“What? Abandoned—”
“How could you be so careless? With your own daughter? Do you realize what could have happened to her?”
Stephen scowled. “I didn’t plan on being murdered by your son, di Spada. If he hadn’t killed me, my daughter never would have been in danger.”
Giovanni rose to his feet. “And if you hadn’t left her unprotected, she wouldn’t have been, either.”
Stephen shook his head. “What do you even know about—”
“You are not a man without skills, Stephen De Novo. You could have sought protection for yourself and your family through someone more powerful of your choosing. Then she and your mother—”
“I thought I was doing the right thing!” Stephen rose to his feet. “I thought—”
“You thought like a petulant child!” Giovanni glared at him, clenching his hands and trying to restrain himself. “You gave no thought to your daughter. Do you realize that every man in her life has abandoned her at some point?”
Stephen blinked, cocking his head at Giovanni before he sank back to his seat. “But I thought you—”
“I left her, too. Like a fool. After I came back, it took me months to realize what I had done, how I had hurt her.” He took a deep breath and calmed the rush of his heart, taking a seat on the bench once again. “I was arrogant, probably even more than you. I thought I knew what was best for her, what she could ‘handle.’”
Stephen sat with his arms resting by his side and his shoulders slumped. He took a hand and waved it in a scooping motion toward the stream. A ball of water floated toward him, and he tossed it in the air between his upturned palms like a baseball.
“I never thought about it that way. I really didn’t think she’d remember me.”
“Don’t get me started on your clumsy mental manipulations. You’re lucky that I’m feeling generous and she has such a strong mind.”
Stephen winced and let the ball of water splatter on the neatly trimmed grass. “My father, Hector—”
“Your father was a good man, De Novo, but he died. He didn’t want to leave her, but he did anyway. You left her. Your father left her. I left her. Don’t even get me started on the woman who calls herself her mother. Frankly, some days I think it’s a miracle she’ll talk to either of us.”
Stephen looked at the ground, nodding. “I understand what you’re saying.”
“She’s far stronger than either of us gave her credit for. Just remember that.”
“Will she…” Stephen looked at him with pleading eyes. “I mean, does she want this life? Have you talked about it?”
Giovanni looked away. “You’ll have to ask her. It is not my business to speak for her.”
“I understand,” Stephen said, nodding again.
“Do you?” Giovanni leaned forward, capturing Stephen in his vivid green gaze. “Make sure that you do.”
Stephen did not flinch under his stare. “She’s lucky she found you.”
Giovanni shook his head and muttered, “I am the lucky one.” Just then, his eyes darted to the right as he registered an ancient immortal coming toward them. Giovanni held up a hand to silence Stephen and took a deep breath, waiting for their host in a pose of meditation.
“Giovanni Vecchio. Stephen.” Elder Zhang spoke as he approached them. “You are enjoying the hours before dawn in my favorite place.”
Giovanni smirked. “I thought your favorite place was the banquet hall.”
Zhang chuckled. “You know me too well. I have to thank you both for giving my daughter a reason to come visit me. It has been too long since I have seen her.”
“You know Tenzin only does what she wishes, Zhang.” Giovanni had always liked Tenzin’s sire, enjoying his jovial personality that often reminded him of Carwyn. But he knew Zhang and Tenzin’s history was complicated, so he didn’t often express his feelings to his old friend.
“My daughter has always done what she wishes,” the ancient wind vampire said. “I suppose I should be grateful she visits at all.”
Giovanni fell silent, wary of saying the wrong thing. Zhang looked Stephen up and down. “Stephen, have you fed tonight?”
“I have, Elder Zhang. Thank you for asking.”
“And how are you finding the palace after the austerity of the monastery?”
“I am grateful for my time in both, Elder Zhang. I am grateful for your hospitality, as well as the hospitality of Elder Lu Dongbin’s monks.”
So, Beatrice came by her political side naturally.
Stephen answered graciously, with none of the hesitation that would typically mark a vampire speaking to one so much older than himself. In fact, Stephen had carried himself with a surprising amount of confidence in the main hall earlier in the evening, as well.
Interesting.
“And your book has remained safely at the monastery, has it not?” Zhang said, looking at Giovanni out of the corner of his eye. Giovanni cut his eyes toward Stephen, curious what the young immortal would reveal with his expression, but Stephen had mastered the art of the impassive face. His expression revealed nothing but contentment.
