Beauty of Dreadful Desires
a Jak and Marius short-story.
This short story is set after the events of Lord of Eternal Night, and before the events of King of Immortal Tithe. Please be aware of spoilers to Lord of Eternal Night.
Jak
I woke to Marius leaning over me. His smile cut from ear to ear, sharp fangs on full display, lips smudged with a blush of ruby. As he exhaled, the tang of blood wafted over me, enticing me from my dreamless sleep. It wasn’t the repulsive scent that tugged me from rest, but the incessant clawing of hunger that scent enticed whenever I breathed it in.
And by the gods, I was starving.
“Good morning, my murderous beauty,” he said, pale skin gleaming in the candlelight. The warm glow from the multitude of candles flickered over the harsh planes of his face, reminding me of just how dangerous he could be—a true predator.
But as much as I normally loved waking to Marius—and the promise of fresh blood¾I promptly rolled over, buried my face in the pillow, and pinched my eyes closed.
“Go away.”
“Usually, I love taking commands from you.” Our bed shifted as his added weight returned to it. “But I’m afraid that I’m unable to do that tonight.”
I groaned into the pillow, clutching it tight. I contemplated using it to bat him away from me.
It’d become harder to get out of bed in the months past. Most days I spent my time rooting amongst silken sheets, only leaving the comfort to drink blood and satisfy my thirst before climbing right back in. Today, I hoped, would be no different. In fact, today was the day I’d been dreading the most. But peeking an eye open, I could see that Marius was true to his word¾he would not take no for an answer.
“I will allow five more minutes of lying around, and then you need to get up.”
“Make it ten more minutes,” I replied as Marius folded his body behind mine. His skin was ice cold, his arms ironclad. Before he could refuse me that simple request, I nestled my arse into his hips, brushing against his length.
“Not even the promise of fucking you is going to make me sway from today’s plans.”
“Plans?” I groaned. “Marius, don’t make me beg you.”
“As much as seeing you on your knees would be a glorious sight, I swear not even that is going to move me. Not today. There is far too much to do.”
I rolled over to face him, taking in his beauty, from his ruby-red eyes to the way his silver-hued hair curled over his forehead¾the curse of waking after sleeping all day. He called me beauty, but the truth was Marius was the only one who could have that title. He was the epitome of such a word, whereas I was nothing but the beast.
The beast who’d ruined Darkmourn.
His smile faltered as he drank me in. It was obvious he recognised the pain I kept hidden inside. There never was a detail that he didn’t notice.
He drew a finger, lifting it to my face. Carefully, he trailed a sharp nail down the curve of my jaw, landing on the recently healed fang marks on my neck. “All I ask of you is one day. That is all. For you to try and enjoy it.”
“I enjoy every day with you,” I replied, only half a lie.
“I don’t have an argument against that, but I see the hurt lingering in your eyes. I know today has been a cause of much anxiety for you, and I have made it my number one priority to see that, by dawn, you will have the best day ever.”
A shiver passed over my icy skin, starting where his nail pressed all the way down to the curled toes hiding beneath the feather-down duvet. “I just don’t want you to be disappointed if I can’t enjoy myself.”
“Trust me, my darling. By the time the sun rises, you will be sleeping with a smile on your face.”
As much as I wanted to persist in my refusal, the hope in his eyes told me that today was as important to Marius as it was the cause of my dread. Two conflicting feelings, crashing together in a tide of acceptance and refusal.
“I have something to show you,” Marius said suddenly, springing from the bed like a lithe cat. I hadn’t noticed he was utterly naked until he padded over to the heavy-drawn curtains, his peachy arse swaying with each step. “Consider it your first gift for today. First of many, may I add.”
“I told you,” I groaned, sounding like a petulant child even to my own ears, “no gifts. That was my one request.”
Marius clutched the curtain, nails pinching the red material. “Well, I didn’t exactly break my promise. This first gift actually occurred by happenstance. I consider it a sign from the Beyond that we were meant to celebrate today.”
