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“I’m nodding,” I said. “I’ll be there tomorrow night—I don’t know what time, so I’ll call you before I leave.”
“Good enough. I lo…” He stopped, to my relief. And then quietly he said, “Be safe, my love.”
I stared at the phone, wanting to say, “I told you don’t fall in love with me. It’s dangerous, I’ll break your heart if you let yourself love me.” But in the end, all I said was, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” That was all I could say.
Chapter 15
When Camille returned, she had some good news. “Grandmother Coyote will look after them for the night. They can hide in her tree. Vanzir, Shade, can you run them out there? They’ll be safe until Nerissa finds out whatever it is she needs to know.”
“Great.” Delilah snorted. “As if they’re not shell-shocked enough, they get to hang out with one of the Hags of Fate.”
“Better that than if Lowestar finds out about us and launches a preemptive strike.” Camille shook her head. “We’re in a wartime situation on so many fronts—we do what we have to and accept help from wherever we can find it.”
She yawned. “I’m done in. I say we get some sleep. We have to be on top of things tomorrow. We need to find out what Lowestar gets up to. Now that we’ve disrupted his little operation, you know he’s going to be after us.”
As Vanzir and Shade took our guests out to an even darker space than they’d been in—albeit with less danger for them—my sisters headed up to bed and, hopefully, a deep, dreamless sleep.
I still had a couple hours before sleep claimed me, and all I wanted to do was cuddle with Nerissa. But she was exhausted, too, and I sent her back to bed after a long kiss and a quick feel of those beautiful breasts.
The house was silent within ten minutes, everyone tucked in for the night. I sat at the kitchen table, looking around the room. We’d worked so hard, and our family had grown. Now everything felt shaky and at odds. Not internally—we were a strong unit—but the dangers looming from the outside. I was tired. We were all tired, and we needed a break.
As I sat there, toying with the tablecloth, a noise startled me and I looked up to see Trillian. He was in his bathrobe, leaning against the door frame.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
He shook his head. “Am I interrupting? I can go in the living room if you like.”
“Not at all. Come. Sit.” Truth was, I welcomed the company. Too long alone with my thoughts wasn’t always a good thing.
Trillian put on the teakettle and rummaged in the fridge, looking for a snack. He found some leftover chicken and an apple, and then fixed his cup of tea. Sitting opposite me, he took a long sip of the hot drink.
I watched him eat. “Why can’t you sleep?”
“Thinking. A lot on my mind.”
I knew what was bothering him. “You’re thinking about Darynal, aren’t you?” At his nod, I decided to ask something that had been in the back of my mind for a while. “Trillian, do you have family back in Svartalfheim? Are you worried they might be in danger?”
He paused, lingering over the drumstick. After a moment, he set it down on the plate, wiped his fingers on his napkin, and propped his elbows on the table. “Yes, I do have family there, but I’m not concerned. They disowned me many years back—before I ever met Camille.”
“I didn’t know that.” I had never heard him talk about his family, but that didn’t always indicate a problem.
“I wasn’t… they didn’t like my attitude. Believe it or not, Darynal and I are considered too philanthropic by our families, if you want to put it that way. You think I’m arrogant—oh don’t bother denying it.” He waved away my protestations. “I know it’s true, you know it’s true. I don’t care either way. But the fact is, that for my family, I’m considered meek. I care too much about people outside the family, outside the caste I was born into. I mingle with ‘undesirables’ and had the gall to fall in love with…” Here he stopped, and picked up his tea again.
I stared at him. That cast a whole new light on matters. “You think they wouldn’t approve of Camille.”
“Think, nothing. They found out about us shortly after we met, and blew a gasket. My father gave me an ultimatum. Leave her, or leave the family. They had arranged a marriage for me to one of the higher-ups in the Court. And I wouldn’t play along. Now, Vodox—the King—he is the most progressive ruler we’ve had in centuries. But his rule is still criticized. And my family is old school. They are firmly ensconced in the caste system. Tradition means everything to them.”
That was the most I’d ever heard him talk about his background, and by the look on his face, I began to realize just how far away Trillian was from his upbringing, and the sacrifices he’d made to be with Camille.
“And our father treated you like dirt, too.” I suddenly felt ashamed that I’d backed Sephreh in his opinion. I hadn’t really bothered to find out the man behind the mask. And it was obvious that there was a lot more there than I’d anticipated.
“He was a product of his upbringing. But that only goes so far. Once you discover what someone is like beyond your preconceptions, then it’s up to you to make a change in your perception and action. Your father didn’t want to change his beliefs.” He was treading carefully, I could tell. And I knew it was because of Sephreh’s death.
But I understood—probably more than Camille, and definitely more than Delilah. “He was the same about my vampirism. He hated vampires, and was suddenly up against the horror of a daughter of his being turned. It was hard for him. For the first couple years after I returned home from the OIA’s year of rehabilitation, he could barely look at me. He was civil, but it was all lip service, and he never once told me he loved me during that time. And after he managed to learn how to treat me with any semblance of respect, I still always knew that I was broken—that I’d been whole and lovable, and then Dredge tainted me.”
I seldom dwelt on the past, but some days, the memories swept up as if they were from yesterday. I pressed my lips together, trying to keep from sinking into the mire. It was never a good thing when the quicksand of the past rose up and sucked me down.
“He had a narrow range of acceptability. Look at what happened with Camille.” Trillian finished his tea. “I know she’s not going to say anything, but it’s breaking her up that he wasted time they could have spent together being angry at her. She’ll never say a word, but you know it’s happening.”
