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“What if there’s an emergency?”
“You can call me.”
"What if…”
“Lorien…” Maddox sighed.
“I’ll be fine,” Lorien said, though he wasn’t entirely sure that was true. He’d never been left in charge of anything as large as an entire city before, and if Maddox truly was gone for months, then he’d certainly have to deal with some royal affairs.
“Good. Henry will be here with you.”
Lorien took immediate offense. “What? You’re leaving a wolf in charge?”
“Er. No. I’m leaving you with a guard. Interesting you assume he’d be in charge,” Maddox winked. Lorien would have blushed were he not cursed with the pale visage of those who walk past the veil of unbecoming. “I’ve noticed the closeness between the two of you. You’ll need someone impartial and apolitical to help you. I suggest you take his aid.”
“Oh. Right. Of course.”
Maddox and Will did not take long to make their exit. It seemed to Lorien that they were there one moment and gone the next. Henry offered to drop them at the private airfield as their departure was around midday and Lorien was still obliged to hide from the sun for several hundred more years.
He waited indoors until Henry returned. He told himself that he wasn’t waiting, that he just happened to be awake at the time when young vampires were usually dormant and that was fine because sleep is a challenge for everybody sometimes.
The second he heard the car in the garage he felt a little leaping of excitement in his chest. He went to the kitchen and then the lounge and then back around to the door in an attempt to appear to be casually walking by when Henry came in.
Did he look too obvious? What did he usually do with his hands? In his pockets? No. That made him feel like a five-year-old in a school photo. One hand. Wait. No.
It was too late. Henry was already back inside.
“Hey,” Henry said.
“Hey,” Lorien replied. “You see them off to the airport alright?”
“Mhm. They’ll be in international air space by now.”
“Cool.” Lorien nodded. “I guess that means I’m really in charge. I’m the vampire king of the city.” Lorien smiled as the realization sank in. Maddox had truly left him in charge. It seemed absolutely mad on so many levels, but it had actually happened.
“The temporary acting king,” Henry reminded him. “Take it easy, tiger.”
Lorien laughed at being called tiger.
“I am in charge, though.”
“Sure you are.”
Lorien looked at Henry and suddenly his entire body felt like a hand he didn’t know what to do with. They had not engaged in anything remotely resembling intimacy following the absolute disaster of their attempted god only knew what. Every time Lorien thought about Henry telling him that his thoughts and feelings mattered he became absolutely discombobulated and had no idea what to do with himself. Henry seemed to care, and frankly that was weird. Lorien wasn’t used to anybody caring about his emotional state, and he really didn’t know what to do with that.
“Yes. Well.”
The house suddenly seemed very big and empty now. Lorien had always found Will to be an irritating presence, but at least he’d made the scale work somehow. It made sense when he was here, and Maddox, and his team of humans. Now there was none of that. Now there was just him and Henry.
“You look worried,” Henry said, perceptively.
“Not worried, just not… used to this.”
Henry was taking up a lot of space now. He seemed to be taking up Lorien’s entire field of vision. Lorien couldn’t look anywhere else. Couldn’t think about anyone else.
“What is it you’re not used to, exactly?”
Henry took a careful step forward as if he was concerned he would spook Lorien if he moved too quickly. The irony of being treated like a frightened prey animal was not lost on Lorien.
