“It’s not your concern. It was done tome.Not you. And while I’m grateful you assisted me, you must leave it at that.”
I scoffed. “That’s not fucking happening.” I went to lift the chest off the bed so he could settle without the obstacle it would pose if he needed to shift as he rested or fell asleep, but he snatched my wrist, stilling me.
“What they did was a threat to me, a slight against me. It’s not the fuel for a crusade in which you can exact punishment and vengeance to satiate your own issues with powerful oppressors.”
“That’s not—they can’t get away with this!”
His grip tightened. “It also can’t be known that I was overpowered and tortured by mere fourth-year vampires.”
“It wasn’t your fault. The way that was set up, there’s no way you could have—”
“It still happened.”
“If you’re embarrassed, you don’t need to—”
“I am not just anyone. I am heir to the Basilisk Kingdom, the Excetra Crown. For it to be publicized that I was attacked… the political ramifications would be beyond comprehension. It would force a response involving a mammoth show of force that would come close to violating the accords with the supernatural. My parents, as far as they can really be referred to by that term, won’t hold back when it comes to me. Not because I’m their son, but because a threat against an heir is a threat to their survival.”
My gut twisted as the undercurrent of his words bled into me—something I didn’t normally allow myself to feel. But this whole situation was weirdly… intimate… so I guess I had my guard down where the vulnerability of it all was concerned.
He was all alone.
Not just as a newly enrolled student.
Not just as the only Basilisk here.
His parents didn’t even see him as a son first.
He had to tread through dangerous ground, through a political minefield. What he needed, what he deserved withjustice for this attack, was complicated by who he was, what he was supposed to be according to them and the wider world.
He couldn’t just be him.
He couldn’t react how he wanted—or how he needed.
He was fuckingtrappedand alone.
But there were other ways to handle this without it being publicized.
And, yeah, without it being some crusade for me. That wasn’t what this was about anyway. I mean, not exactly. The bottom line was that those vamps were dangerous. Their attack had been so fucking underhanded too, where even somebody as attuned to others as Vaxan hadn’t picked up on it. And it wasn’t just a case of bullying—they were connected to the will of their vampire clan. It was a broader threat, one with some weight behind it, meaning it might not end with them—or what happened today.
But pushing this with him… it wasn’t a good idea. Clearly.
“All right,” I conceded.
“Yes?”
“Yeah, I won’t go after them.”
Iwouldn’t.
But there was somebody else who fucking well could, somebody who had a knack for covert vigilante justice, somebody who’d had those he loved suffer under this kind of speciest persecution, and would react very strongly. He’d fucking wipe the threat from the face of the earth.
The only problem was, he wasn’t exactly my biggest fan right now with him thinking I’d been treating his son like afleshlightand all that.
Vaxan released my hand. “Good.”
I smiled and placed the chest back under the bed.
“You want to reconsider calling Winter up here?”
