished. Less than two days before, she had been desperate to save her brother. Now she must go to war against him. "But she will need both of you to rea.s.sure her we are coming back."
"And so we will," Silas promised. "Will you leave tonight?"
"We must," Tristan answered. "Lebuin..." He hesitated as well before he corrected himself. "Lucan Kivar already has a day"s head start. We will leave as soon as Simon is ready."
"Is he still hurt?" Silas asked, concerned. Both Tristan and Simon had been badly wounded when Siobhan had led guards back into the woods to find them, mortally so, Silas would have said if he hadn"t known they were vampires. Tristan seemed to be mostly healed after his day"s rest, but he still bore a dark pink scar slashed across his cheek.
"His body is well enough," Tristan said. "But he fears for his soul." In truth, Simon had insisted on going to the castle"s chapel as soon as the sun was down to pray for help and guidance in spite of the pain it must surely have caused him to do it.
"He fears for his wife," Siobhan corrected. "He thinks it was his fault she was taken."
"He thinks everything is his fault." He turned her face up to his, scowling down on her with a grim determination she knew now as love. "But the fault lies with Kivar," he finished, his green eyes haunted by what she knew was the memory of the grove. "And we will see he pays for it."
"Yes," she promised him, touching his cheek. "We will."
"I will leave you, my lord," Silas said. "I know you will wish to be alone for some time before you go."
"Thank you, Silas," Siobhan said, leaving Tristan for a moment to embrace the scholar. "I know we ask too much of your friendship."
"Not at all," he promised, hugging her back. "I will see you both downstairs."
Tristan pulled her close again as soon as he was gone. "You do not have to go with us," he said softly, caressing her hair. "You could stay here and manage the castle." She drew back to look at him, one eyebrow raised. "You would be safe."
"I would not." She pressed her cheek against his chest. "I am only safe with you." She smiled. "Are you so eager to be rid of me?"
"Yes," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "I can"t abide the sight of you; can you not tell? "Tis why I"ve fought so hard to keep you." "And fool that I am, I have fought so hard to escape." The night before, still wounded, he had taught her how to hunt, had fed her blood from his own wrist until the terrible hunger of her first night as a vampire abated. "I cannot be worth the trouble I have caused you. How could you not give me up?"
"In faith, my love, I tried." He turned her face up to his and smiled, feeling rather dizzy. She had been beautiful before, but as a vampire, she barely seemed real. "But you bewitched me." He kissed her tenderly. "My little demon."
"Now in truth," she agreed with a smile of her own. "I did not mean to leave you...last night, I meant to return." She moved slowly from his arms, holding his hand. "I only wanted Sean to go away, to leave us and be safe. I never meant to leave you ever again."
"And so you will not." He lifted her hand to his lips, remembering their marriage vows. His curse was now their blessing, eternity bound to his love. Nothing could ever part them now; at last he felt certain. "We will find your brother," he promised. "We will save him if it can be done."
"Do you think he lives?" Her fingers curled more tightly around his as if for comfort.
"I did not see him die." During the day while she slept, he and Simon had talked, the two of them now joined in their quest as if they were brothers indeed. "Simon said Kivar has always possessed men already dead in the past, or so he believes. But without Orlando..." He let his voice trail off.
"Orlando was alive when Sean took him," she said. "And Isabel as well."
"Simon believes Kivar will wait to murder Isabel until he finds a pathway to the Chalice, that he needs her blood to open up the door." He drew her close to him again, shuddering to imagine the pain his brother felt.
"Then we must find her first." She raised up on tiptoe to kiss him as if to remind him she was there, safely in his grasp. "Kivar may have Sean"s body and his ghosts may have his men, but they are all still mine as well. I know I can track them." Caressing his cheek, she moved away. "But you must tell me of this chalice that we seek."
"I will," he promised. "You will know all." He caught her hand. "But you know the most important truth already." She smiled as if she knew what he would say. "Chalice or not, we are one."
"Forever," she answered.
He kissed her again, pressing her close as the pa.s.sion they had known from their first meeting flashed between them like a flame.
"Forever."