Page 7 of The Child of Rue Royale
“I will take this, and I’ll think about it.” I pull the folder of papers into my arms.
“It’s what Bastian would have wanted. For you. For his child. You know that, Aster.”
The folder feels heavy in my hands, the contents granting me ownership of not one but two of Bastian’s properties. I know it’s what he would have wanted, there’s no doubt in my mind.
“You’re right. But I still have to weigh if it’s worth the backlash I may receive. We’ll need your help to get through this, I’m sure. I just don’t know what that looks like yet.”
“Very well.” He nods then looks to Mother. “I had hoped this child could be an olive branch of sorts between our families. Do you see that in our future?”
Cassius was the first to know I was pregnant. And when he saw I was in danger that night at Nightwalkers, there was visible fear in his eyes. Was the little heartbeat inside me still beating? Was his niece okay? The relief in his eyes that night told me he cared much more than he let on. Yet that feels like an eternity ago. Where has he been?
“Why now? I’ve been pregnant a long time, Cassius. And I even saved your girlfriend’s life. Why now?”
He stares at me, eyes two pools of unspoken words, mouth turned down as if he can’t answer, or worse, he doesn’t have one. He looks back and forth from Mother and me, hesitant to answer, so he lies instead. “I don’t know.”
Mother, never one to commit to anything vampire-related, rolls her eyes and stands, straightening out her pencil skirt. “We’ll see how it plays out.”
His eyes darken, not one to enjoy being strung along. But Cassius is so much more patient than Bastian was, and there’s a hope that maybe he could be on my side.
“If he ever calls a meeting again, you definitely are not invited,” I say once we get in Mother’s car.
“He just ticks me off, he really does. But you need those houses.” She points at me, eyebrows almost to her hairline.
I run a finger along the folder in my hands. The Estate of Bastian Delacroix. I don’t want to fight with her, I’m too exhausted.
“Go ahead and think about it, and then decide that you need the houses so we can move on. You don’t even have to live there. It’s just an option to go to if you need it. Shit, you’re there every day as it is.”
I scoff, and she rolls her eyes. “You smell like chlorine daily, and Chantal let it slip.”
“Well, I’m hot. Okay?” My body floods with heat. “It’s like there’s an internal fire scorching my organs, and lying in a pool is the only thing that soothes it. That elixir you made did nothing, by the way.” I fight with the seat belt, angrily clicking it on.
“Ew. Hormones are gross on you.”
“Can you just be quiet?” I yell, filling my nostrils with air. “Get me home.”
She pulls her thumb and index finger along her lips as if zipping them and turns up the music.
HE ENTERS THE SHOP DOOR, a place I never imagined seeing his stiff frame. Clearing his throat with deliberate steps toward me, his graceful hands clasped before him. And maybe he’s caught me at just the right moment because I can’t help but smile at him, the brother Bastian adored.
“It was here that Bastian first asked me to make the potion. Did he ever tell you that?”
Cassius licks his bottom lip, shaking his head. “No, he was very protective of your time together. He had a right to be. I did not approve.”
“I said no. He always told me I said no too quickly.” I bite my lip at the memory, of how I once told Bastian he took up all the space in the room, and nothing was ever more true. If Bastian was in a room, you knew because there was a lightness there, a sun shining even if it was the darkest of night.
“Are you working on that? Saying no too quickly?”
“I am.”
“Good.” His voice goes up an octave as I take in his black slacks and white button up, and that’s casual for Cassius. He approaches the display case I stand behind, my feet aching after a long day standing.
“I knew you were with child that night in your courtyard. I didn’t come to kill you. I came to understand. I’ve never been a great communicator. But I can’t tell you what that meant, hearing those two heartbeats. Knowing that he was gone, yet he lived on inside of you. It was so overwhelming,so…heavy.”
I lean on the counter, enthralled. Because when Cassius speaks, the room listens.
“There was an immediate sense of protection, but I didn’t know how to act upon it. How to put it in motion. Witches have been our enemy since I became a vampire. Bastian forced me to look at that differently, in a way I had no desire to. Then suddenly there was a version of him living on inside someone I didn’t trust. And it built inside me, the knowledge of that. I told myself it wasn’t my business. There was no need for me to even care because Bastian was gone, Franklin had taken over, and my life would be different. It wasn’t until I saw you on the floor of Nightwalkers with blood spilling from your mouth that it hit me. I cared. I cared for the child inside of you, but also…” He swallows. “I cared for you.”
He clears his throat as the baby kicks. A dizziness washes over me, and I lean on the display case for balance.
