by E. M. Moore
Connor sighed. “I wish I could touch you right now. That serious look on your face makes me want to help you forget everything.”
“I’m fine,” I said, smiling. Over his shoulder, I noticed the rest of the guys walking toward us without Gregor or Isabelle. “Hey,” I said, my voice a little too peppy for the scenario. I was always a horrible liar.
Nic stepped up to us and dropped an arm around my shoulder. “Mom and dad retired for the night.”
“We thought we’d show Ariana around the house,” Stephan chimed in. “She’s only seen the inside of her room and the dining room so far.”
“And the guard headquarters,” I added, still happy that I’d been included in that.
Christian started walking away and the rest of us followed. “How was that?” Nic asked.
I smiled thinking back on it. I’d felt like I belonged. Not in the way that I felt like I belonged with the princes, but in a way that a group of people all working toward the same goal felt. Like a camaraderie was being born. It was…refreshing. So many times at The Fort, I’d felt like an outsider, but here, I was just one of the ones charged with protecting the princes. “It was…pretty cool.”
“I bet they were impressed,” Stephan said. “I know I was.”
Giddiness swept over me. I’d finally done something right. I’d taken charge of the situation. I didn’t cower and wait for someone else to save me, I saved myself and the rest of them.
I tamped my feelings down as Christian led us up a sprawling staircase to the second level and then another smaller staircase to the third. We turned down a familiar stone-lined hallway. Windows lined it every six feet or so to the left. The glass let in little glimpses of the moonlight shining down in odd shapes on the crimson runner at our feet. “This is the hallway where my room is,” I said, looking toward the first one on the right.
Christian nodded. “It’s the hallway where all our rooms are. Stephan’s is right next to you. Then mine, Connor’s, and Nic’s.” He pointed each of the doors out as he said their names. I tried to commit it to memory.
As I looked down the hall, there was still one more doorway. I pointed it out. “What’s that room?”
Christian’s eyebrows furrowed. “Just a guest bed,” he said, his gaze dropping. “This place is huge. There’s a bunch of them on the upper levels, too.”
The rest of them shifted back and forth uncomfortably. I got the sneaking suspicion that Christian was lying, but there was no use in trying to pry the truth out of him right now. Not that it mattered, I knew where to find all of them, and that was enough for now. “How did you guys make it so I could have a room up here? I take it with the way Gregor acted at dinner, I’m not even supposed to be eating meals with you, so how is my room up here with the royal princes?”
“Mom,” Nic said bluntly. “She wants you to think of yourself as more of a guest than a guard right now. Then again, I’m still trying to work the angle that it’s better to have you around us—for safety reasons, of course—and since you kicked some major ass earlier in the day, I think we’ll be able to convince more people of that.”
“That would be nice,” I said. Though, I didn’t know if we’d ever convince Gregor.
“So,” Stephan hedged. He rocked back and forth on his feet. “What do you think of the setup? When you’re here full-time, we can switch the rooms to a different order if you want. They’re all the exact same inside. Or we can move into a completely different part of the castle all together. It’s up to you. We all talked about it and we want to make sure you feel comfortable here. We’re willing to do whatever.”
“You’re seriously asking me about the rooms?” I couldn’t even begin to hide the shock. That was so thoughtful.
“Well, yeah,” Connor said. “This place is going to be your home, too.”
A lump formed in my throat. A home. Not even just that this home was about a hundred times better than what I thought I’d ever live in, but it was with these four guys. How did I get so lucky? “I think it’s fine,” I said, my voice husky and thick. “I haven’t really seen much of the house—excuse me, castle—yet though.”
“It’s not a castle,” Nic said, rolling his eyes.
“It is,” I countered, trying to lighten the mood so I didn’t cry in front of them. “I think there’s even a moat outside.”
“There’s not a moat,” Christian said, his eyes dancing.
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure,” he said. “That’s just too cliche. Isabelle doesn’t do cliche.”
Stephan took my hand and led me further down the hall. We passed all of our bedrooms, including the mysterious “guest” bedroom. Christian was definitely right. Isabelle didn’t do cliche at all. The interior wasn’t made up like a gothic castle. On the contrary, it was light and airy. Well, as light and airy as it could be for being surrounded by thick stone on all sides. The hallway the bedrooms were on split off into another hallway that led to a pair of large, dark brown French doors. Christian went ahead and gallantly pushed them open before they ushered me into one of the most beautiful rooms I’d ever seen.
A marble fireplace stood in the center flanked by shelves and shelves of books. My eyes widened as I took them all in. It was a library, but no modern library I’d ever seen before. All the books looked as if they were at least a hundred years old, some even older than that with cracked leather bindings and yellowed pages. The room had a faint must smell, but lying underneath it all was that of paper. I took in a deep breath. “A library.”
Christian nodded. “We figured you’d have a lot of questions what with the Council meeting and all, and this room has the most impressive collection of vampire history I’ve ever seen. I can remember coming up here and reading everything I could get my hands on when I was little.”
“Dork,” Connor said, coughing into his hand.
Christian laughed and shrugged.
