Chapter 13

MAEVE

I"m exhaustedfrom a day that feels twice as long as any other recently. Days have dragged on while waiting for things to change with Andrei, but now I need sleep to recharge and make plans. And gather the energy to get up at a silly hour to do what Andrei wants—not that I begrudge this for a moment.

Voices murmur from in the house below as I drift to sleep. I left the guys talking, and filling Andrei in on what we plan to do next, discussing everything that happened when he was "away".

Sitting with and keeping an eye on Andrei.

His heart still sounds in my ears as if the First were here, another concern I constantly push from my head. Hearing the First within Andrei remind me it might return. And if the creature does, what will it do next?

I drift off into a thankfully dreamless sleep—I"ve had too many nightmares recently. As cool air hits my skin, I startle, convinced I"ve only slept a few minutes. I grumble and reach for the sheet that covered me a few moments ago, and the overhead light switches on, causing me to squint.

A distinctive mint scent follows the person leaning over me. "Wake up!" says Andrei, a giddy excitement edging his voice.

Groaning, I hold an arm across my eyes, my body complaining, but this is a huge step for Andrei. I sit and yawn. "Already?" I mumble.

"Come with me." He holds a hand out, beckoning with his fingers.

"Where are we going?" I ask cautiously. "Do I need to change?"

"Hmm." He studies my short pyjamas, darts a look around, then grabs my blue blanket from the bed. "No. I"ll take this."

Tucking the blanket under his arm, Andrei yanks me to my feet, pulling me close. His eyes dazzle in the dark and he takes a sharp breath as my body touches his.

What will I do if Andrei wants more than a kiss? Nervousness skitters along my spine—we discussed waiting, but he"s here.

"Don"t worry," Andrei says softly. "I won"t drag you back into that bed." He kisses my forehead. "But don"t look in my head, please."

At least that Andrei half-smirk is the same guy.

"Shoes?" I suggest.

"Nope."

I stumble as Andrei drags me towards the bedroom door. He pauses and places a finger to his lips. "Don"t wake anybody."

"I suspect not everybody"s sleeping," I whisper as we creep along the hallway. I halt when we reach the stairs leading to the attic and his room.

I haven"t walked into Andrei"s room today; I spent too much time on vigil inside to want to return again. His bed"s unslept in, but at least Andrei isn"t in the bed, a statue of death I worried would never come back to us as the days passed.

The room is him again, not only the spiced scent of the soap he uses, but the aura of life rather than death. Andrei, but not quite because the First"s aura"s attached. I push thoughts of it away, including the one that comes constantly: where is the creature?

Unlinking my fingers from Andrei"s, I cautiously look around. "You"re planning activities in that bed instead?" I ask lightly, but my mouth dries.

He shoves hair from his face. "I intend to prove a point to the others, Maeve. So, no."

"Then what?"

With a grin, he hops onto his dresser, the one with drawers half-open as usual. Above him, a thick blackout blind is taped to the small window on the slanted ceiling. He tears this down and in a moment unlatches and shoves the window upwards.

"Come on."

"You want me to climb through a window onto the roof?" I ask. "You do know I don"t have the same agility as you? Or your expertise in not falling and injuring myself."

He looks down. "Crap. Are you scared of heights?"

"No. But we are three storeys high and?—"

"I want to sit on the roof and watch the sunrise with you," he blurts.

"Oh." My eyes go wide. "I thought you meant watch the sunrise in the garden."

"I didn"t think this through." His exuberance ebbs, but I walk to him.

"Help me up."

"You sure?"

"But if I fall to my death I won"t be happy," I say teasingly.

I needn"t have worried about falling. The roof peaks just above the window and the newly renovated tiles sit firmly in place. Andrei keeps a tight grip on my hand and hauls me up to sit beside him.

I"ve never climbed as high above the world I currently live in, and unlike the view from my bedroom window, I can see over the treetops to a clearer view of the lakes, and mountains behind whose dark shapes silhouette against the night sky.

The soon to be dawn sky.

"You"re fortunate it isn't raining," I comment as I gesture at the clouds obscuring the stars.

"Uh huh." Andrei drags the blanket across my shoulders and hugs me to him, my side against his hips, his breath in my hair.

Taking his bare arm, I play my fingers along the soft sheen before linking mine with his.

"You"re back," I whisper, throat thick. "You"re really back."

"I"d never leave you, Maeve."

I bite back my thoughts on his stupid move, but we"ve had that one-sided conversation many times when he lay immobile, apparently hearing everything. Why waste the time and breath on rehashing that? Time will tell whether the decision led to a different person, but at this moment I"m with the Andrei whose love for me shines brighter than ever.

