“And I’m trying to keep you safe,” she said fiercely.
At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kiss those stubborn, beautiful lips.
“Besides,” she continued. “When that attacker reached for me and you knocked him against the wall, his phone fell out of his pocket without him realizing.” She lifted her hand to reveal the cell phone she held.
“You took his phone?”
Lydia smiled. “There’s a spell to unlock it, but it’s sensitive to surrounding technology. So I came out here.” She handed me the unlocked phone. “Do you recognize any of the numbers?”
I took the phone from her, a little in awe of her cleverness, but forced myself to focus on the recent calls list she’d pulled up. The first number on the list jumped out at me. “This one. It’s the same area code as Pemberley.”
“Prince Valemont’s home?”
“Same area.”
“Could it be the prince’s number?”
“It’s not,” I said too quickly. I’d definitely recognize that number.
She gazed at me with wide eyes. “George Wickham. Do you have the prince’s number? How good of friends are you?”
I supposed it was time to tell her. “You can’t tell anyone, but Darcy and Prince Valemont are the same person.”
Her eyes somehow grew even wider. “Seriously? And you never told me?”
“It wasn’t my secret to tell. Now, focus. We’re trying to find out who this phone belongs to.”
“Right.” She gazed at the phone in her hands. “So whoever is attacking us could be someone close to Darcy.”
I stared at the number. What did this mean? I still didn’t believe or want to believe that Darcy was behind this. After the backlash he’d gotten over it, it seemed unlikely. Then who could it be? Could it be Pam Smoot, or her brother, or even both? Were they working with someone close to Darcy to make it look like vampires were out of control? But as far as I knew, only Darcy and Georgiana were aware I was a vampire, and I at least partially trusted them not to tell anyone else.
“Come on, Lydia. Let’s get you home,” I said, rising.
She turned and looked at me. “You think I’m going to sit at home while someone frames you for murder?”
“Lydia, you don’t understand. I—” I ducked my head.
“What is there to understand? I know you care about me, but I can take care of myself and—”
“I was dating this woman, Sephira, when I got turned.” After all the fear and worry, the words came out of me. I needed to tell her. I needed her to understand.
Lyda stilled and didn’t say a word. The snow had picked up and fell around us in frozen silence.
“Sephira and I went out after a concert with my bandmates at this restaurant. We were having a good time, and we were the last to leave. As I was unlocking my Jeep, this dark figure came out of nowhere.” I grimaced, the memory playing in my head like a waking nightmare. “I was attacked first, and you know that after they bite you, you’re under their power. Sephira tried to run away, but our attacker was too fast. I wanted to stop him, protect her…but—”
“You couldn’t,” she said softly.
“I had to watch, thinking he was going to kill her. I felt completely helpless.”
“He turned you both in the end.”
I placed my head in my hands, the ache of that horrible memory never gone. “I failed. I couldn’t protect or save her. And ever since then, death has only followed me. After that, we stayed together for a time. We were going through the same thing. But her new abilities seemed to heighten some of her personality traits, mainly her obsessive, manipulative behavior and clinginess. It wasn’t long after that we broke up.” I turned to face Lydia. “But that’s not the point. Don’t you see? If you stay with me, I can’t keep you safe.”
She laid a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t have to keep me safe, Wickham. I just need you to be upfront about what we’re facing. Now, admit that I can help.”
After all that had happened that day, I didn’t have it in me to pretend anymore. I faced her and took her hand in mine. “I know you can help. You’re the most tenacious, loyal, resourceful woman I’ve ever met.” I reached up and brushed a strand of hair from her face. “But if anything were to happen to you, I don’t know what I would do. Don’t you understand? You’ve captured my heart in a way nobody else has, even when I’ve tried so hard not to let it. And seeing you get hurt would utterly destroy me.”
She swallowed, her eyes wide and a tinge of pink to her cheeks that hadn’t been there before. “That’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard anyone say.”
