Page 87 of Thomas
With his teacup and saucer in his lap, Thomas took a calming breath. “Yes, Lord Ashford is kind to me. Kind is an understatement. He is a wonderful partner, and I am very fortunate to have caught his eye. You don’t need to waste your energy being concerned.”
“It isn’t a waste!” Sasha protested, the tip of her nose a bright shade of red. She took a tissue from the box at the center of the table. “We wereworriedabout you for years, but we had no idea how to get in contact with you. By the time we figured it out, it had been so long that… that we didn’t know if we should. If you would refuse us or if you hated us.”
“When he put me in the dungeon,” Oliver began quietly, “that’s when I realized what he’d done to you. And then, when I was escaping, Hudson told me everything, and… Three months. I—I’m so sorry that he did those things to you, Thomas, and that we?—”
Thomas put a palm up to stop him. “Enough. No, I don’t hate you, and you don’t need to apologize for something that you had no hand in orchestrating. We were all subject to an abusive, controlling and oppressive environment. You were children and I do not hold you responsible for our fathers’ cruelty.”
It had taken Thomas great patience and introspection to work through his feelings toward Mira, his siblings and even that idiot Wyatt. When the pain was still fresh and unbearable, he’d hated and blamed everyone. He’d resented the fact that no one had rescued him and that he’d been left to die in the dungeons.No one cares about you, he’d told himself.If they did, they wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.
But as he kept on living, slowly, day by day and within Cameron’s care, he realized that the situation was more complex than that. In the end, it was always up to him to save himself—to choose whether to keep trying and pressing forward or to give up and relent to the trauma and sadness.
Ultimately, he’d decided to press forward. And in that decision, Cameron had taken hold of his hand and walked with him, side by side. Helping wherever he could.
Thinking of this—of how he’d endured and of Cameron’s willful love and support—Thomas became emotionally overwhelmed. The truth of it made his chest tight, and it was too heavy a thing to convey with simple words.
Instead, he took another deep, sturdy breath and met his younger siblings in their forlorn eyes. “Again, I am well. Believe me. But thank you for your concern. I hate that he attempted to do the same to you, Oliver, but I am glad to hear he was largely unsuccessful?”
Oliver nodded. “He was.”
“Thank the gods. Now, how are the two of you? Tell me about your lives these days.”
That got the ball rolling more smoothly. Sasha confirmed that she and her arranged partner, Elaine, were separating, and that the decision was amicable. They had been together for years without a formal bond in sight. She’d gone to visit her best friend, Camille, in Paris. She didn’t love Paris, though, so she was considering where else she might travel.
“Maybe I’ll go and see Ollie when he’s in Italy this summer with Aries,” Sasha said, then took a sip of her tea.
Thomas had been listening intently, intrigued by their updates. “And… who is Aries?” he asked.
The flush across Oliver’s cheeks spread to his neck. He ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair, mussing it. “Ah, he’s… um. He’s my…”
“Aries is his suave, much older and Adonis-like lover,” Sasha filled in, grinning. “He’s a well-traveled fashion designer and the whole reason Ollie decided to ditch Prince Alexander and run away from Eden.”
Oliver scowled at his sister. “Not the wholereason, Sash! Christ. And we’re taking things slowly.”
“Oh,nowthey are,” Sasha teased. “That certainly wasn’t the case in the castle. Our little brother can be quite scandalous given the right set of circumstances.”
“Sash.” Oliver’s flush somehow deepened. Sasha reached over and squeezed his knee, smirking. Thomas smiled, too, whether from amusement or affection, he wasn’t sure.
As they talked more, Oliver opened up about Aries. How they’d met, how he’d fallen for him and all of the things the older man had helped him to understand about life, and about himself. Thomas had been mildly triggered hearing about Oliver’s own stint in the dungeons beneath the castle, but he’d silently taken several deep breaths and reminded himself of where he was presently. He was safe now, and that was a long, long time ago.
“Have you talked to them at all over these years?” Oliver asked after a comfortable moment of silence. “Lord Blakeley and the viscount?”
“I have not,” Thomas admitted. “Our younger father sends me letters on occasion. I’ve never once returned the favor. I stopped reading them some years ago.”
“He mentions this—every single time I visit,” Sasha said. “That he wishes he could speak to you, and how he wants you to return his letters or come visit. It is obvious to me that he misses you. Also, Lord Heartless is in bad shape these days.”
Completely unmoved, Thomas said flatly, “Is he.”
Sasha nodded. “After Oliver left, Prince Alexander was supposed to publicly apologize to him as part of their arrangement to dissolve the marriage contract?—”
“Really?” Oliver balked. “I didn’t know about that! Well, granted, I didn’t know about a lot of things…”
Sasha patted him on the knee again, as if to say, “There, there.”
“But he never apologized,” Sasha went on. “Everyone adores Prince Alexander, so the aristocracy as a whole sided with him and ostracized Lord Heartless. He and Viscount Pointless stopped being invited to aristocracy events, and almost all of the castle staff have left. Once Hudson abandoned ship, everyone else followed. I think Lord Heartless had a kind of mental breakdown after that. He never leaves his office these days, and the last time I visited, he was refusing to feed. To be honest, it was an eerie sight. He didn’t speak and barely looked at me. I told him I was leaving Elaine and he didn’t even care. No reaction at all.”
“I was nervous about coming back,” Oliver began, “but after Sash told me that about Lord Blakeley, I thought it might be safe? That he wouldn’t try to drag me back to punish me.”
Sasha shook her head. “I don’t think he’s capable anymore. Viscount Pointless told me that they made an appeal to Lord and Lady Kendrick to force Alexander to publicly absolve him. But I guess they just ignored the request. And why shouldn’t they? They don’t owe Lord Heartlessanything—and he took their son’s entire dowry! Ugh, such an arrogant and entitled vampire.”
