Blood and Snow 12: Vampire Ever After? by Rashelle Workman Page B

I said softly, trying to smile.
    Christopher met my gaze, his eyes filled with longing. “If I have my way we’ll never be apart again.”
    I hugged him. “I feel the same.” And I did. I was certain the only reason my heart wasn’t one hundred percent on board with Christopher was because of my sadness over losing Dorian. The feelings of love, when Dorian and I kissed, consumed me. As did my sorrow that he was gone.
    “But,” Christopher asked.
    “I need to speak with Abernathy. Alone.” I looked away, hoping he wouldn’t be upset, but determined to stand my ground. It wasn’t that I didn’t want him to know about the black gem. It was just I wanted to understand what it was first. It’d been created on the altar, from Dorian’s blood. And mine. If the gem was bad, good… whatever, I had to know what it meant before I told anyone else.
    “Fine,” he replied after several long seconds. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    I pulled him close, kissing his neck.
    He cupped my face in his hands, brushing my cheeks with his thumbs. Electric shocks of desire and heat coursed through my body. “You can tell me anything, you know that right?”
    I swallowed, nodded. “I will. Later.”
    He pressed his lips to mine. A kiss filled with promises. When we separated, he sighed. “Tomorrow, Frosty,” he said, and brushed the tip of my nose with his finger.

Chapter 2
     
    When I was sure Christopher was gone, I hurried back to Abernathy. He smacked his lips, and opened one eye. “ Awww, young love.”
    I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest. It wasn’t his place to say anything. I wasn’t completely confident in my feelings for Christopher. After Dorian’s kiss—the love that had surrounded me, filled me—they made my feelings for Christopher seem trivial.
    Fake, my inner voice clucked.
    “Love is dense,” Abernathy continued.
    I snorted. “That’s romantic.”
    A laugh resounded in his throat. “What I mean is, real love is more than what you see, what you feel, in the moment.”
    “Really ?” I said the word with thick sarcasm, but I was interested. It wasn’t like I’d ever had someone to talk to about love.
    “ Certainly,” he said, with a wink. “Think about a lush forest, rich with all manner of foliage. A person could spend eons discovering its secrets, and still not find them all. It’s the same with love. True love, anyway.” He gave me a pointed look. “Deep, abiding love is discovering something new and wondrous about the other person, even after spending a lifetime together.”
    “I like that,” I said, but it made my mind wander back to Dorian, and our kiss. “What about true love’s kiss?” My face grew hot. I was embarrassed to be talking to a dragon about something that sounded so juvenile.
    He laughed again, and it sounded like thunder. “You want to know if you will become human again, if you receive it?”
    I nodded, blinking back tears. Juvenile or not, it had been in my thoughts, and I craved an answer.
    “Hmmm.” His extended his wings, turned and looked at them. “Is that what you want? To become human—at least partially so—since you were never fully human to begin with.”
    No, my inner voice shouted.
    “It isn’t that.” I coughed, trying to work through my feelings. “It’s only,” I paused and forced myself to meet Abernathy’s gaze. “Pops, I mean Mr. Henry, said that if I kissed my true love, I would no longer be a…” I let my words trail off. It’d been so long, but I realized that when Pops told me about true love’s kiss, I’d still been a revenant. I hadn’t had any blood yet.
    “Ah,” Abernathy smiled, and licked his teeth. “I understand.” He closed his eyes. “Adam is correct. In the very few times where a Chosen human kissed her true love, instead of consuming his heart, she became human, once again. The Mark, and all of the magical nonsense was forgotten. But none of them ever had the power of seven magics.” He opened his eyes,