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Illren flicks a look over his shoulder. “We’ll be fine. It’s daytime. Henry will be severely weakened.”
I stumble to a stop just shy of the casino doors. “I hadn’t even thought of that. How is Henry awake right now?”
“The older the vampire, the longer they can fight the sun curse.”
I blink at him. “How old is he? Parker is over four hundred, and he can only manage a few minutes.”
Terrance opens the door to the casino and shuffles me through it. “Parker could probably manage an hour or two, if he really needed to, but Henry is much older than Parker.”
Much older than four hundred? That’s hard to wrap my head around. Of course, Illren is close to two thousand. I’ve never tried to process that number because it’s so ridiculous. It would be like someone on my income trying to understand exactly how much a billion dollars is. You just tell yourself it’s a lot and move on.
“Henry is also a master vampire,” Illren says, quickly surveying the entire room before allowing all of us to move past the doors. “He’s naturally stronger. But he’ll still be struggling, and he’ll most likely be alone. I’m not sure any of his other clan members would have the strength to stay awake for so long.”
I let out a long breath. Finally, some good news today.
Apparently Illren deems it safe to continue on, because he heads toward the bar. I cringe as we make our way through the casino. It’s not my favorite place in the world. Aside from being Henry’s stomping ground, the smell of stale cigarette smoke and the obnoxious noises of all the slot machines assault me from every direction. It’s not as busy as it was the last time I was here, but it’s still distracting thanks to all my newly heightened fey senses that I gained when my glamour was broken. And my senses are nothing compared to Rook’s. I’m not sure how he tolerates it.
When we reach the bar, I almost don’t recognize Henry. He’s perched on a stool, hunched over a drink. He’s in suit pants and a white dress shirt, but he’s minus the jacket, and the clothes are a bit rumpled. His hair is also falling out of his ponytail. He’s never looked anything but immaculate. Seeing him so disheveled is shocking. “Henry?”
I nearly gasp when he turns around. His cheeks are sunken in, and there are dark circles beneath both of his bloodshot eyes. He sits up straight when he sees me, but it doesn’t do much to help his appearance. He looks as if he hasn’t slept or eaten in weeks.
“Hello, Nora. Thank you for coming.”
He looks annoyed to see my clan standing behind me, but not surprised, and he doesn’t comment on it. He waves me forward toward the stool next to him. “Please sit. Have a drink.” He flags down the bartender. “Anything the lady wants.”
I debate joining him, but he looks so awful he mustreallyneed me for something if he’s willing to let me see him so vulnerable, so I take pity on the man and sit on the stool beside him. “Water is fine,” I tell the waiting bartender. After the man hands me a glass, I take a sip and face Henry. “Okay. I’m here. You wanted to talk?”
Henry eyes my clan again and then sighs in defeat. He pulls a white handkerchief from his breast pocket and waves it a little before dropping it on the bar. “I surrender.”
My jaw falls slack, and I blink a few times. Just what exactly does he mean by that? A glance at my men tells me they’re all just as surprised as I am. Well, not Illren. He looks suspiciously smug. He catches me watching him and meets my gaze almost defiantly. Instead of asking just what the hell he’s done—because I have no doubt he’s done something to make Henry look this way—I warily turn back to Henry. “Surrender how, exactly?”
He sits back and scrubs his hands over his tired face. “I love you, Nora.”
Okay. Definitely not what I was expecting him to say. I have no idea how to respond.
Henry takes a gulp of whatever dark liquor is in his glass and then turns on me with a desperate expression. “I have never wanted anything more in all my centuries of existence than I want you.” He rakes his hand through his hair, pulling even more of the long blond strands free from his mangled ponytail. “I would not give you up for anything…” His eyes flick over my shoulder and darken with anger. I’m sure the glare is directed at Illren. “Nothing would stop me from pursuing you,” he says again, “except the safety of my clan.”
Uh-oh. “What do you mean?” I ask, though I’m afraid I already know the answer.
Henry gives me a flat look. “Call off your guard dog. I will leave you alone, if your assassin will stop killing my clan.”
This time everyone looks at Illren. He’s got that bored I’m-above-this-conversation expression on his face again. “What did you do?” I ask, bracing myself for an answer I know I won’t like.
Illren meets my questioning gaze with not a shred of remorse. When he says nothing, Henry snaps. “He’s killing my vampires!” he hisses. “And not just any of my vampires, but my favorites. The ones I sired myself. He’s killing myfamily, Nora. And he’s leaving them to be found in horrific ways meant to terrorize my clan!”
My stomach rolls. I have no doubt Henry is telling the truth. Still, I need confirmation. “Illren?”
Illren cocks a brow at Henry. “Have you any proof it was me?”
Henry’s eyes flash red. “Of course I don’t have any proof! YouknowI don’t. If I did, I’d have gone to the FUA already, and you would be rotting in a cell in the underworld prison.”
Illren, unruffled by the threat, shrugs one shoulder and rests his hand on the hilt of the glamoured sword at his waist.
Henry gives up on goading him and appeals to me again. “I don’t need proof, Nora. I know it’s him. He told me himself that he was going to do this. You were there when he made the threat.”
“Then perhaps you should have listened,” Illren murmurs in his scary, cold-blooded-killer voice. “Instead of attacking Nora, again, at this very bar, after I warned you of the consequences. Even Nora warned you that if you touched her again she wouldn’t stop me. You came at her anyway. You compelled her. Left bruises on her skin. You distracted us all while we were under cover, putting my entire clan in jeopardy. Several of my men—Nora’s family—were severely injured. Nora was nearly killed.”
Henry flinches. That last accusation hit a sensitive spot. Unfortunately, he’s not the only one wracked with guilt at the moment. I pinch my eyes shut and pull in a deep breath through my nose. This is my mess. Illren is my responsibility. “How many?” I whisper. I can’t open my eyes. I can’t stand seeing Henry’s devastation.
