Lana's POV

  My mind seemed to be floating in some half-conscious state. I couldn't understand what it was that weakened me, but my body simply decided to go numb, to release every bit of energy that kept me straight. I pushed myself to think.. To stay conscious of my surroundings. But the only thing my mind chose to register was the fact that I was in his arms. My Christian.

  It's over, I kept repeating to myself. It's finally over. It only mattered that we all made it out alive.. Almost all of us. Alexander.. Alexander was dead. He— it's true that he made a mistake, but the simple thought of Adam killing him before my eyes, ripping his heart out so savagely.. Hell, no one deserved that.

  It weakened me, that picture in my head.. I was breathing, but my breaths were so slow that they barely left my lips. I could register his scent, Christian's scent.. I could feel the scrape of his slight beard underneath my lips, and I wasn't even aware I had leaned forward.. To feel him closer, to feel him holding me and breathing me in with every step he took..

  "Christian," His name slipped between my lips like silk against glass, so quiet that it was surprising he had heard me..

  "What is it, my love?" His lips moved somewhere over my forehead before he left a light kiss right there.. I heard something in his voice. I heard fear in his voice. I felt it in his body. It was rigid and stiff. He was frightened for me. I knew he was.

  "I'm alright." I told him, so slowly that I barely connected the two words. And I felt his grip around me tighten. Then I remembered, that wasn't what I wanted to say.. I wanted to ask something. But I said instead, "Are you?"

  "I am. And I know you are too." He left another kiss over my hair. It was a soothing kiss. I just wasn't sure if he was soothing himself or me. "You're alright," He adjusted me a bit in his arms and I leaned closer against his neck. Again, I inhaled his scent. "Lana, stay with me, love," I wanted to open my eyes and look at him, but I couldn't. "Are you hurt?"

   Shaking my head didn't seem enough because I barely moved, so I added. "No, I'm just—" My voice faded away.. I was losing track of my thoughts again. "Amelia, is she— are they alright?" Was that what I wanted to ask before?

  "Everyone is fine. You are too. Everything will be just fine," He repeated and I noticed how raged his breath seemed, almost as if he was in a hurry.. I heard muted voices from the side..

  "What happened to her?" Someone yelled, it was a familiar voice, a man's voice, but to me it was all just faded sounds, somewhere in the back of my head.

  "I don't know, I was—" And Christian continued explaining, but his voice too seemed to mute away.. I frowned and felt a moan of protest leave my throat because I could speak to myself. I was alright, just like he said. But no one seemed to had noticed, so I wondered if it was all just in my head. "She destroyed the necklace, what if the necklace—"

  Christian continued talking, and I continued holding myself against him.. No, he was holding me. I was just holding on tightly. Or was I? I could still hear voices though, I could hear female voices mixing in, and I thought to myself, that must be Amelia. She's really just fine.

  They my thoughts wandered somewhere else. I thought about her daughter and how I never would've forgiven myself if a child was left motherless because of a fight I was supposed to end by myself. I thought about Christian and his brother, and how they kept each other's back. I thought about my brothers, my mother, and my father that was already dead, because of that same person that I ended, not so long ago..

  It was all fleshes in my memory. I heard them laughing.. Or I just thought of them laughing. How it used to me.. Simpler, that's what it was. It was all much simpler before Adam came into our lives. That night when I left home, protesting against a marriage with Alexander, rebelling against my father.. They were both dead now. 

  I felt pressure in my head. I tried holding onto Christian tighter, but then realized I felt nothing in my hands, in my arms.. No strength, no ability to show any sign of consciousness. Was it all a dream? Maybe I didn't kill Adam, my paranoid mind whispered to me, but I pushed the thought back. I killed him. I saw him fall dead. I saw the life leave his body.

  And then I thought of how perhaps it would've all been easier if I never left home that night.. That night when I met Alexander Vesnetsov. When I also met Christian le Boursier.. When everything in my life went downhill. I should had agreed. I should had agreed to marry Alexander. I should've made my father happy. It was the least I could do, after everything he did for me, my entire life.

  But then I would've never had Christian. And I loved Christian. He was my everything. He was— he was my only will to try and open my eyes. But I once again failed. I simply felt exhausted, and that was clearly worrying him.. Worrying everyone, apparently, I just couldn't figure out what they were saying.

  I love him, I told myself. I always have, always will.. Perhaps I loved him before I even admitted it to myself, but it was an emotion so strong that I could no longer deny. And there wasn't anything in the world like being loved back.. The feel of his breath somewhere over my hair, his lips moving against it as he spoke, almost had me smiling that I was in his arms.. And he was alright. He was really alright. 