I leaned up on my elbows. Curiosity may not have killed the cat, but it certainly sparked my attention. It took considerable effort not to lower my eyes to the swinging length between Marius’ thighs. If there was one ‘gift’ I wanted today, it was that. As much as I hungered for blood since Marius turned me, it was sex with him that truly kept me satisfied.
“Are you ready, my beauty?” Marius asked, the intricate muscles across his abdomen flexing.
“I guess so,” I replied, tone muted.
Without another word, Marius pulled at the curtains, bathing the room in light. I hissed, raising a hand to block out what I thought was daylight. But after a few seconds, and the realisation that my skin didn’t burn, I settled my eyes on the view beyond the window.
“Snow?” I gawped, feeling my heart rise into my throat.
Marius nodded, smiling so wide that I was surprised his handsome face didn’t split in two. “Happy Yule, darling.”
My mouth parched at the words of celebration. Yule. The day which I dreaded the most. This was my second Yule in Castle Dread—the first was lost to the bloodlust I had woken in after Marius turned me, after his curse had broken. I hardly remembered what had happened last year, but I knew it involved a lot of blood as me and my eternal lord unleashed literal hell across Darkmourn—a fact I still struggled with to this day.
Today was a painful reminder as to what I’d left behind in my past. It was a day I longed to ignore. But Marius had other plans, and no matter how I plead, he stood his ground.
“Technically Yule is over,” I retorted, catching the stark glow of the moon hanging over a world encased in pure white. There wasn’t an inch of Darkmourn spared from the layer of snow that coated it.
“No, darling. Yule is not over until the night is. We still have hours ahead of us, and I have plenty of plans to make it the most memorable day possible. So, get out of that bed before I drag you out. Your first gift awaits.”
“I’ll entertain you,” I said. “But no gifts. That’s the deal.”
“Too late for demands,” Marius replied.
“I haven’t got you anything,” I added, guilt creeping through me. And from the flaring of Marius’s nostrils, I knew he could sense the emotion on me.
Marius leaned on his hip, brows lifting into his hairline. “The only gift that I require is for you to try and enjoy yourself. That’s all I could ever ask for. Can you do that for me?”
“I’ll give it my best go,” I said, trying to bury the sadness but failing against the swell of emotion.
It was only a few hours. I could play pretend—it was no different to what I’d been doing for most of my life.
I blinked, and Marius was before me once again. He moved with the speed and grace of the predator we both were. Monsters, beasts in our own right, creatures married to the night.
“Time’s up, darling,” Marius growled, his tongue tracing his lower lip. “Out of bed you get.”
“You are insufferable,” I groaned as he literally pulled me out of the bed.
“And you would have me no other way,” Marius replied. With little effort, he hoisted me over his shoulder. His hand slapped my bare arse as he carried me over to the other side of the room where—I noticed—clothes had been laid out for me.
He plonked me down, then began changing me. Swift hands drew up undershorts, and then trousers. A tunic followed, free and loose around my neck, just like the one he’d first seen me in when I arrived at Castle Dread to murder him.
Marius loved when my neck was on show.
He stood me before the gilded mirror once he was done with his work, admiring me from behind. “I know you have been struggling recently, and I want to make today special.”
“Every day with you is special,” I said.
“Yes, I won’t argue that fact.”
“Then why are you doing this?” I asked, a lump of grief lodging in my throat.
Marius leaned in and laid cold lips against the side of my throat. His teeth brushed skin, making my pointed canines with my desire for him. “Ask me at the end of the night when all your surprises are over, and then I will answer. Now, follow me.”
Jak
One positive about being a vampire was that I didn’t feel the cold. So when the ball of compact snow crashed into the side of my face, breaking apart in an explosion of ice, I didn’t mind the sting across my already ice-cold skin.
“Too slow,” Marius chortled, already packing another snowball in his bare hands.
“I could’ve done with a warning,” I shouted back, using the back of my hand to clear the moisture from my eye—
Smack. Another ball crashed into my mouth, filling my cheeks with slush.
Marius’s laugh echoed over the courtyard. By the time I gathered myself, I couldn’t see him. He’d faded into the shadows he controlled, his taunting voice sounding from all around me. “Two points to me, darling. You’ve got some catching up to do.”
