Chapter 17 #2
“Like Aurelius.”
I snort a laugh and then cover my mouth. “We wanted to do something nice for you.”
Lanlin stuffs the cake into his mouth, munching eagerly. “It is the sweetest gift anyone has given me.” I glow. He strokes over the rose’s petal. “This smells of all of you, even Relius.”
“He gave it to me,” I reply cautiously. After all, Lanlin must fucking hate Aurelius, right? “It’s from his mom’s garden. I was trying to recreate the way you gave me a lotus flower.”
“I love it. You must take it back with you, however, because if Taran notices anything in my cell that I am attached to, then he will only stomp it under his boot.”
“What about that?” I gesture in confusion at the metal that he’d been hugging.
“It is what is left of my crown after Maximinus melted it, along with the one that I gave to Daire.”
“Bastard. They’re broken.”
Lanlin shakes his head. “They bled into one just like I draw Daire’s blood into me when I feed from him. Other people may try to break our pack apart, but they can’t. I have only been allowed to keep it on Relius’ order.”
When I edge my hand through the bars, Lanlin eagerly grabs my fingers with his manacled hand. The shackles clank.
It is hard to read his feelings on Aurelius.
I must find a way to bring my fractured pack together.
“Aurelius has a plan,” I insist.
I brace myself for Lanlin’s fury.
By the moon, Lanlin’s tortured body is an accusation that screams out against his rival king. He deserves to react in any way that he likes.
Instead, Lanlin smiles, fondly. “My friend always does.”
“You’re not…? I mean, you don’t want us to scheme against him?”
Daire would.
Lanlin pushes his hair out of his face with his scorched hand. “Why, my dear? I am not here because of him but because of the machinations of his toxic court. He is also caught in its poisonous jaws.”
Suddenly, my mind clears.
“He visited you,” I guess.
I should have known that Aurelius would act emotionless, but in fact, would secretly be protecting Lanlin.
He did the same for Daire.
“I explained to him about Tarq’s death,” Lanlin says.
My eyes widen. “His brother’s murder.”
Lanlin pulls his hand back from me. “I didn’t murder him. On my heart, Aurelius’ brother plotted with his uncle for me to murder Relius. That night, if I had not disobeyed my orders and killed Tarq instead, Relius would have died. I saved him.”
Shocked, I shove myself to my feet. “Aurelius loves his brother. His entire world…beliefs…are based around the brother who raised him being this hero. He grieves at his shrine. He has spent three years fighting wars to keep his Blood Oath to him. And you just told him that his brother wanted him dead?”
Lanlin’s expression tightens. “It’s the truth. He needed to face it eventually. Should I have lied?”
I shake my head.
Yet Aurelius has just lost the only family he had, as well as having had the image of the man who raised him, who everyone says is better than him as both man and king, torn down.
His idol has been toppled.
Aurelius must be falling apart, and Daire and I need to be there for him.
It’s time to let him back into our nest.
“Did he believe you?” I ask.
“Well, he doesn’t want me dead anymore.” Lanlin sprawls onto his back, appearing like he is moments from falling asleep. Daire’s blood, the food, my pheromones, and simply being close to me is making Lanlin look better. “And he offered to let me feed from him.”
“You’re fucking with me.”
“Never. I refused because I am a loyal vampire.”
“Idiot, more like,” I mutter. “Don’t you dare starve to death because of a principle.”
“I shall do as I wish, especially because of a vow. I expected to die in the Void. For years I believed that my life would end on the night of the Blood Moon. Pain and hunger are irrelevant. Every day that I live now is like the lotus flower opening at dawn. I have been reborn — reincarnated. You are my morning sunlight…my hope. Every day extra that I am granted, I am grateful.”
He yawns.
After all, this is the daytime. As a Shadow Vampire, he should be sleeping. Have the assassins been messing with his sleep patterns, if he never gets to see the moon and night sky?
I lean down, pushing the remaining fruit through the bars.
I rip the loaf into wedges and fit them through as well. “There, eat them quickly, before any dickhead Guild members come and take them away.”
Reluctantly, I take back the rose and the tray, straightening. Before I can gather the tray, I am stopped by Lanlin’s quiet but determined demand.
“I want to bond with Relius.” Lanlin snatches up a piece of blood-soaked bread. “He was always the sun in my youth when I visited this court. He could be again.”
Joy rushes through me. My pheromones flood the room.
“Then bond him.”
Lanlin takes a deep breath, growling as he rips into the blood-flavored bread. “This was an excellent idea. The bread tastes like it has been dipped in nectar.”
I study my vampire, as my heart soars that my pack is finally coming together. “You know, you may now live in shadows. But darkness is your power, and you have three people on your side with the power of the sun working to bring the dawn.”
He looks up at me, as if I am the sun shining over the horizon for him.
Is it wrong to bring him hope?
Is it ever wrong?
I can’t leave him in this bleak place in despair, however, when I know that he still has twisted games to face.
Also, when at some point he will find out the truth about his twin — that the dragon he wants to bond with burned his twin alive.