Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(88)

But when we finally landed in Warin’s back yard, my discomfort and irritation faded to white noise as butterflies the size of bald eagles swarmed in my stomach.

“What if he doesn’t want me back?” I whispered as I stared at the mansion.

Aleric rolled his eyes and put a hand on my shoulder, shoving me forward. “Then you’ll beg until he does. Now move it. It’s been a long fucking night, and I’m getting hungry. You took a lot of my blood, and your neck’s been in my face for hours.”

I’d give him that—the dude knew how to be motivating.

I scrambled forward, forcing my stiff and cramping legs to keep up with Aleric’s much longer strides as he walked me around the front of the house and rang the doorbell.

A moment passed before the door opened, and Carina stared at us, eyebrows raised in question.

When her eyes landed on me, her blank mask fell.

“Thank the gods,” she whispered—and then she did the least vampirey thing any vampire’ had ever done in my presence: she pulled me into a tight hug.

“Uh, hey,” I croaked, awkwardly putting my hands on her shoulders to return the gesture. “Is Warin in?”

“The Lord is in his study,” she said, finally putting me down inside the grand foyer. “Come—he will want to see you straight away.”

I let her drag me through the foyer and down the hallway, casting a bewildered look at Aleric over my shoulder. But the tall vampire didn’t pay me any more mind as he strode into the mansion and headed for the grand living room. Apparently, his job was done.

“Carina, how… how has he been?” I asked my blonde companion.

She glanced down at me. “He has been… like he was before.”

“Oh.” I felt terrible for the flicker of disappointment in my gut at that answer. It wasn’t that I wanted him to suffer, far from it, but after what Aleric had said I’d expected… well, the same kind of heartache I’d been dealing with. “Well, that’s good.”

“No, Liv. It’s not,” she said.

I wanted to ask her what she meant, but before I could she stopped before a closed door and knocked lightly. “My lord?”

An affirmative murmur sounded from within, and she pushed the door open. “You have a visitor, my lord,” she said, giving me a light nudge to push me over the threshold.

And there he sat in a hideous, white modern chair, staring at two vampires who were kneeling in front of him, heads bent. We were obviously interrupting something.

"Show them to the waiting area, Carina. This will take a while." Warin’s voice was icy and detached and so… so different. It made my heart ache. I made to turn around and leave, but Carina’s light grip on my arm stopped me.

"I don't think this can wait, my lord,” she insisted.

He looked up then, pale face impassive and as perfectly sculpted as I remembered it, but there was something different there. It seemed like pain was straining behind that flawless mask, threatening to break through the cracks. I wondered if my face looked the same.

When his eyes locked on my form, they widened, but the rest of him was still as a statue. Until he, in a smooth but authoritarian tone, said, "Leave."

The shock that went through me nearly made my knees buckle. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to turn around, dazed, but again Carina’s hand stopped me.

Warin had turned his head to the vampires on the floor. "I will summon you when I wish to resume this."

The two looked relieved. They got up and swooshed past me before I'd fully realized he hadn't spoken to me. A light squeeze on my arm notified me of Carina’s departure.

And then it was just him and me in the big office.

Warin stood, slowly, but stayed by the chair, keeping distance between us.

"Hey, I croaked.

"Why are you here, Liv?” The velvet touch of his voice made me shiver.

“I…” I took in a deep breath. “I’m here because I…I know I made a mistake. I shouldn’t have left, and I’m… hoping you…” I gritted my teeth, trying to force the words out. In the face of his detached agony, I hated myself like I’d never hated myself before. I’d caused this. I’d hurt him. He may have looked the regal, detached vampire to everyone else, but I recognized the wound of our separation in him, because it resonated in my own broken soul. I wanted to tell him so bad why I’d left, but Aleric was right—it wasn’t safe.

“Please take me back, Warin,” I whispered. “Please forgive my stupidity. I was scared, and I was stupid, and I… I am so, so sorry.”

He shook his head, breathing deeply. “I sense Aleric here. I know he brought you. My brother… has an unfortunate tendency of ignoring my orders. I will ask Carina to arrange for your travels back—and I will ensure Aleric obeys me this time. Whatever he has threatened, you have my word I will not allow him to fulfill it.”

I blinked, confused at that response. Sure, I hadn’t expected him to just take me back, no questions asked, but trying to send me back? Then it hit me—he thought my apology was forced by his brother.

“No, Warin. No, no, no.” I crossed the floor and, hesitating for a just a second, put my hands on his shoulders. He tensed under my touch, like he had the first few times, and I fought back the bloom of hurt. He had every right to build his walls back up.