Never in a million years did I think I’d be having a snowball fight with the Lord of Eternal Night. If someone told me that this was a possibility over a year ago, I would’ve laughed in their face. Then again, my purpose in life up to destroy him, and yet I ended up falling deeply in love. That was never in the cards either.
If Marius wanted a snowball fight, I’d give him one.
I connected to my favourite element to control—air. It whispered of movement to me, something my recently heightened senses took time to get used to. It was easier relying on the magic I was born with than the new abilities my undead body gave me.
There, just behind me, the air told me of a disturbance. I spun, coming face to face with the ruins of an old statue. Snow clung to its head like a fluffy hat, icicles dripping from its chin, making it look like an ominous Yuletide creature. But it was the creature hiding behind it, which I focused on.
From behind the stone came another blurring ball of compact snow. But instead of letting Marius gain another point in this irritating game he played, I lifted a hand and conjured a blast of fire from the tips of my fingers.
The snowball melted before it hit me.
“Well, that just isn’t fair,” Marius called from behind the statue. He peaked around it, vicious intent sparkling in his alluring eyes.
“Says the man who used his shadows to get the upper hand,” I scoffed. I put my arms behind my back so Marius couldn’t see my fingers swirling. “If you want a fair fight, you should’ve thought about that.”
“What can I say? I’m devious, down to the bone. It’s why you love me—”
Air whipped up and over the statue, forcing the layers of snow to fall back on the vampire lurking behind it. Marius gasped, from surprise not the cold, as he was completely coated in snow.
“Now, we’re even,” I said, relaxing my grasp on the air.
“Actually,” Marius said, dusting the snow from his shoulders, “I’m still one point up.”
My discomfort of acknowledging today was forgotten. All I could focus on was beating Marius. If he wanted a snowball fight, it was exactly what I’d give him. “I’m going to make you regret carrying me out of bed.”
“Oh,” Marius quipped. “I do look forward to it.”
Turned out, we took our shared desire in winning very seriously. What started as snowballs soon became wrestling on the ground, giggling and laughing as we rolled through piles of slush. One moment Marius was atop me, the next I spun him with my new-found strength until I was the one pinning him down.
“Surrender,” I commanded through a laugh.
Marius’s hair was gathered in wet strands, his skin almost blue from how cold it must’ve been. My eyes caught on the pulsing vein in his neck, reminding me just how hungry I was for him.
“Never,” Marius chuckled, wrapping his legs around my waist before spinning me off of him.
I landed with a thud, laughing so hard, that I couldn’t catch myself. Marius was stretched out beside me, fingers brushing mine, sharing in my sudden joy.
“Did you end up wrestling with all the boys you had snowball fights with?” Marius asked.
“Would you believe me if I said this was my only one?”
Marius turned his head until our eyes met. “Did your dearest mummy not allow you to ever have fun?”
“Fun would’ve come after I killed you,” I retorted. “But turned out she was wrong about that too.”
“Very wrong indeed,” Marius replied. “Because I think I’m the epitome of fun. And I’m also rather honoured to be the first, and last, man you get to wrestle in the snow with.”
I looked away from him, turning my attention to the dark sky. I couldn’t see the stars tonight, not behind the impenetrable clouds. Instead, I watched as impressive snowflakes fell upon us, giving the sky the impression of a never ending optical illusion.
“We used to celebrate Yule,” I admitted, finally allowing a little of my story to come out. “Back when my mother wasn’t so hellbent on her plans and the prophecy. Believe it or not, life had been normal for a short time.”
I felt my chest crack at the memory. Marius must’ve noticed it too, because he gripped me and dragged me on top of him, all within a second. “Well, consider it my life’s mission to make you enjoy the possibility of Yule.”
I scrunched my noise, trying everything to stop the sting in my eyes, but failing. “Did you celebrate, during the years you were imprisoned here?”
Marius’s eyes darkened for a flash, the ruby turning to pools of obsidian shadow. “I tried. But the memory became painful when I would look out my window and see Darkmourn alight with celebration. I caught the faint songs of carols, and the smell of food. It reminded me of times long lost.”
