Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
It seemed as if Cameron was worried about Thomas being left alone with Rachelle, but Thomas was too busy being worried about dried snot and tear stains crusted on his face.
He wiped the corners of his eyes one more time for good measure and stood straighter, then tucked Cameron’s handkerchief into his pants pocket.
“Lady Rachelle,” he said, “you wished to speak with me in private?”
“Yes. Will you walk with me?”
“Of course.” As he stepped up beside her, she held out her arm. Understanding the gesture, he tucked it comfortably within his own and guided her out of the room.
When they were in the lantern-lit hallway, she spoke quietly. “As I said earlier, you look very well, but I wanted to ask you if everything is going alright? Are you comfortable in the Ashford estate?”
“I am exceptionally comfortable,” he said. “To be completely candid with you, Cameron has been a kind of godsend to my otherwise dismal existence.” She took the lead, guiding them down the corridor and around a corner.
“Well, I’m very glad for that,” she said, strolling casually. “He made the decision to request your hand so abruptly—he didn’t even discuss it with Lennon.”
Thomas found this surprising. “He didn’t?”
Rachelle shook her head. “According to Lennon, Cameron attended an unremarkable party a month and a half ago, saw you, then had the formal request papers drawn up the very next morning. Lennon was stressed about it. Cameron had never made such an important decision so hastily and without him. It was uncharacteristic of him, to say the least.”
They stepped up to a closed door and Rachelle pulled away from him to open it.
“My office,” she said, gesturing for him to follow.
Similarly to the small guest study they’d just left, the space was dark, but cast in more silver moonlight because there were twice as many windows facing the barren woods outside.
“But Lennon assured me that Cameron has been attentive toward you. That not only does he not avoid nor ignore you, he spends time with you every day in the upper library, and the two of you often take meals together?”
She posed it as a question, so Thomas nodded as he followed her toward a pine-wood desk at the far corner of the room.
“Yes, we do.” They often played chess (lately, backgammon and checkers as well) and went for walks outdoors when the weather permitted (and even when it didn’t, sometimes).
In the near future, they’d likely be enjoying cigars together as well.
“Fascinating,” Rachelle said, pausing to regard him in the blue-hued darkness. “We’ve never seen him be this obliging toward someone new. It is obvious to both Lennon and me that he harbors strong affections for you. And you favor him? Despite his… eccentric quirks?”
“I adore his unique character and the whole, complex man that he is,” Thomas said unflinchingly. “I am very fond of him—you need not worry.”
Truthfully, what Thomas felt for Cameron with each passing day within his heart and nature was something much stronger than favor or fondness. But he kept the blossoming feeling at bay, for both his sake and Cameron’s.
It was becoming more challenging, though, to pretend as if the truth of it wasn’t staring him in the face.
The lovely, gingery-sweet scent of Cameron, his unyielding kindness, admirable sense of responsibility and the way he made laughter spontaneously burst from Thomas’s chest. His delicious blood and his verdant eyes when they alighted for Thomas.
Because of Thomas. And now, the heady warmth and power of his embrace.
Thomas knew what love felt like, and the ancient, enchanted being within his deeper self wanted it with Cameron. Whether Cameron wanted that from him was another issue.
Rachelle smiled softly and her shoulders dropped. “Good. The two of you seem well matched, then. Here, I got you both something.” She slid an upper drawer out from the desk, grabbed an envelope and closed it again. She handed it to him.
The paper was a fanciful silk style that was marbled in texture and soft to his fingertips. Thomas flipped it over and saw that it was tied closed with a golden satin ribbon. “May I open it? Or should I wait for Cameron?”
“No, open it now. I’m giving it to you without him because I didn’t want to deal with his hysterical and embarrassed reaction.” She rolled her eyes.
Embarrassed? Thomas pulled the ribbon loose and unhooked it from the small holes, and to his surprise, the envelope itself was an invitation. He read it over and his eyes widened. “Oh.”
“I’m positive he’s never mentioned this to you, but there’s a Roman-style bathhouse in the lower hills, not too far from the Ashford estate.
Henry and I go there for our date nights sometimes, and it is terribly romantic.
The property and facilities are breathtaking.
