Chapter 30
Severin
With Joel gone, Dina and Cole were cooking for everyone.
It felt like he was being replaced and that did not sit well with any of us, but we simply had no clue on where he was.
Dina’s coven was coming tomorrow, so one hundred witches needed to be housed around here for the time being.
Peter still had his own castle, so that would have to do for most of them, not that they needed much.
They were happy to help us out, just wanting a safe place to rest as we figured out what to do now.
Peter and I had called around, trying to find old allies and friends to ask for help.
Reminia was coming today, a vampire we had met around four hundred years ago in passing.
She was turned young, like we had been, and with her knowledge, I hoped we would make some progress.
She had asked to be housed in my castle, preferring to stay with me and Peter and not the coven, which I had agreed to.
After leaving Felix’s arms this morning, I felt like I had not seen him in ages. He wanted some time with his sister and Claire today, and since Peter and I had to call our allies, it seemed fitting. But now, hours later, I was missing him too much to think of anything that was not him.
“Let us call it a day,” Peter grumbled, likely needing his own bonded, too.
“Agreed,” I said, running out of the study, scenting out where my fated was.
I found him in the potion room with Giro. “Hi, my heart,” I greeted as I entered the room fully. “I thought you would be with Astrea and Claire today.”
He gave me a weak smile and I wished we were alone so I could ask what happened, but I still did not know how much he wanted Giro to know about things with his sister. But who knew, perhaps Giro had already been told why my Felix seemed so sad.
“I ate lunch with them, but…” he sighed.
“I felt like I was the third wheel. It was weird. Like, I was talking with them, but they kept eyeing each other, like they just couldn’t wait for me to leave.
” I felt my forehead wrinkle. I was sure they had not meant anything by it, but maybe they needed more time together before Felix would feel less left out.
Giro gave Felix an understanding smile. “If they’re in love, they might just be in that lovey dovey phase.
Astrea lost five years, maybe she’s picking up the time she lost, and savoring every moment with Claire.
I’m doing the same with Peter whenever I’m not with you.
I keep fearing something will happen to one of us and this time is all I’ll ever have with him, so I’m selfishly enjoying whatever time we have. ”
That hit me harder than I had expected it to. Yes, I knew we were entering a time of war and fighting, and logically that meant someone would get hurt. But I had not thought of losing Felix.
“You broke him!” Felix accused, snapping his fingers in front of my unseeing eyes. He groaned before taking my hand and leading me back to our room.
I scented Peter passing us in the hall, but I still could not see anything other than how empty my life would be without Felix in it. A smile formed on my face as soon as we were in our room.
“Shit, he really did break you. Why are you smiling now?” Felix asked, his tone a tad worried.
“I will simply die. I had forgotten that part,” I explained, feeling my body relax.
“Um, please don’t smile and talk about you dying. That does not make me feel good. Like, at all.”
I blinked. “Oh, I forgot to tell you the first part.”
“Of you dying, or the conversation I wasn’t a part of?”
“Har har,” I drawled. “I thought about what Giro had said, about one of us getting hurt. Then I thought about how I would have to go on living without you, if you were to die. But I remembered I would die, too, so I worried for nothing.”
He just blinked before sighing loudly.
Reminia stood tall and proud at my front door, a cloak covering her body from the setting sun.
“Hello again, Severin,” she purred, her tone always holding that tiny bit of seduction to it. It was simply how she always spoke to those she liked, or she had at least always spoken to Peter and me like that.
“Reminia, a pleasure as always,” I smiled, stepping aside and letting her in. “I have pulled the curtains in every room, so the sun should not be a bother while you are here.”
“I appreciate that. It’s always a bore getting burned.”
“I would imagine,” I grimaced. I was lucky never to have experienced it.
I had lost two friends over the years from sunburn.
Something most vampires feared. I had met only two others who could sunwalk, besides Peter and I.
It was not a common ability, and one many were envious of.
It got passed down, so my creator, or sire, like it was named back in the day, was able to do the same, which was the reason my father had wanted him to change us.
“Where’s that brother of yours,” she asked, looking around the foyer. She had been here only once, a decade ago, back when I was restoring the castle. She had a lover with her, another vampire, but seeing as he was not with her now, I did not ask.
“He is in the dining room with the rest of our household,” I informed her, gesturing to the stairs. “I figured a brief meeting to catch you up to everything would help.” Reminia had a lot of friends, or acquaintances, and I selfishly hoped she would help us out before we got Joel back.
She nodded and followed me up to the dining room. I had yet to tell her about Peter and I finding Felix and Giro, something I felt was better told in person. Reminia was not a close friend of mine, but one of those I had known the longest. I hoped she would like Felix.
The room fell silent as we walked in, all eyes landing on Reminia and her blood red hair. She was a beautiful woman, no one would dare say otherwise.
“Everyone, this is my friend Reminia.” I gestured to her and saw Peter get up to say hello.
A kiss on each cheek and then Peter held out a chair for her.
