“No, not Ophelia. And I don’t want her here alone, so I’m going to ask Roman to stay, along with one of my father’s men, and I’d prefer for them to be up at the college, as there’s no way anyone’s ambushing the college itself. Not with all the extra security the dean has now.”
“That’s not many men for you.” I frown.
He shrugs. “She’s more important than me. Plus, I have an advantage.”
“What’s that?”
He smiles coldly. “My father won’t want to kill me—not because he loves me or anything so normal as that—but because he needs an heir. My brother can’t be the next in line because he’s deaf, which in my father’s twisted mind makes him weaker. It means my father needs me alive to see his legacy continue. He’ll hesitate to kill me, whereas I have no such compunction about him.” He winks at me and grins, but it’s cold and hard. “Gonna get ready and take that run.”
A run doesn’t sound like the best plan, not with half a bottle of scotch still churning in his stomach. Still, I don’t say anything. If I try to reason with him right now, he’ll only become more intransigent.
I need to talk with Roman.
Cain takes his shower, dresses in a loose pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and heads out of the door. I stare at the wall, thinking, trying to figure out a way to mend the broken pieces of us back into a whole.
About twenty minutes later, Roman comes down the stairs and pours himself a coffee from the pot. He looks tired, but a damn sight better than Cain.
“Is Ophelia okay?” I ask.
“Still sleeping.” He yawns and scratches his cheek. “Where’s Cain?”
“Gone for a run.” I suck in a breath. “He says once he’s killed his father that he’ll leave and it will just be me, you, and Ophelia.”
Rome swivels his head to look at me. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”
“No, afraid not.”
“Like fuck he’s leaving. This won’t work without him.” He rubs his chest as if the thought makes him panic. “Ophelia would leave, too, I’m sure of it. Eventually.”
I don’t like him saying that. “You don’t think we’d be enough for her?”
“It’s not that.” He blows out a long breath. “This... the way we are might be different, but it’s balanced. With Cain gone, that balance falls apart. It works perfectly like this. It won’t if it’s just the three of us. Plus, Ophelia is going to blame herself for Cain leaving. She’s going to think she’s the reason us three Preachers fell apart, and that’s going to eat away at her. She’ll be reminded of that every time she looks at us.”
I hate this. “They’re both suffering so much emotional trauma, I don’t know what we can do to help.”
Roman’s gaze turns molten. “We bring us all back together the way that works best.”
“And that is?”
He smiles. “Sex.”
I frown. “As much as I want to sink into Ophelia, more than I want my next breath, I don’t think we should be thinking about sex right now. We need to heal the fucking broken mess that is the four of us.”
He nods slowly. “Yes, I agree. And sex is the way to do it. You know, it’s not just a physical act, Mal. It’s so much more.”
I narrow my eyes and cock my head. “I know that, Rome. I’m not fucking stupid. I know it has emotional aspects, too, and can bring us close. I’m just not sure it is going to work that way.”
Sighing, he shakes his head. “It’s as if I never taught you anything. It has more than mere emotions, too. It’s spiritual, when you do it right. There’s a ritual we can use. It’s not one we’ve tried before, but it’s powerful, and it’s meant to tie people together. Bond them.”
“What does it involve?”
He shifts and faces me full on. “Blood. It involves blood.”
I flinch, unsure he’s on the right path. I remember being back at the church and how Ophelia’s hands had been covered in the Prophet’s blood. “Um, how much blood, Rome?”
“Enough to bind us.”
I wrinkle my nose at the thought. “We’re not vampires. We might die if we lose too much blood.”