I booked a specific date for the end of next month so that you’ll have the entire men’s baths to yourselves, because I know my brother would never, ever go to a place like this if other vampires were anywhere within range. ”
Rachelle tilted her head in assessment, a sly smile gracing her full lips. “He might be willing to go with you, though? If you desired it.”
Thomas took a deep breath, wishing he could suppress the full flush of heat climbing up his neck and to his cheeks.
“I will try. Thank you for the generous gift.” And thankful mercies the date was a month from now and not, say, a week.
He wanted to experience this—he’d love to do it with Cameron but, undoubtedly, they needed time.
As he refolded the invitation and tucked it into his jacket, Rachelle met him at his side. “Thank you for talking with me,” she said. “I’d better return you before he gets too distressed. May I ask a delicate question?”
“You may.”
“Can he sense you?” she asked, re-hooking their arms. “Your vampiric essence, I mean.”
“He hasn’t said as much. He told me that he can’t scent anyone. That he lacks the ability.”
Rachelle urged him toward the door to the outer hallway. “Hm, I do wonder about that. He’s never engaged in proper feeding practices with another vampire—and he’s only had bags since he was weaned. Did you know?”
It felt a little uncomfortable that she would disclose this, but Thomas didn’t see the point in lying. “I did. He told me.”
“Really? Good for him. I suspect feeding and being fed from are likely an integral part of our natural development. I suppose only time will tell.”
They returned to the Ashford estate late in the evening, but Thomas found that he wasn’t tired. Something about the night had invigorated him. A weight being lifted? A burden being shared. Whatever it was, it buzzed within his core and sent soft, contented pulses all throughout his body.
Henry had gifted them an entire box of 1964 Anniversary Maduros, which was beyond generous in Thomas’s estimation.
“I told Henry that a five-pack would have been plenty,” Cameron had said in the car, obviously frustrated. “But the stubborn man insisted on the box of twenty. I would have ordered them for you. I will, in the future.”
Thomas had said nothing, only smiled and taken hold of his large hand. Cameron sounded more put out by the lost opportunity to do something kind for Thomas (yet again), rather than the actual box of cigars.
In the estate, Thomas followed Cameron up the stairs to the second floor, past Thomas’s bedroom and down a hallway he had never ventured to explore.
“Why do you keep the cigars in the attic?” Thomas asked, perplexed. There were multiple studies and sitting rooms on the lower floor that could easily be dedicated smoking rooms.
“Because the cocktail lounge is up there.”
Thomas stopped mid-step, gawking. Cameron went a few steps further before he noticed he was alone, then turned. “What? Did Lennon not mention this?”
“The two of you.” Thomas shook his head. “This house and its secret passages and rooms.”
Cameron grinned. “Only one secret passage, and one secret room. Come with me?” He stalked forward and Thomas followed.
The offshoot corridor around the corner was styled differently compared with the rest of the upper floor.
The wallpaper was a rich and swirling peacock pattern.
All indigos, royal purples and forest greens laced with golden foil.
It was moody and playful and set a different tone from the more neutral but still lovely adjacent hall.
There was a square window showcasing the dark and snowy night at the end of the corridor, but nothing else. It looked like a glamorous dead end.
Cameron stepped to the wall and placed his palm there.
“Third bird, right side, the button is here but flush with the wall. Come look.” Thomas stepped over to Cameron’s side and examined the pattern more closely.
A panel was discreetly placed within the center of the bird’s body.
If you didn’t know to look for it, you might not find it at all, especially not in the dim light.
“I see it,” Thomas confirmed.
Cameron pressed the button, and a gentle mechanical whirring drew his attention to the high ceiling of the corridor.
Smoothly, a large rectangle cut-out formed there, then folded down and toward the floor.
A single set of dark wooden steps was on the upper side of it, and Thomas watched in awe as it quietly rested onto the floor at their feet.
A simple stairway leading up and into the attic.
“This is incredible,” Thomas marveled. They had secret rooms and corridors within his home estate, but they weren’t whimsical like this.
They were dank and derelict. Unquestionably filled with dust, grime and spiderwebs (with no disrespect to spiders, of course).
The kinds of hazards more likely to be found in an ancient Temple of Doom and within an accursed mummy’s crypt.