He was back beside Giro soon after, holding his hand protectively, even if we both knew Giro had no interest in women, or anyone other than Peter.
I introduced everyone by name and species before I sat down next to Felix. They resumed eating while I drank some red wine with Peter and Reminia.
“So, tell me,” Reminia purred. “What mess have you found yourself in, for you to call little ol’ me for help?”
Felix’s hand found my thigh and squeezed, but I ignored it. This was simply how Reminia was. “We have some coven trouble,” I told her, keeping it at that. I knew her questions would follow soon.
“Who’s coven?” she asked, looking over the witches in the room.
“Mine,” Giro said, his voice small, like that small admission reminded him he was still a part of them, even if he wished differently.
“Just yours?”
Giro nodded. “Felix and Astrea are covenless for now, and Dina is in another coven, a coven that is currently helping us all out, too.”
“What did this coven do to you?” Reminia asked, looking at me. So, I told her how Felix was my feeder and his sister was taken to blackmail him further, how they had attacked us when we went to grab Astrea and how Giro ended up with us, too. And then Joel’s disappearance and our sickness.
It took Reminia a few moments to work through everything, and when she was done thinking, she grabbed her phone and thumbed out a message. “I have someone who’s good at finding answers. I’ll see what they find out about the Silver Lock Coven.”
“When you say answers?” Dina questioned, one eyebrow raised.
Reminia smiled, her teeth white and gleaming. “Let’s just say, they won’t stop searching until they find something. And they always do.”
The werewolves left us to it, Cole taking Dina downstairs to help in the kitchen.
He seemed fond of Dina, a bit protective, too.
I was glad. She needed someone to take care of her while she feared for Joel’s safety.
If Cole had ulterior motives, I had no idea.
He seemed content just to lend her an ear and make her smile. For that, I was grateful.
Claire had taken Astrea back to their room to rest, leaving me alone with Reminia, Felix, Peter, and Giro.
“Quite a group you’ve gathered here,” Reminia said, pouring herself more wine.
“I didn’t think you had it in you anymore.
” That last comment stung. I had told her about my reluctance to form friendships after losing so many over the many years I had lived.
She of all people knew how hard it was saying goodbye and starting over again.
How many times had I told someone my life story, only for them to tell me theirs and pass a few years later?
How many friends had I already lost to old age or sickness, some even to battle.
At one point I had thought why bother getting to know the nice neighbor?
They would only die in a few years anyway, so why even bother?
Felix seemed to think she had crossed a line, because he defended me. “I think he was just waiting for the right people to come along, before opening his heart to someone again.”
She scoffed. “He had many people who ‘came along’. Don’t think he’s lived his life in solitude.
” I had no idea if she meant past lovers or friends, I had had both, but I had not been with anyone for so long that it felt like another life.
“Severin just simply didn’t deem them worthy of him.
” Why was she acting so hostile towards me?
We had parted ways as friends, or at least it had seemed that way to me.
“Reminia,” Peter’s voice held a whisper of a threat as he glared at her. “Are you done?”
She rolled her eyes. “Forgive me for being truthful. He could’ve had me all these years, but instead he chose to suffer alone and whine about it.”
Felix made a weird sound, likely the same sort of sound that escaped me. I had no idea Reminia had wanted more than friendship with me. It made no sense whatsoever.
“I fancy men,” I stated, dumbly, like everyone in the room did not already know this. Well, it seemed Reminia did not.
“I know,” she snapped.
Well, then.
She pointed at Felix. “He’s who you picked, isn’t he?”
“Felix is mine, yes.”
“And what about you?” she asked Peter, eyeing Giro with a hint of disdain. “You into those nature lovers, too?”
“How strong is this?” I asked, looking over the empty wine bottle. She had to be out of her mind drunk, that would be the only explanation.
Peter glared at her. “He is mine. Remember that.” Oh, Peter was all protective vampire now. She needed to tone it down unless she wanted a real fight. One she would not win.
She ignored him, looking at Giro instead, giving him a sweet smile, one I knew to be fake. “Doesn’t it bother you? Knowing he would’ve never chosen you had his old lover not taken his own life? Don’t you hate being his second choice?”
Peter stood up. “I never loved anyone as much as I love Giro. Stop making up issues for us just because you are bored of yourself, Reminia!”
She stood, too, matching his anger with her own.
“I am bored! I spend my days alone! Locked inside a house, not able to see the sun! Not able to find anyone who wants to stay with me. Do you know how hard it is being a vampire with no family and friends? No! because you have Severin. You always have him, and who do I have? No one! So, yes, I am bored. And lonely. And tired of this fucking thing never ending!”
She stormed out, likely to leave and have us deal with our mess ourselves. Unless she found a room to crash in, but I doubted it.
“Um,” Giro looked guilty as he looked up at Peter, who still stood, his anger pouring out of him. “Now likely isn’t the time to admit that Felix and I added truth potion to the wine.”