"How do you know?"
"Because I've watched you. In training, in crisis, in the quiet moments between. You read situations. You adapt. You know when to speak and when to listen." Something softens in his expression. "And you don't back down from things that scare you. The other lords will respect that, even if they don't like it."
I don't know what to say to that. The faith he's placing in me feels heavier than any assignment.
"When do we leave?" I ask instead.
"Tomorrow night. I need to arrange the meetings first, send messages, call in favors, make sure we're received as guests rather than threats." He pauses. "Tonight, we prepare. And you rest."
"I just woke up."
"Then eat. Train. Do whatever you need to do to be ready." His hand brushes mine, a brief contact hidden from the others still moving around the room. "We'll talk more later. Alone."
The promise in those words sends heat through my chest.
"I'll be ready," I say.
I turn to leave, but his voice stops me.
"Celeste."
I look back.
"What you said earlier. About Cyrus, what you would have done in his position." He's watching me with an intensity that makes my breath catch. "I've been thinking about it."
"And?"
"And I understand why you said it. Because you're thinking about your sister. About what you'd sacrifice to protect her."
I don't deny it.
"But here's what I can't reconcile," he continues, his voice quiet but hard. "Cyrus chose to save three people, his daughter and two grandchildren, by putting hundreds of lives at risk. Six donors are already dead. The network that keeps those hundreds of vampires from going feral, from starving, from becoming the monsters humans fear, he compromised all of it. For three people."
The words settle like stones in my chest.
"I understand the instinct," Maximus says. "I even understand the choice. But understanding doesn't make it right. He valued three lives he loved over hundreds of lives that depended on him. And now I have to clean up the damage while those three are probably already dead anyway."
It's brutal. Cold. But it's also true.
"I saw how you reacted to Clara Ellis's death," he says quietly. "The guilt you carried even though you weren't responsible. You understood that her life mattered, not just to you, but in itself. That's the difference." He pauses. "If someone threatened Simone, you'd come to me. We'd find another way. Because you wouldn't be able to live with yourself if you saved her by sacrificing people who trusted you."
"I would have come to you," I say.
"I know." Something eases in his expression.
He turns back to the displays before I can respond, already focused on the next crisis.
I leave the security center with his words echoing in my head.
Trust. That's what this comes down to. Not just attraction, not just convenience. He's trusting me with his operation, his reputation, his future. And I'm trusting him with mine.
Whatever happens next, we're in it together.
Chapter
Twenty-Two
Iwake at sunset.
