Page 21 of Clarity

“And I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to do, nothing you're not feeling."

I pushed out a deep sigh.

Of course I appreciated him notforcingme to take this step, which we both knew he very well could. I may have been able to get my little licks in here and there, to fight back when I could catch him by surprise, but he was absolutely more powerful than I was.

Probably even if I was at full potential, without my legacy power being siphoned.

The trap at the store had only worked because it could draw on the power that was already there—decades, centuries even, of soaking in the Pierre family magic. Otherwise, that whole thing would’ve looked quite different.

Or maybe it wouldn’t, since Parris hadn’t given any inclination of wanting to hurt me.

The opposite, in fact.

Which was the biggest factor in me questioning myself on what exactly I was worried about with doing the claret tattoos. What were the drawbacks of it, really, when I was already about to be bound to him forever?

It didn't make much sense to not take the opportunity to ease my discomfort.

“You know what? Let's do it," I told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" he asked, and I felt the probe in my brain, him pushing me to tell the truth.

"No," I answered. "I'm not sure. But we're here, and I think it's the best decision I can make for myself. And that'll have to be enough."

He stared at me for a moment, then nodded.

“Aiight. Let’s do it.”

If I had any doubts or misunderstandings about the influence of the Blacks before now, they would have been quickly assuaged by the way everything stopped when we walked inside. Even in the dim, moody lighting of the shop, there were little pockets of brighter illumination where artists were at work.

Well,hadbeen.

They stopped to get a look at Parris Black.

"Mr. Black, how can we be of service?"

I looked back to where Parris was standing to find that we'd been approached. This was not a first descendant vampire.

No one else in here was.

He extended his hand to Parris to shake with an abundance of respect in his tone, but no deference, as if he knew Parris would have hated that.

"Lien de sang, for me and my lady here," Parris told him, accepting the greeting gesture.

His lady?I thought, wondering when the hell that had happened.

And then I realized it wasn't something that really needed to be discussed.

It was essentially a done deal anyway, specifics aside.

With an eyebrow raised, the other vampire looked between me and Parris with a frown, then spoke directly to him. "She's not a vampire," he said. "And this won't turn her into one."

"I know," Paris agreed. "I understand the rules and all of that. We still want to do it."

"Wait a minute—is there something moreIneed to understand though? " I spoke up, drawing the eyes of both Parris and the other vampire.

He looked at Parris again, waiting on approval before returning his attention to me.

"It binds you," he explained. "A permanent connection. His blood will be mingled with yours, and it ain't something that can be filtered out. It's intimate," he said. "The connection. Not the process, necessarily. You understand what I'm saying?"