Page 83 of Blood Vows
“I managed to stop her before she could finish what she started, but it was close. Too close.” My hand flew to my mouth, horror settling deep in my stomach. He turned toward me then, his expression carved in pain and guilt.
“That is why I kept you away from the east wing, Nessa. I thought it was enough to keep her from reaching you. But you will be safe here with me, she won’t dare try to get you again, not now she knows you’re under my protection.” He said firmly, his tone absolute.
I could see it then, the war behind his eyes. The son who loved his mother. The man who hated what she had become. The monster who still blamed himself for both.
And though part of me wanted to press further, to demand answers he wasn’t yet ready to give, another part, the part that loved him despite everything, simply reached for his hand.
He looked at me, startled at first, but didn’t pull away. His fingers curled around mine, strong, warm, trembling slightly. I held his gaze and whispered,
“Then we’ll find a way to help her.Together.”He stared at me for a long moment, then shook his head slowly, a soft, broken sound escaping him.
“You don’t understand,” he said, his voice no more than a whisper.
“Some things can’t be saved.”
And though I wanted to believe otherwise, the way he said it made my heart ache.
Because I wasn’t sure if he was still talking about his mother.
Or if he was talking about…
Himself.
30
UTTERLY
Ifelt an ache in my chest for him, one that settled deep and refused to move. I could see how torn he must have been, the way guilt and grief warred behind his eyes. I understood now why he hadn’t wanted to confess everything, why he had told me that she had died.
In a way, she had. But part of me couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to the story, pieces still hidden in the shadows, even from him. And although I couldn’t explain why, I knew the answers lay with the necklace that had slid beneath my bed.
Yet one look at Vas silenced that thought. The pain in his eyes said enough. I could see the man who had carried vengeance in his heart for decades, who had fed it because it was easier than feeling the heartbreak of betrayal. Hatred was simple. It demanded nothing but endurance. Love, on the other hand, required something far more dangerous.
Still, as tragic as his story was, I couldn’t help but feel that something didn’t quite fit. None of it matched the men I had fallen in love with. Perhaps that made me naïve, blinded by theirlove for me, by my belief that there was more to them than blood and violence.
Of course, I had seen their cruelty with my own eyes that night in the warehouse. The cold precision of what they did to my ex-boyfriend, the one who had stolen everything from me and left me broken. There had been no remorse in them, not even a sliver of guilt. Only the regret that I had witnessed it.
And yet, despite that darkness, I knew their loyalty ran deep. If not to the outside world, then at least to one another. Which meant they would have their own story to tell, their own truth about that night. One that would likely sound very different from Vas’s.
Not a lie, exactly, but something else entirely. Perhaps another piece of the puzzle that refused to fit. I had the edges of the story, but not the middle. The part I suspected only their mother knew. But she wasn’t in any state to tell it,not anymore.
Still, I meant what I said to Vas, that we would try to save her together. He had looked at me as if I were naïve for even suggesting it, but I could see the trace of a flicker in his eyes. A small spark of the son he had once been. Years of fighting her damaged mind had left him hardened, jaded, and exhausted by failure. And yet, part of me still believed there was hope.
Hope that perhaps not everything born in darkness had to stay there. But right now, all that mattered was that he was here and that he was safe. The questions could come later.
Of course, I wanted to know where he had gone, if he had found Victor and Tal, but somehow, I doubted it. He hadn’t been gone long enough, and the look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. My heart ached for all of them, for the broken family they had once been, and for the pain that still chained them to the past.
My mind was a storm of questions. Every time I thought I had found another piece of the puzzle, the picture only seemedto blur further, pulling away instead of coming together. And when I thought of Victor and Tal, my heart went out to them, knowing that they too were probably questioning what had happened. Questioning what was happening to me now.
The answer was Vasileios.
Someone they might have considered the enemy, but someone I considered a tortured soul I loved. Which was why, before he could retreat behind the walls he had built so easily, I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight. His scent filled my lungs, dark and warm, grounding me in the chaos. He let out a long sigh against my shoulder, his body softening, his guard slipping away piece by piece.
When he finally turned to face me, I cupped his cheek in both hands, my thumb tracing the clean line of his jaw, the unmarred skin that told its own story of survival. I was grateful that he no longer wore his mask, that I could see every inch of him, the man and the monster both. His shadows reacted instantly, curling toward my touch before retreating again, tasting the air around me, testing my intent. It felt almost alive, protective, curious, as though it too had begun to trust me.
He whispered my name, his voice deep and raw.
“Nessa.”That was all it took for me to come undone. I kissed him before he could say anything more, a desperate, hungry kiss that stole the air from my lungs. It was fire and gravity, a collision of everything we had denied ourselves. His hands found me instantly, pulling me closer, anchoring me to him as our need took over.