  So I tried flattering my eyes opened with one simple wish, and that was to see those midnight blacks look back at mine, to be assured that it was all true, all real. And I succeeded this time. I opened my eyes, and looked up. His jaw was sharp and the lines of his face were splendidly straight, perfectly carved just as always..

  He was talking to someone, looking in the other direction, and when I tried following his gaze— God knows how I moved my head to do so, I was met with a picture that— oh, it definitely proved that I had either lost my mind or.. Or I was right when I thought it was all a dream. No, it couldn't be real.. Because when I looked in that direction to see who he was talking to.. I saw my father.

~

  Christian's POV

There was this heavy pressure tightening in my chest with every step I took.. And I took many, like a madman walking in circles for the damned millionth time. It was not okay. None of it was okay. And my mind was exploding. Something in my body felt numb and I knew that only one thing could ease it..

To see her open her eyes. To see her look at me and make sure she was alright. To— Damn, my thoughts were torturing me. She was out for hours and there didn't seem to be a stop sign for the fears that crossed me.

Only for her could I fear like that.. Only for her could I lose my mind so many times, over and over again, like a storm had taken over my mind and nothing could calm it. My only wish was for her to wake up, because— Hell, something definitely wasn't right.

She killed him. She did the thing none of us could do for years.. She ended the monster that ruined her family, that ruined us all. But at the same time, destroying that necklace.. It was connected to her blood. Amelia's too, but she showed no such effects of faintness.. Of any kind of ache.

While my Lana.. She didn't seem in pain either. When I was carrying her out of the old house, she assured me that she wasn't hurt. But she was barely conscious. She was limp in my arms, completely weak, and my heart broke at the damn sight of it.

Her father.. He was alive. The death of the witches proved that the explosion they created was an illusion and all of those that lost their lives that night.. They didn't. They came back to life the second the third witch was dead. He came after his daughter the second he stood on his feet. And she— she saw that. She saw him, and passed out.

Now she was in her room, laying in her bed. Calliope was with her, making sure she was alright. She was. She had to be. She was breathing. She even talked to be before she— she just fainted. That's it. Nothing more. No, I refused to think it was anything other than that.

For the millionth time that night, I searched for her heartbeat. I heard it. Calmed and steady, from the room she was in, beating rhythmically and giving me at least some peace to breathe in. I couldn't help myself.

I walked in the room, just to find Calliope over Lana, holding her hand and mumbling a few words. She was checking if it was all alright, but that didn't seemed to be a reason enough for me to stop. Her father too was in there a second ago but now it was just the two of them. I reached the bed, looking for an answer. And Calliope seemed very much aware I had entered the room.

After a second or so, she place Lana's hand back beside her and looked back at me. "She's alright. From what I can tell, the destroying of the necklace just weakened her." She released a slow breath, looking down at Lana. "She ended the very monster we all wanted dead for years, Christian. She's merely exhausted."

That gave me relief.. It gave me the chance to breathe in some air again. To look down at her and— Gods, admire the beauty that laid unconscious on that bed.

With her eyes closed peacefully, those thick lashes seemed to be sending shadows down her face from the dimmed light from the lamp on the nightstand. Her skin was so fair it almost seemed pale, but it had that usual creaminess, that rosiness in her cheeks.. And there was ripeness in her lips, so much that they were almost that ruby red, that familiar color I could never resist..

Her chest rose and fell rhythmically as she breathed, and there didn't seem to be even a single bad thought crossing her mind because she was peaceful. Simply peaceful. And she deserved rest without someone— myself actually, paranoid as always, waking her just so that I would make she should would wake up. Damn, my mind was too messed up. For her— for her I feared everything.

I took her hand, so limp against mine, small and warm, and brought that silky skin to my lips. I kissed her palm, inhaled her scent, and observed her for another few seconds. Yes, she was alright. She was— she was just tired. So I somewhat found relief in my chest.

It was perhaps supposed to frighten me just how much I cared for this girl.. The things I was willing to do for her. Hell, was it even normal to love a woman that much? It just seemed impossible not to, because Lana was.. She was something our world hadn't seen yet. Courage and beauty.. The kind of fearlessness I had yet seen.

"Christian," It was the voice of the man that returned to life that night. Her father.

I turned to look at him just to see him standing at the door of the room. The gesture he preformed with his hand for me to follow him. I understood he had things to discuss with me. He knew.. He must've. What Lana and I had was no longer a secret.

