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Tristan raised a finger to her as he led her into the room. He slipped back out and shut the door behind himself, Sam and Adrian standing with him in the hallway. She spent the next few hours alone but some things occurred to her and she was anxious for him to get back.
As the room darkened she heard voices in the living room. She strained to listen. She couldn’t make out words but neither voice sounded like Tristan’s. She had been on the bed, playing solitaire on a tablet PC that was in the room. She put it down and braced herself. There was a knock on the bedroom door, which was open a few inches.
She sat up straight in the bed.
“Yes?”
Adrian stepped in and he was with a man, a tall and attractive man with dark hair and blue eyes. The man wore a suit. His eyes were on Kyla. They were warm. She was about to remark that Tristan didn’t want anyone with her without him present but she wasn’t sure if someone who was just semi-lucid would say such a thing. And before she could decide what to say or whether she should say anything, it occurred to her who the man with Adrian was.
He spoke up,
“Ky.”
Memories flashed in her mind of zooming down a slide and directly into that man’s arms.
My father.
She swallowed past a lump in her throat.
He opened his arms.
She remained rooted to the bed, gripped by uncertainty.
“Where’s Tristan?” Kyla asked, not taking her eyes off her father.
Because this man wasn’t just her father. He was also a vampire.
“He’s downstairs with Samuel,” Adrian replied.
“Does he know you’re up here?”
“Your father traveled all the way here to see you. He’s been anxious,” Adrian said, not answering her question.
Her father looked the same. He looked just the same. She had very few specific memories of her parents but he looked identical to what she remembered. He looked like he was 25 or 30, not nearly 50. He was handsome, trim but athletic-looking. He had a nice smile.
A crash pierced the air and Tristan was there, between the foot of the bed and Kyla’s father and Adrian. He had his back to Kyla, blocking them.
“What the fuck?” he bit off.
“Sir! Lyle Kelly,” Kyla’s father extended a hand to Tristan, “Kyla’s father. I’m so glad to finally meet you. I’ve heard great things about you. We’ve been at a few events together but have never actually met.”
Tristan crossed his arms and ignored Kyla’s father, “Adrian, do we need to again review that no one, and I mean no one, yourself included, is to approach her without me present, without my consent prior to that approach?”
Adrian shrugged, “Her father, Tristan. He was anxious to see her. He hasn’t seen her in over 20 years. For most of those years he had no clue whether or not she was alive. Some compassion wouldn’t go amiss.”
“Compassion?” Tristan snarled, “Since when is that a consideration for our kind?”
Adrian smirked at him and shrugged.
Wow, devious.
Kyla’s father spoke up, “Again, I’m very happy to meet you, Sir. I apologize for the misstep of entering before obtaining your permission. I respectfully request some time with Kyla. Perhaps you could both join me for dinner this evening?”
“I’ll let you know,” Tristan folded his arms across his chest.
“I’d appreciate the opportunity to join you as well,” Adrian added, “A family dinner. Won’t it be lovely?”
There was definite sarcasm in his tone.
“I’ll let you know.” Tristan’s voice was arctic.
Lyle flashed Kyla his enigmatic smile and it was painful to witness. “I look forward to getting to know you as an adult. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to see you safe and sound. You grew up to look even more beautiful than I daydreamed about. You have my colouring but your mother’s features, her eyes. I’m so very happy that things are working out according to plan. Once I knew you were alive I wanted badly to see you in the flesh but as you’d imagine, I couldn’t.” He gestured himself with a sweep of his hand, “It’d be a little tricky to explain…”
“How is she?” Kyla asked, without thinking, only feeling --- feeling pain pierce her chest.
According to plan?
Kyla had been stolen from her parents and their lives had been uprooted. Her birth itself had been orchestrated and he looked like it was all the same to him.
She had trouble getting a read on his expression since she didn’t really know him.
“How’s who?” Lyle asked.
“My mother?”
Who else? Wow.
“Oh. Right. Well…Katya and I don’t see one another often.”
Of Kyla’s few early memories of her parents, she remembered them being very in love, their home life very fairy tale-like. Maybe that’s why she expected her prince to eventually come. Her father had been such a gallant prince charming back then and her mother had seemed love struck, happy.
