“Even if I don’t want it.”
“Even then,” he agrees. “Sometimes, for the good of the whole, sacrifices must be made by the parts. You are where you’re supposed to be.”
“Why me? Why not Rook or Kane?”
He scoffs audibly, my question laughable. “Because they’re already mated, of course.” But ridiculous or not, I needed to ask it to set up my next move.
“Okay. Then why does Nathanial think Rook is dead?”
He pauses, pursing his lips before regaining a smile. “A bargaining chip. With my opposition on the Council. They wanted blood for your crimes, and I wanted you. Telling them Rook and Kane were dead was simply a means to an end.”
“That’s why you took me to my brothers, then? So, I would know they weren’t?”
He shakes his head, toying with his own fingers, and it’s a not-so-subtle sign that he’s done answering my unfettered questions. The rest of the conversation, it seems, will be at his discretion.
Satisfied anyway, I push back in my seat, placing both feet flat on the floor, and moving the conversation forward once again. “All right. Fine. What can I do for you, Lucian? I assume there’s a reason you’ve called me here this morning, away from the rest of the group.”
He smiles, sitting back in his seat and resting his elbows on the exquisitely arched sides of the chair. “I asked you here this morning to, perhaps, settle some of your nerves about tonight. I know you’re not keen on how things work here, but I still find that bringing you here has a purpose.”
I open my mouth to tell him he can shove his purpose up his ass, but he holds up a hand.
“Ah, ah, now, let’s keep this civil, Calloway. I didn’t bring you here, to this meeting, for a fight. I brought you here to relate to you. To tell you of my first Selection and the way I viewed it. I think you’d be surprised to know how similar we are, really. How many of your thoughts were thoughts of my own.”
“Sorry, but I find that pretty fucking hard to believe,” I answer with a shake of my head. “Because if you had the thoughts I have right now, there’s no fucking chance in heaven, hell, or the confines of Earth that you’d be here today. That this fucking auction would be taking place at all.”
He smiles, sadness down-turning the corners of his eyes. “I admire your passion, I do. I see a picture that you couldn’t possibly see, and for that reason, I imagine we’ll never come to a true common ground.” He sighs. “Did you know that your mother’s first Selection was my first as well?”
I don’t reply, but I don’t need to—he can tell him mentioning my mother—mine, Rook, and Kane’s mother—is a surprise without my having to say a word.
He laughs gently and without humor. “I am the eldest of the Wrath brothers, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, but I was also the last to attend Selection. I deferred for many years to pursue other ventures in education and philanthropy. I even spent acouple of years abroad. But while my father gave me a length in reins for quite a while, eventually, he tired. He didn’t like the complaints of the Council. He was afraid we’d lose our station in nobility, even. I was called back with no uncertain expectations—attend the selection and choose a mate.”
A woeful expression crosses his face.
“So, I did,” he continues. “Helenna was declared mine in the second round of bids. And we had a wonderful life together until last year. She passed on with blood cancer.” His smile is bitter. “It seems, the very qualities of her blood that made me one of the most gifted vampires of our region are the ones that made the cancer strong as well.”
My eyes are sharp but my mind is sharper as I mentally ask Kane and Rook to listen for anything I might be missing in this little story. It seems relatable—sad, even. But I know there’s a greater purpose here, and more than that, I know there’s some kind of information we can use to our advantage.
If my uncle didn’t want this life, he didn’t have to have it. I’ll die on that hill—quite literally, if I have to.
“I know you think you’d do differently than I,” he goes on. “That’d you’d push back harder. And maybe you would. From what I’ve learned of you here, you’re a man of many strengths.”
He picks up a frame from his side table and turns it around to face me.
It’s a picture of him, Nathanial, Cassian, and Ronan as kids. It’s easy to recognize them—they look just like we Slaters did at the same age.
“But I want you to ask yourself what you might do if you didn’t have brothers like yours—but instead, brothers like mine. What you would do if your good conscience and pure intention weren’t a group project, but a solo venture? What would it be like to be a man on an island with no means of escape?” He hums, taking another puff of his cigar. “I want you to think on that. And then tell me what you would do then.”
“If I were you?” I press. “I’d use that chest-crushing shit you used on me and vaporize every last motherfucker.”
He laughs, and I swear, the way I can’t understand him makes me feel like I’m in another dimension. He’s evil. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. But it’s as if he’s playing at being a savior for the fun of it.
“Fair point well made, nephew. Though, as I’m sure you may soon understand, a vampire is only at their full power after the bonding with their mate is complete. In my youth, I was much, much weaker. I wish I could have done many things differently, but for all our eccentricities and powers in this world, there is no going back in time.”
He snuffs out his cigar in the ashtray on the console table at his side and leans forward onto his knees. From this angle, he almost looks like something other than he is—an evil manipulator with the good sense to play the violin of my emotions.
“Tonight, Calloway,” he says. “Tonight will erase many decades of guilt and frustration and shine a lightbulb on the reason I’ve brought you here. On the reason for all of it, for everyone involved. I know you’ll rise to the occasion. I know you’ll set your fears and your notions aside, and you’ll do the right thing.”
The right thing. Internally, I scoff. Hisright thingcan kiss my ass.
