Hurt spread over Cassio’s face. “You insult me if you think I would reveal to them anything you would wish to remain between us. Has it not been I who has kept your new names and locations a secret all this time?”
“Then why now?” Luke bellowed, shaking off his friend’s touch. “Why disturb my peace and with such a request?”
“Your mother and father wish for you to take your rightful place. They have waited longer than they intended, and decisions are being made in your absence that will affect you whether you want them to or not.” Cassio gripped Luke’s shoulders again and shook him a little. “It is time you stop running, my friend.”
I couldn’t keep up with their quick mood changes. Waving my hands to get their attention, I tried to make heads or tails with what I had. “So, let me get this straight. Cas here surprised you by visiting because you’ve been hiding from your family, changing location and names over however long.”
“Yes,” Luke confirmed while Cassio agreed in Italian.
“And I’m guessing he wants to bring you back with him because something big is about to go down with your family that he thinks you should be a part of,” I continued, counting the second piece I’d picked up from their conversations.
Cassio nodded. “You have the right of it.”
“But there’s something up with Luke having to ask his parents for permission to marry me if he does go back. And, based on your reaction, I’m guessing they would be less than pleased about him being engaged to me?” I asked with a finger pointed at my chest.
Luke’s friend had the presence of mind to appear apologetic. “It is not my intent to insult you in any way, and I am afraid I have acted abominably since meeting you.”
I narrowed my eyes at Cassio since he had been providing all the answers to the numerous questions I’d held onto for so long. “And what about me is so objectionable?” I pressed. “Is it that I’m American and do not descend from any royalty? At least, not that I know of, unless you include the royal pains in my butt the members of my family can be at times.”
“No, your country of origin would not be a deterrent.” Cassio chose his next words with greater care. “However, his parents would like for him to marry someone more…suitable.”
His statement reminded me of Azalea’s difficulties from her parents with her marriage to Harrison. “I’m not of the right class, right? Too common for royalty?”
“I don’t care about such things, cara,” Luke defended. “All I ever wanted in a partner was someone who loved me. Who sparked joy in my life and made me want to be better. I could not be luckier that I found you.”
His romantic words warmed my heart, but I stayed seated on the back of his couch rather than rushing over to embrace him. “But there’s something else that neither of you has said but you both know the answer to. Why wouldn’t I be accepted as a potential wife for you?”
The two vampires exchanged more mysterious glances with each other. Cassio dropped his grip on Luke and backed away with a bow, allowing my fiancé to give me the answer that both seemed reluctant to convey.
Luke stepped over the ruins of his coffee table and scooped me up in his arms, carrying me to safer ground. He put me down with gentle ease.
He kissed my forehead, the tip of my nose, and planted a chaste one on my lips. “It’s not you specifically. They would never accept me being with any witch. It is why I cannot return.”
“It is not the only reason why you have not come back to Perdaggia.” Cassio approached the two of us. “Isabella wouldn’t want you to continue to suffer so needlessly.”
“What does your sister have to do with everything?” I placed my hands on either side of Luke’s face. “You have been avoiding talking about her ever since you gave me the ring. Whatever it is, tell me and let me share the burden.”
Luke lifted my left hand in front of him and kissed the ring on my finger. “I cannot go back because of what I did.”
I leaned in a little closer, willing him to finally tell me the whole truth. “What did you do? Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. I won’t let it haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“There is nothing you can do, cara, for it has already been done so long ago.” Luke lowered his head to avoid my gaze. “I killed my sister.”
Chapter Four
Although Luke’s words echoed in my head, I did not pull away from him. After we first committed to each other as more than just two people fooling around, I had to come to terms that parts of my vampire boyfriend’s past were unsavory. But I tried to judge him not by what he had done but by what he did and who he was now with me.
“That can’t be true.” I looked to Cassio for clarification. “Is it?”
“She died because I refused to listen to her. I refused to support her when she needed me the most,” Luke continued, pain radiating off of him in waves. Pink-tinted tears pooled in his eyes.
“I have said this to you before and I will say it again because it bears repeating, especially in front of your betrothed,” Cassio said, once again placing a kind hand on his friend’s arm. “You were not the cause of her demise. I have said this time and time again, and yet you refuse to believe me.”
“My mother and father do not agree,” Luke said, dashing a finger under his eyes to catch the pink wetness. “And neither do I.”
I yanked him against me and threw my arms around him. In all my frustrations with his keeping secrets from me, I never would have guessed the depths of his despair
