“You know my name, but I have not had the pleasure of hearing yours.”

Smiling at her words he leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. She was like a magnet, drawing him towards her as she leaned back. He wanted to stay close, he couldn’t help it.

A smile played on his lips as he spoke. “I am Marcus.”

She grinned at him, flashing that perfect smile, and continued, “Marcus. What a lovely, noble name. May I ask you something, Marcus?”

He loved the way her full lips formed his name, the sound of her voice as it formed the syllables. He decided not to answer her right away and just looked at her in the hopes that she would say it again.

His patience was rewarded by her impatience as she spoke his name again. “Marcus?”

Hearing her say his name once again, one of the sweetest sounds he had ever heard made him grin even more widely. “Of course you may ask your question, fair one.”

She laughed softly and then, imitating his posture, she leaned forward once again and rested her own elbow on her knee and chin in her hand. “Did you figure out what my gift is?”

For a moment he had been distracted by the fact that her face was mere inches from his and he wanted to kiss her once again, but even her closeness was not enough to distract him from her question. His smiled faded away and he frowned. It took him a moment to find his voice.

“You see when death will take us away, is that it?”

She nodded and leaned in a bit closer, so close in fact that her breath had mingled with his and she whispered, “Does that frighten you?”

Even now the idea that she thought he could frighten him brought a smile to his face and he was no longer the still statue at the window that he had been as his lips turned up at the corners. There had been very little in the span of his existence that had frightened him, not when he was mortal or even he had been immortal. He was much too self-assured and cocky for that.

He hadn’t realized that there was something to be frightened of until it was too late. Before he had turned her, the idea that he might lose her had scared him. Once she had become a vampire, well, the thought that she wouldn’t always be with him had never crossed his mind. He hadn’t had the good sense to be frightened.

Now, nothing frightened him at all. To feel fear one had to have something to lose. The only thing he had left was his existence, and he would gladly give it up since it had been practically worthless without her.

Though it wasn’t much of a distraction since they had been the trigger in the first place, he thought of Edward and Bella. He remembered the boy’s impassioned plea to have his life ended at the hand of the guard when he thought his Bella was dead. He remembered making similar pleas himself and having them ignored. 

Well, they had not been ignored exactly; they had been brushed aside with reminders of alliances, duty, and promises. Everyday since he had regretted making those promises, in truth he would not have kept them at all if he hadn’t made them to her.

Didyme.

The smile faded from his face yet again and he opened his eyes and turned his head over his shoulder to at her portrait once more as his voice filled the dark, still room.

“Why did you do it?”

He had asked this question a million times even though he knew the answer. Yes, he knew why she had made him promise to stay alive no matter what.