Adrian woke to sunlight streaming through paper screens and the smell of tea.
He sat up, momentarily disoriented, then remembered everything. The vampire attack. The rescue. Kieran's confessions. The way they'd touched each other in the darkness like they were trying to memorize every inch.
His face heated.
"Good morning," Kieran said from the doorway, holding a tray with tea and what looked like an elaborate breakfast. "I wasn't sure what you'd want, so I made everything."
Adrian stared at the tray, then at Kieran. "You cook?"
"I've had a thousand years to learn. I'm mediocre at most things, but I make excellent congee."
The domesticity of it—ancient vampire making breakfast for his reincarnated lover—made Adrian want to laugh and cry simultaneously.
"Come here," he said instead.
Kieran set the tray on the nightstand and sat on the edge of the bed. Adrian immediately crawled into his lap, wrapping his arms around Kieran's neck.
"Good morning," Adrian said, and kissed him.
Kieran made a surprised sound, then relaxed into it, his hands settling on Adrian's waist. When they pulled apart, he was smiling.
"I could get used to this," Kieran admitted.
"Good. Because I'm planning to do it every morning for the foreseeable future."
"Careful. I might take you seriously."
"Please do."
They ate breakfast together—well, Adrian ate while Kieran watched with a contentment that made Adrian's chest warm. Apparently vampires could eat human food, but they didn't need to and it didn't taste like anything to them.
"So what happens now?" Adrian asked around a mouthful of congee (which was, indeed, excellent). "Viktor's dead, but you said his followers are still out there."
Kieran's expression sobered. "Yes. The movement he started won't die with him. There are vampires who believe in the old ways, who want to stop hiding. We'll need to be careful."
"We?"
"If you want to stay involved. You could also return to your normal life. Finish your degree. Work in some dusty museum. I'd understand."
Adrian snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure I could totally go back to normal life after learning vampires are real and I'm the reincarnation of your medieval boyfriend and there's a magical prophecy about my blood. Super easy to go back to worrying about midterms."
"Point taken."
"Besides," Adrian said, setting down his bowl and moving to straddle Kieran's lap again (a position he was discovering he quite enjoyed), "I'm not done with you yet. We have a thousand years of missed time to make up for."
Kieran's hands automatically went to Adrian's hips, steadying him. "We have time. All the time you want."
"Promise?"
"I promise. For however long you'll have me."
Adrian kissed him again, slow and sweet, tasting tea and possibility.
Outside, the world continued. Vampire politics needed handling. Viktor's followers needed stopping. Mysteries about the curse and the prophecy needed solving.
But for now, in this moment, it was just them. A vampire who'd waited a thousand years and a human who was learning to remember. Two souls finding each other across time, against all odds, despite death itself.
"I love you," Adrian said, because it felt important to say it in daylight, when everything was clear and real.
Kieran's eyes shone. "I love you too. In this life and every other."
And for the first time in a millennium, Kieran's heart—which had ached every night since Elias's death—was completely, utterly still.
The curse was broken.
The waiting was over.
The story was just beginning.