Shadow's Seduction (The Dacians #2)(41)

Mirceo’s pants were on the floor, and he had the covers up to his waist again.

Thank gods. “You need to sleep.”

Relaxation had stolen over the vampire’s body, but he wasn’t ready to pass out yet. “Stay with me.”

“Should I read you a bedtime story too, leechling?”

“Do you have erotic ones in your repertoire? Perhaps an original.”

“You have an answer for everything.”

Mirceo waved at the blankets. “You really do care about me, don’t you?”

Cas pulled a chair up to the bed. “Because I don’t want my drunken vampire friend to fry under my watch?” He removed his own boots, then kicked back. He would sleep out on the deck tonight. Not in the bed with Mirceo. NOT in the bed.

“Aside from my parents and Mina, you’re the only person I have ever cared deeply about. After my mother and father were murdered, I fairly much hated everyone. Growing up in Dacia didn’t help matters.”

“Do you know who killed them?” Mirceo had said only that a cowardly royal had taken their lives.

“My uncle Stelian’s father beheaded them in their sleep.”

Was Cas better off not knowing his parents than to have lost them so brutally? “Why?”

“Millennia ago, a princess in our family cursed the Dacianos to infight and destroy ourselves until we crowned the rightful heir—Lothaire. For generations, Dacianos schemed and manipulated to seize the throne, and I’m sure my parents weren’t innocent.” Frowning to himself, he said, “I think Trehan hunted down Stelian’s murderous father to protect Mina and myself.”

“That all sounds insane.”

“Imagine raising a little girl under that threat. It’s why I’m so protective of Mina. We’ve had targets on our backs since we were born. And then, with our parents out of the way, I feared our uncles would circle us like sharks.”

“You were just fifteen.” At least no one had wanted to kill Cas when he’d been that age. “What did you do?”

“Turned into an angry stick-in-the-mud. I toed every line and never lowered my guard. I didn’t fuck for the first time until I was twenty.”

Cas couldn’t wrap his mind around this. “So you’ve only had ten years of partners.” His mood plummeted. A rake like Mirceo likely wouldn’t settle down for an eternity. A rake who hadn’t gotten the lead out never would. “And then what happened?”

A soft, fond smile curled Mirceo’s lips. “Mina won them over, one by one. Viktor, the head of the army, caught her—a little imp—devising brilliant battle strategies with her dollies. He lost his heart. From the time she was eight, she carried a blade, so Trehan, the shadow assassin, lost his as well.” Mirceo couldn’t sound prouder. “She brought blood mead to the guardhouse for Stelian, the realm’s gatekeeper—because she felt sorry for him. She admitted that she would keep watch with that lonely oaf, just sitting in silence and observing the mist float by. It eventually became clear that they’d all die for her.”

Cas could see this. Timid, blushing Mina kindled a person’s protective instincts.

“Once I realized my sister was in no danger from them, I loosened up, becoming the hedonist you once knew.”

“You bring out such protectiveness as well.”

“Do I? Mina and I are two of a kind,” he said. “Dacians consider Trehan the kingdom’s sword, Viktor its wrath, Stelian its sentinel, and Lothaire its cunning. Our people see Mina and me as the beating heart of Dacia. That’s why most are helpless not to love us.”

Beginning to believe that. “Your partners always fell for you.”

“Hmm.”

“Hmmm, what?”

“The day I told Mina that our parents were gone, I comprehended that I was all she had in the world. I promised her that I would be her mother and father. She gazed up at me with . . . unlimited expectation and said, ‘I believe you.’”

My gods, Cas could barely imagine the pressure. Mirceo had been so young.

Mirceo frowned. “Partners often cast me a similar look of expectation after sex, as if they’d pinned all their worldly hopes on me. The burden of that responsibility filled me with panic and resentment—but I never understood why. Now I do.”

“What do you understand?”

Their gazes held. “They wanted me to give them something that already belonged to another. They wanted my future—but it’s yours alone.”

Cas loosed a breath. “So if I were ever to look at you like that . . .”

“Demon, you can pin any worldly hopes on me”—his voice grew hoarse—“because I’ve already pinned mine on you.”

What if the vampire truly would treat a mate differently? Wasn’t that the way of matehood?

Mirceo’s lids slid shut, the brew about to drop the hammer. “Caspion, I was proud of you tonight. Proud that you’re mine.”

The prince continued to see him as strong and capable, having no idea what a wretched creature his mate had once been. Mirceo’s description of royal intrigues just reminded Cas how ignoble his blood was.

He’s the heir to an ancient line from an extraordinary realm; I don’t even have a family name.

Mirceo murmured, “Before I pass out, I give you full permission to take advantage of me. You know I’m not shy. Look your fill. Touch. Do whatever you want to me.”