Giovanni spoke up. “It is quite safe, from what Tenzin tells me. No one knows the location of the monastery except the Elders, is that not true, Zhang? Even Stephen was prevented from knowing where he was going on his journey.”
“Very true.” Zhang quirked a smile and shrugged his shoulders in an unusually dramatic fashion. Tenzin’s sire was from the ancient steppes of Northern Asia and had always been more expressive than his younger Chinese peers. His mannerisms reflected it. “I feel the pull of the dawn coming. I believe I will retire.”
Zhang nodded at them both before taking his leave, lifting off the ground in front of them and skipping across the top of the stones as he flew toward his rooms.
Giovanni looked at Stephen. “A good suggestion for all of us, I think.”
Stephen and Giovanni rose and walked across the lawn.
“We’ll talk about the book tomorrow, Stephen. At first dark, when Beatrice and I are awake.”
Beatrice’s father nodded quickly. “Fine, I’ll be expecting it.” Then he smiled as he watched Zhang’s retreating figure. “You realize he doesn’t really sleep, right? Neither he nor Tenzin have to sleep more than an hour or two a day.”
“I know.”
But I find it curious that you do, Stephen.
He couldn’t help but notice, as they walked toward the windowless rooms of Tenzin’s palace and the morning sky began to lighten, that Stephen hadn’t slowed at all, as a younger vampire normally would as he felt the pull of day.
Very interesting.
“Tesoro,” Giovanni whispered into Beatrice’s ear the following evening, trailing a hand from her knee, over the curve of her hip, and slipping it around her waist as he pulled her back to his chest. He had woken before her, which was unusual. She must have been overwhelmed from the night before.
“Beatrice,” he whispered again.
“Hmm?”
“Time to wake up.”
“Okay.” He felt her shift into his chest as she stretched. “Can you rub my legs?”
“Of course.” He sat up and pulled back the sheet. “Were you practi—what the hell?” His mouth dropped open as saw the bruises on her legs. There was one particularly large one near her hip. He let loose with a string of old curses she probably didn’t understand.
“I was sparring with Tenzin today,” she said in a sleepy voice. “You know, Gemma has nothing on Tenzin. Tenzin’s mean.” Beatrice chuckled a little. “And did you know she doesn’t have to sleep hardly at all? She never mentioned that when she visited me in L.A.”
He was still speechless as he examined her. There were fat bruises along her torso and arms, though none so severe that they could cause internal injuries. He continued muttering in Italian and he felt his skin heat up.
She must have sensed his anger, because she turned and narrowed her eyes. “Don’t do the thing again. And calm down, you’re getting hot.”
“Beatrice, if you—”
“If I what?” She sat up, glaring at him. “I’m the one that asked her to practice with me. And it’s not the first time we’ve sparred, Gio. Remember? You were gone for a few years. We always practice when we’re together, and I usually get pretty bruised. It’s nothing to worry about.”
“Does she always treats you as her own personal punching bag?” He was angry. All he could see were the startling bruises that marred his lover’s fair skin.
“You know what? Forget it. I’ll take a bath and find some aspirin.” Beatrice sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “I’m sure one of the bowing people—”
“Don’t,” he said as he pulled her back. He wrapped his arms around her, gently heating his body to soothe her aching muscles when she winced. She began to relax, but he kept her on his lap, pulling her legs around to straddle his waist as he heated his hands and placed them on the worst of her abdominal bruises. He buried his face in the crook of her neck.
“Warn me next time,” he said. “I was surprised. You know my reaction to seeing you hurt.”
“Okay, consider yourself warned.” She played with the hair at his neck, twisting the curls in her fingers as she slowly relaxed her muscles. “When Tenzin and I hang out, I end up bruised from practice. But she’s a great teacher, and she never does more than I can handle.”
He made no reply, but moved his hands down her legs and began to massage them.
“Gio?”
“Mmmhmm?”
“Maybe… maybe we need to think about doing it sooner.”
His breath caught and his hands halted. “I thought we were going to wait until Benjamin was older, so at least one of us—”
“I think we could work around it.” Her fingers twisted in his dark hair. He took a deep breath and continued her massage.
