by E. M. Moore
“But still, you did end up at the bridge that night?” Checkov asked. “How did that happen?”
I swallowed, remembering the insane look on Kay’s face. “She ended up calling them after a man showed up at the house we were at. I never saw his face, but he seemed to be the one pulling the strings. He told her to call and tell them where to meet.”
“Then what happened?” Isabelle asked. Her eyes were guarded, but she didn’t look right. She was too rigid, sitting up too tall.
I didn’t understand her reaction, but it was putting me on guard. “When Kay was putting me in the car, Stephan Ravana showed up. She was able to incapacitate him, and then we were both in the backseat and headed to the bridge.”
“Were you still in restraints at this time?” Checkov asked.
“Yes, Sir.”
“And how did Stephan Ravana know where to find you? Did the Princes know it was Katherine Nichols who took you at that point?”
I peeked down at the princes, unsure of what to say. Their faces were complete blanks. “I don’t know. Perhaps Stephan can tell you more when it’s his turn.”
Christian nodded almost imperceptibly, and I let out a breath.
Their remaining questions walked me through the fight, including Christian getting staked, which drew a chorus of gasps from the crowd. Then I told them how Stephan killed Kay and how the ‘others’—the ones who also weren’t happy with Gregor—that she was so sure would show up never did. Despite being scared shitless the entire time, I didn’t think my testimony went that bad. I’d only given them the information I felt they needed, glossing over the parts that might get us in trouble or cause them to ask further questions as to what our relationship status was.
It was Connor’s turn next. His testimony was even easier than mine. He informed them how they got Zeke involved to help talk his mother down. He certainly was a charmer. The tension in the room lifted while he was up there, even managing to inform them why Stephan was able to find me, but when he said it, it made perfect sense. I’d been hurt in training, and he used an ointment of his own creation to heal me. Therefore, he was able to track me down before the others. When Checkov asked them why he’d been compelled to help me, Connor said, “Ariana Stuart was brought into this world by my brothers and I, so it’s natural that we feel protective of her until she can learn to guard herself. Her training at The Fort is not completed, but once it is, we’ll expect her to take over in situations like this.” Then he looked at The Council and smiled. There was something almost suspicious about the look in his eyes. He was making me nervous wondering what was going to come out of his mouth next. “The Council is also well aware of my thoughts on guards being equal to us. I can’t lie and say that my personal thoughts did not come into play here. We expect Ariana to be our guard, not our servant. There must be trust both ways there, Checkov. She was captured because of us, so we saved her. If we’d been captured, she would’ve done her duty.”
Checkov dismissed him shortly after that.
Nicolai was next. His testimony was even shorter since they’d heard most of it from Connor and me. He reiterated what we said, sometimes word-for-word at times. Over top of it all, he acted bored. So much so that his father was glaring at him the entire time. There was one question that Checkov asked Nic that he didn’t ask Connor though. “Did you see anyone else at the bridge when you were there? Any illusion to ‘the others’ or the gentleman who Ariana alluded to in her testimony?”
Nic shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Though, I did hear Kay make mention of it to her son, Zeke. I have no doubt there were, and are, others, but Kay was a sacrifice they were willing to make.”
“You think there are others who want to hurt your family?” Checkov asked, his question leading, thinly veiled in doubt.
“I think there are others who want to test us. With power comes responsibility. Even you can imagine that decisions made are not always approved by all.”
Gregor spoke up then. “Of course, Nicolai. Thank you.”
Though I didn’t dare look over, tension poured from the princes next to me. Nic looked as if he couldn't care less though. He swaggered back to his seat, a small smirk on his face.
Christian was next. They spent a great deal of time talking to him about being staked and how, even asking where I was when it happened. My temper flared when Checkov frowned at me. I’d told them I was still tied up. I should’ve done better, but that didn’t mean I wanted them dissecting every move in the incident. It was clear Checkov had a different agenda. If we were just supposed to give testimony, why the third degree about where I was and how close the stake was to piercing his heart?
Before Christian stepped down, Checkov rubbed his chin. “One more thing if you will. This question’s been bothering me from the beginning. Why did you go to save your trainee by yourselves? Wouldn’t it have been wiser to contact your current guard?”
Christian glared at Checkov. “In this instance, we all agreed that time was running out. We didn’t know what condition Ariana was in, and then we couldn’t find Stephan. We had no idea if he was hurt or captured as well. We decided to act immediately on our own without the assistance of The Council or other guards. If we ever overturned the law regarding having only one guard per family, situations like this could be avoided.”
Checkov’s jaw ticked. Christian didn’t wait to be dismissed from the chair. After that remark, he stood and made his way back to his seat. There were murmurs behind me as he walked, and I tried to hear what the other vamps were saying. Did they agree with him?
Who in their right mind wouldn’t? With everything that had happened recently, every vampire family would feel safer if they were surrounded by more guards. Once the incident at the gas station and the rogue vampires made the rounds, it would be stupid not to overturn that law as soon as possible.
