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“So you trust him?”
His glance was sharp-eyed. “What’s this about?” Before I could answer, he muttered a curse. “He was the one who threatened you, not my father.”
“Lieutenant Mraz?” I shook my head. “No.”
“The truth, Mila. No more lies. I can’t help you if you won’t tell me exactly what happened.”
I scowled. “Itisthe truth.”
“But Mraz gave you the money you used to leave and told you never to come back. You’re not going to tell me my father wasn’t behind that.”
“You want the truth?” I blurted. “Fine. Your dad did want me gone, but I could’ve turned down the money. The lieutenant didn’t threaten me into leaving. Nobody did. I’m sorry, but that’s the God’s honest truth.”
His nostrils flared. It was the only indication that I’d hurt him. “Go on.”
I fiddled with the zipper, trying to order my thoughts, as we drove into a nature preserve. Short, salt-bitten pines lined either side of the highway. A sign announced we had entered Napeague State Park.
“Your mother came to see me first.”
“My mom?” His chin jerked back. “Why the hell would she do that?”
“To find out how serious things were between us. And when I said I loved you, she hugged me and said, ‘Oh, honey. Bless your heart,’ then invited me back to your house for coffee.”
“And?”
I moved a shoulder. “I went.”
Rosemarie Kral had served me coffee and sugar-dusted beignets in a gazebo draped with thick wisteria vines. Nearby, butterflies had flitted among the summer flowers, and cicadas had chirred in the trees.
Gabriel’s mom had a dhampir’s inhuman beauty. Her chic jade dress fit her perfect body like a glove, and her smooth golden-brown skin was unlined except for tiny smile lines like parentheses on either side of her mouth. “I like you,” she’d said with a kind smile—and proceeded to break my heart.
“She said I seemed like a sweet girl. Which is why she wanted me to know what my life would be like if I—if we mated. Not that you’d asked me,” I hurried to say. “But she seemed to think you were going to.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “I see.”
“Don’t be mad at her. She was nice to me. She said it was for my own good, that I should know what it was like for a human in your world.”
Rosemarie Kral had seemed genuinely concerned for me. After we’d finished our coffee, she’d invited me for a walk in her lush, beautiful garden. She’d linked her arm through mine and explained what her life was like.
A bodyguard everywhere she went.
A mate who never aged so that she’d been forced to become a dhampir if she didn’t want to leave him broken-hearted when she died.
And meanwhile, her human friends and family kept aging at the normal rate.
“But you love him, right?” I’d said.
“With all my heart.” Her smile was poignant. “But what you’re really asking is was it worth it? I’d say yes, except a part of me thinks I was selfish. I only considered myself and Karoly. But there are three other people involved.”
My heart sank. “Gabriel and his brothers.”
Rosemarie had nodded, her expression troubled. “No one told me how hard it would be for them. Karoly says it toughened them up, but I’m their mother. To a vampire, a dhampir is a lesser life form. They’ll never consider Gabriel and his brothers their equals. And with you, Mila, it would be even worse. Gabriel is half vampire, but your children would be only a quarter vampire.”
Gabriel downshifted. I watched the ropy muscles in his arm flex. He was so strong, so capable. How could anyone, even a vampire, believe he was somehow less than them?
“Go on,” he said, tight-lipped.
“She said you and your brothers have had to fight for every inch of respect. That behind your back, the vampires say you’re weak. She thinks that when your father is gone, they’ll try to block you from becoming Primus. That you’ll be fighting off challengers left and right.”
