“Cruel would have been telling him what I have seen,” Candide snapped. She glared at Ezra rather than look Roger’s way. “They were there for the annual meeting. Seamus introduced Zack as hisson. When, in all our years, has he ever called a fledgling his offspring?”
Roger wiped his hand down his face. Words failed him.
Cold emanated from Candide, and her eyes shifted to a shade of bloodred. Her rage was palpable, and the air around her began to shimmer with a soft red as well. Her aura was visible—to Roger, at least. When he glanced at Ezra, he didn’t seem to notice anything different. Though anger colored her, there was a shadowy presence up against her skin. The mystery of what he was beholding was nearly enough to distract Roger.
Her voice drew him back. Her tone was sharp, like a wind-honed icicle. “You have forced your way into my home and assumed I have misled you. I was protecting you both and would have told you everything in time. Because I was not immediately forthright, you want to accuse me of ill motives. Fine. I have weathered worse.”
“I came to ask for your help,” Roger said, his voice rough. He had been dragged over jagged rocks and left to dry in a blazing sun. The wounds in his soul were gaping, ugly things, and he could sense they would only grow wider.I must hold myself together.“I tried to be polite about it.”
“You could have called.”
“I texted you.”
Without breaking her glare, Candide snapped her fingers. A moment later, Dryden stepped into the archway. She issued a command for her phone, and he brought it. She raised her eyebrow as she examined it. “I apologize for missing that.”
“You were too busy planning a party for Seamus’s captives,” Roger said tightly.
“You say they were kidnapped, but I have seen no evidence,” Candide declared. “Zack is Seamus’s sireling, and he is a formidable one at that. The second name on that invitation, Kathleen, is Takashi’s freshly risen fledgling. Anton is toting the girl as his own, but I know the difference in their scents. She smells like Takashi, not Anton. You grow suspicious of me, who has been your friend for centuries, without stopping to think that your dear lovers may be the traitors.”
Roger had seen the gut punch comment coming, and yet he sucked in a deep, hurt-filled breath at the words being said aloud. Even after centuries, some mortal habits remained.
“We also know what Seamus is like,” Roger said hollowly. A thin hope was keeping him tethered to reality rather than losing himself to the abyss of heartbreak. “He forces others to bend to his will and appear to enjoy being with him. We have behaved that way ourselves many times.”
Candide softened, a gentleness crossing her features as she unclenched her jaw. “I know, mon cher. They may be in that Hell, but you should harden yourself in case they are not what you’ve built of them.”
Zack. Takashi. Liars? Roger didn’t want to believe that of them. He had been with them for weeks. Had shared a bed and hopes and dreams and scars and wounds. He had held Zack through his pain and turned to Takashi with his own. The best nights of his life were ones with them.
Reflexively, Roger’s gaze turned toward the painting hanging on the wall ahead of him. He had believed he’d known James more intimately than Zack and Takashi. They had shared so much, too. And they’d believed themselves deeply in love. Yet Roger had never fully opened himself to James. When James asked him to stand by him, Roger had caved, and James had shown a side of himself that Roger hadn’t seen. Their love had withered, and Roger had blamed himself.
But had it been entirely his doing? How well had he known James or any of his lovers? Just as Roger never shared himself, he never dug deeply into them.Because if I didn’t know them, their leaving couldn’t hurt as much.
That hadn’t been his approach with Zack and Takashi … had it? Could they have been fooling him?
“I have to see them,” Roger whispered. Brokenly, he spun toward Candide. “Will you help me?”
“No,” Candide said sternly.
“Bollocks.” Ezra held up the invitation. “This debut party is at the Chateau. You can sneak Roger in and out, and no one will be the wiser.”
Candide hardened further. “‘An intimate gathering’ is a lie. Seamus has ordered the Chateau closed to all but the invitees that evening, and he has representatives from other covens on the guest list. This will be a gathering of the most important vampires and their representatives in North America with a slew of international vampires as well. I will not risk your safety or the safety of the others that I love to play friar in Roger’s Romeo and Romeo and Romeo production.”
She’s trying to protect me, too. Roger held his hand to his lips and pushed his renewing anger back to its depths. Though she was as stone-faced as ever, she wasn’t being cruel. Candide had relied on her practicality the way he had used his charm. They were survivors, all of them.
Ezra puffed up.
Roger motioned for him to wait. Then he slipped out of his seat and went on one knee before Candide. “Not that long ago, you hoped I had a greater plan than just killing Seamus and Anton. I came here tonight to ask for your help in my war against the coven. I robbed Seamus of every cent I could, and yet, the whole of our coven doesn’t seem to know anything has changed. But you mentioned it.”
Warily, Candide met his gaze. “I know. You bankrupted the coven’s main fund as well. I receive a stipend from them for my operating costs, which did not come. You’ve made this year much harder, mon cher.”
“A wise woman like you will have the resources necessary to keep her establishment afloat,” Roger replied.
“True.”
Roger held his hand out toward her.
She frowned but placed her hand on his.
Rather than attempting to read her, he released his own tense mental walls. He allowed his fears and anger to swell, not like a raging storm but the inevitable tide within. His desires were there, too, on display for her to take in. “Even if I cannot see them, I will continue my war.”
