Page 86 of The Vampire’s Temptation

“You told her everything,” he said, despite himself.

“No, not everything,” Lawrence said. “Her brother was the one who told her about you.”

“Her—”

“He came to town this morning.”

“Christ.”

“A lucky coincidence, if you ask me. Laria had planned to retrieve him anyway.”

“What is he doing here? And what do you mean, he told her about me? The boy knows nothing.”

“The boy is a man, it turns out. And a cunning one at that. We told Alessandra what she needed to know in order to remain safe, nothing more, and it was enough for her to guess the truth. Garrett simply confirmed it. He came into that restaurant knowing nothing about vampires, and yet somehow, from listening to our conversation, he knew why you came to town.”

“So she can detect danger, he, the truth?”

“It appears so.”

“And?”

Lawrence tossed up his hands as if asking a question. “And how do you think it went, Kenton, after she realized you came to Stone Haven intending to kill her?”

Kenton shoved his face in his hands, scrubbing at his brow in an ill-fated attempt to wipe away his regret.

“Ugh,” he said, for he could find no other words.

When he opened his eyes, Lawrence started laughing.

“What the fuck is so funny?” He had no patience for this horseshit right now.

But Lawrence didn’t stop. In fact, he laughed so hard he had to wipe away a tear from his eye. When Lawrence’s chest began heaving for his efforts, Kenton had a difficult time remaining angry. The whole situation was just so ridiculous. After living for so very long, he had some appreciation for that.

He took a deep, steadying breath and tried to imagine what his father would have said to him at this very moment. His father . . . the only man in his acquaintance who had ever advocated for peace with their northern neighbors.

“Do you remember the first time we met?” he said suddenly, the memory buried so deep that Kenton had not thought of it in centuries.

“You and Rowan came to Bowden with your father. We were what, fourteen?”

“Something like that,” he said. It was the first and only time they’d been inside the great hall of Bowden Castle. Kenton had been struck by the opulence of it. He had not expected such a fine display of wealth and power in the heart of heathen country.

His prejudices had run deep.

“I believe when negotiations fell apart, just before you left, your brother called me a ‘little shite,’ despite the fact that he was younger than I,” Lawrence said, his face still lined with amusement.

Kenton didn’t remember that, but it certainly sounded like something Rowan would say.

Lawrence’s expression sobered. “If our fathers had come to an agreement that day . . . ,” he said, trailing off.

He’d had the same thought. And yet, it had been too soon. The two families had already had so much history and bad blood behind them. And so another path had been chosen, one that had led them on a much longer path than any of them had expected to take.

“What will you do now?” he asked Lawrence, wondering the same of himself. He’d hoped to stay with Alessandra, but he doubted she would ever speak to him again, and for that he would be sorry for the remainder of his days.

He could hardly blame her.

Besides, even if Lawrence and Laria had successfully masked her and her brother, he thought it a good idea to lead Rowan away from Stone Haven, even if the thought of leaving left a horrible ache in his chest.

Lawrence shrugged. “Maybe stay for a while.”