My heart pained at his words, realising just how similar our Yules had been to one another’s. I, too, had watched from my window as Darkmourn glittered with celebration. I heard the songs, I smelled the warmth of cooked meat and feasts as families gathered. And all the while, my house was quiet.
I didn’t always hate Yule. As much as I hoped that would change now, I hardly imagined a single night with Marius could solve it.
Then again, for him, I would try. Just as I’d promised. Even though Darkmourn was entirely quiet tonight. There was no far-off sounds of songs, no enticing smells of feasts. If there were any humans left in the ruins of Darkmourn, they would not be celebrating tonight. And if the undead found them, it would be the creatures we created that would truly enjoy Yule.
Not lingering on that thought, I focused on the man beneath me and all his splendour. “Well, since we’re both trying to move past previous traumas, you mentioned something about surprises?”
Marius’s hands gripped my waist, nails pinching pleasurably into skin. “Have you had enough of losing to me?”
I leaned down, stopping when my lips were only a hairbreadth away from his. “Last time I checked, I was three points up and that was before I got you on your arse.”
His smile tickled my soft skin. “You did not need to win to get me on the floor, darling. In fact, if you continue sitting on my cock, I may forget all about my plans for today and devour you right here and now.”
“I wouldn’t mind,” I said, rocking on him, feeling the pressure of his hardening length.
“Well, I would. The tree is not going to decorate itself.”
“Tree?” I gawped, forgetting my want to get fucked by Marius out in the snow-coated garden of our home. “What do you mean tree?”
“Time for surprise number one,” Marius said, mischief written in the smile lines beside his narrowed eyes.
**
“How the fuck did you get this in here?” I asked, neck aching as I looked up at the towering pine tree in the main hall of Castle Dread. It was so tall that the top was forced to bend against the ceiling.
“Language, darling. With a tongue that foul, you’ll require punishment.”
“Then take me back to bed, forget about today, and punish me,” I begged, eyes doe wide.
“All in good time.”
“Urgh,” I groaned, glowering at him, then back to the scattering of pine needles that carpeted the slabbed floor. “And if you think I’m going to clear this mess up, you have another think coming.”
Marius moved swiftly to the large table in the centre of the room, grasping the lip of an ancient looking chest that waited atop it. “To answer your first question, I brought the tree inside. I was going to pick something smaller, but I thought the room could do with a statement.”
“A statement?” I laughed. “This is more than a statement.”
“Smells good though, doesn’t it?” Marius asked as he began rummaging around in the chest.
I had to admit, it certainly did smell nice. I took another deep inhale, filling my lungs with the smell of fresh pine. It reminded me, as much as I wished it didn’t, of Yule long passed. Back when me and mother would visit the market and purchase a much smaller version of the tree, before dragging it through the streets and back to our home.
I could almost hear my mother’s laugh, how natural and kind it once had been as we left a trail of pine needles across the entrance to our home, all the way through to our living room. Although the memory was hazy, my body wouldn’t forget that feeling. I could only explain it as being light. Especially when I’d climb on my mother’s shoulders whilst trying red, green, and gold ribbons around delicate branches.
“Are you going to stand their gawping, or help me?”
I turned to Marius, who held something in his outstretched hands. Ribbon. Red, green and golds—as if he had dived into my mind and tore the details from my very thoughts.
I stumbled back as if it was a serpent he held, all fangs and poison. Marius’s expression faltered, concern pinching over his forehead. “What is it, beauty?”
My mouth opened, but no sound came out. To be honest, I could hardly take my eyes off the ribbon as if it was a serpent ready to strike out and attack me.
Marius worked out what upset me without needing to ask. He screwed the ribbons up, fisting them behind him. I turned on my heel, ready to make a swift exit, only to find the air blurring with a body as Marius blocked the door.
“Today is supposed to be about making fresh memories, new traditions. Not letting old ones haunt you.”
Tears pricked at my eyes, threatening to spill. I could barely see Marius as they blurred my vision. “Easier said than done.”
