by Mandy Rosko
Cedric could only stare at the towel with stupid fixation. Where was Silus?
Eventually he remembered to answer his mother. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with me except your need to search my rooms.”
A glitter of regret entered her eyes. Looking around and seeing no one in the bathroom with them, she sighed. “I apologize, but I just heard …” Her cheeks turned a bright pink. “Oh! You really are alone in here.”
“Yes,” he said.
She squeezed passed him. “I am sorry. I apologize. You and Dacielle haven’t—of course you would need—” She stopped herself and went to his door, turning to look at him one last time.
“I’ll leave you to your privacy from now on.”
Mortified, Cedric noted the rosiness in her cheeks and the fluster in her voice, and he realized what she thought he’d been doing. “Mother!”
“Good night.” She shut the door and was gone as quickly as she had come. He could just imagine her running down the halls to get as far away from him as possible.
He and Benny stood there silently, staring at each other, and then a low chuckle sounded from the bathroom. Cedric spun his head as the wide open door moved just a little bit, and Silus stepped out from hiding behind it.
Cedric couldn’t believe it. “You were hiding behind the door that whole time?”
“The window in here is too small for me to get through.”
Ben shook his head. “I’ll leave you two alone. Lock the door behind me again. It scared the shit out of me when she tried getting in on her own.”
Ben vanished from sight, and Cedric ran to and locked the door. So much for nobody ever visiting him. His heart was still thumping from the scare. He was such an idiot. His mother had been in his room for all of two minutes, but it had been two minutes too many.
Silus came to stand behind him. He swore if the vamp said anything, laughed at him, Cedric was going to fry him like bacon.
Instead, long, pale fingers went to his shoulders. Strong thumbs began working and circling his tense muscles. “’Tis over, calm yourself. I can scent you from all the way across the room.”
“If she’d found you—”
“She did not. We are still safe.”
It wasn’t the we he was concerned so much about as it was Silus. If his mother had found him and she’d been startled, she could have brightened herself so much that it would probably have killed him, regardless of how used to light he was getting.
His own mother, a woman who was otherwise harmless and weighed maybe ninety-five pounds, was still capable of taking out a full grown and healthy vampire.
Having that almost happen was a realization of how dangerous what they were doing was.
“Why did you fight me when I was trying to hide you?” Cedric asked. He struggled to keep his eyes open as Silus’s hands moved lower down his back, still pressing and prodding through his shirt. If he kept going lower, Cedric was going to get hard again, which he didn’t think possible considering the mood killer they’d just had.
“Because I had wanted to go out your patio door.”
Cedric’s eyes snapped wide. He turned and looked at Silus over his shoulder. The vampire was giving him a weird look.
The patio door, where nighttime and safety would have surely been for a vampire. More safety than a closed off bathroom, anyway. “Oh, shit.”
Silus put his hands under Cedric’s shirt to keep doing what he was doing, only with skin on skin. “Indeed.”
“I wasn’t thinking. I’m sorry, I guess for a second I forgot you were a vampire, you know?” He laughed, a short, shallow laugh. “Jesus, I’m surprised you’re even still here. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want. I’ll be okay.”
“I want to stay.” Silus started pulling him back to the bed.
Shocked, Cedric allowed himself to be led. Now, with the threat of interruption a thing that for sure didn’t need to be worried about—with his mother thinking she’d caught him masturbating, he doubted she’d allow anyone else into his wing of the house—it seemed they could lay together again in relative peace.
But Silus didn’t attempt to take off his clothes. They kissed and held each other, that was all.
* * * *
Eventually they had sex. They had hours of alone time, talking and kissing, so when Cedric had lightened up again, both literally and figuratively, and felt playful once more, Silus made no complaints about having him.
The entire house was asleep when they stopped, and the sun would be up in a little over an hour. It was no big deal for Cedric to hide a lover in his room at night when no one noticed, but Silus’s family kept opposite hours. They would be aware that he’d been missing and want to know where he’d gone.
Still, Cedric wished Silus didn’t have to leave. He held the other man close, occasionally pressing his lips to that cool chest to comfort himself.
Silus pushed aside messy stray locks of golden hair, which had become all moppy during their activities.
Cedric’s gold eyes flashed as he stared into them. “What made you decide to come here instead of just meeting me?” he asked. It definitely would have been the safer option, all things considered.
Silus’s eyes widened a little before he scowled. The blush on his face suggested he was scowling at himself. “Your guard came to me and said you did not wish to meet with me and had instead changed the location.” He sighed. “I had panicked and decided to come and find you.”
Immense pleasure hummed through Cedric’s blood.
“You should not do that.”
“What? Do what?”
“Blush like that,” Silus said, his grin becoming wicked. “It makes it easy to smell your blood, and I already know how it tastes.”
He hadn’t tasted it yet tonight, but Cedric couldn’t help it. He blushed harder. “Well, since you know how it tastes, and I know what it does to you, what does it matter?”
Silus chuckled a little and tossed away the sheet covering them, revealing that long, naked body. Instead of taking him up on his offer, he started collecting his clothes. “You could teach the blackest of nights how to darken.”
