Page 8 of The Child of Rue Royale
“The relief I felt when I heard both heartbeats is a moment I won’t forget. So I watched you from afar. Spent nights outside your cousin’s to make sure no enemies came near. Not yet ready to come to terms with what our very different future would become. Your pain was so big, so all-encompassing, it was hard for me to be near you. In the meantime, I met Marlowe. And the love we share is something sacred and warm, and she showed me I could open up to more. And then I almost lost her, and you came running. I’m sure you hesitated, but you came. And you saved her. So instead of stewing in my grief and loss, I decided I was going to do the right thing for once in this godforsaken life.”
His dark eyes fuse to mine, the silence on his lips waiting for a response.
“Why did it take so long? I saved Marlowe months ago, and you never reached out, never spoke to me again.”
Cassius’s face is so beautiful that you could stare at it for hours on a good day. The sharp jaw, the high cheekbones, that vampiric beauty we’ve all read about. But when he’s being vulnerable, when he’s baring open his soul, he’s a different kind of beauty—he’s transcendent.
“I should have shown up the day after you saved her. But I admit, you telling her to run deeply wounded me. But I understand it, I do. And it took me time to make peace with that. Marlowe says I’m a slow learner. And it’s true, it’s true. I’m the slow learner, and Bastian was the fast burner.” He laughs. “But here I am, before you, begging you.Take the homes. Raise my niece in them. Allow me a part of her life. I promise to only add to her happiness, never take from it.”
He folds his hands, telling me he rests his case. My cheeks are wet, my nose sniffling, and I realize I’ve cried from his words. Cassius, an ally. I never thought I’d see the day.
Patting my face, I take a deep breath. “Why didn’t you tell me this the other night?”
He chuckles, a tight grin stretched upon his lovely face. “I find it hard to be vulnerable around your mother.”
I can’t help but laugh at that, so I nod in understanding. “And Nicola?”
“You don’t need to worry about Nicola. She killed The Vampire King for you. For Bastian. She knows of your condition. She will not interfere.”
Cassius watches me move Bastian’s pinky ring back and forth on the chain around my neck, the ring I hold in my sleep, the ring I held in my hand when he became nothing but ashes.
“I didn’t think I could get pregnant. I didn’t even want to get pregnant. Probably because it’s been expected of me since the day I took my first breath. Continue the family legacy. Keep the bloodline running. Don’t let the coven down. But now…it’s the only thing in the world I want. The only thing I have to look forward to. Your brother was my soulmate.”
Cassius slowly closes his eyes and places a hand over his heart. “As he was mine.”
I believe him. There is no one that Cassius loved more, maybe not even this Marlowe girl that he seems infatuated with. If he loves my child half as much as he loved Bastian, my daughter will be adored and protected. That is, until I bring Bastian back.
“I’ll take the houses. And whatever protection you can offer.”
A slow smile dresses his face, and he nods. “That is the right decision.”
“I know it is. But I won’t be moving in. At least not for now.”
“Might as well, you’re already there every day.”
A sound escapes my mouth, surprised by his words, and his lips curl up. “It seems you’ve been lurking around my house as well,” I counter, but I’m not freaked out by it. I…I like that he was nearby, watching over us. I like that he cares.
“I’ll get the paperwork drawn up, Sister.”
I audibly gasp, because if Bastian hadn’t already died, he would have dropped dead from the word.
“Okay, Brother,” I tease through a tight smile. He’s gone before I can say anything else, gone before I can take in the reality that we said those two words to each other.
Because it’s night, the windows have been thrown open, and the glow of the lights cast upon the lawn. A silhouette appears in the upstairs window, and my eyes focus upon Cassius looking down at me. Am I ready to be in this house again? To take it as my own? I only said yes to the house a day ago, and here we are.
“Don’t overthink it, just go inside and get the damn keys,” Chantal chides in my ear, and I sneer. Of course, she knows what I’m thinking.
“I want to be here. I want to…it’s just going to be a little hard,” I whisper, my stomach clenching.
“Nothing of any value comes easy,” Mother says from behind me, and I stare back at her.
“Okay, Yoda,” I quip, and she scoffs.
“Yeah, you’re really shoving in the motherly wisdom,” Chantal jokes as Mother walks in front of us.
“You girls…” she pauses, turning to look us up and down. “Are assholes.” She stomps ahead as we smirk at each other.
“That’s more like it,” Chantal cheers as I look at the porch and my heart stops.
