Chapter 262 262
Chapter 262 262
I clear my throat, catching the attention of my friend and Antony, who keep denying being together, even though the sounds coming from their room at night tell us otherwise.
“I’d like to preserve my daughter’s innocence, if that’s not too much to ask,” I say, showing Evren to both of them. “You can discuss your nightly activities somewhere else.”
“Just the girls I was looking for!”
“I thought that was me,” the Blood Wraith mutters.
Antony shoots her a narrowed look, unable to contain a crooked, roguish smile. In his eyes lies the implicit promise of a reward later. He turns back to me, sending Evren a few playful gestures that make her smile, showing the little fangs that have begun to sprout. Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at the sight of her empty gums and only the tiny points of her fangs still coming through. Her father assures me that for now they’ll be small and adorable, but when she grows, they’ll be as intimidating as his—and mine.
“Cassian has separation anxiety, you’d better go find him, he’s being unbearable inside my head.”
“Maybe you should work on keeping him out.”
“That’s something only you can do.”
I smile, very satisfied with myself to hear him admit that I’m the only one who can keep Cassian in check, out of his mind.
“Do you want me to stay with Evren?” asks Nymera.
Her eyes shine with anticipation. She doesn’t say it out loud, though she doesn’t need to. I know she’s longing to spend time with the little one. Nymera has so much love inside her that she doesn’t allow herself to give, but with my daughter it comes as easily as breathing. There have been only a few moments when I’ve been able to see it, but sometimes when they play together, Antony looks at them with eyes that make me dream they might one day have what I have. No one truly understands the relationship between the Pureblood and the Blood Wraith; however, we can all see that they love each other in such an intense way it overwhelms them both, sometimes needing to step apart to remember they’re better together. My friend has scars that can’t be seen and a mistrust that has sunk deep roots in her heart. I trust that the black-eyed vampire will manage to tear down, one by one, the shields she hides behind.
“I think the two of us will go find him, I’m sure I’m not the only one he misses.”
“But…”
“Though I’d be grateful if tonight you could stay with her. Cassian and I need a night for ourselves.”
“I think that…”
“Of course!” interrupts Nymera.
I smile and give Antony a pat on the chest before heading upstairs and disappearing into Cassian’s wing, which is now ours. I don’t bother knocking, I open and peek my head in, finding him absorbed in the reading of some report.
“May I?”
I’m surprised he didn’t even sense me before I asked. That can only mean he’s very focused, and I couldn’t be prouder to see him working so hard to give us a better place to live, doing everything he once scorned, playing politics. I won’t deny that sometimes I enjoy accompanying him to his meetings; I use those times to continue training with Azrakiel, who no longer hides his face from me. Other times, Caelum and I go for walks, sometimes in silence, sometimes with light conversation. I think we both use that time to cry quietly alongside someone.
Cassian lifts his gaze, stretching the corners of his mouth into a broad smile. He steps away from the desk and comes to meet us. He embraces us, burying his nose in my neck and inhaling my scent as if it’s what he needed.
“Never ask permission,” he murmurs. “You didn’t when you snuck in here.”
He taps his chest, right where now, for the first time in history, a vampire’s heart beats.
“I’ve been told you needed me.”
A rough laugh reverberates in his chest. He extends his hand to mine and guides me through the room until I’m sitting behind the desk, on his lap. Evren wastes no time exploring with her hands, fiddling with everything within reach. Cassian brushes the hair out of her eyes, which has grown quite a bit these past months. The little one looks up at her father, with the same shade of blue, and smiles at him, showing her fangs.
The two of them share an enviable bond. In the first months, when she was only a baby, she would cry inconsolably in the middle of the night. Sometimes I questioned whether it was more than hunger, teething pain, or a dirty diaper. I wondered if it was that she sensed the absence of her other half. Cassian, as clever as ever, had discovered my thoughts, so most of the time he was the one to get up in the middle of the night and comfort Evren. To my surprise, she calmed down. More than in my arms, where she would only writhe without relief.
His voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“I wanted to know that you’re all right.”
“I am.”
I know he worries that Tucker’s departure will make me withdraw again, like in those first months after Bryelle’s loss, when I became a shadow of myself. I only managed to be myself again because of Evren, who deserves more than that.
“You can talk to me.”
“I know.” I reach out my hand and caress his cheek to let him know he has nothing to worry about. “Tell me, what has you so focused?”
“Nothing, just the new Treaties. We’re making modifications for the Halfbloods.”
“I’m sure Zerion will be glad to hear that.”
“He’d better be, after all his years being a pain in the a—”
Evren lifts her gaze and stares at him intently. Cassian snaps his mouth shut and shoots me an accusatory look.
“This child is too smart for her own good, do you realize that?”
“I’m sure she inherited it from me,” I answer with a mischievous smile.
“Of course she did, little beast.”
He leans toward me and seeks my lips until he brushes them. He gives a soft lick with the tip of his tongue, asking me to part my mouth for him. In a matter of seconds we let ourselves be carried away by each other’s warmth, entering into a dance of teeth that bite and tongues that recognize one another. A small moan escapes my throat, though it is nothing compared to the cry of surprise that bursts from my lips when a loud crash makes us pull apart and frantically search for the threat.
We stare in disbelief at the shattered pieces of what was once a liquor cabinet scattered across the floor. I throw a look at Cassian.
“Did you do that? I thought you were very proud of your control.”
“I assure you I have my powers under control. It wasn’t me.”