Page 212 of Golden Eagle

“Major,” Val said, “you can let go of your gun, you know. I’m not actually here.”

“I know that,” Treadwell snapped, but it was a long moment of catching his breath before he took his hand off his weapon.

Ramirez blew out a breath and bent to pick up her knife, wiping a sweat-glazed forehead with the back of a hand as she stood. “Pretty bold showing up here again,” she said to Val.

He felt his fangs elongate as he shifted his smile toward her. “Says the woman who wanted to practice hand-to-hand with my brother.”

She looked like she wanted to retort – and like it was a retort she’d toned down from the kneejerk reaction that sent a spike of anger across her face – but Vlad said, “Leave us.” She and Treadwell left without any grumbling; without even a questioning glance.

“They’re afraid of you,” Val said. He didn’t try to sound delighted, but it happened anyway.

Vlad nodded and shrugged, moving toward the table. His hands were wrapped – a nod to sparring propriety, but not a necessity – and he picked the bandages loose as he walked, unwinding them. “Their efforts are genuine but they’re a poor army.” He set one bandage down and loosened the other, cutting a glance up at Val through his lashes. “Your friends–”

“Are not looking to be recruited,” Val said, loftily, though he felt a squirming of uncertainty in his belly.

“Fine.” Vlad reached for a water bottle and didn’t press the issue. “You’re still well?”

“Wonderfully so. Mia sends her regards.” He leaned forward, voice lowering conspiratorially. “She thinks you’re noble, by the way.”

Vlad’s brows lifted momentarily in surprise, which smoothed his forehead, and softened the lines around his mouth. He looked handsome like that, Val didn’t tell him, like even if he wasn’t happy, he at least wasn’t on the cusp of impaling someone.

He couldn’t repress a smile, though.

Vlad’s brows went back down. “She’s surprisingly sensible, your mate.”

“I’m glad you think so,” Val said, and meant it.

Vlad snorted and moved down the table, gaze tracking over the astounding array of knives laid out, gleaming under the lights. He selected one, tested the edge on his thumb, then sealed the cut it left with a flick of his tongue. “Are you sleeping, now?”

“No. This is a purposeful visit this time.”

Vlad set the knife down, and reached for another to repeat the exercise. Val half-wondered if it was some exercise in sharpening oneself through pain, or some such rot. “Because I’m such good company?” The edge of bitterness in his voice, like all of Vlad’s more tender emotions, would have been near impossible for a stranger to detect, but to Val it glittered as sharp as the knife in Vlad’s hand.

“I think you’re excellent company,” Val said.

Vlad stilled, and his gaze snapped over, dark and pointed. “Don’t lie to me.”

Val gazed back, and felt the nakedness of his own expression. “I’m not. We agreed, didn’t we? No more secrets. No more facades.I think you’re excellent company,” he repeated.

Vlad’s brow smoothed again, surprised again, handsome again.

He looks like Father, Val thought, struck suddenly by the idea.

Vlad said, “Why would you possibly think that?” Voice faint, almost – almostfrightened.

Vlad Tepes, fighter of sultans, impaler of enemies, shaken by genuine fraternal affection. It would have been adorable if it wasn’t so sad.

“Vlad,” Val said, “you might not be the most – vigorous of conversationalists. Not exactly the optimistic sort – though I will tell you that you should smile more, brother, because it does wonders for your face.”

The brows went down again.

“But you’re also intelligent, learned, and stubbornly honest. I’ve always enjoyed your company.”

“Always,” Vlad said flatly, and Val remembered a moonlit bedroom slatted with the shadows of the silver bars on the window, and the stubborn set of Vlad’s small shoulders, and a gulf beginning to form between them. He rememberedwhore; the rejection and contempt. Remembered a room in a tower, and Vlad saying he would never trust him.

“When–” His voice cracked. “When we were boys, you were the one I wanted to spend all my time with.”

Vlad stared at him.

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