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I look up at Valentine before following her in. “Meet me in my study the second we arrive at the estate. There’s a war coming.” His eyes narrow when I say this, but he nods anyway.
When I get inside the SUV, I pull her into my arms and we remain silent on the drive back. I already know the route I’m going to take, but the question is, would it work out for all of us? I suppose I’ll see once Valentine has been made aware of things; he’s always my voice of reason.
“The council still has not collected Amara; she’s still in one of the main bedrooms of the mansion, but I have moved all your things over to a different wing,” Valentine says when we pass through the gates of the estate.
“What?” I ask, frowning. “They were supposed to take her a day ago already.”
“Well aware, Pres. They just never came,” he shrugs, bringing the SUV to a stop in front of the mansion doors, where I see Xenia waiting with a smile on her face. Similar to Valentine, her smile drops when she sees Katherine.
“I’ll show you to our bedroom, little lamb,” I say, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and walking her inside. Xenia shoots me a confusing look and I shake my head. “Bring Xenia up to the main bedroom in a few minutes.”
Valentine nods at my order before I leave both of them behind and make my way upstairs with Katherine in my arms. She hasn’t spoken much since coming clean a few hours ago, and it kills me slowly knowing there’s not much I can do to help right now. I can be there for her and promise to decimate the council, but other than that, there’s nothing I can do.
But she’ll need me to be there when she falls, and I will always be there waiting.
I walk with her inside what would be our bedroom from now on and lead her over to the bed.
“This will be our bedroom, little lamb. Anything you need is here, including new clothing and toiletries. I know you’re dying to freshen up and sleep off the jetlag. Fuck knows I am. I just need a few minutes with Valentine, then I’ll be right back, okay? Xenia will be here with you.”
She turns, then smiles while wrapping her arms around me. “You don’t have to treat me like I’m fragile. I have you, so I’ll be fine.”
I can’t help but return her smile and kiss her lips lightly.
“That’s my girl,” I say, deepening the kiss and holding her even closer. Seeing her broken made me feel a thousand times worse, but seeing her fight her demons while depending on me just fuels my ambition.
We break off our kiss, and she wraps her arms around the back of my neck. “Go and plan your war, King. I’ll be here waiting for you,” she says with no idea how her words alone empower me.
“I love you,”
“I know; I love you too,” she says, then takes a step back from me, winks, then walks towards the bathroom.
With one last glance over my shoulder, I walk out of the bedroom to find Xenia leaning against the wall with concern plastered all over their face.
“Something bad happened, didn’t it?” they ask and I nod sadly.
“But she needs to tell you about it herself; it’s not my place,” I say, about to walk away when their next words stop me dead.
“You were supposed to protect her.”
I sigh and look up at the ceiling, then walk away before I accidentally kill Church’s Fated. This is all on me, I know that already. I don’t need Xenia to tell me I’ve failed; the emotion is right there next to my anger.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Valentine asks when I immediately walk to the bar and drink from the bottle. “Fuck, it is.”
I slam the bottle on the counter and feel my eyes shimmer crimson.
“Kazimir touched what doesn’t belong to him; touched her while I was deep in my vampiric slumber and there wasn’t a fucking thing I could do!”
Half the bottle shatters inside the lit fireplace and that anger I thought wouldn’t appear rears its ugly head. I let out a roar filled with fury and didn't stop punching the marble wall until I saw the bones of my knuckles.
He touched Katherine. That cunt touched my Fated. He needs to fucking die.
“What do you have planned, Gabe?” Valentine’s calm voice brings me back and I brace my palms on my knees while an exasperated sound leaves my throat. He’s always been the one to bring me back from my anger, and now it’s no different.
“Teague and Petrov,” I say the two last names I ever thought I would utter after our families split and left Europe. Valentine’s eyes nearly bulge out of his head, knowing what this means.
“But the council forbade you from communicating with the others they labeled as traitors,”
“And the council can go fuck itself. Kazimir wants a war, I’m going to give it to him by amassing all three traitorous families and taking down the council. I, for one, know the Teague twins are itching to sink their teeth into the Principe’s.” I say, pulling out my cell phone, and Valentine’s eyes grow wider.
