24. Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Four
Damyr
I hadn’t heard those words for more than three centuries. But when Lucia started reading them aloud, everything came crashing back to me. The agony, the pain, the love. The loss. As clear to me today as it was all that time ago.
“What is this, Damyr?” Benjamin asked as he came around the desk with the letter in his hand. It wasn’t an original. It couldn’t be. The paper was too new, too crisp.
How could Ronin have gotten his hands on these? I thought they’d been lost to time, or burnt to ashes after Edwin had died.
Hands cupped my face, dragging me back into the present.
“Talk to me,” Benjamin said softly.
I looked up into his green eyes, trepidation running through me at telling Benjamin about my past.
“Is this about Edwin?”
My stomach dropped. “How do you know that name?”
He sighed. “Vlad told me. Not everything, but he mentioned it. Don’t be angry at him, I kind of pushed him to tell me when we were talking about how rare mates were and how marriages traditionally worked between vampires. He said you’d been heartbroken.”
I scoffed. That was one way to put it. I pulled Benjamin onto my lap, seeking the comfort I knew that only he could give me. “You mean you were digging for dirt on me and probing my second in command for gossip?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds seedy.” The smile that Benjamin gave me was warm, and it fed my soul with something I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I sat there with him in my arms for a few minutes and soaked up his touch. He ran his hands through my hair and hummed a song that I found soothing. This whole moment with Benjamin was soothing, and I could feel it softening the rough edges of my soul.
“I met Edwin when I was a lot younger,” I started, my voice rough as the ghosts of my past clawed at my memory. “I’d been a vampire for just over half a century. I was young, arrogant and na?ve.”
“You paint a lovely picture, Damyr.”
I poked him in the ribs, loving the bark of laughter that escaped him. “I thought I knew it all and then in walked Edwin. The first time I met him was at a ball his parents were hosting for his birthday. He was dressed in gold brocade with so much lace around his neck he looked more like a peacock than a man, but there was so much merriment in his eyes. As if he knew that he looked ridiculous but didn’t care. I was the mysterious visitor from the East, dressed in black and with a thick accent. I was paraded around parties as a prized jewel. Life back then was very different to what it is now, but Edwin and I struck up a friendship.”
“You became close?”
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “We were inseparable. I remember the first time he kissed me. It was so chaste, so pure, I felt unworthy of it. Nobody knew, and we made plans to go travelling the world. His parents didn’t approve of the idea, but I was wealthy. I’d keep him in comfort and they were hopeful that Edwin would find a bride with lots of money.” I paused, knowing that the worst of the story was coming.
“What happened?” Benjamin asked as he stroked a thumb across my cheek.
“I thought I was in love. I wanted to keep him with me, always and I promised him forever. We exchanged heaps of love letters. He agreed to be turned and then, the night before we were due to leave, he went drinking with his friends. They had a farewell gathering but he didn’t know that one of his party was with the Hunters. He told them what I was and what he was going to do, that he’d never be the same again and most of his friends brushed it off as drunken idiocy, but word got back to the Hunters.” I fixed Benjamin with a gaze full of sorrow. “I waited by the docks for him, but he never came and when I went searching for him…”
Words failed me, the horror of seeing him cut open and eviscerated, strung up in the town square like a common thief flashing before my eyes as the memory resurfaced.
“I’m sorry, Damyr.”
My brows knitted together as I looked up at him. “Why?”
“No one should have to go through something like that. No one deserves that.”
I had to look away, unable to bare seeing the sorrow in his eyes on my behalf.
“You wrote beautiful letters,” he said as he reread the page. “I would love to read the rest.”
“I don’t know where they are, or how Ronin even got hold of them. I didn’t think they existed anymore.”
I traced the printed script on the page with a bit of fondness. For all his foolishness, I still wish Edwin had had a better chance at life. He didn’t deserve the death he got at the hands of people that were only there because of me.
Huh. I leant closer. “That’s odd.”
“What is?”
