Page 72 of Always Eros

“I was part of the royal family, a cousin to the crown.”

“You were a… a prince?”

I nod. “Yes. Prince Henry the second of Gloucestershire. As a prince and representative of the crown, I spent my days making public appearances and standing around in bureaucratic rooms talking of war and the colonies, though I had almost no influence at all.”

“Were you happy?”

“I don’t know that I even considered it. It was just my life. I married a beautiful woman from Italy. Her name was Elisabetta, and we were compatible, though we had hardly known each other before the wedding.”

Justice nods, placing his hand sweetly on my knee in encouragement.

“I haven’t said her name in centuries.”

“You loved her?”

“I did, yes. We were planning a tour of the American colonies, but we found out she was with child.” Faded, fractured memories try in vain to resurface. It was too long ago. “But then a strange illness spread through England like wildfire. No one was immune. No peasant, no royal. She died in my arms long before our child would ever know me.”

“I’m so sorry, Eros.”

I nod. “It no longer hurts me. In fact, if I did not have my journals, I might not even remember. A vampire’s memory is long, but functions the same. With time, memories fade.”

“You had a journal?”

“I wrote poetry and musings. My father hated it. He wanted me to be fierce and lead armies. I did my best, but I have the heart of a poet.”

“Still,” he whispers.

I nod.

“What happened next?” Justice asks.

“I fell ill with the same fever that took my wife. Nothing helped. One by one, my mother lost her children, except my brother and me. In desperation, my father sought the help of a magic man. He turned out to be Yves.”

Justice gasps. “Really?”

“Yes. I was almost dead by the time he was summoned. My parents believed I had already slipped away, but I was still there, clinging. My will to live was fading though. I had nothing to hold on to. My wife and my unborn child, gone. The few people who had recovered were only shells of their former selves. I couldn’t bear it.” I tickle his palm as I remember it all. “Yves offered me an alternative. He promised me a life independent of the crown. The idea of that type of freedom was seductive. I understood what I would become, and yet, I welcomed it. I was a man of thirty with a secret I thought only I and my journal knew.”

“What?”

“That I desired a masculine touch. Yves knew it and laid it out for me on a silver platter. When I thought of joining those three beautiful men, I bared my neck with ease.”

“Were you and Yves lovers?”

I take his hand in mine, hoping he’ll understand. “We all were at the time, but please remember, this was 1722. Hundreds of years ago. It ended not long after.”

“So… Yves wasn’t looking for brothers?”

“Not initially, no. He wanted a companion. A lover. He chose Syn first, then Midnight, then they found me. In the beginning, our lives were very hedonistic.”

“You made love to all of them?”

I nod. “Yes. It was the first time in my life I felt as if I finally knew myself. I adored my wife, but the touch of man was unparalleled.”

“Why did it stop?”

“Yves is a beautifully warm and caring man, but he is complex in his desires. He is looking for his mate, not just a lover.”

Justice crinkles his brow. “What’s the difference?”

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