“She’s still asleep.”

“I’m not surprised.”

He was close enough that I had to tilt my chin up to meet his eyes. There were butterfly stiches over his left eyebrow and bruises on his cheekbone. “Who would have thought, the day I snuck into your front yard to claim the bounty that we’d end up here,” he murmured.

“Do you regret it?”

He shook his head, tugging me closer. “Do you?”

“No,” I replied. “Only that I hurt you.”

“That was a hundred years ago.”

I quirked a smile. “It wasn’t even a week ago. I’ve made a decision,” I blurted out before I could lose myself in his nearness. He waited patiently for me to elaborate. “I’m going to convince my parents to let me travel.”

He lifted the eyebrow without the bandage. “Think they’ll let you?”

“If I plan it carefully enough. Maybe one of my brothers can come, or Aunt Hyacinth. Besides, it can’t be any less safe out there than it is here. We’re not exactly hidden away and reclusive anymore.” I lifted up on my tiptoes a little, then back down. I was filled with energy, with a sense of excitement I couldn’t contain. “It feels right. Part of the reason the battle went as far as it did is because none of us really know each other.”

He traced his thumb over the corner of my mouth, which was curved in a hopeful smile. “I think it’s brilliant.”

“I’ll be the first vampire anthropologist,” I said lightly.

“When will you leave?” he asked, tugging me closer to him.

“Not for a couple of months at least,” I replied. “My parents will take some convincing. You?”

“Same.” He brushed the snow off my cheek. “Classes start at the college in January.”

“So we have a little time,” I said, standing on the tip of my toes to kiss him. His arms went around me and he lifted me right off my feet, kissing me back. “If you’re still willing to give me another chance.”

“It’s just distance,” he murmured in my ear. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

I kissed him again, lingering and swimming in the stolen moment. It turned dark and sweet and I pulled back slightly. I blinked, feeling my eyes going red. I ducked my head.

“Don’t hide from me, Solange,” he said hoarsely. “Not now.”

It took courage to lift my chin and meet his calm gaze. I tried not to imagine how the veins must be blue as ink under my skin, how all three sets of my fangs were poking out of my gums.

He smiled. “Where are you going to go first?”

I smiled back at him, slowly. “I hear Scotland is lovely this time of year.”

Chapter 46

Lucy

Tuesday night

I slept for twenty-seven hours straight.

And then the only reason I woke up was because my parents couldn’t wait a second longer. My dad and mom had met me at the school after Hart had us brought to the infirmary to be checked out after the battle. I was too tired to even get to the car, so they let me collapse into my dorm bed and then they just stood there, teary eyed and staring creepily until I mumbled at them to go away. Mom called three times Monday, and Dad just drove over first thing Tuesday morning and waited in the parking lot. They weren’t pulling me out of school, mostly because I wouldn’t let them, but they wanted me home for recuperation. Bellwood had called off classes for the week anyway, while extra counselors were brought in for students and the extra agents were encouraged to leave campus as quickly as possible. There would be a memorial for the fallen, including Tyson, and a traditional Helios-Ra funeral for Hunter’s grandfather.

In the meantime, Dad was plying me with chamomile tea and mom kept baking me whole-wheat honey cookies. It was kind of nice to spend the day in bed with Gandhi and Van Helsing, even if they did have doggy breath. Just before midnight, after my parents had gone to sleep, Solange showed up at my bedroom window.

She grinned, pulling up the glass. “Hey, wanna have a sleepover?”

“Can we still do that? Since you don’t sleep at night?” I asked as she climbed inside.

“Then we’ll have a wake-over.”

I grabbed the knapsack she’d tossed onto my bed. “Please tell me you brought chocolate.”

“And licorice, sour gummy worms, and those gross marshmallow cookies you love so much.”

“And I don’t even have to share,” I teased, rifling through her stuff until I found the chocolate bars and sugar-coated worms. “There are definite perks to your being a vampire.”

We wiggled under my blanket, trying to squeeze into what little space the dogs had left us. I turned on music and we lay back and stared at the ceiling, the way we’d been doing since we were little.

“So.” I slid her a sidelong glance. “You’ve been kissing Kieran.”

She turned, blinking at me. Even with her pale eyes with their blood-ringed pupils and sharp fangs, she was still just Solange to me. “How did you know that?” she asked.

“I’m your best friend,” I returned, biting the head off a gummy worm. “I know these things.” I chewed the sticky candy and then swallowed. “Besides, you get this dreamy, goofy look on your face whenever you’ve been with Kieran.”

“You mean, like the one you get around Nicholas?”

“I do not look dreamy!”

She just grinned. “Sure you don’t, Hamilton.”