“You said I was wrong again. When was I wrong the first time?”
“Oh,” I said, mirroring him and putting my feet up on the coffee table. “You said you thought Clive was just a pretty boy, using his face to curry favor. That’s not him at all.”
“No?”
I knew I should shut up, but I liked Vlad. Granted, being as powerful as he was, he could have been manipulating me, but I didn’t think so. I’d kept my candy-coating in place. The man had laid waste to legions, but I trusted him, and I didn’t like him not thinking well of Clive.
“Is he handsome? Of course,” I said. “I’m not blind. That’s the least of his gifts, though. He’s brave and not just in the I’ll-take-on-the-monster way. He’ll do what’s even harder. He’ll stand down and let me fight my own monsters. I know how much he wants to do it for me, but?—”
“He knows, for your own piece of mind, your own confidence, that you have to do it yourself,” he finished.
“Yes,” I breathed. “That’s it exactly.”
Eighteen
Why Do Ghosts Have To Be So Creepy?
“It was the same with my Ilona. I wanted to slay any who caused her the slightest unease. She wanted me to train her instead, to show her how to use my weapons.”
My heart clutched. “Clive taught me to fight with swords and my axe,” I said, tapping the handle behind my head.
“I saw that in the alley.” He leaned forward. “May I see it now?”
I pushed my jacket back and pulled out the axe. It shone, almost glowing in the firelight.
Vlad made a sound of deep appreciation and reached for it. “Fae?”
“Yes. Don’t touch it, though. Clive says fae metal burns vamp skin. This one has been spelled to protect me from the king’s assassins. I don’t believe it’ll be instant death for vampires, but it seems best not to test that theory.”
He stood, opened a drawer, pulled on a leather glove, and then took the axe from me, weighing it in his palm before swinging. As he moved through a series of fast slashes, I had a moment to worry my head was about to be separated from my body. Instead, he flipped the axe in the air, caught it, and handed it back.
“Magnificent.” He was so fast, I wondered if he’d switched axes on me. Mine was, after all, quite valuable. When I tilted the blade to the firelight, I caught the faint fingerprint of Algar, the queen’s captain of her guard. Satisfied, I sheathed the axe and sat back.
“He trained me in hand-to-hand, as well,” I said, “but if I told him I didn’t want to fight, he’d breathe a sigh of relief and love me just as much. He’s fair and open-minded. I know lots of older supernaturals can become stuck in their thinking. That’s not Clive. His mind is fluid, always taking in new information and altering beliefs based on it.
“And he’s secretly kind. As you loaned me your ring, I think you’ll understand. He makes choices based on the safety and comfort of those he considers his, not just his own needs. I was a traumatized, scarred teenager dumped in his city. He could have let an underling deal with me and forget about it. He didn’t. I’m no one special, but I was one of the supernaturals in his charge, so he kept me guarded and checked on me regularly to make sure I was healing.”
I felt a kiss on the top of my head and flinched.
“Nonsense. You’ve always been special,” Clive said. He walked around the couch, taking in the room, and then sat beside me. “Now what brings you to what I assume is Vlad’s room in a hidden basement?”
Vlad smirked. “She described it as warlord chic.”
Clive gaze went to the wall of weapons. “I see her point.”
“I went exploring,” I said. “I didn’t know Vlad lived down here.”
Clive nodded slowly, pulling my hand into his. “But why the basement? I thought you’d be out touring parliament or eating a five-star meal. Instead, I find you here.”
“Léna is quite persuasive,” Vlad said.
Clive looked between Vlad and me. “Léna?”
Vlad must have noticed the panic in my eyes because he said, “I misspoke.”
Defeated, I sighed and leaned into Clive. “No. He didn’t. This place is lousy with really fricking disturbing ghosts, one of whom is Léna. She was pregnant and hidden away here. On the first night, she was raped by two male attendants from the men’s side of the asylum.”
Clive wrapped his arm around me.
