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“I’ve noticed you come out here before dawn. Do you come out early to see him?” he asked, sitting beside her, all fear of the cliff gone as they let their legs hang over the edge.

“I love the peace before dawn, watching the town lights and the sunrise reflected on the open ocean. Mostly, I swim through the marina, make sure all the boats are secure, and keep the early-morning swimmers from getting into any trouble. I also check the docks and the pier to make sure no one has passed out half-naked after a late-night swim after one too many drinks.”

“You don’t say?” He smirked.

She blushed, recalling her own night of scandal.

“Yes, well, I can’t drown. You’d be amazed at how many drunks I’ve brought to shore late at night or first thing in the morning, especially those partying on boats.” She didn’t want to admit that, since Gideon had moved in, coming out here had become more frequent.

“I thought you were leaving so you didn’t have to see me,” he said, and she hated that he somehow managed to see through her. “It would make sense. I’m sure you also miss having your home to yourself. We don’t know when I’ll be able to leave, and things between us are getting complicated.”

“Complicated? Because we slept together last night?” she said bluntly, wondering where this was going. “Do you regret asking to court me?”

“No, never. That’s not what I meant. It’s that we’ve skipped over getting to know each other, to living together. We slept together last night and as special as that was⁠—”

“You regret it?” she interrupted.

“No, and yes.”

“How flattering.”

“No, I don’t regret being with you, but I want to experience all of it with you.” Gideon gripped her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “I’m doing a terrible job at this, but I care for you, and I want to do this right.”

“So you want to stop living with me, so you can court me?” she asked.

“When I was looking for the library, I saw that there is an inn in town, and getting a room might be for the best. I’ll honor my promise to leave you the coffin for helping me, and I promise to be on my best behavior, and we’ll still work together to find out what happened to me and my ship, my crew.”

“No,” she said flatly. She pressed her lips to his, and his grip on her loosened.

“I don’t understand, no to what exactly?” His surprised frown was so adorable she couldn’t help the giggle that escaped.

“I’m not letting you move out. Not until you regain all your memories.”

“You don’t trust me? I just saved you from falling off the damn cliff,” he reasoned, and she covered his mouth with her hand, stopping his rant before he said something he regretted.

“There’s no right or wrong in how we do this. We’re both adults; in fact, if you add our ages together, we are nearly 500 years old, so I think we are grown enough to live together. We can figure out who you are and what we are together. Besides, your memories come back clearer whenever we are close, so you moving to the inn would only slow our progress in more ways than one.” She noticed his shoulders relax as he digested her words.

“You don’t need to worry about my reputation or my virtue. Those ships sailed long ago. I want you to stay.” Gideon went to say something, but she kissed him again, so he let her continue. “But before you decide to stay, there is something I have to confess. I didn’t want to do this at the house.” She took a deep breath, took the book Miranda had given her from her bag, and placed it in his lap.

“I don’t understand.” Gideon stared at his family sigil, running his hand over the raised leather.

“I lied to you last night. I got caught up in you giving me flowers and saying so many nice things, and it’s been so long, if ever, that anyone has ever looked at me, all of me, in all forms and still saw me and not a monster. Some have liked part of me, so they forgave the other slimy, scaly part–”

“Take a deep breath, I’m struggling to follow,” he said.

“I was afraid that if I told you what Miranda found out, you’d want to leave sooner rather than later, and it was only when you spoke in the caves that I realized how sad I’d be to see you go before I could even figure out what we are.”

“I thought you said she was still waiting for answers?”

“She is, that wasn’t a lie.” Aerin reached for the book and opened the page she had marked about him. His eyes widened when he saw the portrait under his full name. “This is you, Gideon, the real you. Gideon Aracus St. Draqial, your family is of Royal Vampiric descent, an ancient English clan that still holds power to this day, though your family now goes by Blackwater. You’re the lost prince of your clan, the heir to the throne. It says you don’t have any spouse or children, but you do have a younger brother and sister.”

“It’s a relief to know I didn’t abandon a family of my own,” he said, running his hand over the portraits of his brother and sister, who shared the same silver hair.

“You and your siblings were the last to be added to the lineage. Beneath your date of birth, it says that you were lost at sea in the 1870s during a trade exploration,” she explained, instead of telling him how relieved she felt that he didn’t have someone who loved him waiting for his return.

“Did Miranda know if my brother and sister are alive?” he asked.

“No, and this book only shows when they were born. She has sent letters to clans in the UK and Ireland to see if she can find out more. She didn’t mention that you’ve been found because we worried that you being alive might upset whoever took your place on the throne. It’s safer to say nothing until we know more,” Aerin said, hoping he wasn’t mad at her for holding out on him.