“You will learn soon enough that I am not noble.”
Hyas pondered that admission and then, “You must worry that he’ll grow curious and seek affections from others.”
“That is not my most pressing concern.”
“No, I suppose not. And you’ve obviously bonded with him over the years. I mean, he’s practically your child bride.”
I suspected Hyas was saying these things to provoke me, and yet, none of what he intimated was untrue. I had claimed you, in one form or another, since your birth and even before then, when I’d sacrificed your mortal life to Azrael and asked that your soul be returned to me. In truth, you’d belonged to me since that first time you called for me as a human, coltish and lovely… Orlando Bell. How momentous that decision of yours would turn out to be.
You were mine, Vincent, and regardless of who else entered into your life, some part of you would always belong to me.
Your head lifted again, waking a little to gaze sleepily at me and then over at Hyas. You winced from the pain of your injury and I adjusted my hold in an attempt to offer you some relief.
“Is Papa okay?”
“Yes, my love. We’re bringing him home. For now, just rest.” You nodded, then dropped your head against my shoulder. What a comfort it was.
As if to vex me further Hyas said, “You must be tired of carrying him. Would you like for me to take over?”
“No,” I said harshly.
Hyas grinned merrily. “Have it your way.”
We settledyou and your father in Lucian’s infirmary where I made camp as well. The cyclops would recover in an underground prison cell guarded by the warborn. And then he would be sent far away. You’d regained consciousness soon after our return, but after inspecting your wound, Lucian prescribed bed rest in order for you to fully heal. You insisted I shift your cot closer to your father’s so that you might hold his hand while he recovered.
On the occasions when you were both conscious, you spoke softly to each other, sharing in your grief over Santiago’s passing and catching up on everything that had transpired in the year you were apart. I gave you your space but couldn’t help listening in at times. I was constantly assessing not only your physical condition, but your mental one as well. At one point during a teary confession, Xavier motioned you into his bed. He held you for a long while, and I was grateful for the comfort he provided.
I spoke with Lucian about a way to safeguard Xavier, and we agreed to having guards on the premises at all times, because anyone with nefarious intent might harm your father in an attempt to get to you. Because of their longtime devotion to the sunborn and their healthy contempt for Lena, the beastborn were the only tribe I trusted with the task. Soon after, Ashur and his tribesmen were installed in shifts to keep watch while you and your father recovered.
“Papa would like a café con leche and buttered toast for breakfast,” you said to me one morning. I did not fetch these provisions myself but relayed the order to Lucian’s nursing staff when they made rounds.
“And for you, your majesty?” I said, bowing slightly to tease you.
“I’ll have the same,” you said with a knowing smirk. “Papa’s feeling better today, so we’ll have breakfast on the terrace. When he wakes up.” You glanced over to where he was resting peacefully, still on a strong dose of painkillers to allow his body to heal. “Why would he do it, Henri?”
“Why would the cyclops go after your father?”
You nodded. “He must have known there was no escape, that to harm him would only make things worse for himself?”
“Azrael’s influence is very strong on the Imperium soldiers. They’re indoctrinated into believing they’re fighting for a righteous cause. I was similarly conditioned.”
“Azrael made him do it,” you said thoughtfully.
That Azrael had staged the attack hadn’t occurred to me, but it did make sense in its cruel design. Perhaps Azrael suspected we’d strike the compound in Athens, and he’d set the cyclops up to devastate you in the worst possible way. Now, I had to consider the reason why.
“Perhaps it was his attempt to destabilize you,” I posited, “or to undermine the unity of the tribes. If you lashed out, blaming the warborn or the seaborn, then Azrael would be empowered.”
“Do you think he knew we were coming?”
“I believe Aretha was correct in saying that was our most likely target.”
Lucian met us then to inform us that the Tribal Council was meeting to discuss the cyclops’s punishment, and they were requesting your presence as a representative of the sunborn. Despite my argument that you needed more time to heal, you insisted on attending. Lucian brought in a wheelchair, and I gingerly helped you into it. Since your escapade in the wine cellar with Stefan and excepting the few minutes when you’d gassed me in the sewers, we’d not been apart, and I didn’t intend to start now.
I wheeled you to the grand hall of Lena’s palazzo. At the front of the room was a row of thirteen chairs for the members of the newly formed Tribal Council. With the exception of Ashur, Aretha, and yourself, the rest of the tribes were represented by Grigori elders, most of them friends and allies to our mother. Lena was there already as a representative of the bloodborn. She’d been suspiciously silent about the events in the sewers, and I acutely remembered how she’d conspired with Azrael to capture you outside the mine.
“Thank you for joining us in your time of healing,” Aretha said to you graciously. “We were relieved to know that your father was safely recovered.” She took your hand and held it in a gesture of compassion. Perhaps it was the spoils of war which had unearthed her empathy.
Aretha tended to command whatever room she inhabited, and this occasion was no different. I wondered how duties were divvied up between the twins and if their partnership ever bred discontent. She called the Council together and instructed Hyas to give the report from the field. He summarized all of the gains and losses of the two missions, including injuries and casualties, the latter of which there were none. The assault on Aswan had been a success, and there were now three Imperium aircraft parked at the makeshift airfield on the plateau above our vineyard, while several more had been claimed by the warborn. Our armory had doubled its inventory as well, which gave me some satisfaction.
