Slaying the Vampire Conqueror(107)
I clenched around him as I came, pulling him against me. He did the same, the two of us entwined so closely that I could no longer tell where his flesh ended and mine began.
When the ecstasy faded, he didn’t move. He just held me. He rolled to the side, pulling his weight off me, but his grip didn’t loosen, and I didn’t pull away from it.
I would never pull away from it.
A truth solidified in me, an echo of the confession I saw in his eyes then. I wouldn’t hide it from him.
Because that’s all it was. A truth.
“I love you,” I whispered, against the smooth flesh of his shoulder.
The reaction in his presence was immediate and sudden. I felt him stop breathing for a moment, then resume. Felt the skip in his steady heartbeat.
My chest warmed at that.
He pulled me closer and said against my hair, “You like the room then.”
I chuckled. “I do.”
“Good,” he murmured. “Because even though there’s no longer a curse, I can’t seem to sleep without you.”
He rolled to his back, still not releasing me, and I went with him, my head on his chest. I could feel that heartbeat beneath my palm now—slow and strong, and utterly unburdened.
And then he whispered, his fingertips trailing through the whorls of my hair, “I love you, seer.”
My eyes closed.
Strange, how being so exposed can make a soul feel so very safe.
We had challenges ahead of us, I knew. A kingdom that would not want to accept us. A human populace struggling with poverty and drug addiction and decades worth of oppression. A Bloodborn populace still struggling with an ancient curse, even if Atrius’s had been lifted. A vampire society that might one day decide to interfere with ours. Gods who may grow displeased at a kingdom led by a vampire and a human.
I was more vulnerable than I had ever been.
But for the first time in my life, I was not afraid. I was at peace with the past, the present, and the future.
“I think,” Atrius murmured, as if he was having the same thoughts I did, “the future will be good.”
He said this thoughtfully, slowly, like it was a conclusion he had arrived at logically.
“You’re lucky I believe you,” I murmured.
“I don’t lie.”
I smiled, recognizing the echo of our past. “Everyone lies.”
He stroked my hair. “Not me.”
And Weaver help me, I believed him.
THE END
Read on for a note from the author plus a preview of Slaying the Shifter Prince by Clare Sager—the next book in Mortal Enemies to Monster Lovers!
Author’s Note
Thank you so much for reading Slaying the Vampire Conqueror! This story and these characters took me by surprise, and I hope you loved reading this tale as much as I loved writing it.
The world of the Crowns of Nyaxia is so dark, twisted, and complex. I absolutely loved getting the opportunity to explore other corners of it with this story. If you’d like to read more vampire goodness in this world, check out the Crowns of Nyaxia series, starting with The Serpent and the Wings of Night. While Sylina and Atrius have their happy ending with each other, they still have tons to accomplish in the Crowns of Nyaxia world—they will be making very important appearances later in this series!
If you enjoyed this book, I would truly appreciate if you’d consider giving a review on Amazon or GoodReads. I can’t overstate how important reviews are to authors!
And if you’d like to be the first to know about new releases, new art, new swag, and all kinds of other fun stuff, consider signing up for my newsletter at carissabroadbentbooks.com, hanging out in my Facebook group (Carissa Broadbent’s Lost Hearts), or joining my Discord server (invite at linktr.ee/carissanasyra!).
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Slaying the Shifter Prince
PREVIEW
CLARE SAGER
1
Ten years.
It was a long time to wait.
But revenge was a patient master, and I was its creature.
From up here in the fly loft, the stage looked so small… and yet the audience looked smaller. In the dimness, they stared at the jugglers as they threw flame into the air. They caught it, tumbled with it, danced with it, like it was a beautiful partner and not a deadly one.
At my side, Eric shifted, worrying the cuff of his shirt. He wasn’t usually this agitated, and we’d fucked twice today, so he’d had a chance to get out his pent up energy.
Then again, this wasn’t any usual performance.
And this wasn’t any usual audience, as a pair of horns jutting from the darkness reminded me.
These were fae.
Prince Sepher of the Dawn Court lived here outside the capital—exiled. (I might’ve had something to do with that.) In his exile, he’d gathered the misfits and the monstrous—the fae who struggled to fit in at the capital and instead dwelled in the Court of Monsters.
And monsters they were.
At the back, I spotted one with leathery wings, another with feathered. Various horns, curled like a ram’s or stubby and short like a young goat’s, as well as branched antlers that caught the stage light.