Stephan rose from his seat next and walked slowly toward the now empty chair. Isabelle paled and Gregor shifted uncomfortably. Checkov opened his mouth to ask the first question, but Stephan held a finger in the air, effectively silencing him. “I just have to say one thing first.” He stared straight at me and my stomach flipped. “As you’ve already heard, I had to take the life of Katherine Nichols for the safety of my family. It’s something I would do again, but hope I never have to. The loss of a life is the loss of a life. It pains me to think that it came to this and I hope that we can move forward in help protecting all lives. Thank you.”
There were a few beats of silence where no one said or did anything. I wanted to look behind to see what the looks on the guards’ faces were. I also wished Evan, Shannon, and Liv were around to hear that. If anyone felt the loss of Kay, it was Stephan. It was what I tried to tell them before.
Checkov cleared his throat. “Thank you, Stephan. Now, we’ve heard most of the specifics, including your brash idea to run off to find Miss Stuart by yourself. Can you please explain that?”
Gregor balked. “Philippe, what does this have to do with the incident? Besides, Christian already informed us of their reasoning. There’s no reason for Stephan to answer it again or for us to have to hear the answer again. You’re wasting our time.”
“I am merely trying to understand what was running through his head in order to put himself solely in danger. Surely, Gregor, you can agree that his running off did no one any good. It made his brothers worry, and due to the loss your family has already suffered, I think it was an unwise one.”
Gregor’s eyes hardened. I’d never seen anyone look more murderous at that moment than the princes’ father. “I had no idea my son’s actions were on trial here.”
The other Council members spoke up and agreed that Stephan was not on trial. Gregor calmed a little, but what Checkov said had stuck in my mind. A loss they’d already suffered? I didn’t even know what he was alluding to, but I hated the fact that he questioned Stephan’s actions.
Stephan squirmed in the chair while they all talked amongst themselves. At length, he began to talk
over them. “Someone I knew was in trouble because of me. It was not a difficult or hard decision. Maybe I’m just different from others, but—”
“But,” Checkov interrupted, his face cleverly confused. “Ariana is just a guard. Not even that. She’s a trainee, and you risked your life for her.”
Gregor sat back in his chair, his arms crossing over his chest. Though he didn’t have a microphone like Checkov, his voice echoed through the room. “Are we going to listen to the facts, or are we going to continue to question my sons about every little decision they made? Clearly, you find fault in their actions. Others might call them brave, even selfless. For myself, I’m proud of my sons and their actions no matter what trouble they brought upon themselves.”
Checkov colored. “I don’t think anyone would deny that they were brave. I am merely bringing attention to the fact that they put their lives at risk for—”
“As I said,” Stephan interrupted. He shrugged once he had the attention of the whole room. His mask was still on, but I knew he was suffering. His green eyes were dull, not nearly as bright as they usually were. “I don’t differentiate when I hear of someone in need of help. My medical interests, my care for others, have been widely discussed many times at this table. I don’t believe I have to explain myself any more than that.”
“You do not need to explain yourself,” Gregor seethed.
Isabelle’s wide eyes found mine, and a shiver ran up my spine. This meeting needed to end, and now.
“Of course you don’t need to explain yourself,” Checkov said. “I was curious, and I admit, trying to prove my own point.”
The woman who sat on the end perked up. “You have a point in this line of questioning, Philippe?”
Checkov shook his head and smirked. “Truly I can’t be the only one thinking that this all could’ve been avoided from the start if we shied away from personal relationships with guards, or in fact, any humans.”
My hands fisted where they lay on my thigh. I glowered at Checkov as he still spoke. He was just a spineless, selfish child.
“Royce would still be alive if not for his affections,” Checkov said, spitting out the word. “Kay never would’ve tried to harm the princes. In fact, even the princes themselves wouldn’t have even plunged themselves into a dangerous position if they’d set ground rules with their up-and-coming guard.”
I looked around. My princes were tense. The whole room was like a pot of water coming to a boil. We’d worked up enough energy to spill over, and we were moments from overflowing.
Gregor chuckled darkly. “You’ve turned this simple matter of testimony into furthering your own political agenda. Is that why you insisted on hearing from them, Checkov? You insisted on hearing the trainee out yourself.” Gregor addressed the spectators now. “I agreed to let the facts be heard, but this is now purely speculation, and a gross misuse of our time.”
To Checkov’s credit, he did shy away a little. “I believe all sides of every story should be heard. Your son said himself he doesn’t differentiate. Is not that the problem in all this though?” His voice started to rise as he gained momentum. “Since when are their lives as important as ours? We brought in human guards to protect us, not the other way around. It is clear something is imbalanced here.”
Voices rose up behind us. Everything mixed together so I couldn’t figure out if people agreed or disagreed with him. My pulse thrummed in my ears. The princes were all leaning forward in their seats, their gazes switching back and forth from Stephan to the Council members.
Stephan stood, his hands fists at his sides. “Haven’t you read any of our history books? Problems only happen when we forget about the cares of one side. What if we’d let Ariana succumb to the whim of Kay? What message would that send? That we have no feeling for those who protect us.”
