Page 65 of Depths of Desire
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to be right.”
“I know,” Julien confirms. “It is I who should have reached out all those years ago. Pride and embarrassment kept me from doing so, and for that, you have my apology. What can I help you with, my friend?”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “I need a vampire priest.”
Silence stretches across the line.
“Well, that’s interesting,” he says at last. “And what would you need that for?”
“It’s a long story. One I’m not inclined to share, at the moment.”
“Well, if you want my help, Nico, you’re going to have to share it,” Julien insists.
I grind my teeth again. Damn him. “Fine.” And I tell him. Everything.
There’s a pause when I finish. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” he asks. “All joking aside, this is serious. We may not have been in touch for years, but I still value your friendship. I’ll help if I can. But I need to be certain this is what you want.”
“I do,” I say, the words firm and grounded. “I mean it. From the bottom of my soul. But... if I don’t marry her, my family will kill her. They’ll never let her go. Not if it means Malrick gets a claim.”
“Someone should’ve taken him out years ago,” Montrevault mutters.
“We might get the chance yet.”
There’s a smile in his voice as he responds. “Then please—invite me.”
“Will do.”
“I have someone,” he continues. “My guess is they’ll be there in about half an hour. Does that work?”
“Yes.” I provide him with the details.
“Ah, I know it well. Thirty minutes, give or take.”
“Julien... thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he says with a laugh—and hangs up.
Renzo cocks an eyebrow at me. “So?”
“Julien is sending someone.”
Luca frowns. “What happened between the two of you? You were thick as thieves in the mid to late eighteen hundreds.
“He started dating Saska d’Arcenay—and I loathed that woman. Never thought she had his best interests at heart.”
Renzo lets out a bark of laughter. “When do female vampires ever have someone’s best interest at heart?”
“True,” I say, smirking. “But Julien was in love with her, and I couldn’t watch what she was putting him through. I warned him. He didn’t like what I said and refused to listen. I thought it was best to make myself scarce after Saska demanded that Julien kill me for speaking poorly of her. Said I besmirched her reputation, which was so much more important back then.”
“Typical Saska,” Renzo commented. “Whatever happened to her?”
“No idea,” I say, “but they aren’t together. No shock there. Anyway, he said he’ll send someone. So now... we wait.”
Luca glanced at his phone. “I’m going to go outside and make sure security is still in place around the perimeter of the church. I don’t like being in one spot for such a long period of time.:
“But if we don’t stay here, I can’t get married.”
“Relax,” he says. “I’m just going to verify that everybody’s still in position and that things are good.”
