Page 91 of Across the Sapphire Sea
Valeri tugged down the velvet coverlet and shuffled in under the blankets.
Elias joined him. “I can’t believe you had me get dressed to get into bed. I hope you’ll be taking these off for me later.”
“I hope so too.” The words were flirty in nature, but Valeri still managed a melancholy note to his tone that made Elias’s heart ache.
Curling close, Elias tucked himself against Valeri’s side and clung to him like a barnacle. “Tell me what’s wrong. Please.”
Valeri ran fingers through his short hair, scratching his scalp with his nails. Elias usually loved this treatment, but tonight he recognized it as a stalling tactic. Waiting in silence for Valeri to say whatever was on his mind, Elias closed his eyes and enjoyed the petting.
So quiet only another vampire could hear him, Valeri said, “Mahu came to see me tonight.”
“He did?” Had Mahu left their lesson early to speak with Valeri?
“Yes. He said he came to thank me, but truthfully he was here to give me advice.”
“What did he say?”
“He told me I should ask you what you want from me, and then be sure to listen to your answer. You wouldn’t think I’d need directions on that second point, but apparently I do. I’ve spent the remaining hours dreading the conversation.”
“Dreading it?” There was a lot to pick apart in that statement, and Elias had several questions, but this one stood out as most important. “Why would you dread speaking with me?”
Valeri pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. “I’m afraid I know what you’ll say. And I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want to face the consequences of those words once they’re out in the open, but I will. I know I must. I’ll do it for you Elias; I will learn to let you go.”
Alarm struck. Elias stiffened. “Let me go?”
“Yes,” Valeri confirmed.
“What?” Elias sat straight up in bed. “What are you talking about? Let me go where?”
“Fedor has offered for you,” Valeri admitted.
“Offered for me?” Elias said it like the words tasted revolting in his mouth. Fedor had been cruel to Valeri. Fedor was certainly part of why Valeri turned out the way he did.
“I’d never let that happen, Elias, I promise.” He squeezed his eyes shut. Opened them. “But Laurence…”
He couldn’t be saying what Elias thought he was saying. Could he? “But Laurence what?”
Valeri hesitated. Took a breath. Let it out. “Laurence is a good man. He’d take you. Teach you well.”
Elias knew how it would pain Valeri to suggest such a thing. Did he know Laurence and Remy had offered to take him with them to Livia’s? But he couldn’t know that. Who would have told him? Not Elias. Elias had turned them down. He didn’t wish to leave Valeri, and he didn’t think Valeri would agree to come with them.
Valeri forced the words out one by one. “Laurence would take good care of you.”
A flare of anger sparked. “I’m sure he would. Aren’t you even going to ask me first? Don’t I get a say?”
“Of course.” Valeri stroked a soft hand down his flank, perhaps trying to bring Elias’s former mood back, but it wouldn’t work. “I’m sorry, of course I’ll let you say it.”
“I’m so confused right now.” Elias’s nerves jangled. “It’s like you’ve had a conversation with me in your head, played all the parts yourself, and think you get to make all the decisions for both of us, but you don’t. I am just as big a part of this relationship as you are, and there are things I need from you.”
“Anything,” offered Valeri with no hesitation. “You may have anything you ask for. Money, solicitors, land. Everything I have is yours for the taking, Elias. I would deny you nothing. That’s not what this is about.”
Elias rolled his eyes. “That is the first logical thing you’ve said so far. That isnotwhat this is about! I don’t care about your money or your grubby solicitors. What would I do with land when this entire castle is mine to roam? I need you! You, Valeri! You deny me yourself. You do it every night. It weighs on my soul. Why don’t you want to spend time with me anymore? What have I done to offend you so, because I want to take it back!”
Valeri took his turn at confusion, his expression flummoxed. “I thought…I thought you were planning to leave me. I’ve been waiting to hear you admit it. Any night now, I thought you’d break it off, ask for your freedom. I’d vowed to myself to let you go. To give you my blessing. I—”
“Stop talking.” Elias stared down at him, unbelieving. “Since when?”
Valeri’s face was the picture of misery. “What do you mean?”
