Page 51 of These Eternal Bones
“After you.” He lifts the tapestry higher all but guiding me out, being sure to keep his claw tipped hands away from me as he heads back into the hall. “Come, it is far too cold for you out here. If he found out I left you to freeze, he’d make a rug from me and drape it across your bedding.”
I huff, too irritated to find humor in it. “He would not.”
The incredulous look the Chimera gives me says plenty while he remains silent.
Elric most certainly would.
My long nightdress drags the ground behind me, a shiver overtaking my bones the moment we hit the doorway to the library. I don’t bother trying to be casual in the way I discard my candle, rushingtoward the fireplace, my knees hitting the plush animal hide rug there. My lips part in sudden horror, wondering if I’d spent the past few months of my life lounging on a poor creature who has the displeasure of angering my vampire.
I sheepishly track Tien as he drifts toward a far window, staring out at the snow blanketed landscape. It hasn’t snowed since the storm, but the frigid air and fog blanketed sky ensure it never melts. After a lifetime of silence, it is curious how quickly I’ve found my voice here. I keep that at the forefront of my mind as I fist the hem of my nightdress. “Is he alright?”
It’s such a simple question, but a complicated one. When Tien lets out a long suffering breath, I watch the heaviness of the years weigh on him. His shoulders give in, releasing his ramrod posture. “The master would never keep something from you without cause, dear girl. It is only you tethering him to his own mind.”
The instant well of tears catches me off guard, my arms banding around my stomach as if to hold it together. “Is it because of me? Because he fed from me? Why doesn’t it hurt him when he feeds now? I thought it always caused him pain.” It’s the first time I’ve acknowledged the change in our relationship out loud, how close I’ve grown to him. How I’ve come to love him. Deeply.
The older creature’s eyes find mine, their vertical slits blown wide in the dim lighting. “Do not doubt that your impact here is a good one. One we have waited for…more years than I’d like to recount.” Another frustrating non-answer.
“I don’t understand. The selkie says the same thing, but nobody will justtellme what’s going on–” I stop, my voice rising with my frustration. “Why does Péal act like she knows me? What does it mean to be a vampire's mate? Please,just- what is happening to him?”
“It simply is not our pain to share.”
“If I could help him–”
“You have helped me since the moment I laid eyes on you, syringa.”
I gasp, my head snapping toward the doorway, his chest is exposed, showing off the expansive network of blackened veins that no longer seem to lighten. “You may leave us, Tien.”
My hand snaps out to stop him, only to drop at the sudden growl that escapes Elric. My eyes don’t come near to hitting him when he blurs behind me, his tendrils snagging my arms and wrapping down their length like ribbons. It’s an overtly possessive,warningtouch that warms my chest despite my worry. It’s when his hand snakes around my neck, cupping my chin, that I go deathly still, waiting to see what he’ll do next. “If you leave my side again, I fear the next time I find you, I will not be myself. Please bear that in mind if you do not wish for me to spoil the floors with blood.”
“But you are fed…” I whisper as his fingers brush my pulse.
“It is not the only hunger that plagues me.”
“Please…Elric, something is wrong. I canfeelit. Nothing has ever felt so right, but there is a hollowness to my chest. I keep waiting for it to ease, but it doesn’t. So many things don’t make sense here, and I’m tired of being kept in the dark. If I am to stay as your companion, under your employ–”
“Do not cheapen yourself. You are my–”
“Your mate, yes, but what does thatmean? Why are you always so…troubled? The veins on your neck, they reach your lips Elric, they don’t go away anymore. Is that normal for vampires? Where are the others?” He holds me tightly, letting the words and questions spill from my mouth without interruptions. He never attempts to slow or organize my thoughts. It’s another reason why I adore him so much.
“They are dead.”
My lips part. “All of them?”
“Yes.”
“My god, how? Why?”
“My children were slaughtered on these grounds, all of them. Those who did not scatter to the winds, those that did died off over the years.”
“You-you are a father…”
It’s an odd thing to get caught up on, a selfish, silly thing, but the idea of him–
“No and yes, my sweet Molly. I amTheFather, although they took to calling me by a different name.”
My chest rises and falls, his fingers never stopping their striations as if to reassure himself I am fine, that I am here. His tendrils tighten on me almost painfully, literally binding me to my spot in front of the fire.
“I created them, all of them.”