Tiny streaks of burned orange appear in the clouds, and Andrei"s grip tightens. His eyes fix on the sky, and he chews his lip.

"Okay?" I ask and rest my head on his shoulder.

"Mixed feelings," he says hoarsely. "The hemia self-preservation makes the sight terrifying enough for me to run back into the house."

"Oh." I look up at him. "Too much?"

Andrei runs the back of his fingers against my cheek. "The last time I witnessed dawn is the day you escaped the Blackwoods. And that fucking hurt."

I tense. So long ago, but so recent. "I understand why you"d think of that right now. I remember the burns."

"I"m staying. Even though I"ll see thousands more sunrises, I want to watch the first one with you." His eyes glisten. "Tomorrow, I start the life I wanted. Properly."

The spectre of the First hovers around those words, but I smile, life filling with as much warmth and colour as the dawn gradually creeping across the horizon. As Andrei pulls me closer, the reality of what we"re doing hits me.

I remember all those nights we were forced to part abruptly, too lost in ourselves that we missed how close dawn was. After one close call, we always spent our nights at Petrescu—a new day would never matter if Andrei wasn"t the one who needed to leave the room.

Never again.

Andrei shivers slightly as his new world greets him with a sky that burns, spreading like a fire as if the horizon were alight with a threat that could roar towards and overwhelm us. Andrei"s breathing speeds and I wrap my arms around his waist, hugging him close. He wraps his around me in return and my heart races in unison with his, as what was once impossible and unimaginable grows around us.

"The day chose a spectacular sunrise for you, Andrei," I whisper, voice thickening with tears.

"I can"t believe I"m here," he whispers back hoarsely. "You"ve no idea how often I"ve imagined this."

No. I never understood until the day in his room, when Andrei showed me pictures Ash sneakily took of me and gave to him. The tears in Andrei"s eyes as he shouted in frustration how he could never have all of me because he"d never be with the Maeve who thrives in the sun. The distress that he"d never touch the warm skin of the girl he loves, and see colours that would never appear the same under artificial light.

In that moment, I understood that Andrei loved me more than I ever imagined. And that day, Andrei took my blood, and we took the final step to sealing who we are and always will be. I rub my neck subconsciously. Can we ever safely do that again?

"I always promised we"d find a way for you to daywalk."

"But not this way," he mumbles. "Sorry for not thinking. For hurting you."

I turn Andrei"s face to mine, meeting troubled eyes and press my lips to his. "Live in this moment instead. I"d rather hold on to and remember today forever than dwell on the last week."

As dawn gives way to day and the mountains appear, their peaks shrouded by rain-heavy clouds, I"m in tears. Happy tears, relieved tears, disbelieving tears. I try to suppress a sob and Andrei tips my chin.

"Don"t cry, Maeve." But his eyes hold tears of his own.

We kiss beneath the new day, clinging to each other, the sunrise forgotten. Andrei"s lips move gently over mine, a contrast to the fierce, passionate kiss when he first returned to me. I worried that gentleness couldn"t co-exist with this new Andrei, but the guy holding me now spoke the truth about his love not changing.

I"m not fooling myself; his changes involve more than watching the sunrise or walking in the sun with the girl he loves. But for now, in this peaceful, once impossible moment, we"re the guy and girl who once hid in the dark and never believed we"d fully step out of that. Our lives changed when we met, but more than we could ever predict, and we"ve thousands more sunrises to watch together.

The future belongs to us, and we"ll create the one we want, not a fate thrust on us.

"You"re missing the rest of the sunrise," I whisper against his lips.

He pulls the blanket tighter around us and rests his forehead on mine. "I love you."

"And I love you. Always."

Andrei curls fingers around where I touch his cheek and presses his lips to them. "I"ve glimpsed dawn many times since we met. Here, now, with you, is a hopeless dream I"ve had for months."

But what if the sacrifice you made is too big?I don"t say the words, only smile and lay my head on his shoulder, our bodies pressed together, cocooned by the blanket as the day welcomes Andrei.

I spot Ash leaving the house and jogging into the woods, but he doesn"t see us. Andrei laughs softly to himself. "I won"t be joining him in that morning activity."

Another figure appears, but this time deliberately walks to where he can see us. Tobias pauses, looking up, and I strain to see his expression. Andrei, being Andrei, waves. Before either of us can speak, Tobias shakes his head and walks away towards his car.

Not towards us.

Not racing upstairs to accost us on the roof.

Tobias gives us this moment.

And he gives Andrei his trust.