So I followed him into his office, wondering how Lana would react once she woke up. Would she even remember seeing her father before she passed out? I highly doubted that. She was barely conscious.

I closed the door behind me, wondering whether Khan would decide to make things difficult.. Whether he would accept my devotion to his daughter, or threaten me to never approach her again. Either way, nothing could change what I felt for Lana. It simply burned inside me.. It could not be tamed.

"I'm certain you do know the consequences to this union.." Khan started with a lean of his hands over his wooden desk, while I was still at the door.

"There is no union yet." I walked closer slowly, looking around the office.

"Lana—"

"She'll be alright." I cut in because I heard the doubt in his voice.. Or I just needed another assurance that she was just fine.

"I know she will. She must be. I didn't come back from the dead to lose—" With eyes closed, he backed up from his desk and turned towards the large window behind it. "It doesn't matter. This is not what I wanted to discuss with you." He looked at me again and I knew what it was all about. "You do realize that the connection you have with my daughter is unacceptable."

"Why is that?" It was me that leaned my hands on the desk this time, looking back at him to find the answer possibly in his eyes.. Because I didn't need to hear what he had to say about that. I knew his opinion on vampires, especially us that ruled Venedocia.

"You know that more than I do. Your father—"

"My father is long gone. Venedocia is ruled by my brother, and no matter how much you wish to deny it, he will never proclaim war."

Perhaps I should had let him finish because it was hard to miss the deadly glare he sent me, but something about that subject didn't lay still inside me. My father was not supposed to be mentioned. What I had with Lana had nothing to do with that.

He allowed another few seconds of silence to analyze me. "I cannot say I'm certain, but after what you did for my family, I do trust he wouldn't."

I processed his words.. His intentions.. The direction this conversation was taking. I still had that unsettling stone in my chest because Lana was laying unconscious in the other room. How was I to discuss my brother's war pretensions, when—

Hell, I could feel the anger slowly boiling inside me. Khan was not a reasonable man, not when it came to his enemies. What was I to say would make him understand that I was willing to give my life for Lana? I kept my silence and this time, I tried analyzing what he had in mind with that..

"I love your daughter." I finally said, pushing back from the desk and assuring him once more. "She is my everything, you must understand that. I've loved her since the moment I first spoke to her and I'd be damned if I ever claimed otherwise."

And my words were such a surprise that he was left perhaps speechless for a while because he had to clear his throat and look on the side to find words again. Good. I was glad he took me seriously.

"You saved her.. More than once.." He repeated the same.

"I'd do it as many times as I have to. I'd die if it means saving her."

"I see." He nodded his head and walked a bit closer to his desk. "I came from the dead not so long ago, it's true, but I had seen enough. You did a good job protecting her.. And I understand how you feel, I do, but you must understand too that she— She's my daughter and you are—"

  "A le Bouriser,"

  "Exactly." I pressed my fingers over my eyes to ease the pressure in my head. I was exchanging words here, having some conversation when all I could think of was her.. He really failed to chose the right time to be discussing that. Hell, I was supposed to be by her side.

  "That means little to me." I assured him, keeping my patience as still as a rock.. Or at least as much as I could because I could feel it slipping from me.

  He read me once again, knowing what I said was true. "Your brother already— I had no word in his marriage with Amelia."

  "I haven't seen two people more perfect for one another. They have a daughter together you must've heard.." There were no other words to describe those two, and Annie that was thankfully somewhere safe at that point. At least I didn't have to worry about that.

  "I have.. I've heard." It seemed like death really effected his focus because he couldn't concentrate on a single subject for two minutes straight.. "She's, what— two?"

  "Indeed. Little Annabelle is two." I confirmed, so instantly feeling some ease in my head, even a smile on my lips from the thought of the little princess. "But the point is that no matter how much you wish to deny it, Amelia is with my brother willingly, and Lana—" I ran a hand down my face to find some ease from that pressure I still felt sitting on me. "Lana had kept what she and I have a secret only because she feared your reaction. Which I see why she did so, now,"

He stared at me, and I stared back thinking whether to say it or not. But hell, my words were true. "I do not need permission to love your daughter, Khan, but I do respect her.. You too, to inform you of what I have with her.. What I feel for her."

  "My family means everything to me." He then said. "She is the reason why I'm alive again. She is a warrior and she had proved herself that more than once. I trust she can protect herself but I do feel the need to thank you as well."

  He was rounding his desk, with a stiff expression on his face that showed that exact fear he had for her. "War had been on the verge many times, between yours and ours, and this—" He looked back at me, waving his hands like it had no meaning. "This love you claim, it means truce.. It means an end to that."

