woman, it wasn’t exactly comfortable being carried like a child. On the other hand, Ethan had made me a vampire, and the link between us remained. The scent and feel of him was soothing, and I managed to enjoy being swept up in his arms, no matter how guilty the pleasure.
When we reached the House again, I protested enough that he let me walk back upstairs to my room, but he refused to let me leave it. While Ethan retrieved blood from the kitchen, I changed into yoga pants and a Cubs T- shirt and lay down on my bed, a pile of pillows behind my tender head.
Ethan returned carrying a giant plastic cup with a handle, the kind a trucker might buy to provide an all-day dose of caffeine for the road.
“Was that the smallest container you could find?”
“I prefer not to underestimate your potential for grumpiness,” he said, sitting down on the edge of my bed and offering the vessel.
I humphed, but accepted the cup and began to sip through the hard plastic straw stuck through its top. After a moment, I pulled back. “Is there chocolate sauce in the blood?”
His cheekbones pinked a bit. “Since you weren’t feeling well, I thought a little chocolate might do you good.”
Unfortunately, chocolate and blood weren’t a tasty combination. But he’d gone to such trouble that I couldn’t bear to disappoint him.
“Thank you,” I said, taking another heartening sip. “That was really thoughtful.”
He nodded, then sat quietly while I drank. I sipped until I felt the latent hunger ease, then put the cup on the nightstand beside me. I closed my eyes and sank back into the bed, my head against the backstop of pillows. As soon as I was still again, exhaustion overwhelmed me.
“I’m tired, Ethan.”
“It’s been another long evening,” he said.
But I shook my head—just a little, so my head didn’t throb with it. “It’s not just the concussion.
It’s the work. I wouldn’t want a cop’s job. I’m not entirely sure I want my job right now.”
“And miss all the fun and excitement? The chance to review security footage and fight drug-addled vampires?”
“Don’t forget about pissing off the head of the Greenwich Presidium.”
“Ah, yes. Who’d have thought, less than a year ago when you were grading papers, that your life would come to this?”
“Certainly not me,” I said. I opened my eyes again and looked over at him. “Are we going to finish this? Or are we going to do as he asked?”
“I don’t know. I certainly prefer not to put my fate in Tate’s hands.” Ethan sighed and rolled his shoulders. “Tate called the House while we were gone. Informed Malik he was tired of the delay, and said I had forty-eight hours before my warrant was issued.”
“Awesome,” I muttered.
He looked back at me, his eyes glowing emeralds. “We should talk about the kiss.”
This time, I was the one who blushed. “Is there anything to talk about? We were high.”
He gave me a flat look; I looked away.
“At least admit that there’s more to it than drugs,” he quietly said.
I looked away, gnawed the edge of my lip, and pondered the irony. I’d kissed Ethan, and he wanted to discuss our relationship. We’d now completely switched roles.
“There’s more to it,” I finally agreed. “But you know how I feel.”
“And you still aren’t convinced my intentions are noble?”
I was becoming more convinced, I thought to myself, but how could I tell him that? How could I confess it without sounding cruel for not believing him completely—and without risking my heart by telling him he’d managed to halfway convince me?
An awkward silence descended. Thankfully, he changed the subject. “In my position, what would you do about V?”
“I’m not in your position.”
“Assume that you were,” he said. “Assume that you had a House of vampires under your protection. Assume that a bureaucrat had decided you weren’t allowed to solve an immediate problem facing your House for fear it would draw undue attention to the existence of the problem.”
I sat up, crossing my legs beneath me.
“You’ve answered your question, haven’t you?
You have an immediate risk to the safety of your vampires, and a political risk that might occur down the road. Solve the immediate risk first.
Apologize, instead of asking for permission.”
“And if the end result is the House in receivership?”
“Then we hope the receiver has more sense than the leader of the GP.”
Finally, Ethan cracked a half smile. I was struck by the urge to lift his burden, to make the smile complete, to give him the kind of relief he’d tried to give me—however unsuccessfully—with chocolate-flavored blood.
“I have an idea,” I said.
“What’s that?”
I paused, still thinking it through, before offering, “Meet me outside in five minutes—out near the fountain.”
He arched a crisp eyebrow. “Because?”
“Because I said so. Trust me.”
He debated for a moment, then nodded. “Very well. Five minutes.” He stood up and walked to the door, glancing back before walking out. “And never doubt it, Merit—I do trust you.”
He disappeared through the door. I climbed off the bed, my headache beginning to dissipate, and set to work.
The Cadogan House gardens were spectacular, from the running trail to the brick barbecue pit to the formal French garden behind the House. A fountain sat in the middle of the garden, bubbling water for the enjoyment of any vampires who might be seated on the benches around it.
I took off my shoes after I crossed the brick patio at the back of the House, closing my eyes at the luxurious feel of soft, cool grass beneath my feet.
I found him in a genteel sprawl on one of the benches, the only vampire in the vicinity, and clearly doing a little luxuriating of his own. Eyes closed, he was slouched comfortably across the seat, one foot on the bench, the other on the ground. One arm was slung across its back, his other hand on the flat of his stomach. In his white button-down and trousers, he looked more like a Regency rake than a Master of vampires.
Maybe he was reliving history.
I sat cross-legged on the ground beside him, the box in my lap.
“What do you have there?” he asked, not bothering to look up.
“Quid pro quo,” I said. “Chocolate for chocolate. But there will be a price to pay.”
“Is the treat worth it?” His voice was a low, amused drawl.
I answered in the same honeyed tone, both of us knowing full well that a flirtation in the middle of the backyard was just that—an enjoyable flirtation. “It absolutely is.”
Ethan chuckled. “In that case, Sentinel, be my guest.”
“What was your favorite time period? What period did you enjoy the most?”
His brows lifted, as if surprised by the question. He opened his eyes and shuffled a bit on the bench, then
