Page 52 of Across the Sapphire Sea
“Banished?” Elias tried to keep the shock from his tone. “What for?”
“The vampire I made before you turned them against me.”
Elias flipped his hand so he could lace their fingers together. “Am I never to know his name?”
“Why do you care about his name?”
“I care that you won’t tell me. Do you loathe him so much it vexes you to say it out loud?”
“His name is Laurence, and you can stop your questions there. I do not wish to speak of him.”
Laurence,thought Elias.Finally.It certainly didn’t sound like the name of a monster, but Laurence must be awful if Valeri hated him so.
“What did he say to The Dozen to get them to banish you?” Elias phrased the question carefully. Valeri would never entertain a question like,what did you do to get yourself banished?Though with what he’d seen of Valeri’s questionable morals, Elias could think of a number of ways the circumstances might be his own fault.
“So you took ‘stop your questions’ to mean ‘change your line of questioning’?” Valeri smiled as he spoke, so Elias knew he hadn’t provoked any anger. Yet.
“Indeed.” Elias grinned. “Will you answer?”
“Laurence wished to be separated from me and wasn’t about to allow me the last word on the matter. He’d made friends in high places.” Valeri shrugged this off. “He used those contacts to get what he wanted and succeeded in having me exiled. The end.”
That was so far from the whole story as to be laughable. It contained no parts of the beginning, only an iota of information from the middle, and of the end, nothing at all. At best it was a fragment, but Elias had become good at parsing out information with little to go on.
“So when you learned about the ancients, you thought, if you could acquire their secrets and bring them to The Dozen, you’d be allowed back. Is that what you’re after?”Or are you trying to get to Laurence?Elias knew better than to ask that bit.
“I deserve to be respected. I want their gratitude and a place at court worthy of my status. Is that so much to ask?”
“I don’t really know,” answered Elias honestly. “I don’t know any of those vampires or how they make their rules and laws. Why would you want to return when we could go anywhere?”
“Enough.” Valeri’s tone indicated he meant it.
Elias switched tactics. “Then tell me more of what you know of the court of the ancients. Why are we here, and what can I do to help?”
“I don’t need your help, I need your company. You are already doing everything I require from you. I won’t risk putting you in danger.”
“But aren’t you in danger when you leave me to hunt for secrets?” Elias had always worried about this, but getting a straight answer from Valeri was like asking for blood from a stone. “If something happened to you, how would I know? What would I do without you?”
“Nothing is going to happen to me. I’m careful. I’m stronger than you. It’s safer for both of us if you stay out of it.”
“All right, fine. I will stayphysicallyout of it. I won’t nag you to come along creeping through campsites under the cover of darkness for whatever it is you’re looking for. But tell me what you’re after. Tell me what you’ve learned and what you’re still trying to decipher. Let me in because this is my life too.”
Valeri gave a put upon sigh. “You’re exhausting sometimes, you know that?”
“You’re no cinnamon baked apple either.”
With a chuckle, Valeri drew him close. “Come here, let me hold you, and I will update you on my efforts.”
The request was an easy one to grant; Elias enjoyed cuddling. He curled into Valeri’s side and tangled their legs.
“I’ve begun to suspect Lajos knows more than he’s letting on,” Valeri started.
Elias cringed. He didn’t care for Lajos. The older vampire looked at him with a hunger in his gaze that made Elias wish for a bath. He spoke of Elias as if he were a prize to be won and not a person with his own thoughts and opinions.
“His lead sent me to Kuusamo, but he only wanted me out of his city. I think the ancients are closer to Rovaniemi than he lets on. He might even work for them. I will soon find out.”
“How?”
“The Breodun people we’ve been following have lived on these lands for millennia, just like the ancients. Lajos mentioned the possibility that they might have passed down legends of the vampires over the generations. He thinks he’s sent me on a goose chase, but he’s actually pointed me toward the most solid evidence yet. He didn’t know that beyond passing down stories by mouth, the Breodun have a keeper of records in every generation. The position is secret, along with her location, but she guards written legends on physical scrolls. The answers lie with the keeper; I need only to find her.”
