Why? Why did he feel like he couldn’t be open?
He fears me. He fears my anger. He thinks me unstable.
Maybe he’s right.
Antoine linked with Zoey.“Is Cally recovered?”
“Nice of you to ask. She’s alive, if that’s what you mean. I broke four of her ribs and fractured her sternum, but we got her heart going again. She’ll be black-and-blue until she heals. Marcel gave her a shot of fentanyl and we’ve put her in her room. Thanks for making me do that, by the way.”
Zoey could always be relied on for bluntness. But in some respects, it was more helpful than Noah’s diplomacy.“Thank you, Zoey. And I apologize for over-stepping.”
“It’s not me you need to apologize to.”
That was blunt too. But deserved.
Antoine focused on Noah once more. “She’s resting in her room.”
His first thrall let loose a sigh of relief, and this time he didn’t try to cover it. “You said that with more emotion than anything else so far.”
Antoine pushed himself up, striding to the window behind his desk that overlooked the gardens. There was peace in staring out into that stillness.
Noah was right. Zoey, too. He wasn’t himself.
Would he be? Could he come back from this? Would he ever be as he was before?
Do I want to be? Would the old me still want to kill Nico, Tobias and Roberto?
It was difficult to balance his burning need for revenge with his desire for Cally. Like there wasn’t room in his soul for both.
“You’ve lived through wars, Antoine,” Noah said behind him. “You’ve seen this before. Shit happens to people, and some of them never fully recover.”
Was his thrall reading his mind? No, that wasn’t possible. Maybe it was that obvious.
“Do you have a point?”
“I do, actually, yes. My point is Cally.”
“What of it?” Antoine kept his eyes on the garden, his shoulders tense. But cautious hope kept him straining for Noah’s next words.
“You love her, and she loves you.”
“Loved.” The correction slipped out before he could stop it.
“Maybe. It’s not my place to argue that. Shit like you went through can change a man. But my point is this: you loved her once, andshehasn’t changed. Maybe get to know her again.”
“Yes, so simple. I just almost killed her. No doubt she’ll be delighted if I go and visit.”
“Take her on a date.”
Antoine turned in surprise. “Do what?”
“You must know what a date is. Aren’t you French?”
Antoine turned back to the window. “I don’t think she’d be receptive to that idea.”
“She loves you, you stubborn old bastard. And she’s smarter than you are, too. She’ll understand.”
Three weeks I spent in that hellhole. Damn, Noah has spent more time with Cally than I have.
