I Am Only One {Mature Vampire Romance}

Epilogue Part Three

The chandelier light from above glittered and reflected off of clear crystals in a swirl pattern around the belly and neck of the bottle; their brilliance so punctuated, I was certain they were diamonds.

Without needing any prodding, Xander cupped his hands as soon as Coco had and held them out patiently. After releasing Coco's bottle, Sofielle carefully placed the other sparkling gift in his palms. He pulled his hands close to his chest, and studied the tiny gift carefully.

The bottles were similar. Both had swirls of crystals and enameled butterflies, but his colors were much darker than hers. The crystals were black and the butterflies were glacial blue, charcoal and slate with black veining.

"What's inside?" Xander asked, holding the bottle up to the light to better see the scant amount of luminescent liquid. I wondered the same thing. They were too small to be perfume bottles.

"Fae tears," Sofielle replied softly.

I blinked. My body frozen for a moment as my mind digested her answer. Coco whispered the question floating around in my head, "Whose tears are they?"

A brief moment of pain crossed Sofielle's expression but disappeared so quickly, I wasn't sure if I'd even seen it. She exhaled slowly, her words gentle, "The identity is not relevant. The only thing that matters is what they do."

"What they do?" Xander tilted his head, looking between the bottle in his hands and Sofielle.

"If you find yourself under extreme duress, place one drop on your tongue, and the help you need, will find you." Her answer sounded simple, but I knew it wasn't. There were layers of meaning left unspoken.

"What kind of help?" he persisted.

Sofielle sighed, "Even I do not know that, child. Only the circumstances will dictate the help you receive." Her response seemed to satisfy him for the moment. He nodded and continued this visual exploration of the gift.

While the children were busily engaged in their gifts, Armand asked quietly, "And what of Acheron? Does he live?"

Sofielle flinched. Felaern's eyes lost all of their sparkling blue hue and blazed almost white, his jaw twitching and lips set in a thin hard line. "He does."

Armand opened his mouth to ask a follow-up question, but I interrupted before he could, "Why don't I take the children outside for a break while you finish your discussion?" The last thing I needed was for either of the twins to hear details of Acheron's ongoing torture, and I was almost certain that was where Armand's questioning was headed.

Armand gave me a hard nod. He kept silent while Xander and Coco replaced their treasures inside the box. Brialle stood to her feet, holding Tarquin, who had been patiently sitting in her lap. "I'll just put him down for a nap."

Armand stopped her, his tone not leaving any room for disagreement. "No...he stays."

Brialle's eyes widened and their concentrated stare lingered. To be honest, I wasn't particularly surprised by Armand's determination for Tarquin to hear the conversation. Armand had great expectations for Tarquin and had been training him since the moment he was born. Brialle finally agreed by returning to her seat.

I looked over at Cage, who remained on the couch we shared. His silver eyes darkened into mercury. We needed no speech to understand he would stay and share the details with me later. He kissed me on the cheek. "I'll send someone for you when the next to guest arrives."

Standing to my feet, Xander, Coco and I made our final goodbyes to Felaern and Sofielle. The kids were in need of a break anyway. Even with the gifts and attention, they had been fidgeting restlessly for the last couple of hours. It would do them good to run off the energy.