Page 70 of Blood Bought

Chapter Thirty:

It took me a week toconvince Alaris to go back to the castle. While I was more comfortable in the little cabin, I needed to talk to Azel about Tamsin, and I knew he had to miss Renzo and Kellian even more than I did. Still, it felt like a loss as we walked back through the castle doors and he was immediately pulled away.

Huffing, I let myself up into his room and frowned deeply at the bathtub. Now that I remembered how good showers felt and how nice it was to have light switches that worked, staring at the empty wooden tub and the torches on the walls had me groaning and regretting my decision.

I spent some time getting changed and braiding my hair again and stepped out to go look for Azel, but I found Renzo instead.

“Addy girl!” He pulled me into a one-armed hug and looked me over. “All in one piece, I see.”

“And so is everyone else, as far as I know. No spines were ripped out while we were gone.” I nudged him playfully. “But he did threaten me with a new weapon, so don’t get too attached to me.”

“A new weapon? Wh— I don’t know why, but I feel like I should be excited for you now.” He grinned playfully. “Something tells me you’ll like this weapon.”

I eyed him suspiciously. “Something tells me you’re full of shit, but time will tell. How come you’re not with him, by the way? Figured I’d have to break up an Alaris dogpile when we got back.”

“I mean, we talked the whole time,” he admitted. “But there was a meeting. Ris was late but he didn’t go anyway. He’s helping someone else figure out if what they saw was a punishable crime or not. He normally doesn’t do that part, but he didn’t want to go to the meeting. How was your time alone with him? He get you to forgive him?”

“What? What do you mean, forgive him?” I asked. “You mean for feeding when he was starving?”

Ren seemed to like my response. “You’re closer now. Good. Gonna have to get you a tattoo soon, you know that, right?”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about the Veresian clan sigil — bat wings surrounding a crescent moon, with a six-pointed star above and two other half-moons below, facing away from each other. “I thought only vampires got those?” I asked. “Humans are just territory dwellers, not members of your cool little coven.”

“Mates are different. Nyx always has long sleeves on, but she has one too. You don’t see humans with them because mates rarely leave the castle, but if you looked closely, you’d see one every so often around here.”

I wondered how many vampires had chosen mates around here and why I’d never asked before, but I was only truly interested in one. “I don’t know if there’s room on my skin for a tattoo, honestly. I’m covered in scars now.”

“There’s room. Yours can be smaller than his, of course. Where were you going? I’ll walk with you.”

My right hand absentmindedly went to the bracelet on my left. “Just taking a walk,” I lied. “I got bored in Alaris’ room.”

“Okay. You want some time alone? I don’t catch hints well, but I have thick skin. If you want me to ever fuck off, tell me and I’ll fuck off for a bit and then bug you later.”

I smiled softly and touched his arm. “No, it’s fine. Maybe you could show me parts of the castle I haven’t seen yet?”

“Yeah? Okay, well, let’s go this way. Did you even know mates have their own lounging area? Alaris would keep you safe in his room all the time if he could, but you should at least know where it is for when you’re bored.”

Of course he would. He’s afraid I’m more fragile than he thinks. If only he knew about all the dangerous things I did when I was...Suddenly, I stopped walking completely. “Renzo, if I ask you a question, will you promise to be completely honest with me?”

“Yes...?” he said tentatively. “Is this honesty going to get my ass kicked by your man?”

I licked my lips quickly. “Probably not, but I can’t guarantee it. I’m just curious if he ever... watched me when I was younger. Not in a creepy way, it’s just... I fell out of a tree when I was eight. A big one. I remember being really confused because one minute I was falling and the next, I was somehow on my feet on the ground without a scratch on me. My dad called me “Addy Cat” for like three years after that. That wasn’t luck or grace at all, was it?”

Renzo looked around us as he bit back a grin. “Definitely going to get my ass kicked. Yeah, he did,Addy Cat. But it wasn’t all the time, and as far as I knew, he never interfered. Just checked in when he was in the area. And when I say in the area, I mean when he would sleep-teleport to your property. He’d always play it off like it was just because he saved you, but we all already knew about the prophecy. We just let him live in denial.”

Those damn butterflies scattered in my stomach. “Seems like he interfered at least once.”

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