I went up to the shelves and ran my fingers along some of the spines. “I can read any of these I want?” I asked, my curiosity growing as I read some of the titles. Vampires in the Dark Ages. Our Connection with the World Wars. Wow. There was just so much information here.
I hadn’t noticed that Connor had gone to a shelf and retrieved a book. He came up to me now and held it out to me. “You were interested in vampire phasing?” There was a hint of mischief to his voice and I didn’t dare look up. “You might like this one.”
I took A Maturing Vampire from his hands. I spotted a table just to the left of the huge fireplace and took it over and set it down. It looked exactly like one of those Puberty for Children books. I turned around to find Connor right there, the heat from his body warmed my skin. I cleared my throat. “Thank you.” I shook my head trying to bring myself around. “Have all of you started phasing now?” I asked, genuinely curious.
I looked at each of them in turn. Christian and Nicolai nodded. Connor had that cocky smile on his face. But when I got to Stephan, he shook his head. “I’m the last one now,” he said, a line forming between his eyebrows.
I moved closer to him, forgetting the book. “It’s not that big of a deal, is it?”
“No one can tell just by looking at another vampire,” Nicolai said quickly. For how tough he always acted, he was always there to jump to one of his brother’s rescue. Especially about important things.
“But I know,” Stephan countered.
I wanted to ask Nic and Christian how and when they’d started to phase, but Stephan looked so vulnerable, I didn’t want to keep throwing it in his face. Instead, I went up to him and gave him a big hug, my chin resting lightly on his shoulder. “I don’t care if you have or not,” I said, meaning every word. Whether he could produce his fangs at will meant nothing to me. He was still the sweetest, most caring guy I’d ever met. If anyone could give you the warm and fuzzies, it was Stephan.
He started to just pat my back, but when I tightened my grip around him, he mirrored me, his hold fierce, demanding. “I like you just
the way you are,” I whispered.
“Alright, get a room,” Connor teased.
Without even letting me go, Stephan reached out and punched Connor in the arm. “We have one, but unfortunately, you’re all in it.”
I rested my forehead on Stehan’s shoulder while I laughed and then pulled away. “Can I expect more of this when I get to move in here with you guys?”
“Unfortunately, there’s a lot more where this came from,” Nicolai said.
I walked back and jumped up to sit on the table behind me. “Are you sure your parents are okay with me taking that room? Even when, or I guess, especially when I graduate from training?”
Christian’s gray-blue eyes burned into me. “We’re hoping we don’t have to hide then, Ariana.”
That lump was back, and growing bigger. “Is that something you’re trying to change? The guard-vampire relationship rule?”
“Among others,” Christian said. “Selfishly, though, one of our main concerns is overturning the rule about vampires not being able to have a serious relationship with their guards.”
“You might be able to guess it’s very important to us,” Nic said, his face drawn in shadows looking every bit the part of Dark, Sexy & Badass.
My breath hitched in my throat.
“We believe vampires should be able to love who they want,” Stephan added. “Regardless of species or gender or stupid ancient rules that mean nothing.”
Connor’s lips twisted into a grin. “Oh, that law is going down. First chance we get, it’s out of here.”
My whole body tingled. With all of them staring at me, I felt as if I was naked in front of them. Their words told me everything I needed to know, everything I wanted to hear. The best part? They actually had the authority to make that kind of change. It wasn’t just whispered promises. I totally believed them. One day, we wouldn’t have to hide our feelings for each other anymore. I could hold their hand in public, or even kiss them.
It was just too bad it was too late for Kay and Royce.
The tension in the room thickened, no doubt their minds going exactly where mine did. I slid my feet to the floor. Their eyes followed me like a lion stalking their prey. “Maybe we should all call it a night,” I said. I half wished they’d tell me no, and half wished they’d agree. Sometimes when they were all in the same room, all staring at me like that, it was just too much to bear. It was as if I was breaking up from the inside out.
“No problem, Princess,” Connor said, holding a hand out to me. “I’ll take you to your room.”
“The hell you will,” Nic said, “You were already in their earlier.”
My face bloomed red, but he wasn’t mad, just teasing. “I hate to break this to all of you, but I should probably go back to my room alone.” Even as I said it, I wished it wasn’t true. “After all, the law hasn’t changed yet.”
The devil on my shoulder laughed in my ear. That didn’t seem to matter to you earlier, it said, and he was so right. But with all four of them there, how could I pick just one? Right now, I’d take all of them. I wanted all of them with me.
“Do you think we could all stay in one room together?” I asked, my eyes moving up to meet theirs.
“Like a sleepover?” Connor asked, amusement glittering in his eyes.
“Yeah. Sort of.” I sighed, not wanting to sound stupid. “We finally have the opportunity to spend time together and I don’t want to miss another second of it with pesky sleep.”
Nic immediately spoke up. “That’s it. Everyone go get the blankets off their beds. We’ll sleep in here.”
A smile lit my face. That sounded awesome. There was more than enough room in the library to fit all of us comfortably. “No one will care?” I asked.
“This is our floor,” Stephan said as he started to walk away. “No one comes up here.”
“Alright,” Connor said. Then, he took off running. With a laugh, he called over his shoulder, “Race you back here. First one back gets to sleep next to Princess.”