  "I know." It was that. It was truce. It was—

  "I cannot stand in her way." Just as he said that, the door slowly screeched open, taking both out attention.

I turned around just to see my Lana, holding herself pretty stubbornly straight on her feet and walking in.. Her expression was of shock and fear, paling her face as if she had seen a ghost.. One that we all thought we had when we saw Khan. I suppose she didn't think what she saw before passing out was true.

I rushed towards her, knowing she might as well collapse like she did just a few hours ago. Still, she was in my arms then. Now she simply reached for me the very second I got to her, holding onto my arm as I pulled her closer..

  Yet her eyes were fixed on her father and her voice was weak with emotion. I had rarely seen such weakness on her face, and when I did, I simply wished to take her in my arms and hold her until she was calmed and soothed.

  "Dad?" Her voice even cracked so I looked back at Khan. They both kept their distance; with him probably careful not to scare her and her— well, I could only imagine how freaked out she was.

  "Lana," He said carefully, aware of the protection she found in my arms because she no longer seemed to hide it, or care to mask it at that matter. And when those glossy eyes looked up at me, I no longer cared either..

  "How— Christian, what is this? What's going on?"

  "Why did you stand up? You weren't supposed to—" I rubbed her shoulder to perhaps give her some ease, kissed the top of her head, aware that she couldn't take her eyes off her father. "Lana, it's real, my love, it's alright,"

And I slowly loosened my grip, trying to assure her that it was alright, and with all the carefulness in her steps, she walked a bit closer to him, still keeping a fair distance.

"How is it possible?" I could only imagine the relief Khan felt because I saw the stiffness fall from his face. "Dad?" And with another step of hers, she knew it was all real too. "Oh God," It was one of those tight hugs of hers she gave him, those that I was well familiar with because I couldn't count how many times she feared for my safety and did exactly that. "You're real, how— How are you here?"

She pulled away to look at him. "The witches, Lanny, you killed them," And he did try smiling but I could see why he failed. "The explosion they created was an illusion, and so were the deaths," Without a word, she pressed her head against his chest almost as if she feared the moment would disappear. "It's okay, I'm here,"

And I watched how he looked at me over her, how he nodded his head in some way of an approval, a thankful matter for perhaps making sure Lana was okay. And I nodded back. But no, there was no taking credit for what Lana did. Even if only one of the witches made it out of that house alive, he wouldn't had been there.. Hell, none of us would've.

Lana was the reason why that agony ended. Adam went after her and she ended him, before I could do something, before any of us could do something. Because she was a step before us, she was always one step before all of us.

She had braveness not many did, and I loved her for it. I loved her for what she was, what she became.. The leader of thousands, the ruler of Moondale.. And the queen of my very soul. It would mean damnation if I ever lost that.. If I ever lost her. I wasn't intending to. Not ever.

~

Lana's POV

It seemed impossible that it all could simply get fixed in one night.. All the broken pieces found their place, and I wasn't even sure how. My mother said the gods were with us, but in truth, I was just lucky that Jack appeared in the house on time.. Before Adam ruined all of us..

There was of course one question that had a very poor answer.. And it was my father, waking up from the dead. All of those that lost their lives that night, that got hurt and wounded.. They were up on their feet, that night. Was it possible, I kept asking myself. How was it real? But it was. It was there in front of me. My father's embrace was real, my brother's wounds healed and his smile honest when the pain disappeared.. There wasn't much I could ask for.

I had Christian by my side.. The whole day had passed in discussions, with my father and Amelia slowly finding their way to some conversation that filled my heart. On the other hand, apparently all my mother needed was to have papa by her side. And nothing more mattered to her. It was her that told Jack where I was, and probably instructed him to bring me back home alive..

The night had fallen now, and it effortlessly consumed every inch of the sky with its blankness. I seemed to be seeking some get-away because the whole day, I hadn't exchanged a normal word with Christian. It was all still tensed, of course. My father had just found out about the two of us, and despite Christian's claims that he accepted it, we still had to be careful..

But he was there now, sitting on the roof beside me.. His scent gave peace to my soul, the warmth of his body soothed every worry my mind suffered, and for the first time in so long, my heart found a steady rhythm. I moved closer to him, closed my eyes and felt him cold me tight against his chest..