“And I think it’s not something I want you to do because you’re fearful for your life. That’s not a good reason to—”
“It’s not the reason. You know that.”
“Then why—”
“Because it’s still a factor, love.” She tilted his head back so they were eye to eye. “Gio, my safety is still a huge liability.”
He took a deep breath and stared into the eyes of the woman he loved. “I think…”
“What?”
Giovanni frowned as he met her worried brown eyes. “I feel like we’re rushing this. You’re still young. You should have time—”
“Ugh.” She rolled her eyes and looked away. “Not this again.”
“It’s not a small thing, Beatrice.”
“I’m not saying it is. But it’s not a big thing—not for me.”
“I just think we should wait. Don’t you trust Tenzin and me to guard you?”
She took a deep breath. “Of course I do. That’s not the issue.”
“Then—”
“We should get out of bed.” She climbed off his lap. “I want to ask my dad a few questions tonight. I think I deserve some answers from him.”
He sighed when she made the obvious subject change, but smiled at the determined expression she wore as he rose to join her.
“Are you feeling better?”
“I am, thanks.” She squeaked as he scooped her into his arms and walked to the bathroom.
“Good. I think a nice, warm bath is in order, Miss De Novo. Just to be safe, I’ll join you.”
“Well,” she laughed. “If it’s for my own safety…”
“Oh yes,” he said with a pinch to her knee, which was thankfully not bruised. “Safety first.”
Giovanni was far more relaxed an hour later when they met with Tenzin and Stephen in the main room. Baojia was out hunting, no doubt informed that they had planned a private meeting. Stephen and Tenzin were already sitting at a table, sipping tea, when they walked in.
“Good, Nima had dinner prepared for you,” Tenzin said, nodding to one of the servants standing near the door. “Did I bruise you too much?”
“I’m fine,” Beatrice said with a wave.
Tenzin cocked an eyebrow at Giovanni, as if challenging his cool demeanor, but he didn’t rise to the bait. “She’s very good, you know. When she changes, she’ll be formidable. We should have Baojia give her weapons training while she is here. I have a full practice room with many options.”
“Oh?” Beatrice perked up. “What kind of weapons?”
He sat down and waited for Tenzin to stop teasing him. Though, really, it wasn’t a bad idea. Because he had such a ready weapon in his fire and rarely needed to behead an enemy, Giovanni wasn’t as well trained in swordsmanship as most vampires were. He was proficient in fencing and the older Greek and Roman forms of hand-to-hand combat, but he suspected that Beatrice would take to the Asian styles better, considering her background in martial arts. Baojia, despite Giovanni’s personal reservations, would be an excellent teacher.
“We’ll talk later; I’m sure she’ll consider it,” he said. “In the meantime, try not to bruise any internal organs on my woman, Tenzin.”
“Hey!” Beatrice scowled and smacked his arm. “Enough with the ‘my woman’ stuff already.”
“Really?” He cocked an eyebrow at her. She blushed and looked at the bowl of noodle soup the servant had just placed in front of her.
“Well,” Stephen said when the servant finally closed the door. “Speaking of awkward silences, let’s talk about what’s been keeping me running around the globe for the past thirteen years, shall we?”
Giovanni leaned forward. “First, do you know where Andros’s library is?”
Stephen shrugged. “When I escaped, it was in Lorenzo’s villa in Perugia, but who knows where it is now! I’m sure he moved it; it could be any number of places.”
Giovanni sat back, stunned into silence by the simple confirmation of the mystery he’d followed for so long. He felt Beatrice’s hand grasp his own, and he looked over at her. She had tears in her eyes as she stared at him, but he gave her a small smile and squeezed her hand.
He heard Stephen still speaking. “You knew about the library, right?”
Giovanni looked up, his voice a little hoarse when he finally spoke.
“No, Stephen. I have suspected for some time, but when Lorenzo and I parted many years ago, I thought my father’s and uncle’s collections had been lost or burned in Savaranola’s bonfires.”
Stephen’s mouth dropped in horror. “No wonder you were looking for me. Andros’s library was… magnificent! It would take a thousand years to detail it. The tablets. The scrolls.” Stephen turned to his daughter. “Beatrice, Andros had scrolls from Alexandria. Things from Baghdad that he’d rescued from the Mongols. Books humanity thought had been lost for—”