Cedric’s lips quirked as he watched Silus gather his trousers. “You could teach the sun how to shine.”
They’d just insulted each other, yet both were endearing phrases to their own respective races.
Cedric lifted himself from the bed, leaving the space he and Silus had made all warm and toasty. “Too mushy.”
He’d just gotten a new pair of jeans over his hips—Silus had destroyed the last pair getting them off—when Silus spoke. “I intend to tell my parents of us.”
Cedric stopped reaching for his turtleneck, which had been thrown on the floor, and stood straight to face him.
Despite the sexiness of looking at his half dressed lover, there was a serious expression on Silus’s face that couldn’t be ignored even for lust.
“Tell them about us? Not just that you have a lover, but a…?”
Silus nodded. “A sun sprite lover. A mate, if you will,” he added, though he gave Cedric another one of those knowing looks. “But it is still different from the werewolf meaning of it.”
“Uh-huh,” Cedric said. “Mate.” The word sounded good on his tongue. He wanted to keep on saying it.
Only one thing to do if he wanted to keep doing that. “It’s not enough telling my parents that I don’t want to marry, they have to know about you too.” He sighed. “It’ll ruin them, and not just financially. They made a bargain. I’m expected to keep it, but I just can’t do it.”
Silus went to embrace him. It felt good holding each other like that when their chests were still bare, nice skin to skin. Glowing, Cedric put his nose in Silus’s dark hair and inhaled deeply.
He smelled like fresh night air.
“I know of what you speak. The longing to be a good son to one’s father. I lied to my father for you. I have never done such a thing, and I never will again because I will tell him of you.”
“Stop that, I can smell you again.” Silus pressed a kiss at the pulsing spot of Cedric’s neck, but he did no more. Cedric figured he wanted another taste, but that kind of orgasmic high—the one that put him out of commission for several minutes—in enemy territory wasn’t a good move. “I will sit down with my parents and explain to them that I have claimed you. It will not make them happy, nor will it be met with approval, but it will be done. I am one hundred years of age. I no longer require their blessing in my choice.”
Urged on by the force of his words, Cedric leaned down and kissed him.
Chapter Eight
When Silus arrived home, the birds were chirping in their nests, and the black East had transformed to a mix of purples and navy. ’Twas more difficult slinking back onto the grounds now as opposed to the ease in which he had left them. His father had ordered the guards to be doubled for fear a sun sprite would come during the day. So it was during the day that more men and werewolves patrolled the property.
Silus had been forced to hide within the shrubs, like a common thief, waiting for his chance to slip past unnoticed.
Unfortunately, when he finally made it to his door and stepped inside, locking the coming dawn out, he sensed he did not quite get by unnoticed.
“Where have you been?”
He sighed, but really, he should have predicted this. Perhaps ’twas for the best that his father was here. At least now Silus did not have to seek the man out.
“Do not continue to give us your back!” Wiktor snapped. “Turn and face us.”
Us? Ah, his mother was gracing him with her presence as well. Silus turned, and indeed, there she was, skeletal thin arms, with heavy jewels hanging from her wrists, crossed over her flat chest. She dressed in her usual fashion, as though she were about to attend a ball. Wiktor stood tall—as tall as he could stand—with his hands behind his back.
“Good morning, Father.”
Wiktor hissed. “There is no such thing. Last eve you spoke of an… illness,” he said, not stomaching that his son had been alone with a sprite. His mother, it seemed, still did not know of that.
When Silus told them where he had been, he would be fortunate to still consider himself their son.
“As you can see, I am in perfect health.”
“Then you spoke an untruth to us,” Ariadne said, a curl in her heavy red lips.
Silus winced. A vampire’s word was always his honor. Always. To have to admit to speaking a lie pained him. “Aye.”
“To what do we owe such an offense?” Wiktor demanded. His neck was tight, as though he struggled to hold back a tempered scream in the presence of his wife.
Silus stood a little straighter. “I have taken a mate.”
Both of his parents’ eyes widened. Wiktor actually smiled. “My son, had I known you had chosen your female—”
“Not a female,” Silus said, clenching his fists and hating himself. He did not expect much forgiveness for interrupting the vampires who had given him life, particularly, after he had given them his back and admitted to speaking a lie. He could expect even less forgiveness after he told them who he had claimed.
Wiktor’s face puffed out and turned red. His mother’s jaw dropped, revealing gleaming fangs.
“I apologize, but there can be no mistaking what I am about to say.”
“Whatever it is, it had best be of the utmost importance,” Wiktor said with a snarl. “Male or female, this disrespect is not to be tolerated.”
Silus nodded. He was not ashamed of Cedric, so he would not fidget or sigh when he told his sire the truth. “Indeed. Again, I apologize. However, you must know that my chosen mate is not a vampire.”
Wiktor raised a brow. “A human? Well, should he be of moderate wealth and willing to submit to our ways, any damages brought on by your…preferences, could be brought down to a minimum. Certainly this is not just cause for your rebellion.”
“He is not a human either, Father. He is a sun sprite, the sun sprite who fled my bedchamber on my centennial.”
