Chapter 23 #4
"Suit yourself." Maximus's voice is carefully neutral. "When he does move against you, I hope you'll remember this conversation."
Vivienne smiles. "I always remember conversations, Lord Maximus. It's one of my many talents."
She turns her attention to me, and something in her expression shifts. Becomes sharper. More calculating.
"Tell me, Celeste Moreau. Do you know who made you?"
The question catches me off guard. "Valentina Russo."
"Yes. Konstantin's little pet." Vivienne's smile widens. "Do you know why she turned you?"
I feel Maximus tense beside me. "What does this have to do with…"
"I'm asking Miss Moreau, not you." Vivienne doesn't look away from me. "Do you know why?"
I force myself to hold her gaze. "No. I beat her in a fight. I assumed it was revenge."
"Revenge." Vivienne laughs softly. "Oh, my dear. Valentina Russo doesn't do anything out of emotion. She's far too calculating for that."
The room has gone very still. Even Dmitri is watching now, pale eyes sharp with interest.
"What are you implying?" I ask.
"I'm implying that it's a rather remarkable coincidence, don't you think?
Konstantin's most trusted lieutenant just happens to turn a fighter with exceptional skills, then just happens to abandon her in Atlanta, where she just happens to end up in Maximus's inner circle within days.
" Vivienne tilts her head. "Almost as if it were planned. "
Cold spreads through my chest.
“How do you know all of this?” My voice comes out steadier than I feel.
“I have my sources,” she replies.
"You think I'm a spy?"
"I think you're something." Vivienne's eyes glitter. "I just haven't decided what yet. But I've lived long enough to know that coincidences are rarely coincidental. And you, Celeste Moreau, are a very interesting coincidence."
I want to argue. Want to defend myself, prove that I'm not some planted operative, that my loyalty to Maximus is real.
But the truth is, I don't know why Valentina turned me. I've never known. I assumed rage, wounded pride, the impulsive cruelty of a vampire who couldn't stand losing to a human.
What if I was wrong?
"Vivienne." Maximus's voice cuts through the room like a blade. "If you have evidence that Celeste is compromised, present it. Otherwise, I suggest you keep your conspiracy theories to yourself."
"No theories." Vivienne rises gracefully from her chaise. "Just observations. Take them as you will."
She glides toward the door, then pauses.
"I'll be watching with great interest to see how this all unfolds." She looks back at me one last time. "Especially you, Miss Moreau. Something tells me you're going to be very important before this is all over. I just can't decide if that's good news or bad."
She leaves.
The room is silent.
Dmitri rises, signaling the meeting's end. "Lord Maximus, you have my support. We'll discuss the specifics tomorrow."
"Thank you, Lord Dmitri."
Chen and Okonkwo offer similar farewells, formal, measured, alliance confirmed, but details pending. One by one, they file out, leaving Maximus and me alone in the parlor.
The fire crackles. Shadows dance across the walls.
I haven't moved from my chair.
"Celeste."
Maximus is standing in front of me. I don't know when he moved. His face is unreadable, but his voice is gentler than I've ever heard it.
"What she said…"
"What if she's right?" The words come out hollow. "What if Valentina turned me on purpose? What if I'm here because Konstantin wanted me here?"
"Then it doesn't matter."
I look up at him. "How can you say that?"
"Because I know who you are." He crouches in front of my chair, bringing himself to eye level.
Close enough to touch. Close enough that I can smell him, that familiar scent that's become synonymous with safety and desire.
"I know what you've done. I know where your loyalties lie.
I've watched you fight beside me, bleed for my people, risk your life to protect what we've built. "
"But…"
"Vivienne is a manipulator. She plants seeds of doubt because chaos benefits her. She wants you off-balance." His gray eyes hold mine. "Don't let her win."
"And if there's truth to it? If Valentina really did…"
"Then we'll find out what her plan was. And we'll destroy it.
" His hand comes up to cup my face. His palm is cool against my cheek, his thumb brushing along my cheekbone.
The touch is tender. Possessive. "Whatever you were meant to be, you chose something different.
That choice is yours. No one can take it from you. "
My eyes burn. I don't understand the sensation. Vampires don't cry. But something aches behind them anyway.
"I didn't ask for any of this," I whisper.
"Neither did I." His voice is rough. "But here we are."
Here we are.
In a crumbling hotel that pretends to be beautiful, surrounded by vampires who play games with lives and loyalties, wearing a ring that belonged to a family I'll never know.
Here we are.
His hand is still on my face. His eyes are still on mine. And for a moment, everything else falls away. Vivienne's insinuations, Konstantin's shadow, the weight of a war I never chose.
There's just him. Just me. Just the impossible thing building between us.
"Maximus," I breathe.
Something shifts in his expression. The control he's been wearing all night cracks, just slightly, revealing the hunger beneath.
"I've been watching you all night," he says quietly. "Watching you hold your own against vampires over ten times your age. Watching you think on your feet, speak with authority, command respect from creatures who've existed for centuries."
His thumb traces my lower lip. The touch sends sparks cascading through me.
"Do you have any idea what it did to me?" His voice has dropped to something rough and intimate. "Watching you wear my ring, my dress, stand beside me as my equal? Watching every vampire in that room realize exactly what you are?"
"What am I?"
"Mine." The word comes out like a growl. "And theirs to fear."
He leans closer. I can feel the cool brush of his breath against my lips. Feel the tension thrumming through his body, the restraint.
"I wanted to touch you all night," he murmurs. "Every time you crossed your legs, and that slit revealed your thigh. Every time you spoke, and I remembered those same lips around my name in the war room. Every time you looked at me, and I knew you were remembering too."
"I was," I admit. My voice is barely a whisper. "I couldn't stop."
His fingers tighten against my jaw. A muscle feathers in his cheek.
"We should go," he says, but he doesn't move.
"We should."
Neither of us moves.
His thumb traces my lip again. His eyes drop to my mouth. The hunger in his expression makes my stomach clench.
"When we get back to the compound," he says, "I'm going to take this dress off you. Slowly. And then I'm going to make good on every promise I made in that war room."
The words send a bolt of heat straight through me. I press my thighs together against the ache building there.
"Every promise?" My voice comes out breathless.
"Every single one." He stands abruptly, pulling his hand away like it burned him. But I see the effort it costs him. See the tension in every line of his body. "But not here. Not in this place."
He's right. We need to leave. We're still in hostile territory, still surrounded by potential enemies, still vulnerable.
I rise from my chair, smooth down the dress he gave me, touch the ring he placed around my neck. The weight of it feels different now. Heavier. More complicated.
But also more right.
We walk out of the Whitley together, side by side, not touching.
The night air hits my face as we step outside. Cool, damp, smelling of the city. Real. Grounding.
"Three out of four," I say quietly. "That's a victory."
"It's a start."
We get in the car. The driver pulls away.
Maximus's hand finds mine in the darkness of the back seat. His fingers intertwine with mine. His thumb strokes across my knuckles in slow, deliberate circles.
It's not enough. After everything tonight, after the tension and the fear and the desire simmering beneath every moment, I want more. I want his hands on me, his mouth on me. I want to finish what we started.
But Vivienne's words echo in my head:
Almost as if it were planned.
You're going to be very important before this is all over.
I just can't decide if that's good news or bad.
I stare out the window at the city lights, and I wonder if I'll ever know the truth about what I am.
Or if finding out will destroy everything I've built.
Maximus's hand tightens around mine. A silent message. I'm here. Whatever comes.
I hold on.