Page 28 of Across the Sapphire Sea
Elias glanced at the drunk slumped on the floor. “Frans is still bleeding. Heal him.”
Valeri gave an exasperated sigh. “What do you care?”
“I care!” he said entirely too loudly.
“Shh.” Valeri went to take his shoulders, but Elias dodged the touch.
“I don’t want to kill people. I don’t wantyouto kill people.” He jabbed Valeri’s sternum with his finger. “It’s not necessary, and you promised.”
Tipping his head back in frustration, Valeri gave in. “Fine. Fine. Just don’t go.” He turned to Frans in the corner and propped the man up. He knelt to heal the wounds.
Elias waited long enough to watch Valeri lick the punctures closed, then he left the room, hurried down the hallway, and fled the pub.
8
Elias, Present, 1432 Common Era
Elias hoped he had enough of a head start that Valeri wouldn’t follow. The cobbled streets passed in a blur and turned to dirt under his feet as he hit the edge of the village. He wouldn’t go back to the ship yet, not alone, not since the crew had become suspicious of their nocturnal lifestyle. Plus Valeri would look for him there, and Elias needed some space to think.
Had things been like this for Laurence when he was with Valeri? Elias couldn’t imagine the strong, indomitable vampire cowing to their sire’s petty demands the way Elias did. And Elias had only been with Valeri for four years. Laurence somehow survived the man for fifteen.
Farmland became forest and the dirt road narrowed. Elias slowed his pace. Branches canopied overhead, not yet boasting full leaves but only the buds of springtime.
Footsteps surged behind him. Elias recognized them—Valeri, announcing himself rather than sneaking up on silent feet.
Resigned to more arguing, Elias rallied. He should have known he wouldn’t be allowed the last word.
He stopped and whirled so suddenly Valeri nearly ran into him. “What part of me leaving made you think I wanted to be followed?”
“Didn’t you?” Valeri barked with a hint of a sneer. He stepped back and gave Elias an appraising glance from head to toe.
The question stunned Elias. Realization dawned on him; there was an ugly truth in Valeri’s words. Yes, he wanted to be alone, but also…he’d expected Valeri to follow. Some part of him wanted it. And if Valeri hadn’t come, Elias would have wondered why not. He would have been disappointed.
Damn him.
Valeri cocked his head, an arrogant arch to his brows as if he’d read Elias’s mind and knew he’d won. “That’s what I thought.”
Elias fumed in silence, irritated at having become so transparent. How had that happened?
“He’s fine, you know.” Valeri offered the knowledge like an olive branch. “Frans. He’ll sleep it off. I didn’t kill him.”
“I suppose you want a medal for that. Did it hurt very much? Keeping your promise?”
“Don’t be impertinent.”
Elias crossed his arms. “Or what?”
“I won’t tolerate disrespect, Elias. I did what you asked of me, then I asked you not to leave, and you refused me the same courtesy.”
Elias opened his mouth to say,I never promised not to leave, but he had, hadn’t he? Not tonight, no, but on a night not so long ago, when Valeri had turned him to a vampire. He’d promised then, and he’d meant it. But now? He wasn’t sure if he could stay, not when the tension between them had gotten so suffocating. Though he didn’t want to leave either. He was trapped.
Elias searched Valeri’s face. “You used to be kinder to me. When it was just the two of us.”
Valeri threw his hands in the air. “I’m kind to you now!”
Elias shook his head. “You’re not. You’re different. You order me around and embarrass me in front of the others. You keep me isolated.”
“It’s for your own good. I’m protecting you.”
