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“How so? If it’s not rude to ask.” I hadn’t questioned her while she’d been working, but I was curious about how she’d come to live with the primals.
Rose started to reply when a little whirlwind rushed into our space. Luna was cute as a button in her jeans and a pink T-shirt, her mass of hair barely held back with a sparkly tie. “Mama, they have grapes. Can I have some grapes? Luthor is hungry, too.”
Rose smiled down at her adopted daughter. “Of course. You’ll have to ask Luthor’s father though.”
“Hector will not mind,” Christopher assured them. He put a hand on Luna’s head, a gesture of obvious affection. “Go back and play, sweetheart. I saw some butter cookies on the buffet, too. You can have one and so may Luthor.”
She grinned and ran back out.
“Luthor is another orphan. He’s a year younger than Luna,” Rose explained. “He was taken in by another member of our community. The non-vampires watch him when his adoptive father cannot. It helps Luna to have another werebat around. It can be hard to be the only one. I should know. I was the only human for years.”
“You lived in Council headquarters, love,” Rufus corrected. “There were always companions in Paris, from what I understand. Most of the Council members kept a companion.”
Christopher snorted, an oddly human sound. It was the sound that let another person know they’d stepped in something.
Sure enough Rose’s expression turned distinctly salty. “I assure you those companions weren’t really human. They were walking visions of pure snobbery who were only looking to climb that particular social ladder.”
Oh, I liked a girl who didn’t mind telling it like it was. “So you were the companion to a Council member?”
“She was married to the head of the Council before the king took over,” Rufus explained, his voice going grim.
I felt my eyes widen because according to Marcus that had been one bad dude, but there was a problem with that. “I thought the queen was forced to marry him.”
“Yes, I was the castoff companion.” Rose took a long breath, obviously steadying herself. “When Zoey was kidnapped, I was to be sold, but she told me to run if I had the chance. I did.”
Trent’s head shook. “You didn’t run. You escaped and made your way to the king and offered your blood to keep him strong. Don’t ever say you ran. You are not a coward, Rose. Never.”
Rose had been around during the first war. Well, the first in my lifetime. She’d been around for the war that brought Daniel Donovan to the throne. “I’m sorry to hear that. What were you doing before Myrddin took over? Were you still a part of the supernatural world?”
She shook her head. “No. I took advantage of the protected person status the king’s Council offered. I returned to my home in London and I lived with my mother and the man who protected me like a father when I was in the Council stronghold. His name was Robert, and he was from a slave family. The humans who work for vampires were often from families whose service went back generations. Daniel freed them, and Robert chose to come with me. The day he married my mum was the happiest of my life. Taking care of them both was something I was happy to do. Robert went first. He had a heart attack. My mum had cancer. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to ask a vampire to save her. We’d lost so much time, but I’d promised I wouldn’t be a part of that world again, wouldn’t invite it in. She wouldn’t hear of it. I meant to live as a human for the rest of my life. And then Myrddin upended the world. I was contacted by the primals and offered sanctuary here. I was so scared when I walked into the nest for the first time.”
“And that was the moment my life began again.” Christopher leaned over and brushed his thin lips over her hair. He seemed to breathe her in for a moment, and I wouldn’t have to make sure he’d forced her to marry him. They fit together somehow. All the tension in Rose had dissolved the minute he’d hugged her. “I will be forever grateful to the dark prophet for giving us his warning.”
“I assure you my partner was happy to help,” Trent replied. “We appreciate you allowing Gray to come and go as he must.”
“Were you aware Gray’s…” I wasn’t sure what to call him. He wasn’t our butler no matter what he said. “Were you aware the emissary from the Hell plane can get through the wards?”
“They knew,” Trent said. “Before I came here the first time I let them know that there are no wards on the Earth plane that can keep Tix away from Gray. But it’s only Tix, and he cannot bring anyone else nor can he bring any kind of weapon.”
Tix was a demon. He was a weapon.
I hated that he was bonded to Gray, that he could find Gray no matter where he went. There was no hiding from a bonded servant.
“We allow the dark prophet to come and go as he pleases,” Rose explained. “He and the heavenly prophet have been helpful to the primals from time to time. It was their warning that allowed the primals to be ready for refugees when Myrddin first took over. They had a network set up to bring in any companion or friendly witch who wanted protection.”
“How exactly did Gray help?” As far as I knew, all Gray could do was say his prophecy and move on. And then let Lucifer use his soul as a focal point.
I was still bitter.
Rufus took that one. “He gave his prophecy and the primal council considered it. We have protocols concerning prophecy. We are given the prophecy and take time to reflect upon it. We study and then come together to reach a consensus on how to proceed given the knowledge they’ve been gifted. When a prophet shows up in the Under, we all take it seriously. In this case, we didn’t understand that Myrddin would take over, only that a tragedy would occur and we should be ready to aid the unfortunate.”
“Like me and Luna and Luthor.” Rose’s smile softened to something bittersweet.
“We were the lucky ones,” Christopher insisted.
“Yes.” Rufus agreed with his friend. “Having a vibrant community filled with beings like Rose and Luna is a blessing to us. We have always opened our home to those who needed help, and we were blessed with their unique friendships. Like Marie. She had a similar story to Rose, though her vampire was not a Council member. Still, she sought refuge here and found a kindred soul in Alvis. They abided together many years. It was Marie who taught Alvis to paint. I believe when he practiced his art, he felt her presence and was warmed.”
“Do you have any idea why he canceled his classes the last two weeks?” I had to ask since Alvis had given the people I’d spoken to no real reason.