"I thought I lost you in that house.." I left a kiss on the side of his jaw, feeling him pull me closer. "I was so scared,"

"Shh, it's all over now. Everyone is fine," My head was leaned against his shoulder, my eyes closed when he left a kiss over my hair.. "Are you?" I looked up at him just to see those dark eyes scan my face in concern. I nodded my head, just to find him lean down and leave another one of those butterfly kisses right over my cheekbone, the arch of my brow.. "That's all that matters to me."

"What happens now? What did my father say about— well, us?" I was aware of the curiosity in my eyes, one to which his eyes smiled.

"Nothing particular, but I believe he approved.. Somewhat," I felt the slow exhale leave his chest, how he was no longer stiff while holding me, as for we had both found peace in each other's arms.. "As of now.. Now, I must return.. There are people waiting for my next command."

I knew it would come to that.. Of course he had to return. Despite my father's approval of the two of us, or at least his choice not to stay in our way, Christian didn't belong in Moondale. But he belonged with me.. I had to make sure he knew that.

I could still remember that one time we sat exactly on that spot on the roof, right outside my window.. If only I knew it would end there, on that same spot, I never would've moved. But it wasn't the end. He couldn't just leave, I had barely seen him after everything that happened.

"Do you have to?" I asked, close to him, following the sharp lines on his face, the high cheekbones that gave him all that intimidation everyone feared, the darkness in his eyes I loved so much..

"Well, there's no urgency, but I cannot stay here either."

"And Amelia?"

"She's already getting ready to go back to Annabelle. Dimitri was talking to her on the phone when I left the study," There was a slight smile on his face to the mention of Annabelle. I wanted to meet the little girl.. Amelia did everything for her, we all did it to protect those we loved.

"Will I meet her some day?" I was running a finger down his chest before I looked up at him, just to feel him take my hand in his and bring it up to his lips.. The slow kiss he left on my palm melted my heart.

"Whenever you wish.." He mumbled against my skin, kissing the tip of my finger, then the other and pulling me closer.. "But you know, I look at my brother, holding little Annie, and— I want that, Lana. I want that with you. A little mini you, as fierce as you are—"

He was saying.. Saying something.. Words I was aware of in that moment, yet my brain refused to fully register. Or perhaps I did, just the picture they created in my head left me leaning closer to him, cutting him off before he could finish with a kiss I seemed to be seeking with every inch of my soul.

His lips parted and took mine in that familiar way, yet there was some meaning into that.. It was a conversation through that kiss, something deep and hungry and promising.. It was a kiss that demanded and claimed, him me, and the other way around.. It was one that meant not an end, but a beginning of something I failed to understand, yet wished with every part of my body..

"Come with me," He breathed when we pulled away, speaking against my lips, holding me pinned against him in a way that I could feel his heart when he said those words.. "Marry me."

I was looking back at dark eyes, eyes that held a vow, that held the despair that was reflected back in mine.. Those words he said had me holding my breath, waking up something in my chest that had my heart thumping, that had my hands tingling when I wrapped them behind his neck and pulled him to myself once again.

And that next kiss I left on his lips was the promising kind, the kind that left no space between our bodies, no air in our lungs. I heard the rasp of his breath in that kiss as our lips shifted, the groan that came from his throat and left my body on fire.. I could— I could lay on that roof on top of him and kiss him all night long, I thought..

There was a slight smile that stretched his lips, before he left another soft kiss on my chin, on the side of my face, until his lips brushed my ear. "Is that a yes?"

Since there were no words I could find in that moment, no other answer than a breathless yes, I decided to nod my head, to look him in the eyes and let him read mine.. I decided to run my fingers through his hair, pull him closer, and say words against his lips that I could no longer hold to myself.

"I love you,"

"I love you too, Lana Morpher."

***

Well, seems like our Lanny is soon to be a le Boursier as well..

I hope this chapter gave the final answers— the ones we've been sitting on the edge for for a while now, huh.. Khan finally knows and I think I can say that's a relief for all of us. He took it well 😉

The next chapter will be an epilogue, or the LAST one, call it as you wish.. I just can't believe that the end has come to this book.. It seems like I've been working on it for a whole year, even longer if not, and it will defs be hard to say toodaloo.... I love you guys for all the support you've given this one, so so much ❤️ You truly are the best!

But I think it's time to move onto the next 😉 I'll be publishing a new book (not part of this series) tomorrow, and I wanna hear if you guys will like it! It will be a mafia romance, for those of you that have read my other books know that i'm a fan of that as well.. So I hope y'all will enjoy something like that!

In the meanwhile let me know what you think of this chap, and make sure to tell me how you guys would like the idea of a third book to finish up these series, even though I'm afraid that won't be in the near future..

Kisses babes, see ya soon 😘