I knew he was worried about the fate of humanity.

I knew he was more worried about the fate of me.

“We’re going to be okay, darling,” I repeated.

“I’m almost a millennium old and I’ve only known true happiness since the moment I laid eyes on you at your Selection, doing it knowing you would finally be mine.”

I felt my eyes start burning and swallowed.

He dipped his face closer. “I cannot lose you, sweetling.”

“You won’t lose me,” I promised.

He pulled his arm from around me to lift his hand to my face. Using his thumb, he traced around my temple, my cheekbone, along the side of my nose, across my lips, his eyes watching, his other hand continuing to hold mine tight.

Then his gaze caught mine, and at the fire in his, I held my breath.

“If you are lost to me, I vow to you, I will go down fighting.”

“Darling,” I breathed.

“But I will go down,” he continued. “I cannot live without you, Leah. And I will not.”

“Don’t say that,” I urged quietly but fiercely. “Your children. Isobel. Julian. Your mother—”

“They’ll understand.”

I lifted my free hand to his face too, cupping the side, digging the pads of my fingers in.

“And if I lose you, do you think I shouldn’t go on?”

“You won’t,” he stated. “Eventually, this world will be deprived of your beauty. Your spirit. Your humor. It’s natural for you to find your end. So you will carry on until that time comes. But I would be sentenced to an eternity without any of that. And I know in my soul I cannot face it.”

That was beautiful (most of it).

I still hated it.

“You made a vow to me,” I reminded him. “Until the sun falls from the sky.”

“Leah—” he groaned, my name sounding torn from him.

“You are vampire,” I hissed. “You cannot break your vow.”

“You’re right, I cannot,” he agreed. Then he devastated me. “Unless I’m forced to do so.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t abide this conversation.

“It’s a waste of time to talk about this,” I declared. “We’ll survive. We’ll prevail. We’ll have a family and we’ll live happily ever after.”

“I do hope you’re correct, sweetheart.”

I lifted my head off the pillow. “Hope hard, Lucien darling, because that’s what we have. And hope is beautiful. It’s also strong. It will guide us to victory.”

His eyes burned into mine before he bent his head and took my mouth in a searing kiss.

When he was done making both our hearts beat faster, he gently slid out. He rolled me to rest on top of him as he reached to turn out the light. Then he moved us to our sides, facing each other, and gathered me close.

“Sleep, my pet,” he murmured.