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I scoffed. “Do we trust them?”
She shrugged. “They want the same thing as us.”
“Are you sure? Because I won't take any chances. How can we trust this Salvor person?”
Erianna sighed, slowly biting down on her bottom lip. Anxiety emanated from her as she began picking at her nails. “He's vicious,” she said softly, “but he isn't stupid. He'll have done his due diligence.
“Due diligence?” I arched my brow. “You act like you know him so well.”
“I do…I mean, I did.”
“You fought together?” I asked, my curiosity piqued. It was possible that he had been enlisted in my father's army prior to joining Malum Dominor.
“No, we—um—were lovers once.”
My eyes widened in shock, my brows involuntarily lifting, as I attempted to veil my reaction. “Lovers.”
“Lovers?” she echoed, as if I had misheard.
Erianna was so thoughtful and courageous; I couldn't imagine her with someone like Salvor. I'd never met him, but the horror in Sebastian's eyes as he recounted his stories made my skin crawl. “What went wrong?”
She swiveled herself to face me, her expression softened by the morning glow of the sun, capturing the specks of gold in her deep brown eyes. “He used to be kind, once,” she said, her gaze hazing as a memory took hold of her. Lowering my barrier, I sensed a hint of sadness ripple from her. “We met more than a century ago, before he was a vampire.”
“Wow.” Sometimes I forgot how old she really was. “So, he’s a really,reallyold friend then.”
“Things were different then. As a woman, I was expected to learn how to cook, take care of children and serve my future husband.” Her mouth twisted, and I winced at the old ideologies. At some point in history, men just decided they were the superior gender. I took for granted just how lucky I was that things weren’t the same as they were then. “I wasn’t like my sisters or mother. They were good at all of that, but I could never keep my mouth shut. I got into a lot of trouble for it, too.” The slight wince on her mouth set me on edge, but I smirked, imaging Erianna telling them all to fuck off. But sadness pinched her features, as if the memory of her past was too much for her to bear. I couldn’t imagine what atrocities she was forced to live through. “Salvor liked me just how I was. He was a farmer, and I was the daughter of one. It was easy for us to fall for each other. But we were both so young.”
I shuffled forward, pulling a pillow between my knees as I stared with anticipation. I’d heard so little about Erianna’s life. She kept her feelings close to her chest. Pressing my lips together, I shot her a warm smile when she met my gaze, showing her, it was both okay to continue or to stop.
To my surprise, she continued.
“It was around three in the morning when I snuck out to see him in a field. That was when I met Adrian. I believe you’ve met.”
“Yes.”
“He went by a different name then.” She waved her hand in the air. “So many people change their names after they turn, like it’s a second birth or something. I kept mine.”
“Good.” I smiled. “I like Erianna.”
“It was a name given to me for the wrong reasons.” She didn’t elaborate. “But a name doesn’t define me. I define it.”
I nodded slowly, admiration building in my chest. I already loved her, but after hearing more about her life, I couldn’t help but wish I was more like her. She was so fierce, intelligent, and wise. Her courage made me want to be braver, her self-worth helping me find mine after it had broken to pieces years ago. “I can’t believe I met the man who turned you,” I confessed, thinking back to the blond vampire at Niall’s side, head of the Blood Brothers. “I hadn’t seen you interact with him.”
“He only turned me so I could be of help to him. I ran, fortunately, and Salvor stopped him.” My eyes bulged as he divulged a history I knew little about; except she wasn’t reciting it from some book. She lived it. “He’s a descendant of Vener. His great, great nephew or something like that. Everyone likes to believe both Vener’s and Anastasia’s families were wiped out, but that’s not true. A few lived on. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were still descendants today of their bloodlines.”
“Wow.” My breath caught in my throat.
She nodded. “I turned Salvor, after he begged me to. In hindsight, it was a mistake. He took to vampirism differently to me. Everything about him changed, and over time, he darkened into a person I didn’t recognize. I stayed with him for as long as I could, but I refused to stick around as he lost all the parts of him I loved.” She paused, her voice breaking in places in an unexpected display. I understood now why she liked Draven. He sounded like Salvor was before he was turned. She continued, shifting her position. “There’s more than one way a person can die.”
That hit me deeper than anything else, reminding me of Astor. I grieved his death. Then I learned of his true nature and what he became once he was a vampire. I wish I hadn’t known. It was easier to remember love when it was untainted by truth. “I’m so proud of you,” I blurted, my cheeks heating as I realized she probably didn’t care to hear if I was proud or not, but her toothy smile put me at ease. “You’re so strong.”
“I’m old,” she pointed out. “I’ve had lifetimes to become that way.”
“It’s more than that. There are many who’ve had the same time as you but are still assholes. Like Salvor,” I said with a grin, and she tried to hide her smile.
“He’s… yeah,” she looked up, smirking, “he’s an ass.”
“Hopefully an ass that can save ours.”