“What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
He took my arms in his hands and squeezed. I couldn’t stop myself from folding into him, laying my head on his cold, hard chest. “I¾I used to hang those same ribbons back with my mother. It was a—”
“My mistake,” Marius said, his voice barely a whisper.
It was as if the missing piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “You got those decorations from my old home, didn’t you?”
My accusation wasn’t wasted. I could see it in Marius’s reaction, the way he recoiled. “I thought I was doing something nice. Bringing a little of your past into your future. I’m sorry if it has upset you.”
Marius—my Marius—had entered the house I grew up in and rummaged around for belongings I had long forgotten. I waited for that fact to anger me, but the opposite occurred.
“You really are trying everything to make me love Yule again, aren’t you?”
Marius scoffed, drawing a thumb over my cheek. “If the giant tree does not make that clear, I would have decorated an entire forest in candles and baubles, just to see you happy. Yes.”
I gazed up at him, feeling my heart swell, pushing at the confines of my ribs. “Forget the tree and decorations. The snow. Fuck, Marius¾I wouldn’t care for the carols.” Not to mention the ribbons that now reminded me of my mother’s innards as they were torn from her corpse—her punishment for driving a dagger into my chest. “All I want is you.”
I shouldn’t grieve my mother, but I did. Not the person she was at the end, but the woman who died long ago.
“You’ve got me, beauty. For today and the eternity that follows. But every year we will come face to face with Yule. Either we simmer in the lost years, or we make something new about it.”
I held his stare, seeing just how desperately he wanted this. Needed this. Normality in the face of the disorder that was our new lives together.
“Then let’s do that,” I said, fuelled by his words. “Let’s make something special. It’s just me and you. One night a year.”
“I’m so sorry, Jak. Believe when I say I only acted out of the good intentions. I knew you had fallen out of love with Yule, and I thought it had everything to do with the life I made you leave behind—”
I silenced him with my mouth, catching the words before he could finish, sealing them closed forever.
His tongue tasted of aged blood¾copper and violence. I inhaled deeply, my nose squashed against his face. My senses were overwhelmed with fresh pine. For a moment I allowed myself the enjoyment that came with the nostalgic scent, fixing it to something I loved¾Marius.
I drew back, lips bruised and tender. “You saved me, Marius.”
“I made you a monster.” Sadness hung heavy in his eyes. “I took your humanity away and offered you nothing but an eternity of endless nothing.”
“You are so wrong. What you offered me is the chance of a family, one that I’d lost a long time ago. And you’re right. I have been dreading today, wanting to hide away from the memories that clung to a day which should be so celebratory. But I forgot, along the way, that yuletide is not something given, but something made. Like magic.”
“Magic,” Marius repeated, lips turning up into a grin. “Why do I get the impression you have something in mind?”
Perhaps it was the narrowing of my eyes, or the quirk of my own lip that spoiled my secrets. Or maybe it was just because Marius knew me so well, that the nuance of an expression could give away my deepest thoughts.
“Actually,” I replied, “I do have a gift for you.”
Marius’s eyes widened. “You do?”
“First, though, I’m going to need you to do something for me.”
Before I could stop him, Marius dropped to his knees. My knees buckled as he gazed up at me, his all-seeing eyes framed by lashes as delicate as a butterfly’s wing. “I would give you the world if I could.”
In a sense, you already have.
“Luckily I don’t have anything as dramatic to request, but since you went rummaging in my house searching for old decorations, how about we excavate some of yours?”
Marius’s brow peaked. “What is to say I still have them left?”
I pricked a nail beneath his chin, holding his head in place. “Because you hold onto things. Like hope. Like the stories you wrote for every innocent soul that came through these halls, and never made it out alive. And…” I drew out, finally admitting my dirty little secret. “Because I may have found an old box of glass-blown baubles during one of my many late-night searches through this dreadful place.”
Marius screwed his nose up, flashing teeth as sharp as needles. “There aren’t enough to cover the entire tree, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
I nodded. “Oh, I do. Which is where my gift comes in. Go on, now, before I change my mind.”