Nic, Stephan, and Christian looked at one another and then charged after Connor who had a huge head start on them. Damn. They were so fast. I ran after them, but they were already in their rooms by the time I got to our hallway. When I got to my door, it was already open. Stephan came out and nearly ran me over. He reached a hand out to steady me. “Sorry about that.” His face was flushed and he was smiling from ear-to-ear. “I grabbed your blankets for you. I figured that would earn me a spot next to you. Now,” he said, throwing the blankets over his shoulders and immediately bending to pick me up, one hand around my back, the other under my knees. “Let’s go have this sleepover.”
Stephan sped off and I hid my face in his shoulder. The hallway went by in a blur and within five seconds, I was on my feet in the library again. Even though we were last, there was an open spot on the floor big enough for two people. Christian pat the spot next to him. “Right here, Beautiful. I won.”
Connor started mumbling something about cheating, but everyone ignored him.
Stephan threw my blankets down and then laid his out on the other side. I snuggled down into the plush comforter and looked around. Nicolai and Connor’s heads were close to mine. I reached up and ran my hands through each of their hair. “Thanks, guys.”
They all mumbled their good nights and I sunk down into the comfort of my sheets, a permanent smile on my face. Maybe I could talk the princes into turning this room into all of our bedrooms when I moved in here permanently.
Chapter Ten
After a relaxed breakfast, a.k.a. no Gregor, the guys wanted to show me the outside of the castle and the grounds. It turned out there really wasn’t a moat, though there was plenty of space to put one in. I was at the front of the house looking up at its spires when a flurry of activity caught my attention. I looked toward the guard wing and noticed two grappling in the grass. Nic came over and pointed that way. “See the tall one? That’s Carey. The short, thin one that looks like he’d get squashed like a bug? Don’t underestimate him. That’s Paul. He’s fast, not to mention vicious.”
A crowd of similarly dressed guards gathered around them now, cheering them on. “How come there are so many guards here? I guess I was under the impression that it was just going to be me.”
Nic smiled down. His hand twitched at his side, but he held it still. “Hopefully soon we’ll go back to just needing the one guard. Right now, with everything going on, Dad likes the idea of there being more than one.”
“There’s a lot more than one over there,” I corrected. There had to have been at least ten and who knew how many were out actually doing work and not messing around.
“Okay, so maybe he’s going a little overboard.”
I watched as Paul ran at Carey’s legs and tried for a takedown. “But who are all of them? If they’re all guards, shouldn’t they be posted with other clans?”
“Well, yeah. We didn’t take anyone else’s guards if that’s what you’re asking. Some—Well, I guess most of these are retired.”
I looked around at the group. Most of them couldn’t be that much over forty, if that. Back where I was from, retired meant you had gray hair and used a walker to walk your dog. “At what age can guards retire? They don’t even look middle-aged yet, Nic.”
He bumped me with his shoulder. “You have so much to learn. You should probably spend a lot of the time you have here in that library.” He chuckled when I narrowed my eyes at him. Like I wanted to sit and read when they were all around. It would be pure torture. “Retirement happens at different ages for different guards,” he explained. “Our clan tends to go through guards a lot because we have a high-stress position. Plus, they want our guards in the best shape they can be. Our last guard retired at…thirty-eight, I think.”
“Thirty-eight?” My eyebrows flew up my forehead, but then reality hit me. Thirty-eight. That meant I only had just shy of twenty years with the princes. If they didn’t get the law fixed, what would happen to me?
“Yeah, she wa
s badass too. She’s here. You probably met her yesterday. She’s filling in until you can graduate.”
I blinked. She? Thirty-eight? There was just so much information coming in. “W-what happens after a guard retires?” Dread filled me. At thirty-eight, I’d already be older than the princes because they’d never be older than thirty-five. No wonder why they wanted their guards to retire early, they thought thirty-five was the premium age. Everything after that and you may as well be a senior citizen.
“Don’t worry. They’re well taken care of. And you,” he said, lowering his voice to that husky whisper that made goosebumps run up and down my arms. “Won’t have to worry about any of that. We don’t want you to be our guard forever, Ri. You know that, right?”
I looked up and blinked at him. I’d heard them allude to something like that before, but they never finished the thought. I kind of thought I knew what they meant, but…
“Unless you want to,” he said. “You can do whatever you want. At least, that’s what we’re hoping we can accomplish eventually.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “What do you want?”
Shadows lined his face as he regarded me. “For starters, I want to change some laws. One of them being the separation of vampires and the likes of you.” He winked at me. “Second being that I’d like to be a guard myself.”
I reared back. Wow. I hadn’t heard that one before. “Really?”
He tilted his had, regarding me. “That surprises you?”
No, not really. Not when I thought about it. If any one of the princes was going to be a guard, I could see Nic doing it. “It’s just the first I’ve heard of it. What does your dad say?”
His face clouded over. “He doesn’t hate the idea in general, but he hates the idea for me.”
He looked out across the two guards play grappling with a wistful look. “Because you’re who you are, not just because you’re a vampire?”
“Exactly.”
I tipped my chin in the air. “I think you should be able to do whatever makes you happy.”