She knew what it was to be rejected, and wished with everything inside her things could be different. That she could be.

They walked to the courtyard with the fountain she could see from her window, where the sun was strong and the air cool with the first brush of autumn.

“Only a month left,” he said, and sat with her on a bench of deep blue marble.

“We’ll be ready.”

“Aye, we will. In a few days, Moira will take her sword.”

“What if it’s not her? What if it’s you?”

“It isn’t.” He lifted his shoulder. “I’ve searched myself on that, and I’d know if it was. I’d have always known, as in some part of her, Moira knows. And thank God.”

“But your family. This place. You’re tied to it, by birth. By blood.”

“True enough.” He took her hand, idly toying with her fingers. “It’s the place of my birth, and I’ll always miss it.”

“You’ll…what? Miss it? Why? We’re going to win. Just because I got slapped around doesn’t mean they’re going to beat us.”

“No, it doesn’t, and they won’t.” He looked up from her fingers, into her eyes. And his were like gold steel. “Because we’ll fight to the last man. To the last drop.”

“So why—”

“Let me ask you a question, one none of us have voiced as yet. Have all the vampires from your world come here to follow Lilith?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then when this battle’s won, the fight goes on. You’ll have to hunt, as you’ve always hunted. Here, if some survive, they’ll be an army always to fight them. The people of Geall know what they are, as the people of your world don’t.”

“Yes.” So he did understand. “I wish—I’m sorry. Going back, it’s not a choice for me. If it were…But it’s not.”

“No, it can’t be a choice for you. But it can be for me. So I’ll be going back with you, to fight beside you.”

“Excuse me?”

“A stór. Did you think I’d let you get away from me?”

“You can’t leave here.”

“Why? It’s Moira who will rule, and my father will advise her as need be. There’s my brother and my sister’s husband to work the land, and tend the horses.”

She thought of his mother, his sister, brother. Of his father, and the look on Riddock’s face when he’d embraced Larkin after his return. “You can’t leave your family.”

“It’s hard, yes, to leave loved ones. It should be hard, I think, and should only be done when it needs to be done. It isn’t, could never be, the way it was when your father left you, Blair.”

“The result’s the same.”

“It’s not, no. Not when the leaving is with love, all around. And it’s true enough that a man often moves away from his parents. It’s the way of things, a natural order.”

“They move to the next town, or across the country. Not to another world.”

“Trying to talk me out of it’s a waste of breath. My mind’s been made up to it for a while now. Moira knows it, though we haven’t spoken of it right out. As does my mother.”

He looked straight into her eyes. “Do you think I would fight, risk everything, then step aside from the one that matters most in this world, in any world to me? I’d give my life for this if that’s what’s needed. But if I live, you’ll belong to me. And that’s the end of it.”

“The end of it?”

“I’m thinking, as you have no close family at home, we could be married here. We can do the whole business again in your Chicago if you like.”

“Married? I didn’t say I would marry you. Anybody.”

“Of course you’ll marry me, don’t be foolish.” He gave her a friendly pat on her good knee. “You love me. And I love you,” he said before she could speak. “I nearly told you that first night we were together. But a man shouldn’t say such words when he’s inside a woman, I think. How would she know, for certain, he was speaking with his heart and not, well, not with his…”

“Oh boy.”

“I thought to tell you at other times, but told myself it should wait. I realize I nearly waited too long. You asked what I said to you, inside after you woke. I’ll tell you now. So look at me when I do.”

He laid his fingers on her cheeks. “I said you’re my breath, and my pulse, my heart, my voice. I said, I’ll love you even when all of them stop. I’ll love you, and only you, until all the worlds are ended. So you’ll marry me, Blair. And I’ll go where you go, and fight beside you. We’ll live together, and love together, and make a family.”

“I have to…I have to stand up a minute.” She got to her feet, shaky now, and walked to the fountain. Just to breathe, she thought, to let the cool spray of water wash her face.

“No one’s ever loved me like this. I don’t know, not for certain, that anyone’s ever loved me at all until you. No one’s ever offered me what you’re offering me.” She turned back to him. “I’d be a fool to push it away. I’m not a fool. I thought I loved someone once, but that was so pale compared to what I feel for you. I thought I’d have to be strong enough to leave you behind. I didn’t know you could be strong enough to come with me. I should have.”

She came back to him, offering her hand when he rose. “I’d marry you anywhere. I’d be so proud to marry you.”

He kissed her hands, then drew her gently into his arms to meet her lips.

“Get a good grip, will you?” she murmured. “I’m a demon hunter. I’m not fragile.”

He laughed, and swung her right off her feet.

“Have a care with her! Have you lost your mind?”

As Moira sprinted toward them, Larkin only grinned, and spun Blair again. “A bit. We’re betrothed.”

“Oh.” Moira stopped, her hands fluttering up to her heart. “Oh, well, that’s wonderful. Blessings on you both. I’m so pleased for you.”

She stepped up, kissed Blair’s cheek, then Larkin’s. “We need a celebration. I’ll go back, tell the others. Cian had a notion…but it can wait.”