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“Yes. It is for the best.” A searing pain began to emanate in his eyes. A desperate call for me to accept as if his life was on the line.
I exhaled deeply and said, “Fine. We will try living like a normal family.”
“Thank you, my love.” He ran toward me, enveloped me in an embrace, and spun us around. “You’ll see. We will be the happiest family to exist.”
His exuberance unsettled me. Gabriel never exaggerated things. He did this out of pure fear of losing Athena and me. I hugged him tighter, empathizing with his past. At the same time, I knew I had to talk with Troy. I had to find out more about that day.
The occasion opened itself several days after when Gabriel left due to business, and I had the castle all to myself. I found Troy downstairs, as per usual, in his separate office. He stood with his back to me as I entered through the opened door. But before I could announce my presence, he asked, “How may I help you, Your Majesty?”
“How did you know I was behind you?” I asked.
He placed whatever documents he held on the desk and turned toward me. “It would’ve been considered a great lapse on my part not to notice Your Majesty’s presence. Please take a seat.”
“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the incident,” I said as I sat opposite him.
“Is His Majesty informed of this interrogation?” asked Troy.
“This is not an interrogation. I’m here as a grieving friend. I’m sure you are grieving too.”
A myriad of emotions traversed Troy’s face, but he didn’t utter a word.
“Did Kira say something before she died?” I asked, hoping to get a glimpse of her final moments.
Troy turned his head to the side, at least in some way to distance himself from the question. His surroundings, from his neat desk to his neat bookcase, resembled an office you found in décor magazines. The placement of every object stood there for purely practical reasons. Nothing more, nothing less. This man hadn’t lived an unrestrained life since the day he became a vampire.
“I wish to know direly as I am in search of closure. For I was the reason Kira died.”
“No such thing. Kira died protecting those she promised to defend. She fulfilled her duty to our kingdom.”
“Does this knowledge help you sleep at night?” I asked, unable to hide the pain in my tone.
He lowered his gaze.
“I assume you haven’t been sleeping well,” I said. “Maybe talking to each other would act as a remedy not only for you but for me as well.”
It took some time for Troy to find the words he needed to express the anguish he bore deep inside, but I was in no rush, so we stood silently until he spoke: “Kira said her sole regret was not disclosing her love for me earlier. That being a vampire gave her a false sense of security that we still had time. But time might never be enough if one doesn’t act on it. That even for an eternity, one might not find happiness if one doesn’t strive for it.”
“Or fight for it. Gabriel’s desire not to fight Vedoma is going to crush us all. And Kira’s death would be for nothing.”
“Kira’s death wasn’t for nothing,” he growled, fighting the anger brewing in his heart.
“Then prove it,” I said and stood up. “Start mourning, crying, loving…living. For the longest time, your life has been on pause. The least we can do to honor Kira’s death is to live a more honest life. I’ll do the same. Even if Vedoma’s curse will taint our happy ever after.”
Troy’s curt nod was enough for me to sigh in relief. I knew I had at least one person on my side. “By protocol, I’m not supposed to hug you, so let’s shake hands.” I extended my arm.
He shook my hand and said: “I will do everything in my power to fulfill the promise I made today.”
One could not change a straight-laced lifestyle so easily, but at least Troy understood the assignment.
∞∞∞
The days rolled by in our family love nest. Gabriel launched several treaties with Vedoma, from which they agreed to a truce. She requested Gabriel’s full cooperation in the art dealing business. There was no surprise there. She needed the money rolling. And also requested a grantor for her safety, aka me. So, if Gabriel or someone from his retinue would make an attempt on her life, she could kill me immediately. Talk about an eye for an eye. From our side of the negotiation table, we required the safety of living with our daughter at the castle. Vedoma would maintain her spell so Gabriel could at least hold his baby. And if she intended to manipulate us with it, the entire vampire kingdom would hold the freedom to attack her and her people. Pretty much everyone had to lose everything if they didn’t respect the clauses of the negotiation.
I refused to be present at the table. I couldn’t stand seeing her smug face after Kira’s death. Troy shared the same opinion, but just like me, we couldn’t protest against Gabriel. Even if our hearts bled in grief, mine for a dear friend, and his for a love that never got the chance to bloom. Without a better solution, we buried our choking emotions deep inside us and tried to look at the bright side. Wherever it was. Out of all of us, Gabriel was the happiest. Maybe it was denial or fear. Who knows? But he preferred to settle for a safe little than a risky grand. And I couldn’t blame him for it. His painful past followed him everywhere, and one thing no one could escape was the past.
About a week after the negotiation, we flew to Spokane to see our daughter and bring her home. The beam in Gabriel’s eyes told me everything, but once I held her in my arms, he put some distance between us. “I need some time to adjust,” Gabriel said.
My parents didn’t quite understand what he meant by it but were happy to see us trying to keep our family together. We spent around a week in Spokane, then the both of us met with Mei. Gabriel and I entered the same UW campus café as usual, where Mei was already ordering the same incantation of a recipe. Her excitement spilled over into my worried life. She told me about her last year in college, about all the immature men she dated, and about the new history professor. I hoped he wasn’t another government representative in the supernatural beings department. Her parents thrived at their gallery, and life seemed to settle for her and her family.