He waited a beat for them to take in the news. Their explosion was hardly unexpected.
* * * *
It was barely an hour after dawn, and Silus had long since left him for home. Already Cedric missed him and was feeling apprehensive about letting his family know just why he’d been fighting the marriage extra hard lately.
He owed a different sort of explanation to Ben. When he gave it, his friend actually clapped his shoulder. “I gotta say it,” he’d said. “I don’t really like the guy, but so long as you’re happy, even if it’s with him, I’m glad for you.”
Cedric had sighed, immensely grateful his friend understood his decision.
Because Ben was Cedric’s guard, if Cedric got himself disowned over this—who the hell was he kidding? He was going to get disowned—Ben could potentially find himself out of a job if his parents didn’t feel like reassigning him. But his longtime friend didn’t seem to care about that. Either that or he was hiding his fear very well and was secretly sweating over his list of qualifications to be a bodyguard.
Ben was great at what he did, but he’d done it with Cedric for so long that if his parents gave him the can and denied him a reference, he could really and totally be fucked.
Cedric didn’t want to cost Benny his paycheck, but the man just kept on smiling. It looked real and felt real, but there was just something a little off.
“You’re serious?” Cedric asked.
Ben surprised him by pulling him into his arms and hugging him. Cedric couldn’t remember the last time they’d hugged. It was a little long, and slightly awkward, but eventually they slapped each others’ backs and pulled apart.
“Just don’t let something happen that makes you miserable for the rest of your life.”
Cedric couldn’t even form an answer to that. He was just too… touched.
Ben had offered to stick around while Cedric broke the news to his ill fiancée and parents, and while it was appreciated, he didn’t want anyone holding his hand while he did this. He’d always hidden behind Ben’s happy attitude and strength, and he’d had enough. He needed to face his next challenge head-on like a big boy.
They’d be upset, but they’d also get over it. Without him, of course.
Eventually Ben bade him good luck and disappeared to search for other duties when the shit hit the fan.
Cedric showered, shaved, dressed in his best, and went down to the breakfast room. He was the first one there and decided he might as well eat. He helped himself to his favorite dishes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and brown toast, along with freshly sliced Royal Gala apples and strawberries with whipped cream for dessert. He ate in silence as he waited, fully aware this was going to be his last meal in this house.
Though it was stalling and cowardly, he couldn’t entirely help it. It just wasn’t done to throw such terrible news at one’s parents first thing in the morning.
No sooner had he licked the last of the cream from his thumb did both his mother and father come in, his aunt Sheila trailing behind them. The three looked as though they’d been awake for hours already, even though it was the early morning. There were no sleep bags under any eyes, they were perfectly dressed, and the women’s makeup had been expertly applied. Each had to always look great, even amongst the family.
Already Cedric was starting to remember just how much he wanted to get out of here.
He rose to greet them. He placed a gentle kiss on his mother’s hand—he still couldn’t look her in the eye—shook his father’s firmly—even though he still hated the old bastard—and because the situation called for it, what with her daughter being ill, he kissed his aunt on the cheek.
Her blue eyes sparkled a little at the warmth, which he figured she above all would need. Not only was her little girl sick, but he would be breaking the engagement this very day.
“How are you, Cedric?” Sheila a
sked as she took a seat. His mother had already taken the liberty of plating some toast and jam for the both of them. They poured their own teas from the kettle on the table.
Though he’d finished his breakfast, he sat down with them. “Very well, thank you.”
“Your cough is gone, then?”
Oh, right, he’d been faking sick.
“The throat feels fantastic,” he said, aware that his father was staring at him.
His aunt was only half a sun sprite from her father’s first marriage to a wealthy human girl—a fact most knew instantly upon introduction because of her name. Had she been full blooded, she would have been given a name with a softer S sound, but instead had been given a name with the coarser Shh—but she cared very deeply for the traditions of her people. Because Cedric was about to break one of those traditions, he felt it was she who would take the news the hardest, second only to perhaps the bride herself.
The bride. Fuck, Dacielle would have to be the first to be told. It was her, after all, who was most emotionally invested in this union. She didn’t want money or position. Just him.
She’d have to know before the rest of the house did. It was only fair.
By the end of the day, she would be in tears, and her mother’s kind, human blue eyes would be staring at him with hatred. His own mother would take her side out of sisterly affection, and that left only his father to calm the airs for them. Cedric wished it wouldn’t be so. His old man probably still hated him from yesterday.
Wait till he found out who Cedric was breaking the engagement for. He was going to bust a nut.
Actually, that might be funny to see.
“Cedric, you look as though you’ve eaten something terrible,” Cyricus said from behind his coffee cup. His golden eyes were hard, searching, as though he’d sensed Cedric’s thoughts.
Cedric cleared his throat. “No, Dad, the meal was delicious. I’m just thinking of poor Dacielle up in her room.”
His mother put her hand on Sheila’s shoulder, as though she were the one who was ill. “The doctor came and said she merely has a terrible cold. But she should be right as rain in time for the wedding tomorrow. I know that, despite her brave face, her heart must have been breaking for every day we delayed.”
