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Bertram had not been to see his hoard in many years, but he was certain there wasn’t a treasure in it that could top that.
It took a bit of reaching and standing on his toes, but eventually, Sorin retrieved the robe and dropped onto the flats of his feet. He turned to find Bertram staring—Bertram flicked his gaze up just a moment too late.
“You should keep what blood you have left in your head,” Sorin said pointedly, eyebrow arched, as he slipped into his robe. “It’s not doing you any good down there.”
“You make that hard to do, love.”
A bit of color rose in Sorin’s cheeks. “I can see that and I’m flattered, but you’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you ravish me until you stop blending in with the bedsheets.”
“Do I really look that bad?”
Sorin set his jaw. “Bertram, you almost died.”
“In my line of work, that is nothing unusual.”
Sorin let out a long-suffering sigh and set his hand on Bertram’s back, steering him out of the room. “You’re impossible. I swear, if you were lying about my magic just so you’d have a chance to charm me into bed, I’ll turn you in to the council myself.”
What Sorin said hit him like ice water to the face, sobering him immediately.
“About that,” he said as they reached the bed. “We really do need to talk.”
Sorin’s face fell. He took a seat at the end of the bed. “Yeah. We do.”
* * *
“I don’t remember much,” Sorin admitted once Bertram had joined him at the end of the bed, “but I can connect the dots. One minute I was being ripped apart by your brother, and the next I woke up here in this hotel room healed, but with you bleeding to death on the floor.” He paused, frowning in shame, eyes on his knees. “You saved me from him, didn’t you?”
Bertram found himself frowning too. “I did.”
“Then I take it your family knows the truth now.” Sorin folded his arms uncomfortably. “They know we’re connected somehow, and that you care enough about me to want to save my life. Does the council know what you’ve done?”
“I don’t know. By now, probably. But I’m not worried about that right now. I will deal with the consequences later. Right now, I need to tell you what I’ve learned, and I want to know what happened—why did you do what you did?”
“I didn’t mean for what happened to happen.” Sorin’s lips tightened, and his voice became strained with painful emotion. “Everything I did was to protect you. I didn’t want you involved in what I was doing because I didn’t want them to accuse you of being complicit. It was never because I turned my back on you, never because I stopped loving you. It was because I knew how far I’d have to go to accomplish my goal, and I couldn’t bear the thought of putting you in harm’s way. You weren’t supposed to intervene.”
“But how could I not?” Bertram slid a hand over Sorin’s thigh, squeezing gently. “Sorin… I love you. I would do anything to keep you safe.”
Sorin’s tight lips couldn’t keep the frown from his face. “After what happened to Magpie’s clutch, I wasn’t sure you still did.”
The vulnerability in Sorin’s voice made Bertram’s heart break. He drew Sorin onto his lap so they were face to face and wrapped his arms around him. Sorin, seeking comfort, laid his cheek on Bertram’s chest and looped his arms loosely over his shoulders.
“You are my mate, Sorin,” he whispered tenderly into Sorin’s hair. “I cannot say I was not hurt and confused by what you did, but I never stopped loving you. I don’t think I ever could. You are everything to me. My lover, my partner, the father of my eggs. If there ever came a time my heart stopped beating for you, I would not survive it. I only wish you would have had the courage to come to me.”
Sorin shivered and tightened his arms, keeping himself pressed as close to Bertram as could be. Bertram kissed the top of his head and held him, not expecting a response, but hoping he might receive one.
“I couldn’t,” Sorin admitted brokenly after a while spent in silence. “It was all such a mess, and it all happened so fast. I didn’t have a chance to tell you what was going on before I had to act… but god, I wanted to.”
“What happened?”
Sorin took a shuddering breath, and on the exhale, revealed the truth.
* * *
He took Bertram back in time, sharing what had happened to him after their last phone call—how his health had drastically declined after he’d shut Bertram out, and how Sandrine had stepped in to lead the Vanguard in his stead. He explained how she’d tried to liberate Magpie so he could be of use to their cause, but had only succeeded in capturing the eggs… and then, their dragon father. How it had blown up in their faces. How, with the Vanguard having revealed itself, Sorin had been forced to make a difficult choice—do nothing and allow the council to see them as unworthy of consideration, or send a message they would hear loud and clear that would give them reason to be afraid.
“After everything went wrong and the Vanguard fell, I thought I could work as an independent agent and fake the council out as long as I caused a big enough scene,” Sorin explained miserably once he’d caught Bertram up to speed. “I know your father is the head of the council, and I thought if I targeted his sons, they would force him into taking action and make him see the error of his ways. But now here we are.”
Bertram pushed air through his nose in a humorless laugh. “Here we are.”
