Chapter Seven
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CYRIL STILL HAD NO idea what to do as he and John left the cemetery. Thankfully, John had been quiet, but Cyril could feel him watching him. It made him want to scream because he knew that John was judging him.
Cyril hated what he’d done. He’d given himself hard rules when he’d decided to use his ability to make a living.
He was very selective when it came to his clients, and he had a code of conduct that he followed.
He’d broken all of his rules with Melissa, though.
He’d dug her up without her family knowing.
Hopefully, they’d never find out. Mark hadn’t reappeared as John and Cyril put Melissa back to rest, and he’d probably forgotten all about seeing Cyril there already.
But Cyril couldn’t forget what he’d done. How could he? It wasn’t only Melissa, but also the fact that he hadn’t believed Vale. He hadn’t trusted his boyfriend. He hadn’t even bothered to get Vale’s side of the story by telling him about his dream when he really should have.
Cyril drove them home in almost complete silence. He was glad that John didn’t ask him any of the many questions he was no doubt impatient to ask. Cyril didn’t want to answer them now.
When he parked the car in front of the building, he saw that Vale’s car was there.
That meant he was home, and Cyril couldn’t hide from him.
Part of him wanted to, but another part knew they needed to do this now before things got worse with the Organization.
They had to fix things between them before dealing with those people.
“I think I’m going to go,” John said as they exited the car.
Cyril frowned. “You can stay a while longer. I don’t think Vale minds, even though he grumbles.”
“I think he minds very much, but it’s okay. I’m pretty much healed now, and the two of you need your space back.”
“You just don’t want to be there when we start screaming at each other.”
“There’s that, too, but I don’t think you’ll do that. You care too much about each other to allow anything to get between the two of you, even this.”
Cyril looked down. “You don’t know what happened.”
“Not in details, but I know enough.” He hesitated.
“I can’t say I understand where you’re coming from.
I’m in the same profession as Vale, and I don’t see a problem with it.
You’re not one of us, though, and I can’t imagine how complicated this is for you.
Vale will be hurt, but I think he’ll understand. ”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. The two of you were made for each other, as weird as that sounds. Give him a chance to prove it to you. Give him time to wrap his mind around what happened and accept it. It might take both of you some time, but you’ll be stronger for it in the end.”
Cyril hoped that John was right. He still felt like shit as he made his way to the apartment.
Vale was waiting for him on the couch. He smiled when he heard Cyril come in, but his smile quickly vanished. He could tell something was wrong by Cyril’s expression.
“What happened? Where’s John?”
“He decided to go home.”
Vale frowned, then nodded. “Good. It was about time.”
Cyril could tell he wasn’t serious. He couldn’t tease Vale about it, though. Not right now. “He came with me to the cemetery.”
“Why did you have to go to the cemetery?” Vale looked confused.
As much as Cyril wanted to delay the inevitable, he couldn’t do that to his boyfriend.
“I saw Melissa Campbell die the other night,” he admitted.
He didn’t look at Vale, didn’t slow down.
He needed this to be over as quickly as possible.
“But I didn’t see everything. When I got there, I could feel her pain and heard a loud bang, but I didn’t realize that wasn’t the shot that killed her.
I saw you through her eyes, and you were pointing a gun at her, and I thought you’d shot her. ”
“I didn’t.”
“I know. I know that now, but I never saw the other body. I never saw the other man. I thought you lied to me last night because I was sure I saw you killing her.”
“How do you know I didn’t? If you didn’t believe me last night, why do you now?”
Cyril swallowed. “I went to the cemetery to talk to her,” he admitted. “She told me that you killed her killer.”
“I did. I thought I’d get there in time, but I was too late. She was already nearly dead by the time I tried helping her.”
“She told me that, too. I’m really sorry, Vale. I should’ve told you about my nightmare, but I was scared you wouldn’t tell me everything. You were hiding things from me, and I thought that one of those things was that you’d killed her. I should have trusted you.”
But Cyril hadn’t, and that might mean the end of his relationship with Vale. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if that was the case, but he only had himself to blame.
He’d done this. He hadn’t trusted Vale, even though he should have. Now, he’d have to deal with the consequences of that.
* * * *
VALE HAD KNOWN SOMETHING was wrong, but he hadn’t expected it to be that. He hadn’t expected Cyril not to trust him or believe him when he’d told him about the Organization.
He understood why Cyril felt that way. It was the reason he’d been afraid to tell him in the first place. They’d finally had that conversation, though, and Vale had thought that would be it. He didn’t have a reason to lie to Cyril, yet Cyril had believed that he had.
Well, he supposed he did have a reason. He didn’t want to lose his boyfriend, so maybe Cyril thought he’d lied because of that.
