Nalini Singh: Archangel's Blade

“Dmitri.” It was a long time later that they spoke again, his need for her a deep well that would never run dry. “I’ve got no desire to put distance between us,” she said, brushing his hair back, caressing his jaw, constant touches of love. “The position at Guild Academy for a teacher of ancient languages is still open. I’m going to go for it.”

“Good.” Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her knuckles. “We’ll marry at daybreak.” His wife would wear his ring, be his in every way.

“Old-fashioned.” Laughter, familiar and new, wrapping around him, binding him. “I hope you know you’ll be wearing gold, too.”

“I’ve waited an eternity to wear it again.” Body and soul, she owned him. “I’m yours. Always.”

Mists in her eyes. “I love you.”

“Even if I’m no longer as good a man as you once knew?” Never again would be, his soul too battered, too threaded through with violence and darkness.

“We’re both of us a little beat up—that’s what makes us interesting.”

He wanted to laugh, but his chest ached. “Do you wish to be Made, Honor?” If she chose the firefly life span of a mortal, this time he would go with her. It was no choice, but a simple truth.

Honor went motionless. “I can’t be anyone’s slave, Dmitri. Not ever.”

“That won’t be a problem.” Then, because this was Honor, who knew him as no other did on this earth, he said, “You’ll only ever serve me.”

“Arrogant man.” Rising to straddle him, she touched her nose to his, rubbed in that familiar way. “At the start, I thought no, I could never be one of the monsters. But we never had a chance, Dmitri. I want that chance. I want a hundred lifetimes with you.”

He didn’t give her the opportunity to change her mind, greedy for every instant, every second. “We’ll begin the process after the marriage ceremony.”

“Do you think the Guild will still accept me?” It was a worried question. “The Academy’s never been prejudiced against vampiric instructors, but . . . my friends.”

“If they are your friends, they’ll stand with you.”

Yes. Having faith in the strength of the relationships she’d built, she laid her head against him, this man she’d fought death itself to find. “Tell me what you did, what you saw, after I was gone.”

A strong hand fisting in her hair, possessive and dark. “I’ve lived many years.”

“That’s okay,” she said, spreading her fingers over his heart. “We have eternity.”

SLAVE TO SENSATION

VISIONS OF HEAT

CARESSED BY ICE

MINE TO POSSESS

HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE

BRANDED BY FIRE

BLAZE OF MEMORY

BONDS OF JUSTICE

PLAY OF PASSION

KISS OF SNOW

ANGELS’ BLOOD

ANGELS’ PAWN

(A Berkley Sensation eSpecial)

ARCHANGEL’S KISS

ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT

ARCHANGEL’S BLADE

AN ENCHANTED SEASON (with Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, and Jean Johnson)

THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS CAT (with Lora Leigh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones)

MUST LOVE HELLHOUNDS (with Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook)

BURNING UP (with Angela Knight, Virginia Kantra, and Meljean Brook)