Jak
What would’ve made tonight utterly perfect was a fire blazing in the hearth beside us. I’d have ignited the chunks of wood, but I didn’t want the heat to ruin my hard work. Although my magic wouldn’t last through the morning, it was certainly breath-taking to look at, if I did say so myself.
With my head resting on Marius’s chest, my arse still aching deliciously from the way he’d just devoured me, I felt at peace. Naked and laid on the floor of the main hall with our clothes scattered around us, but at peace nevertheless.
“Is this our new tradition?” Marius asked, voice tired and slow.
I looked up to see his face, finding his attention fixed on the decorated tree before us. As his hand brushed over my hair, smoothing the knots his fingers had just left in it, I couldn’t help but admire the way he contemplated my gift. I had completed the work before he’d returned with the small box of cracked-glass baubles and hand-carved wooden shapes that he said were sleighs, but resembled lumps of shit instead.
“Having sex underneath a yuletide tree?” I asked, voice equally as sleepy. “Because if I’m being honest, I think I’ve been penetrated by pine-needles on both of my arse cheeks.”
Marius’s short laugh disturbed the hair he’d just flattened. “Well, any excuse for you to sit on me like a king, I would take. But beside the sex, I mean the tree. Every year, me and you. Next time you can help me pick it.”
I turned my attention back to it. The light of creeping dawn broke through the stained-glass windows, making the icicles I’d conjured glitter and sparkle. There wasn’t a branch spared. At the top, I had crafted a six-pointed star which drooped to the side. It was comical, but beautiful.
I’d never forget the way Marius’s face lit up when he returned to the main hall to find what I’d done to his beloved tree. He looked at it like a child would looking at a marvel. He just stood looked at it, smile beaming, eyes glittering with the reflection of the ice. Then he loosed a breath so tempered and full of emotion, I could feel his joy radiating off him.
“Then yes,” I replied. “Consider this our new tradition. One of many.”
I said exactly what Marius was hoping for. He drew me closer, wrapping arms around me as if he could forge our very flesh together. Soft lips pressed into my temple, before drawing back and inch so Marius could whisper something to me.
“I have one more surprise for you, if you have the energy for a little walk.”
“After the way you’ve just taken me, I don’t think I’ll walk for two days straight.”
Marius licked his lip, likely tasting the remnants of my blood he’d just drank from my inner thigh. “I am glad that was your answer.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I would prefer to carry you.”
With the grace and speed of the creature he was, Marius was up and standing with my body draped over his arms. I wrapped arms around the back of his neck, wanting nothing more than this night to never end.
Funny how things changed so quickly. Earlier, the idea of yuletide surprises had me on edge. But for the first time in a very long time, I felt my stomach do a summersault. It was the same feeling I used to get when I woke up at first dawn on Yule Day, running into the living room to see what mother would’ve left wrapped under the tree. The feeling was so old, it took me by surprise. This time, when the tears came, they were from happiness. Excitement.
Joy.
Jak
“Keep those beautiful eyes closed,” Marius whispered. He’d repeated the same command about five times since we left the main hall. We’d briefly stopped to put on dressing robes from our bedroom—which, for a moment, I thought was the surprise. Turned out it was merely a quick pit-stop.
I took it as my first hint. Whatever Marius had in mind, he didn’t want me naked for it.
“Marius, I can smell the mustiness of old books,” I chortled as a door swung closed behind us. “I know where we are.”
He plonked me down in the plush chair in his library. I didn’t need my eyes to tell me why he’d brought me up here. I smelled the aged air, could taste the ash in the air from when my fire had devoured part of Castle Dread. Luckily, his library had survived the blaze, including all the stories Marius has spent his century locked away writing.
“You peeked,” he accused, rummaging around in his desk drawer for something.
“I certainly didn’t,” I replied, although now I was looking through one open eye. He just about caught me when he looked up, a book in his hands. I scrunched my eyes closed, whistling to pretend I wasn’t guilty.
There was a few more seconds of rustling, followed by the cool shadow of a man standing before me.
“Ok, beauty. You can open them.”