“These words at the end… I didn’t write them.” They were in the same style of script and, had I not read them, I wouldn’t have noticed.
Benjamin peered over the last few lines of the letter. “Does love die when the object of thy heart is forgotten? I pose the question to thee, old friend, and wonder if new love trumps a love of old. Mayhap we should put it to the test.”
Oh, God. He meant Benjamin. Panic bloomed under my skin, and I dug my fingers into his hips on reflex.
“What is it?” he asked sharply.
“He’s coming after you.”
The realisation was a slap in the face. He’d been watching me, watching us. He must have if he knew about Benjamin.
“Okay… so what does that mean for me?” Benjamin asked cautiously.
“I need to get you somewhere safe.” I stood up, putting him down on the ground as I did and sped towards the door. I catalogued all the safe houses I knew about. Were any of them compromised? Ronin had everything. How was I going to keep Benjamin safe if I didn’t have anywhere safe to take him.
“Damyr, wait. Slow down.”
I stopped as I reached the door. “I can’t, Benjamin. I can’t risk him coming after you.”
He slotted his hands on his hips and scowled at me. “You can’t just move me around like some possession.”
Yes, I could. He was mine. I was going to do whatever I wanted. “This isn’t up for debate.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, really?”
We didn’t have time for this. “Benjamin.”
“You can growl my name all you want, Damyr. I’m not going.”
If I wasn’t so worried about him, I’d find his defiance charming. “Look—”
The door swung open behind me and Aleksey burst in. “We’ve got a problem.”
What the fuck was happening now? “What?”
Aleksey threw a glance at Benjamin. I didn’t care that he was here listening to this, if he was going to stay with me, he needed to know what he was getting into.
“Tell me,” I ordered.
“We’re being raided at all the warehouses.”
“Fuck.” This was turning into a mess. “Aleksey, fly to this address and make sure it’s secure.” It was an old property I’d owned, and I didn’t think it was listed on my books. It was the best bet for somewhere to keep Benjamin until I had dealt with this fucking asshole. It was also warded to the hilt. I’d been paranoid in my younger years.
“Fine,” Aleksey grumbled. He snatched the address out of my hand and disappeared to do as I asked.
I summoned Vlad along the Coven Connection and felt his immediate response.
“Damyr,” Benjamin said, my name sounding like a warning. “You can’t just ship me out of the way.”
“I can and I will.” I knew he probably had an argument for everyone of my reasons for wanting to move him somewhere safe. Was I being overbearing? Probably. Overprotective? Definitely. But I needed to deal with this mess and I couldn’t do that while worrying about Benjamin.
I walked over to him and cupped his face with my hands. “Benjamin, please. Let Vlad take you somewhere safe and as soon as one dealt with this, I’ll come and get you.”
He placed his hands on my chest and looked up at me with the biggest, saddest eyes he could muster. “Come with me.”
I smiled. “Are you trying to manipulate me?”
“Maybe? Is it working?”
“No,” I chuckled. “Just trust me. Please.”
“But I don’t want to go without you.”
His words hit me in the chest and I almost caved. “I don’t want you to go, but do this. For me. Let me solve this and we can talk about what we do next.”
His shoulders sagged and he let out a defeated sigh. “Okay. But you better come back to me in one piece. If I have to patch you back together again, I’m going to be pissed.”
“Yes, sir,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ll do my best.”
I pulled him into a searing kiss, putting my promise to come home into it. It started out chaste, but it soon turned into something else. Benjamin moaned beneath me and opened his mouth, letting me thrust my tongue past his lips. I lost myself in the taste of him, encasing myself in the bliss of his touch.
The door creaked open behind me and Vlad groaned. “Can you two not keep your hands off each other for five minutes?”
Benjamin threw a scowl at him over my shoulder, and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Perhaps you should knock,” Benjamin said.
Vlad had the grace to blush, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
“Keep him safe,” I said to Vlad and then I handed my heart to him as Benjamin left the room.
I just hoped I’d done the right thing.