A hard voice rang out from the back. “We already know we don’t matter.”
It was Matthews. I was one-hundred percent sure, and what he said last night was right. Sometimes he didn’t know when to shut his own mouth.
Gregor and Checkov turned to the back of the room. Checkov was the first to pounce. “Guards are not allowed in Council meetings unless invited. Please remove yourself.”
“Or what?” Matthews snapped. “Who’ll remove me for you?”
Oh shit.
I turned to find Lex’s hand on Matthew’s shoulder. She was speaking to him in hushed tones. The surrounding vampires all shied away.
No, this wasn’t right. It shouldn’t be an “us” versus “them.” Not at all. That was the exact opposite of the point Stephan was trying to make.
Gregor stood, his fist coming down heavily on the table in front of them. “There. Will. Be. Silence.”
The power of his voice blasted right through me and I automatically turned back in my seat and sat properly, my knees and head facing straight forward.
“This is not the time nor the place to discuss such matters. If you would like to bring this to a further discussion, Checkov, we can talk amongst ourselves. As far as the matter of Katherine Nichols’ death, and the events leading up to it, we are all dismissed.”
Connor stood and forced me in front of him. He was hot on my heels all the way through the room as vampires openly gawked at me. When we were out the doors, he threw me over his shoulder and ran.
16
I closed my eyes tight and clung to Connor. What the hell had just happened in there? How did none of us see that coming? That purist asshole turned a tragic event into a fucking PSA on how to treat guards. I was so furious I wanted Connor to let me go so I could go back there and show him exactly what I thought about his little stunt, and how he’d made my princes feel.
I couldn’t tell if it was from the run or the stress of the day, but my head was beginning to pound. When we finally slowed, Connor shoved me into the front seat of a car. He made quick work of the seatbelt and then he was gone, my door shut, with his open on the other side before I could even blink. Within seconds, he had the car started, and he was peeling away from the others parked there and flying down the driveway toward the iron fence. He slowed down only to wave to the guard in the little booth who already had the doors opening for him.
I latched onto the door handle next to me and closed my eyes again. We were going too fast. Way too fast. It reminded me of that night when our car overturned and the glass shattered and—. “Con… Connor.” My stomach lurched, and I bit down on the acidic taste forcing its way up my throat. “Please slow down. I don’t like cars.”
He banged the steering wheel. “Shit!” He slowed down immediately, a low whine coming from the brakes. I breathed in deep a few times before opening my eyes again and looking around. We were in the nice Jeep we’d ridden into town in to get my tattoo. I tried to relax, but the emotions coming off of Connor in waves scared me. His hands twisted around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. “Of course you don’t like cars. Stupid.”
“Why would you know I don’t like cars?” I asked, trying to do anything to keep my mind off the road. Though he’d slowed down a lot, my nerves were already hyper aware of every little jerk in the steering wheel or acceleration.
Connor shook his head. “I’m so sorry, Princess. I could only think about getting you out of there. I hate that that happened. I didn’t even think about the car. My main focus was just getting you away from all of them.”
My heart was in my ears, in my throat, anywhere but in my chest where it would’ve felt normal. “Connor, are we near any place where we can stop?”
He pulled over a little more roughly than he needed to. I squeezed the door handle until we skidded to a stop. I breathed out in relief and pushed the door open to let the fresh air in. I started counting my breaths, evening them out as best I could. It was a trick a doctor told me to do once and even though it had never worked for me before, I couldn’t help but try.
“God, I’m so sorry, Princess.” He rubbed my back as I gulped in the fresh air. We were next to a grassy fie
ld backdropped by a forest of trees. Connor’s phone rang, and he immediately answered, one hand staying on my back. A tinny voice said, ‘She doesn’t like cars!’ Connor groaned. “I know! Fuck. I just freaked the hell out.”
A calmer voice got on the phone. I recognized it as Nicolai’s deep, stern tone. “Where are you?”
“Pulled over on Route 8.”
“We’ll be right there.”
Better now, I finally sat back in my seat. Connor’s head was in his hands. I reached out and touched his arm. “Why are we out here? What happened?”
It took a second before he answered. “I got scared. I was the closest one to you, so I just took you and ran. Literally.”
“Should we go back?” I asked. Sure, the meeting was over, but wasn’t there a lot more going on? We couldn’t let Checkov win all those people over. They’d change the law in a heartbeat.
Connor shook his head. “The guys are on their way. I’m so sorry.” I tried to wave it off, but he took my chin in his hands. “Look at me. I never would’ve done that if I wasn’t freaking out.”
Christian must’ve told him what had happened in the car ride to the pizza place that one time. It was the only explanation because there was no way he knew about my mom. “I know, Connor. I’m not upset. Thank you for stopping when you did. I feel a lot better now. Won’t Isabelle and Gregor want to see you?”
Connor’s usual smooth face hardened. I was so used to seeing him with a hint of humor that this looked all wrong on him. He scowled. “Probably, but damn that Checkov! I want to kick his ass. Christian knew this was going to happen. He knew it.”
I tugged on the sleeve of his shirt until he looked at me.