“About time—” I stopped, finding that Marius held the book he’d collected out towards me.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“A gift. Something I thought you would like.”
Hesitantly, I took it. Not because I was scared of what I would find, but because I knew Marius placed books above mortals. Not that I was a human anymore. A hybrid of sorts, yes. But my humanity had died the night my mother intended to murder me.
“You really didn’t need to do this,” I said, tracing my fingers over the weight of the tome. The face was leather bound, the edges of the pages gilded. I noticed that there was a faint rattling sound coming from within, but that was impossible. Right?
“I wanted to give you something that would mark this Yule as a memorable one. Something you can take forwards with you, something that would really make today special—something we celebrate for the eternity we have together.”
“Has anyone ever told you how thoughtful you are?” I asked.
Marius looked down at me expectantly, nipping the skin of his lower lip. A blush crept over his cheeks until I realised it was just a trick of the light. “No one’s opinion mattered but yours. Now stop dawdling and open it.”
A shiver coursed over my skin as my fingers traced the cover again. Then I turned the book on its side, hearing that strange noise that seemed to come from within the pages. But all thoughts of that dissipated when I saw the etching across the book’s spine.
I read it aloud, as if that would make it real. “Jak and Marius.”
“Wrote it myself,” Marius said, face utterly glowing with pride. “Well, the beginnings of the story anyway. I couldn’t finish it yet since we have only just started our first chapter together.”
“I don’t deserve you,” I said.
“But I deserve you, my beauty. Today and tomorrow, and every long night that follows. It is me and you.” He knelt before me, nestling his lean body between my legs. If my hands weren’t holding the book, I would’ve wrapped them around the back of his neck and latched onto his for dear life.
“Thank you,” I exhaled, feeling the weight of the words. “For today. For your patience and understanding.”
The corner of his lip tugged upwards. “Happy Yule, my beauty.”
Marius took my fingers, hooked them around the front cover of the book and together, we opened it. He didn’t look down at what waited on the pages, but I did. I couldn’t help myself—.
I blinked. Once. Twice. Was my mind playing tricks on me? My entire body seemed to shut down, refusing me any energy to look anywhere but the carved-out hole in the centre of the books pages. Nestled amongst torn paper, a circlet of brass waited for me.
A ring made for a finger. My finger.
“Jak Bishop, would you do me the honours and spend every Yule from now until the end of time with me?”
My mouth opened. Then it closed. It opened again and the only sound I made was the breathless gasp of a fish out of water.
“Is this—Marius, what is this?”
He took my hand, plucked the ring from inside the book and held it just at the end of my finger. “Consider it a promise. Between me and you.”
I didn’t remember saying yes. In fact, I didn’t think I could speak at all. Instead, I threw myself off the chair, tackling Marius to the ground in a thump. My mouth crashed into his, my eyes screwed shut. And there it was again, that light feeling I once anticipated every Yule.
“I will take… that as…a yes.” Marius spoke as we tumbled around the ground, knocking books from shelves until we lay in a bed of them.
“Yes,” I said, clutching my hand where the ring was now nestled on my finger. “Yes, a million times yes!”
The russet hue of the brass ring stood out in contrast against my ivory-pale skin. I didn’t notice it at first, but a small ruby gem was inlaid into the metal, winking up at my like a drop of blood.
“It belonged to my mother,” Marius said. “And now, it belongs to you.”
If his legs wasn’t tangled in with mine, I swore I would’ve levitated to the ceiling. “I can’t believe that the man I was born to kill, just asked me to marry him.”
“I do not know how you will top this gift next year, Marius.”
He nestled his face into mine, laying a strong arm over my chest as I starred up at the constellations painted on the library ceiling. “Do not worry about that, my murderous beauty. Where there is a will, there is a way. So, how did I do today? Did I succeed in making you love Yule again?”
“If I say no, will you do it all over again?” Because if I could relive this day over and over, it would be my dream.
“Well, there is always next year, and the endless Yules ahead of us.”
“I look forwards to it, my beast.”
“As do I, my beauty.”
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Ben xo