She nodded. That was what worried her.
Reyna trudged up the flight of stairs and headed to her bedroom. But when she entered, it was clear that Beckham was holding court within their quarters.
She froze on the threshold. Barging into the room and acting like they owed her anything would never be the right move. Reyna met Beckham’s gaze head-on. She tilted her chin up. She read the thoughts forming on his blank face. Ones she was sure only she could see. Things that said he was quite content foreveryone else to get the fuck out right the fuck now.
“Let’s reconvene in the morning,” Beckham said. He nodded once at Gerard, who pulled out a phone and left.
Reyna hastily moved out of his way and into the room. The rest of Beckham’s inner circle followed Gerard. Katarina winked at her as she closed the door.
Even though they were all gone, the tension didn’t dissipate. He was the king of his people, and she was the queen of hers. Could two rulers come together like this? Trust each other? Not leave the other in the dark?
She felt at his mercy. He knew all of her thoughts, feelings, and actions. She hid nothing from him, least of all her heart. And sometimes she felt like he kept so much back. So much that was left unsaid.
“Come here,” Beckham said.
She stepped across the room to him. He pulled the ponytail holder from her hair and let the dark strands fall loose around her shoulders. He tilted her chin up. Their eyes locked. His endless obsidian orbs swallowing her whole.
“You did good today.”
She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “Then why do I feel so horrible?”
“Because trusting your enemy and seeing the death of your people is never easy. It shouldn’t be. You should feel this, Little One.” He ran his thumb across her bottom lip. “I spent countless years not feeling anything at all. A part of me knew that I should feel something for what I had done. For the wrongs I had committed. But I felt nothing. Feeling what you are feeling, feelingsomethingis human. It is real. Do not wish it away. Get up, accept the pain, and keep moving forward. That is all you can do.”
Then he covered her lips with his and there was no more talking that night.
Chapter Thirteen
Bacon.
The morning smelled like bacon.
Reyna followed her nose and grumbling belly downstairs and into the kitchen. Genevieve wore an apron printed with little kittens on it as she expertly handled the enormous kitchen.
“Morning,” Genevieve said.
“Morning,” Reyna said, bleary eyed.
“Breakfast is almost complete. Do you take tea or coffee?”
Reyna’s stomach grumbled again. “Coffee.”
Genevieve left the stove to pour her a mug. “Cream and sugar?”
“Please.”
She mixed it to perfection and then handed it over. Reyna sidled up next to the oven, where all the heat emanated from. She drank the scalding coffee despite the temperature and let it warm her up from the inside out.
“I appreciate all that you’re doing, butwhyare you doing it?”
Genevieve’s eyes twinkled. “I enjoy it. Taking care of house and home was my calling long before I was turned and it has remained my calling long after my kids withered and died in their normal human lives.”
Reyna’s heart broke for her. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to live as a vampire for what would seem to be an immortal life and watch the ones you love die.
“How did you meet Washington?”
Genevieve laughed. “I grew up on a farm in this village. In my time, there were few vampires. They were still in the darkness. To many, including myself, they were myth and legends. Things to scare the children, you understand. I only discovered they were not myths the night that I was made. The vampire leftme alone to starve or murder my own village from hunger. Washington found me. He taught me his ways. He kept me from destroying the family I loved so dearly. He’s a good man.”
“Did he know Harrington then?”
