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Crap! “Uh, sorry. Please continue.”
He cleared his throat. “As I was saying, after the bond was broken, I came out to Vegas as we had planned. It was quite isolated back then. The Strip was non-existent at that point. It was the perfect place for staying under the radar. I began construction on my home while waiting for her to join me.”
“Did she need to break her bond with him before she could come out?”
He shook his head. “No. As co-creators of our race, they had no physical obligation to one another. They were equals. Blood bonds, which typically signify subservience, didn’t come into play until they sired others.”
Okay, ignoring the subservient piece for now to stay on topic. “So why didn’t she just accompany you to New York?”
“Because when I went there, he could track me. She traveled extensively while I was in isolation, always making sure his men were following and reporting back to him. She was counting on his obsession with her. She figured that he wouldn’t be concerned with me if we were separated. She was right.”
“So if I understand the timeline correctly, about six months had passed at that point?”
“Correct. Slightly over.”
“When did she join you?”
“She didn’t.” His voice was so low I could barely hear him.
“Why not? You said that she was going to join you in Vegas.”
He looked up, sadness heavily reflected in his eyes. “Because she died. He killed her.”
“Oh, Leo, I’m so sorry.” Inadequate, I know, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
I knew there was more to the story when Leo first mentioned his relationship with Renata. He never told me why they split; I had assumed one or both had simply grown tired of their lengthy affair. I knew she had died somehow, but he made it seem like that happened after their relationship ended. I saw him differently now, knowing that her death had ended things. Leo was basically a widower. No, they hadn’t technically been married, but being with the same person for four centuries counted as marriage in my book. Hell, they’d probably still be together if Khonsu hadn’t taken action. I wasn’t ready to admit how I felt about that.
He cleared his throat. “Thank you, my love, but I’ve made peace with it. Would you like to hear the rest of the story?”
I didn’t believe for one second that he’d made peace with her death. “Yes, please do.”
“We had agreed to meet on the seventh moon,” he continued. “She didn’t make it, of course, but I decided to give her a little more time. International travel back then wasn’t as easy as it is today, especially for a vampire. When she didn’t show on the eighth moon, I made arrangements to return to our home in London.”
“What happened when you got there?”
“A package was waiting for me.”
“A package?” I repeated.
He gulped. “Yes. Our butler had remained behind to care for the house. He accepted delivery but we left no forwarding address so he stored it in the library.”
“What was in it?”
He stared at his clasped hands for a moment. “A letter.”
“From whom?”
“Khonsu. It only had two sentences written on it. It said Renata was his and if she were fool enough to think otherwise, she deserved to pay for it with her life.”
“But how do you know he killed her? That letter could be perceived as a threat, not necessarily an admission.”
He raised his head and looked me directly in the eye. “Because her severed head was with the letter.”
I slammed my hand over my mouth to stifle my gasp. “What’d you do? Did you look for him?” I could imagine Leo going on a rampage, hell bent on revenge.
He shook his head. “No. When Charles, our butler, saw what happened he brought me another letter. This one was from Renata. She had instructed him to deliver it to me upon her death. She foretold that Khonsu would end her life one day. If that happened, she wanted me to seek shelter, not vengeance. It was her dying wish that I move far away and continue to live my life.
“She said she had lived almost two thousand years and was at peace with her death, provided there was a good cause. She loved me more than her own life and needed my promise that I would follow her instruction so she could rest, knowing she died protecting me. She willed her entire estate to me, making me a very wealthy man. As much as it killed me to leave, I did so out of respect and love for her.”
