Cain narrowed his eyes, suspicion creeping up his spine like a snake. “Done what?
“I asked Baltimore to change shifts with me.”
“Why?”
Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “The woman I was seeing back then begged me to visit her that night. And I was a fool in love not to be able to resist her. So I asked Baltimore to change shifts with me.”
“Why Baltimore?”
Marcus shrugged. “He’d mentioned earlier that he wanted to attend some concert on Wednesday night and was pissed that you wouldn’t let him have the night off. So I figured he’d be willing to switch. I’m sorry.”
Surprised that he’d been such a strict ruler, not granting his guards a night off when it didn’t seem to make a difference which guard was on duty, Cain leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Tell me something else, Marcus.”
The vampire lifted his head.
“In your opinion, did I treat all of you, the guards, fair and just?” With bated breath he waited for Marcus’s reply. Had he maybe been a bad ruler, and one of his guards had taken it upon himself to remove him? Who else could have had unfettered access to him and known where he was at all times?
“I never had any complaints.”
“And the others?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“What’s your opinion of John?”
“John?”
“Yes, the leader of the king’s guard. What’s your feeling about him?” Cain pressed.
“I would never say a bad word about him,” Marcus replied quickly. “Nobody would.”
“Why is that?”
Marcus shot up from his chair. “There’s no need trying to trick me. No matter my feelings about John, you know as well as everybody else at court that insulting John would be insulting you personally. Even before you became king, offending one of you meant offending both of you.”
Cain pondered Marcus’s passionate statement. “Even before I was king, you say?”
Marcus cast him a guarded look, but answered nevertheless. “When you were leader of the king’s guard, John was always there to back you up. That’s why you made him leader of the king’s guard when you became king a couple of years ago.”
He’d been leader of the king’s guards once? Cain had always assumed that he’d been king for a long time, but according to Marcus he’d only been on the throne for a short time before the assassination attempt.
“Thank you, Marcus. I appreciate your candor. On your way out, Wes will take down the names of the new guards.”
Cain turned away and walked to the window, staring out into the darkness. How had he risen from leader of the king’s personal guard to king? He’d assumed that he was from a royal line and had ascended to the throne because he was a member of the aristocracy. However, it appeared that he was a warrior like the guards around him. No wonder he’d felt at home with Scanguards. Protecting others ran in his blood. How long had he been a guard? And under what circumstances had he become king?
He turned away from the window and saw Marcus walk to the door. “One more thing, Marcus.”
The man looked over his shoulder. “Yes?”
“Make a list for me of all the guards who were in my service while I was leader of the king’s guards and are still in the court’s service today.”
“It will be on your desk shortly.” Marcus opened the door and stepped outside.
Before the door could close fully behind him, another person entered: Abel.
“Hope I’m not disturbing, Cain, but I just wanted a quick word. May I?”
Cain waived his hand to invite him into the room. The door closed behind Abel who gave a friendly nod in Thomas’s direction, then greeted Wesley. “I hope Robert’s order of human food was appropriate.”
“It was great, thanks,” Wes answered.
“Excellent,” Abel said and finally turned to Cain. “I know you’re busy, so I won’t take much of your time.”
“What can I do for you?” Cain walked back to his desk and motioned his brother to sit down.
Abel declined the invitation with a movement of his hand. “I only want to share an idea with you. As you know, in a week, my coronation would have taken place, which of course under the circumstances is cancelled.”
Cain felt his heartbeat kick up a notch, curious as to why his brother had to remind him that the rightful king’s reappearance had upset Abel’s plans of taking the throne. “Yes?”
“Well, a lot of the arrangements have been made, and we’ve already incurred considerable expenses for this large gathering. Many vampires have been invited and have made travel arrangements, and I was wondering—”
“You were wondering what?” Cain ground out impatiently.
“Why don’t we repurpose the event and turn it into a welcome home celebration for you instead?”
Taken by surprise by Abel’s suggestion, Cain was speechless for a moment.
“I mean,” Abel added, “why not let the entire kingdom see that you’re back? I’m sure they’ll want to see it with their own eyes. It would be a wonderful opportunity to express their loyalty to you and know that everything will return to how it was. What do you say?”
Cain was touched by his brother’s thoughtfulness and wondered if he’d misjudged him. His words seemed to suggest that losing the throne that had already been within his reach didn’t upset Abel. “I think it’s a great idea.”
“Excellent!” Abel exclaimed. “And may I suggest one more thing?”
Cain encouraged him with a nod.
“Why not invite the Mississippi clan?”
“Uh,” Cain said, hesitating, since he didn’t know anything about a Mississippi clan. John hadn’t mentioned them during the flight to New Orleans.
Abel raised his hand. “I know what you want to say, but hear me out. While you were gone they’ve reached out to us, wanting friendlier relations between the clans and lay to rest the border disputes we’ve had. I think inviting them to your welcome home party would be a generous show of our willingness to forgive their prior infractions and make peace.”
“Hmm.” Cain rubbed his chin in an attempt to look as if he was contemplating the matter. Which in a way he was. If there was truly another clan out there that his kingdom had had difficulties with previously, it might indeed be advantageous to bury the hatchet with them. It was hard enough to figure out who in his own clan was loyal to him. He didn’t need a war with another clan on his hands.
“Fine,” he finally said. “Invite them on my behalf and tell them they are welcome if they come in peace. I’m willing to discuss terms with them.”