Vale couldn’t believe that Cyril had actually found Melissa and had visited her at the cemetery. It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t something Cyril would normally do. He had strong beliefs when it came to his ability as a necromancer, and he never disturbed someone’s rest for personal reasons.
It looked like things were different with Melissa, and it was Vale’s fault. He was the reason Cyril had done this. If it wasn’t for him, he wouldn’t have.
That was what Vale wanted to focus on, not the pain. He didn’t want Cyril to feel guilty. What he’d done made sense.
“All right,” he said.
Cyril frowned. “All right?”
“I understand why you did what you did.”
“But I shouldn’t have done it.”
“I’m sure you regret reanimating Melissa, but don’t be too hard on yourself.”
Cyril looked bewildered. “What are you talking about? And why are you taking this so easily?”
“Because I don’t have a choice. How am I supposed to react?”
“I don’t know. Yell at me. Tell me how disappointed you are in me.”
“I’m not disappointed, Cyril. I’m hurt, but I understand where you were coming from. I’m not surprised that you needed more than my words to believe me.”
Cyril was already shaking his head. “It shouldn’t be like that. You told me the truth. You were honest with me, and I didn’t believe you. It’s not right. Never mind what I did to Melissa, I betrayed you.”
“I wouldn’t call that betraying. You had good reasons to look into it. I wish you’d talked to me, but I understand why you couldn’t.”
Cyril shook his head. “I really am sorry that I didn’t trust you. I should have.”
“Maybe, but considering everything, I can’t hold that against you.”
“Maybe you should anyway. I chose to be with you, Vale. I knew who you were and what you did, and I still chose you. That means I should trust you. I should be able to ignore my dislike for the kind of work you do and focus on you.”
Maybe Cyril was right, but that wasn’t how Vale saw things.
“Look, I’m not going to deny it hurts that you didn’t believe me right away, especially when Russell and Rachel did, but it doesn’t matter.
What does matter is that you’re talking to me again.
I don’t want us to keep this kind of thing to ourselves.
If you have doubts about anything, I want you to come and talk to me. ”
Cyril snorted. “You better believe I’ll do that after what happened this time around. I feel like an idiot.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. This is the first experience we’ve both had with a real relationship. We’re going to stumble and make mistakes. We shouldn’t hold that against each other.”
“You won’t hold it against me?”
“How can I? I’m hurt, but I can be logical. I understand what happened, and I don’t blame you. We’ve already been dealing with enough without the Organization getting involved. You keep dreaming of people’s last moments. Anyone would be freaked out in your place.”
“But I should’ve talked to you.”
“You should have,” Vale agreed. “I would’ve told you about Melissa.
I would’ve told you that I was initially supposed to take that job, but I was delayed on another one, and I was too late to save her.
I tried, but she was already gone.” And Vale had always felt guilty for that.
He should have been the one there. She wouldn’t have died if he had been.
“You did what you could to help her.”
“I did. Please, next time, just ask. We can talk about these things as many times as you need us to.”
Cyril arched a brow. “Can we? Because you didn’t tell me about the Organization until you were forced to.”
“You’re right, and it’s my fault. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to look at me differently. Like I said, I did what I could to keep people safe and help them escape from the Organization and whoever wanted them dead, but it wasn’t always possible.”
“I promise I’ll talk to you next time. You’re right. We need to talk about these things before they become a problem.”
Vale hoped he wasn’t pushing his luck, but since they were talking already, he decided to ask. “Can we talk about your ability changing, too?”
Cyril groaned. “Do we really have to?”
“I think it’s becoming stronger, Cyril.”
“I don’t think that’s possible.”
“I don’t think there’s another explanation. You’re having dreams about people dying. Oscar has become stronger, and we know how strongly he’s linked to you. I don’t believe those two things are a coincidence. I think they’re happening now because you’re getting stronger.”
“I wish I had someone to talk to about these things,” Cyril said with a groan.
Vale hoped he wasn’t about to get rejected when he opened his arms, but he wouldn’t blame Cyril if he decided he needed space or more time.
Being in love with a professional assassin couldn’t be easy for someone not in the business, and that was without adding the mess of the Organization and Cyril’s dreams to the equation.
It was a miracle that Cyril wasn’t hiding under the blankets on their bed.
But Cyril didn’t hesitate. He stepped closer and dropped into Vale’s lap, wrapping his arms around Vale’s neck and snuggling close.
He relaxed, and Vale held him, feeling content.
Their problems were far from being over, but the two of them were good again, and right now, that was all Vale cared about.
They had plenty of problems to focus on, but they could take ten minutes to be together. Vale had believed that Cyril would break up with him once he found out about the Organization, but he was still here, and after the conversation, Vale was sure that Cyril was here to stay.
It would take work, but that was okay. Cyril deserved for Vale to put work into their relationship. They both did.