Chapter One
"A Son. You have a Son?"
"Vampirically speaking, yes." Triarius didn't seem inclined to elaborate, which meant I had the rather unpleasant task of hounding him until he talked. Since he'd returned from his brief visit with his Father Diocourides, Triarius had been quieter than usual. I had the feeling his Son, whom I'd heard nothing about before, had something to do with it. "You're angry."
"A bit," I admitted. "You having a Son doesn't bother me. It's the fact that you kept it from me. I'm your lover. I have a right to know, don't I?"
Triarius sighed and stood. "What's done is done. You know now."
"Goddamn it!" I grabbed his arm before he could walk away, ignoring the look he gave me that would've scared the piss out of anyone else. "When were you planning on telling me?"
"And say what? Admit that I failed as a Father? That Aldrich was my worst mistake?" Triarius jerked free and backed me up against the wall, voice low. "Or would you rather I told you with his blood on my hands after I slit his throat?"
I swallowed. "You're going to kill him? Why?"
Triarius spun on his heel and started for the door. "Because he threatened to destroy everything my Father and I have worked for," he shot over his shoulder before slamming the bedroom door behind him.
What had just happened?
I blinked, still standing in the middle of the bedroom, wondering what I'd said to piss him off so much. A lot of parents, even vampires, I imagined, went through the whole "I'm a bad parent thing", right? So why was Triarius making such a big deal out of it? I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. There were times when I really didn't understand the man and his moods. He was over two thousand years old, sure, but he still acted like a damn teenager sometimes. Then again, having done the math, I'd finally realized a while back that he'd been eighteen when Dio turned him.
How I managed to get myself into these things, I didn't quite know.
One thing I did know, however, was that I needed to find him. I hated fighting with him, and I much preferred a smile or a breathy moan coming from those lips than a frown or an angry growl. Sighing, I left our bedroom and went in search of my temperamental lover. I found him in the Council room, staring out the window onto his underground empire. He didn't move or speak when I closed the door, but when I slipped my arms around his waist, one of his hands covered mine.
"I'm sorry."
"I know I am not perfect," he said quietly.
"No one has ever asked you to be. No one is perfect, Triarius."
"But as a ruler, as a Father, I'd hoped to be." He finally leaned back against me and I closed my eyes as I nuzzled his hair, breathing him in. "I'm tired, Lance."
"Somehow I don't think you mean in terms of needing sleep."
"No."
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