Page 81 of Those That Defy the Realm

“As for your parents and David, I can help you break the news to them. They will all have the choice to turn as well.”

“Do you think they will?” Rory knows my family as well as I do, and I’m coming up blank on how they’re going to react to this news. My father and brother are both doctors, they work around blood all the time. Is that an indicator? Was some part of them drawn to their profession because they were drawn to it?

No, that’s ridiculous. But they may have to give up their jobs if they turn. Are there such things as vampire doctors?

The list of questions I have keeps getting longer and I have no idea where to start in answering any of them.

“Honestly, I think David might go for it. He’ll see it as a challenge to conquer.” She chuckles. Her description of my brother is pretty damn accurate. “As for Peter and Evelyn, I don’t know. They both will or they both won’t.”

Taking a deep inhale, I stew on it all for a few minutes. My brain pictures each of the different outcomes, none of which feel tangible.

“Would you have chosen to turn, if you had the choice?” I ask my best friend, a sudden wave of guilt washing over me as I realise I’m making such a fuss over the fact I have the power of what happens, when Rory never did.

“Yes,” she says without hesitation, and with enough conviction that I finally remove my arm from covering my eyes and turn to look at her.

“All the stuff you’ve been through, you’d choose that?”

She shakes her head. “No, I wish deeply that my dad were still alive, that he too was turned, or at least got the choice. I wish I was informed before I was bitten, and that it wasn’t done in such a heinous way. But, had Ty found me before Adicious, or even if Adicious had been up front, instead of killing my dad and turning me through force, my answer would’ve been yes. I wouldn’t change being a vampire for anything. It’s who I am. It’s brought me a strength and a confidence that I never had before. I’m not sure I ever felt like a piece of me was missing, but now that I know this side of me exists, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

She becomes progressively animated as she opens up, until her entire self almost glows when talks about her life now.

It has me standing on the metaphorical ledge, peering over into a future that I could leap into and embrace. Hearing her talk about it makes a part of me almost yearn for it.

But there’s still a chain around my middle, holding me firmly on the cliff edge. Do I try to cut it away?

We talk back and forth for a couple more hours until I insist that Rory goes home, even if it’s just for the sake of her sentries that are waiting outside my house. I think she knows that I need to be by myself for a while to make this decision. She’s done all the convincing she can, and she’s done a pretty good job of it if I’m honest with myself.

CHAPTER 28

HENRY

The room spins as consciousness slowly claws its way through my body. Lifting my head from the pillow, the walls tilt and then begin spinning in the opposite direction. I slam my eyes shut once more.

Antares’s cocktails are lethal.

The bright sun feels like it’s burning my skin, even though most of me is covered by a duvet. I daren’t open my eyes and subject my retinas to the torture. Inhaling deeply, I get a lungful of several scents. Rory. Antares. Claire?

A throat clears somewhere to my right and that forces my eyelids to reopen. Squinting up at the doorway, I find Ty leaning against the open door.

Movement to my left lurches my stomach and as my gaze swings that way, trying to make sense of the situation, I’m met with a mess of red curls and female limbs.

“Ty, please keep your voice down,” she groans, bringing a palm to her forehead. Glad to know I’m not the only one afflicted with a hangover of monumental proportions.

“I can talk aloud, if you prefer, mate.” Ty’s voice sounds highly amused.

Rory snaps into alertness. “Ty!”

She squeals and clambers over me in her haste to be in her mate’s arms. He catches her and prevents her from falling on shaky legs.

“No screaming. Please, no screaming.” Antares voice comes from beside the bed, his head appearing over the side of the mattress as he sits up.

“You three clearly had fun last night.” Ty chuckles, still holding Rory up.

“Henry needed cheering up, so Antares made cocktails,” Rory informs him.

“I know. You gave me quite the commentary,” Ty teases his mate, putting a finger to his temple. “That was until it got so illegible I had to tune you out.”

“Wait, how are you here? You’re not supposed to be back for a day or two.”