As Victoria smiled back at him, it struck Vail for the first time that there were no more barriers between them. Now that she wasn’t human anymore, his father couldn’t use their differing races as a reason to keep them apart. Not that Peter had the mental capacity to try to separate them anymore. Ever since he’d found his family—or what remained of them—in the barn, the clan leader had been a shell of his former self. It seemed like he had taken the blame for the fact that a Wynter had massacred the Hygraces for the second time. Technically it was his fault that they hadn’t been prepared to defend themselves, but now his father was causing them new issues by not stepping up in a time when they needed him the most. As a result, he’d been leading the clan in the patriarch’s stead.

When she leaned up to meet his lips, he pressed into her fervently, making up for the lack of strength on her end of the kiss. From what he recalled in the tome he’d read, it was going to take some time before she regained her energy after veritably dying for a week. He could see that her fangs hadn’t developed yet either. Human blood would be the fastest way to help her recover, but since she didn’t have the tools she needed to hunt—nor the experience or the strength necessary to be successful—regular food and water would have to serve as a placeholder until she was capable of drinking from someone’s neck at all.

Parting from the kiss, he met her gaze again, delighted as always to hear her express her affection for him. “I love you too,” he reciprocated, then smiled again as he was struck with a thought. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you’re already starting to show some changes.” He reached up to caress her cheek gently with his fingers. “Your eyes look like amethyst… They’re beautiful.” He was unsure if she would like the color her irises had taken on or not, but he genuinely found them stunning. Besides, it wasn’t like she would ever be able to see them for herself. Now that she was a vampire, she would no longer have a reflection in the mirror.

In another part of the house, he could hear Lady Diana Crest shuffling about, performing some task or another as she went about her day. He had enjoyed being the first face Victoria saw when she awoke, but now that she was coherent enough to speak, he supposed he shouldn’t keep her all to himself much longer. Pulling back from her just slightly, he turned his head toward the door and called out, “Diana, bring water.” He presumed the widow would understand the purpose behind his request, since he had never asked her for water before, so he didn’t elaborate. Instead, he turned back to his formerly human lover and pressed another kiss to her forehead while he waited for her mother to oblige.