Page 27 of Thomas
“Mira, why doesn’t Thomas speak to you?” Cameron had heard about this from Lennon and seen it for himself. Mira would enter a room, and Thomas wouldn’t even acknowledgeher presence, let alone speak to her. He’d act as if she wasn’t there.
Cameron might have initially taken this as snobbery toward the working staff (since lots of purebreds in Eden were guilty of it). But then he’d witnessed Thomas being not only polite but kind to Cameron’s own staff. The juxtaposition in his behavior was palpable.
Mira twisted her hands in front of her and avoided Cameron’s eyes. “Sir Thomas feels betrayed by me and others in his household—as he should, I think. However… I-I do care deeply for him and his well-being.Of courseI do, but I’m not sure how I can make things right between us. I don’t know if it’s possible.”
Mira looked up and met Cameron’s mutually perplexed stare. He wanted to know why Thomas felt betrayed—one innocent curiosity leading to another, like plunging down a rabbit hole. It was obvious that Mira was withholding the reason. He respected her for being discreet, though, lest she betray Thomas again with truths that were not her own to disclose.
“You don’t need to tell me what happened to him,” Cameron offered, hoping to set her mind at ease. “Just… if you wish to offer any insight on how I might help with making Thomas feel more comfortable here at the estate, know that I would welcome it.” He was thinking about Thomas’s strong reaction to the secret stairwell. His lack of appetite and apparent frailty.
Mira nodded, seemingly finding meaning within Cameron’s vague words. “I think… I’m not absolutely certain, but Sir Thomas had never fed from bags until there was a specific incident. It was the first time he’d been… well, required to feed that way. Before that time, he’d only fed from other vampires. I think something about the bags is making him ill? No—not ill.Perhaps mentally, it’s affecting him? Constantly being reminded of the incident.”
Required?Cameron couldn’t conceal the confusion likely written on his face. The word was ambiguous and could mean anything depending on the surrounding context. “So… you’re suggesting that he might prefer feeding from a natural source? Directly from another vampire?”
“I believe so, yes. He—he hasn’t said as much, but it’s just… if it were me, I might be sensitive to bags in the wake of what I’d gone through. Feeding from another vampire again might help him to regain a sense of normalcy, or closure? That the event which caused this new necessity is over and done with.”
With his arms folded, Cameron quietly absorbed everything. Aside from his parents and when he was very young, he’d only ever fed from bags. He hardly knew of anything else, so it didn’t bother him to feed artificially. However, he supposed that if bags were suddenly thrust upon a vampire—no,required—it might be another thing entirely.
“Thank you for talking with me, Mira,” Cameron offered, then walked over to the small table to take a seat there. His cappuccino was getting cold. “I do hope that the two of you can reconcile things between you. If you need anything in the meantime, feel free to let us know.”
“It’s my pleasure.” She dipped her head, her soft smile returned. “Thank you, my lord, for inquiring about Sir Thomas. You are very kind, and he… Sir Thomas desperately needs kindness in his life now. I’m grateful that we’ve ended up here.”
Mira turned, then swiftly moved toward the door before Cameron could say another word.
When he took a sip of his cappuccino, it was lukewarm. He frowned.That’s what I get for being nosy.As he took another sip, he turned over everything Mira had said in his mind.
Thomas the Ever Inquisitive would benefit from a natural source.
His blood bags might be causing him distress.
Cameron exhaled a weighted sigh. The prospect of these potential truths was daunting. This spontaneously coordinated, on-paper arrangement was quickly shifting into something else entirely.
Even still, Cameron wanted Thomas to be contented within his house. For Thomas and Mira to eventually patch things up, and for Thomas to feel safe and maybe even heal from whatever obviousunkindness he’d experienced in his home estate.
As Cameron took a bite of his muffin, he decided that there was no use in stressing. He’d cross whatever bridges he needed to when they were erected before him.
Chapter Ten
Thomas took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders. He stared at the door as if a ferocious beast lay beyond it. A mighty dragon he was determined to slay.
“Alright, Thomas Antony, you can do this. Don’t freak out.” He stepped forward and slid his fingers along the inside of the shelf the way Cameron had shown him a week earlier. When Thomas felt the lever, he pulled, then flinched slightly at the loud click.
Slowly, the door opened. The first time he’d done this, the darkness had been detrimental. Now, it all felt so anticlimactic. Even the hinges were well oiled, so it didn’t creak as it swung wider.
“Of course there’s no creaky doors,” Thomas remarked aloud, smirking. “Not in Lord Ashford’s perfectly maintained home.” Prepared for the small space and the darkness, he ignored it and stepped to the edge of the threshold, then probed along the wall for the light switch.
“Ah.” There was a panel with two dials. One was a small lever, and beneath it, a button. Thomas tried the lever first, gently lifting it. The electric firelights gradually warmed in their fanciful iron sconces. “A dimmer switch. Brilliant.”
He played with it for a moment, turning the fake candles to full bright then lowering them to give the cylindrical stairwell a more romantic atmosphere. The damask wallpaper was a lush, dusky blue and shiny silver. Thomas stepped up to examine the walls more closely and realized the design was a pattern of woodland deer with their antlers elegantly swirling.
Thomas took hold of the chilly iron railing and cautiously descended the stairwell. He’d been thinking about this for the past week and had wanted to see it again. First, to conquer his unforeseen fear. Second, to simply revel in this wonderfully eccentric design choice.
He’d wanted to know the location of the second door that led out into the lower library. After his episode, he’d been too embarrassed to ask Cameron about it, and too nervous to poke around on his own to find it. He knew that as soon as he tried, Lennon would inevitably walk in at just the right moment to catch him sneaking about and report it back to Cameron.
Thomas reached the bottom of the stairwell and was surprised to find a neat line of eye-level bookshelves with glass doors built into the walls of the circular landing. Aesthetically, it was yet another interesting feature within the already charming stairwell.
“Why keep books in here, though?” Thomas wondered as he stepped up to one of the clandestine shelves. He scanned and noted the first title that caught his interest.Ulyssesby James Joyce. Curious, Thomas opened the small glass door. A bright recess light tucked within the top of the space flickered on to further illuminate the colorful spines. He pinched the upper part ofUlyssesto pull it off the shelf, but then he paused. “Is this… It can’t be…”
Carefully, he edged the book into his palms. The outer wrapping was unquestionably a fine paper. Arches paper? Thetexture was light and fragile. When he turned it over, there were minor creases along the spine.
