Alexis didn’t turn around. “You don’t have to say anything. We’re going back to London tomorrow, so I’ll keep out of your way. I want you to know that I offered to leave my post as Duca, but the Principe refused.”

Katie walked up to Alexis and said, “Turn around.”

Alexis sighed and turned. Katie put her palm on her heart as Alexis had done. She felt it conveyed more than words would at that moment.

“You forgive me?” Alexis looked taken aback.

“There’s nothing to forgive, Alexis. True, I believe in consent, and I’m not saying that it would have been easy to wake up knowing I had to turn or die, but that is not what Victorija did to you. She did it for her own twisted purposes, but you did it because—” Katie didn’t want to put words in Alexis’s mouth. “Well, for very different reasons.”

Alexis touched her fingers to Katie’s hand. “Tell me you forgive me?”

“If you need to hear it, then yes, I forgive you. Come inside and heal my neck,” Katie said.

Alexis was overwhelmed with emotions right now, and her brain was trying to catch up. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, this was inflicted on me, and I know how much seeing it disturbs you, so let’s take away Josie’s power and what she did to me.”

Alexis allowed herself to be pulled inside the cabin and over to the couch. Katie sat down and Alexis kneeled in front of her.

“Are you sure?” Alexis asked.

“Are you?”

Alexis nodded. She wanted to make Katie better more than anything. “Yes. If you could move your jumper past your shoulder…?” Alexis asked.

Instead of doing that, Katie took her thin cashmere jumper off completely.

Alexis gulped and her eyes went straight to Katie’s black-lace covered breasts.

Oh God, she’s beautiful.

“Alexis? My wound?” Katie said.

Alexis shook herself. “Yes, sorry.”

She bit into the palm of her hand with her fangs, allowing the blood to flow. “Are you ready?”

Katie nodded, so Alexis lowered her palm to Katie’s infected neck wound. Katie hissed when Alexis’s blood touched her.

“Okay, relax and look in my eyes,” Alexis said.

Katie did that, and Alexis asked, “How does that feel?”

“It burned like acid at first, but now it feels nice, warm.”

“Good, it’ll not take too long.”

Katie’s lips parted slightly, and Alexis could see the tip of her wet tongue. She had the urge to suck on it, to taste Katie anywhere she allowed her. Her teeth had fully erupted, and days of no fresh blood made all this stimulation much worse. But she had to stay in control for Katie’s sake.

“Your eyes are red,” Katie said.