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“I’m sorry to hear of her loss, but what’s there to work out between us?”

“I might’ve lost my memories, but I recall how it feels when you’re upset with me,” Gideon said, following him down the cliff.

“You’ve already chosen this place over your own family.” His brother’s hurt gaze was the last thing he wanted to see.

“That’s not true. Since I woke up, all I’ve done is try to find out who I was and get back to you. But as time passed, I’ve found a life, and Aerin. I don’t want to leave her. I didn’t realize how much until you mentioned my returning with you.”

“I understand that you care for her, but you’re our big brother, the leader of our family. You’ve forgotten that vampires don’t tend to leave their clans; we make them bigger.”

“I’ll always be your brother, but you’re all grown up. Our sister is queen, and has been for a very long time. My coming back will only throw all our lives into chaos. As for making the clan bigger, I can’t ask Aerin to leave the cove for me. She’s a siren, she needs the sea, and she protects the ships and travelers from Kennie. They need her here,” Gideon said.

“So, you’d rather stay here and help care for the beast that took you from us?” Josiah hurried ahead, but with his renewed speed, Gideon caught him easily.

“No, I’m staying because I can’t go back to living in the darkness, now that Aerin has brought so much light to my life. I spent two hundred years beneath the sand, and as you said at the house, I’m not the vampire I was before the wreck. No matter how much I want to remember or go back in time, this is who I am.” Gideon grabbed his brother’s shoulders, forcing him to face him as they stood in the middle of town.

“I understand that you’ve changed, and I don’t care who you are now, as long as you’re alive,” Josiah said. “But I worry that you’re confusing gratitude with love.”

Gideon laughed, only for his brother to glare at him.

“Trust me, there’s no confusion. Yes, I’m grateful to her for helping me escape my watery dungeon, but these feelings didn’t happen overnight. If you only knew what we’ve been through together, it hasn’t been an easy journey for either of us.”

“I can’t talk you out of staying?” His brother sighed.

“Afraid not, I don’t want eternity without her.”

“And you’re sure she feels as strongly as you do. She looked rather surprised when you mentioned staying?”

“We hadn’t spoken of me staying indefinitely, and she isn’t all that big a fan of surprises, so you aren’t the only one pissed at me right now.”

“Oh wow, women love when you don’t discuss your decisions with them.” Josiah smirked as they headed into the inn. “Which is why I’m worried. She isn’t like us. She might not be ready for an eternity of commitment.”

“No, she’s not like us, and that’s why I love her so much. She’s ferocious, stubborn, unfathomable, self-sacrificing, and without her, I wouldn’t be here. She rescued me and nursed me back to health. Let me stay with her when she didn’t have to, helped me figure out who I am and what happened, no matter how many times I made her life harder. If I wasn’t sure she felt the same way, I wouldn’t even think of staying.”

“You need to talk to her about this before you make your final decision; she has a say in this as well.” Josiah opened the door to his room, where the bed had been moved aside for his traveling coffin.

“Trust me, I think she made me go with you because she’s trying to avoid having that very conversation. She’s been alone for a long time, so even if she wants me to stay, I’m sure she’s overthinking everything right now,” Gideon said, drawing the curtains for protection while they slept. “My life before is over. My life now is here, with her.”

“You really do love her?” Josiah sighed. “Well, if you want to stay, I’m not going to make you choose between us. You’re welcome home anytime, and you’d better send me off with an immediate invite for mother and sis to visit, or they might not let me live. As it is, I swear they’re going to make my ears bleed with questions about Aerin and the cove.”

“You’re welcome anytime, just tell them they can’t feed on Aerin’s turtle,” Gideon said, climbing into bed.

“Who would want to feed on a turtle?” Josiah winced, getting into his coffin.

“Trust me, he looks tasty enough when you’re starved.”

“I’m too tired to ask…” Josiah yawned.

“I’m happy you came.” Gideon didn’t want him to feel rejected by his decision to stay, when he truly was delighted to see him, and to learn the rest of his family was well.

“Me too. I’ve missed you.”

Gideon smiled at his brother’s sleepy confession. Suddenly, a memory flashed before his eyes, and they were back in their castle, only boys again, sharing a room because, to their father’s disapproval, neither could sleep without the other in the dark. The safety he felt in the memory drifted over him, and not a single nightmare disturbed him for the rest of his slumber.

Chapter Twenty-One

Aerin

“This isn’t so bad,” Aerin muttered, walking through the empty house. I didn’t think Gideon’s brother would arrive so soon. I thought we would have a little more time, but maybe fate was telling us he should go home. We haven’t even talked about him staying, because he couldn’t. Rubbing her chest, she tried to ignore the ache in her heart as she pictured him leaving with his brother for the inn, except now she was picturing him leaving for good. No, you can’t get all broken up about this; you knew he would have to go. You wouldn’t have written the letter if you didn’t know it was the right thing for him and me. I dug him up, and now it was time for him to fly the nest.