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Cried for the pain and the humiliation, and all the babies she'd never held. For the shattered dreams, and the mere freedom of being able to walk outside.
For so many things that had never been.
Nora didn't know how long she sobbed, but eventually she was too tired to do any more and fell silent. As she calmed down, Nora became overly aware of River's slow strokes on her back, the touch soothing her without a trace of fear or anxiety.
For a split second, she wondered if Ambrose had been right—maybe River Vale was what she needed. A male from the future, one who didn't seem to need arrogance and cockiness to command, and who had such a strong, gentle touch that she craved rather than wanted to escape.
But she quickly pushed that hope aside. One chat and embrace wouldn't fix all her problems, not to mention he was still mostly a stranger to her.
Determined to tie up her painful past, she finally broke the silence. "So that's why I used to love playing the piano, but don't anymore."
River held her even closer against him. "Please tell me that's not the same piano over there. Because if it is, I don't care how fucking angry Leo gets, I'm going to destroy it and watch it burn."
She wasn't sure why threatening destruction made her heart warm, and yet it did. "No. Leo doesn't know anything beyond that I don't play the piano any longer. He bought a new one when I moved here from the country house once our father died. I've never had the courage to tell him I don't want it because then he'd ask why."
River squeezed her gently and Nora moved her head to his chest, to take a deep inhalation of his scent. She knew this moment would end soon, but for this brief flicker of time, she enjoyed feeling warm, safe, and unafraid.
* * *
River didn't usually havemurderous tendencies, but he wanted to find the motherfucker who'd hurt Nora—she'd still been a goddamn child at the time—and torture him slowly with magic, letting the asshole feel a touch of what he must've done to the female in his arms.
But as Nora moved her head onto his chest and burrowed a little deeper, he focused solely on the vampire female in his arms. River had gone through some shit, but nowhere near as fucked-up as Nora.
And he knew she'd had more than one child, too, meaning who knew what the hell other atrocities she'd survived.
He burned to ask about the others, so he could maybe find ways to eradicate some of the fucking awful memories and replace them with new ones.
Because, yeah, something about Nora Yates called to him. Both the healer part and the male part wanted to see her happy, laughing, and freer from her past than ever before.
As much as he wanted to sit forever and hold her, he wanted to at least close up the conversation about Asshole Number One. "Is the fucker dead already?"
Nora sighed and moved her head to the side, so she could talk without being muffled. "He was Number Five as well. He returned Ambrose, not wanting a defective child, and my father agreed to let him use me again."
He growled. Even River's shitty-ass father seemed like a saint next to Nora's. "I know your sire's dead—good thing, or I'd kill him myself. But what of the others who hurt you?"
Nora shook her head. "No. Most of them died of old age. The only one who was still alive when Leo took over, well, my brother handled it."
River's opinion of Leo moved up a notch.
He burned to ask about the other children and whether she'd ever wanted to find them and had done so, but as Nora slumped more against him, he sensed even talking about one asshole from her past had worn her out. He risked kissing her forehead, and to his surprise, Nora didn't freeze or move away.
Taking the encouragement, he said softly, "I wish I could carry you upstairs, baby, and order a shitload of chocolate to spoil you. But while I can get Bates's help with the latter, I can't carry you. Yet."
She traced shapes on his chest with her finger, and even through the material, it made his skin burn and his cock twitch.
River quickly tamed that shit down. Nora was far from stripping and straddling his dick anytime soon. His gut said she'd never slept with anyone, apart from those forced upon her.
Rage churned again at the thought of her being chained up and raped, but he focused on her gentle fingers, the motions soothing him.
She finally spoke again, "Why do you call me baby? It is sort of odd. I am seventy years old."
He snorted. "You vampires and your messed-up age appearances. You look fifty years younger."
Nora nodded. "I froze at age twenty-four." She finally looked up at him. Even if she was no longer crying, he hated the red puffiness of her eyes.
Drawing on a tiny bit of magic, he brushed his fingers around one eye and then the other before imagining the skin and cells mending and repairing. Within seconds, her skin was smooth and healthy again.
Nora gasped. "What did you do?"
