Part of him wanted to release it all. To finally unload this stored treasure.
But Candide was a friend. He loved her, and at the very least, she cared for him. Though she had used his absence for her own gain, his long years away had been spent peacefully. Had he woken earlier, he wouldn’t have met Zack. Or their meeting would have been dramatically different. Without him and without Takashi, Roger would have caved and abandoned his plan to overthrow Seamus. He would have come back to Chicago and fooled himself into believing that he was too weak or that no one wanted him.
No, the only pieces of fate he wanted to change were Carver’s death and that Zack and Takashi were taken from him.
“You failed to strike a deal for the information? Or was my disappearance a greater asset than having me back?” Roger asked.
Candide glared at him and stood. “The former. I wanted you home, but the prick’s price was too high. Since he seemed willing to bargain that secret away, I figured it would only be a matter of time before he offered it to Seamus. I had a mage curse him into another form. Then I killed the mage. No one knows where that fey lord is.” She half grinned. “The Seelie and Unseelie have been on edge with each other since that happened.”
“You could’ve started a war,” Roger said.
“They won’t war without proof, and there is none but my word to find.”
And mine. I could let loose this fragment of a secret. But that wouldn’t start a war between the fey courts, but one between the vampires and the Unseelie. That was a nuclear option if Roger was willing to risk innocents in Seamus’s destruction.
With long, careful strides, Roger approached her. “I do not want anger or misconception between us. I intend to rescue my loves and then ruin him. When I am done, there may notbea Great Lakes Coven.”
Candide met him in a staring contest. Her youth had long ago become a stone façade. She was old inside her soul, and with that strength, she did not waver. “There will be something. There always is. Spare me and mine and we have no quarrel.”
“He may suspect you’d aid me,” Roger replied.
“He won’t want to cross me, not if you become a thorn in his side,” Candide said. She tilted her head to the side. “I hear my new pet coming. You’re honestly all right with my taking them, mon cher?”
“I have always said that my pets truly belong to themselves. And I have failed Kit miserably.” Roger kissed her cheek. “Pamper them.”
Candide laughed lightly. “I always spoil the good ones.”
Kit came into the room with Vincent behind them. They sheepishly gave Roger a hug, which he returned.
“Be safe,” Roger whispered in their ear. “Be happy.”
“Get them back,” Kit murmured. They squeezed tighter, then released him.
Surprisingly, Candide stole a quick, sincere hug from Roger. “You better not die.”
“I don’t plan to.”
“Perhaps not, but you areterribleat planning.” She kissed his cheek, took Kit’s bag from Vincent, and left the bar with Kit a half step behind her.
Roger locked the door behind them. By the time he turned around, Vincent was putting the chairs on top of the table. After that, he headed for the bar and put away the bottle of rum Roger had grabbed.
“You don’t have to clean up after me,” Roger said. “That’s not something I expect from you.”
“You don’t expect anything from me,” Vincent muttered. He motioned to the glass with rum in it. “Can I?”
“You don’t need my permission either,” Roger replied.
Vincent nabbed the glass and tossed back the rum in one swallow. He took the other glass and began to wash them.
Clearly, telling the boy that he didn’t need to do anything wasn’t the way to release the tension between them. Was he expecting a relationship like the one he’d had with Seamus? Did he crave that sort of contact in a healthy way rather than the abusive situation he’d been in? Roger made his way over to the bar, keeping the wooden structure between them in order to give him space.
I’m already failing him.“You don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go.”
“What about your parents?”
Vincent scowled, and his face twisted in disgust. “You mean the woman who was so caught up with her vampire boyfriend that she didn’t give a shit what he did to me? Or the man who took me in after she got herself killed, only to kick me around whenever he got pissed—and he was always pissed. At least I could make Seamus happy.”
