luybava_shmel: переводы

→I stood alone on the windswept hill, with the moon starting to shine on the water. In the distance, I heard the laughter and chatter of those I loved and sensed the warmth they held. Picking up my skirts, still wearing Carter’s jacket over my shoulders, I headed off toward my husband and the rest of my life, off to be worthy of my soul.

→“I should’ve checked with Peter to find out your colors,” said Carter, running a hand through his hair. It didn’t look like it had been brushed for the occasion. “Sorry if I clash.”

→“Nice of you to dress up,” I said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything so formal.”

→“You were checking my registry,” I said. “How sweet.”

→Considering how underappreciated Peter always felt, I would’ve expected him to revel in the praise, but he actually turned modest. “Ah, well. You guys are the main attraction. I just provided the—”

→“That we did,” I murmured. This was the first time I’d seen him since the trial. “Jerome’s not with you?”

→“Well,” he said. “We left off kind of abruptly.”

→I looked up at him, into those eyes so full of love, and forgot about Carter for the space of heartbeat. It was still too unbelievable to accept sometimes that this was my life, that Seth was my husband. I pressed my lips to his in a quick kiss.

→I followed their gaze, unable to see anything beyond the lit perimeter. It had been very easy to become human again, but there were still a few things I had trouble shaking. The loss of my immortal senses was one. Even now, it was weird to be standing with Peter and Hugh and not feel them. Their night vision was no better than mine—well, actually, I supposed Peter’s was—but it wasn’t their eyes that had alerted them to Carter’s presence.

→He stopped speaking, and as one, he and Hugh glanced off beyond the edge of the torches, into the darkness.

→I leaned my head against Seth, content with everything and everyone in the world. “You did a beautiful job, Peter,” I said. “Seriously. It all turned out great.”

→“Sad,” said Doug. He slung an arm around Cody. “Want to go make a bar run with me?” When Cody nodded, Doug glanced at the rest of us. “Refill anyone?”

→“Very considerate,” he said. He glanced around, nodding grudgingly. “Aside from that—and the fact that the bridesmaids are all under eighteen—I gotta admit, you put on a pretty good spread.”

→I repeated my vows while holding Seth’s hands. Each word I spoke was infinitely powerful, and yet I wouldn’t really remember any of them until later. For those minutes, my whole world was focused on his face, on the amber gold of his eyes and the way the light played off his hair. Love burned within me and between us, making everything else a fog of indistinct details. There was only Seth and me. Me and Seth.

→The wedding was held on the grounds of a beachfront resort on Puget Sound. We stood on a grassy hill, facing west toward the water. It was high summer, and everything was bathed in orange and gold. The bridesmaids (all Mortensen girls) wore red dresses that looked as though they’d been designed with the sunset in mind and carried white clusters of stephanotis. Our only nod to decorations was an ivy-strewn arch that the officiant stood in front of. With so much beauty around us, nothing else had seemed necessary.

→“No,” I said, snuggling closer. “Because our dream’s come true. The only thing you’re going to wake up to from now on is me. For as long as you want me.”

→“A dream, huh?” asked Seth. “Does that mean I’m going to wake up to cold reality soon?”

→And of course, the whole experience was affected by the fact that I no longer had succubus powers to contend with. I didn’t have to worry about stealing his life energy. I didn’t have to wrestle with the guilt. I didn’t have to split the desires of my heart with my predatory supernatural nature. All I had to do was touch him and exalt in the experience of being together.

→It sounds kind of sappy, I know. But to be able to kiss someone you love when you’re fully and completely in control of yourself and know who you are . . . it’s exquisite. How we love others is affected by how we love ourselves, and for the first time in a long time, I was whole. I knew who I was and in turn was able to appreciate just how much I loved him.

→“Don’t we?” I asked. “I mean, I gave you my room key, and you went right for me as soon as you came in.”