“I didn’t say there was. But you cannot deny that she has changed you. That she influences you in some way that even you don’t understand. She’s not a regular human, you know that. We need to know what she is to…” Aleric hesitated for a brief second at the look of warning on Warin’s face. “To make sure she’s safe. An Ancient is our best hope of learning more about her and this… connection you have.”
“And who’s to say an Ancient will tell us the truth?” Warin asked as he glanced over his shoulder in the direction Thea had gone. She’d left the camp to bathe in the nearby pond, and the dark-haired vampire had been visibly on edge since she left his sight, even though they could both still hear her.
Aleric sighed. He knew his brother had an ingrained mistrust for the Ancients of their kind. The few vampires who reached the age of one thousand years were considered the ruling power in their fractured society. Each had their own territory where their word was law, and any vampire residing within would submit to their rule or die the Final Death. Their strength was insurmountable, and they’d often gathered more wisdom in their long life than could be found in any royal library across the continent.
Their Sire had been an Ancient.
“Why would an Ancient lie about the girl? The closest Ancient in these parts is the Night Lord of London. He has never even heard of us—he has no reason to trick us.” Aleric gestured toward the bushes shielding the pond from their vision. “If we go to him, he is duty bound to offer his assistance. And we need his assistance, Warin. We don’t know what this girl is or how she will affect you. We don’t even know if she has the lifespan of a human, and since you don’t wish to Embrace her… this twisted little romance of yours might come to an end someday.”
There. He’d played his trump card. Given the way his brother acted at the scuffs the girl had obtained at the hands of those robbers, the prospect of her death was likely the only thing that would persuade him to do the smart thing.
From the look of begrudging defeat on Warin’s face, Aleric knew his plan had worked.
“Fine. But we must be wary—you know an Ancient will never offer his help without a price.”
Chapter 7
Warin
The Night Lord of London may not have heard their names before, but he did know about their arrival in his territory.
From the moment they stepped foot on London’s windy, cobbled streets, both Warin and Aleric knew they were being watched.
A short, lanky vampire followed them from the shadows, slipping behind barrels and dodging into narrow alleys as he trailed after them. He was barely a century old as far as Warin could tell, when he carefully tested the wisps of power radiating off the young man. Barely more than a child. He was no threat—which was why Warin knew he was there only as a lookout from someone more powerful.
“We should teach him not to spy on his Elders,” Aleric mumbled in Saxon.
“He is undoubtedly the Lord’s servant. We will do nothing,” Warin warned, tightening his grip around Thea’s waist. Every instinct in his preternatural body was on high alert—at the best of times, he hated the tight spaces and stench of human waste unique to bigger cities. This night, when he had a frail human to protect, he was in no mood to risk an Ancient’s wrath because his brother was bored and spoiling for a fight.
Since the robbers, they’d both only fed on forest critters while making the journey south, and Aleric was in a foul mood as a result.
Warin glanced down at the girl by his side and couldn’t hold back a small smile at her open-mouthed stare at everything they passed. She’d lived her entire life in that small village. Seeing a town like London was undoubtedly overwhelming. She didn’t even resist his hold, seemingly content with the protection his presence next to her presented.
She still feared him—he knew that much, from the wary way she regarded him and how she flinched if he reached for her. But in the nights since he had slain her attackers and pledged to never harm her, she hadn’t run, either. Every sunset when he rose, she was there. Waiting for him.
“We could still spook him,” Aleric grumbled. “Or at least stop for a taste of the local cuisine.” He eyed up a pretty whore batting her eyelashes at him from the doorway across the narrow street.
“Can we?” Thea asked, the excitement in her voice clear. What exactly Aleric meant by “local cuisine” seemed to have gone over her head.
“Are you hungry?” Warin said with a frown. He’d ensured she was well fed on their travel here, catching prey for her every night.
“Well, no, maybe not hungry, but…” Her gaze swept over the many buildings to Westminster, lingering on the impressive architecture for a moment before she looked back up at him. An unmistakable spark of the same excitement evident in her voice shone from her verdant eyes, before she bashfully lowered her eyelashes, a subtle rose coloring her cheeks.
Warin stared down at her. For just a moment, he’d gotten a glimmer of who she truly was. She’d been so overcome with curiosity of the city, she’d forgotten to fear him.
“Fine. Go find a snack,” he told Aleric. “We will meet back here when the hour strikes midnight. Do not be tardy, and do not cause trouble.”
“That’s rich, coming from you,” Aleric grumbled, in Saxon so Thea wouldn’t understand his lip.
Warin narrowed his eyes at him, but Aleric pretended not to notice. He cast a glance over his shoulder at their shadow and said, “I’ll see if I can lure him my way—show the lad a good time, while you wander around town with your gawking human. Since my Elder is apparently determined to play lovesick fool with his pet.”
“Is he angry?” Thea asked, drawing Warin’s attention to her, rather than his obstinate brother. She’d apparently picked up on Aleric’s discontent, if not his words.
“No.” It wasn’t anger Warin felt hum in their bond. Frustration, yes. And confusion. Even fear. He supposed it wasn’t an odd response—Warin himself didn’t understand why he was humoring the girl in her desire to see the town, when they had more important matters to attend. All he knew was that the excitement radiating off Thea in waves meant she forgot to keep her guard up for small bits of time as the wonders of the city seemed to overwhelm her. And Warin wanted more of that—more of her, without the shroud of unease she’d displayed since they met.
“Come,” he said, holding out an arm to indicate the way to the river. “Let’s see the city, then.”
Thea spent most of their walk through the bustling streets of London with her mouth agape in wonder. Churches and buildings stretched toward the sky higher than even the trees surrounding her village, and when they stopped at the river to look at the massive bridge construction spanning halfway across the Thames, her eyes seemed alight with almost reverence.
“Humans have built all this? This city, and all these wonders?” she asked, not taking her eyes off the half-built bridge.
“Most of them.”
“I never knew… there is so much out there, in the world, isn’t there? So many things to see. So many people to meet.” She looked up at him then, only a sliver of hesitance in her gaze. “How many places like this exist?”