“I’m flattered,” Takashi said smoothly.
“You don’t know what sort of thoughts I’ve been having,” Anton replied.
A ghost of a grin graced Takashi’s lips, and he leaned against the opposite side of the window from Anton. “Well, I’m not screaming in agony nor confined to a box at the bottom of a ravine, so I’d like to believe they aren’t all that negative.”
“Always clever. Always careful.” Anton rested his head against the window frame, and a wistful smile creased his lips. “I remember the first time you came to the city. You were hiding in Nell’s shadow. You sought the edge of the room, watching us with wide eyes.”
“I was less than thirty years a vampire surrounded by beings more than ten times my age in a city run by gangsters. A little trepidation was in order.”
“I suppose.” Anton’s gaze sharpened as he met Takashi’s, and his smile grew sly. “How much of it was a front?”
“Excuse me?” Takashi asked. But his voice threatened to catch in his throat. Only experience kept his tone even. “I don’t know what you mean.”
Anton stepped closer and put his hand on Takashi’s chest. “I raked my claws through you, Takashi. I may not know your thoughts, but I know the shape of your desires.”
The deflection was quick to his lips, but Takashi paused. Bluffs were the easiest way to survive the various covens of vampires that he dealt with.
But eventually, there had to be a time when the bullshit was dropped. Anton had been in his mind and pillaged for those deeper feelings. The walls between his outer self and inner self had a gap, and Anton was pressing his eye to it, peering through to him.
Takashi lightly pushed Anton’s hand away and turned toward the window. “And you must know that I love Roger. That I want to see him and Zack safe and happy.”
“They are easy to love, aren’t they?” Anton asked. “Handsome, sensual Roger, who constantly pleases everyone around him. Beautiful, brilliant Zack, who can pierce through the thickest shield. They were plotting my lover’s death, but I don’t hate them.”
Anton was speaking of them as if they were still alive. That might be a ruse, but Takashi allowed the detail to raise his spirits. He slid his hands into his pants pockets and stared out into the darkness. Somewhere, his lovers were alive.How can I play my cards to convince Anton to tell me what I want to know? Can I trust anything he says?
“Watching the wheels of your mind turn is marvelous,” Anton said cheerfully. He brushed his fingers through Takashi’s black hair. “I am especially amazed at how you suppress your truest self.”
Takashi dipped his head out of Anton’s touch, shot him a quick glare, and then returned his gaze to the dark yard. Creatures as old as Anton always wanted entertainment. Giving in easily never thrilled them. Walking the line between teasingthem, denying them, and flattering them was a tough, high-wire act, but he’d had decades of practice. Every vampire court had someone like Anton, though he usually didn’t wind up with so much alone time with them.
“This time I’m certain that I’m lost to your meaning,” Takashi replied.
“I was in your mind,” Anton said, his voice slithering. “You play the part of gentleman well, but I know what lies beneath.”
Once more, Anton put his hand on Takashi’s chest. He slid his touch upward, reaching to caress Takashi’s throat.
Takashi caught his wrist and tugged his hand off. “I wouldn’t want to upset your lover nor either of mine.”
“If he knew what I knew, you’d bedead,” Anton whispered into Takashi’s ear. Then he moved behind him to continue speaking in his other ear. “You paint a pretty picture with the way you carry yourself. The way you smile and speak. You are a very clever boy. Of course you were not content to be Nell’s errand fledgling, flitting about the globe at her whims. You certainly won’t be happy as my lover’s captive—sorry, ‘guest.’”
Anton was attempting to elicit a reaction. Takashi had played this sort of game with dozens of others over the years. Even Nell pushed him like this from time to time. He chose to say nothing.
“Perhaps this will help.” Anton lifted a hand, and the lights in the hallway snapped out. He purred, “Now, it’s you, me, and the darkness. You can admit it to me.”
“Admit what?”
“What your heart desires.” The movement of Anton’s jaw lightly brushed his skin against Takashi’s. “You knew Roger was weak, yet you threw your lot in with him anyway. Because you seek what she was never willing to give you. Power.”
“Who of our kind doesn’t?” Takashi countered.
“Perhaps,” Anton murmured. “But not like you. You don’t seek the glory or the fame. You don’t want a throne. Your greed won’t be satisfied with that.”
Takashi fortified every gap in his mental walls. He sought to seek any interference, but Anton wasn’t pressing into his mind again. That one deep glimpse the other night must have given him everything.Or have I been obvious but surrounded by fools?
“You hoped that Roger was strong enough to claim the mantle,” Anton continued. He stepped back from Takashi. “One can hardly blame you. He has always been a charmer, but he is too weak to become a master of a coven. He is no leader, and part of you knows that. Wanted to take advantage of that.”
No, part of him declared loudly. But it was part of the lie he had been telling himself. Roger had always looked outside himself, and Takashi had seen that as an opening. When Nell had pushed them together in Taliville, Takashi was overjoyed that his chance at real freedom, and the power it would take to keep it would come with Roger. Because Roger would treat him like an equal and wouldneedhim to manage responsibilities. Roger would seek his guidance.
A spark of love had always existed between them, but Takashi had been willing to snuff it out if he had to, especially when Roger declared that Zack’s happiness came first.
