Taken aback by his response, I faced him fully on the bench. “You’ll tell me everything I want to know?”
“Well, not everything,everything.”
I arched a challenging brow at him, watching a cheeky grin capture Bjørn’s mouth.
Goddess, my wolf almost swooned for him too. He was truly a gorgeous man.
“Before we begin, there are three rules you need to know,” he continued, “because this is the first time you’ve ever dealt with a Fae.”
“Like what?”
“Number one, neverfullybelieve what we say. We are known for manipulating the truth a tad little bit.”
My brow wrinkled at that, making him grin even wider. “Number two?”
“There are things I truly can’t tell you because I swore not to. But if you don’t get the answer you wanted, ask again in a different manner. There are always ways to cheat the system.” He winked.
“And three?”
“Learn to read between the lines.”
“What do you get out of this?”
He shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know, your peace of mind…”
“Won’t you get in trouble for telling me things?”
A mischievous glimmer entered his amber eyes as he crossed his legs, draping an arm over the back of the seat. “I’m older than all of them combined, dearie. What can they possibly do to me?”
Pressing my shoulder to the bench, I bit at my lower lip. “Who is the Viscountess?”
“She’s the woman who brought us all together.”
My eyes narrowed at him, and he narrowed his right back, an eyebrow arching as though I should know what to do next.
Right, ask in a different way. “Does the Viscountess have power over any of you? And if so, why?”
A loaded sigh expanded his chest, and I knew I’d asked the right question.
“Perhaps not the kind of power you think, but she means something to us, even if it is different for each of us,” he confessed. “I met her long before she became the Viscountess. Long before I became who I am today. She was the only one who searched for me when I got lost in the creature I’d become aftertheytried to make a Vampire—not knowing what the combination of the venom and the Fae magic already within me would turn me into… a monster.”
“You could never be a monster,” I interjected, looking up into his wise and gentle eyes.
A saddened smile bowed his lips, and he placed his hand on mine.
“We are all capable of becoming monsters, dearie. The wolf inside you could turn into one if you let your fear and hurt, or your need for revenge take over your heart. It all depends on whether we choose to remain true to ourselves or not. To the humans in Egypt, Isis’ race were the monsters, so they eradicated them to save themselves, then fell prey to the very creatures Isis’ pack was trying to protect them from… Ironic, right?”
“Goddess, I didn’t know.” My heart hurt for her, being betrayed by those you gave everything to protect must have devastated her.
“Hmm. Anastasia found me and brought me back. She reminded me of who I truly was, so I could leave the monster behind and never allow it to take over again. For that, I owe her everything… When she called on me for help, I immediately answered.” Squeezing my hand, he let go, glancing back at the fountain.
“Anastasia…” The name easily rolled over my tongue. It was truly a beautiful name.
“She is a powerful Vampiress, the head of the North American clan, and second only to Countess Dariah Dracul—the origin of the Vampiri race.”
“Wait, the North American clan?! How many Vampires are there?” I all but squealed, making laughter erupt from Bjørn.
“Oh, dearie. It’s a good thing you are sitting down,” he snickered. “Let’s see, we have the original Romanian Dynasty, then a clan in France, one in Spain, Austria, and Rome, one for all of North America, one for East Asia, and one for the rest of the now consolidated Europe. We are currently working on appointing the future heads of the South Asian, Australian, and South American clans.”