With every word, Cain felt more like a fraud. He knew he was winging it, faking it. When would his brother or another member of his royal household figure out that he had no memory of his former life? And when they did, what would they do? Would the assassin strike again, encouraged by the fact that Cain didn’t know who to trust? And Abel, would he want to rip the reigns from Cain’s hands, suspecting that Cain wasn’t capable of ruling the kingdom because he suffered from amnesia?
But most of all, how would Faye react? Would she see him as weak, too?
20
Faye had spent a restless day in bed, trying to sleep, but sleep was elusive. She’d listened for any sound while everybody slept, but the sound of the door opening and Cain entering hadn’t come. He had made no attempt to see her, neither after he’d finished interrogating his guards nor after he’d retired to his suite. It only amplified her belief that he had lost interest in her and was in love with somebody else.
Determined to act, she rose in the early evening hours and started what she knew she couldn’t drag out any longer.
After organizing a few boxes, Faye now placed a handful of bras in one which she’d set on the chair at the foot of the bed, emptying out the top drawer of her dresser. She was about to close the drawer, when her gaze fell onto the trinkets sitting on top of the dresser. Mementos from her life with Cain, the few short weeks that they’d been happy together.
“What is this?”
Faye whirled around and saw Cain standing at the open door to her bedroom, his finger pointing at the moving box she’d been filling with her things.
Her chest tightened with longing. He looked as handsome as the night he’d left her bed and disappeared. As virile. As desirable. And she wasn’t the only one who thought so. She’d always known that, of course. That’s why Abel’s suspicion that Cain had found another woman wasn’t all that far fetched. Cain attracted women like mosquitoes swarming toward a bright light.
“Cain, I’m sorry. I will be out of here shortly,” she said, avoiding his gaze.
“Out of here?” he repeated and stepped in the room, shutting the door behind him.
“Yes, I’ll be moving out of the queen’s quarters. It’s really not appropriate any longer for me to be here.” Not after Cain had rejected her not twenty-four hours earlier. She had to face facts, and staying in this room any longer and fooling herself that things would work out was stupid.
His face remained impassive, though his jaw seemed to tighten. “So you’ve decided to stay with Abel then.”
Her forehead furrowed. Why would he think that? Hadn’t she told him already that she didn’t love his brother? “I broke off the engagement with him.” It had been a great relief, despite the words of caution Abel had imparted on her.
Faye turned back to the dresser and gripped the handles, but before she could shut the drawer, Cain was behind her and captured her hands with his, immobilizing her.
“Then why are you packing?”
His breath ghosted over her skin, making her shiver. She wanted nothing more than to lean back against his strong chest and let him catch her, but instead she remained stiff and unmoving. She couldn’t allow herself to be weak. It would only make it harder to leave.
“Because it changes nothing. I have no right to live in this suite anymore.”
“I see.” He released her hands and stepped back.
Faye pulled a deep breath into her lungs, hoping it would strengthen her, but it had the opposite effect. It made her only more aware of his presence and of what she’d lost.
She changed the subject. “I’m happy that you’re alive and have returned to us. Your clan needs you.”
“How about you?” Cain asked unexpectedly.
“I’m not important now that you’re back.”
“Why do you say that?”
Faye sighed. “Because it’s the truth. I don’t belong here. It’s time I realized that and moved on.”
Cain’s hands on her shoulders turned her to face him. “You’re planning to leave the kingdom?”
She nodded, her heart getting heavier by the second. “Not this minute, of course. I have to make arrangements first. If it’s all right with you, I’ll stay another week or two until I’ve sorted things out and know where to go.”
“You can’t just leave.”
A sad smile stole onto her lips. She appreciated that he was decent enough to make an attempt at convincing her to stay. “In the end it will be better for all involved.” She would never be able to bear it to have to meet the new woman he would eventually install in the palace.
“Better for whom?” he ground out.
Surprised at his harsh tone, Faye looked at him and noticed the tempest that seemed to rage in his eyes.
“I’m sorry. I can see that my presence upsets you, and that’s the last thing I want.”
“It’s not your presence that upsets me, but your words,” he corrected her. “Why do you want to leave?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” she asked. Because to her it was. “You made it clear to me when I came to you that you don’t want me anymore.”
Cain studied her with his dark eyes. “It’s not that simple.” He shoved a hand through his hair and turned away from her. “I’ve been away for a long time. I’m not the same man anymore.”
Her heart bled for him. What horrors had he endured during his captivity?
“Much happened while I was gone. Things I can’t explain right now.”
Faye pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t cry. As much as she wanted to know what had happened to him so she could help him heal, she couldn’t bear the thought that he’d confess that he’d met another woman and fallen in love with her.
“I can’t pretend that the last twelve months didn’t happen, don’t you see that, Faye?”
She nodded to herself. “That’s why it’s better that I’m leaving now,” she concluded. “So you can be free to do as you please.” So he could bring the woman he loved. “To start a new life.”
“A new life.”
Faye pushed back the tears that became more urgent with every second. “I’m sorry, Cain, I need to . . . I have to . . .” Unable to complete her sentence, she tried to dash past him, but his hand clamped over her upper arm and pulled her back.
“I want my old life back,” he said, his eyes boring into hers as if she had the key to it.
Cain wasn’t the same man anymore. She could see that now so clearly. He’d changed. Whatever he’d been through had made him more inscrutable. Where she’d previously been able to interpret his state of mind, she now met with an obsidian wall that was as impenetrable as Fort Knox. And as well guarded as the White House.
Cain was hiding his feelings from her.
No, she wouldn’t be his toy to play with as he pleased. She’d loved him too much to allow him to destroy her love for him.
With her last ounce of strength, she ran past him, fleeing her room without another glance back.
Cain cursed and swiveled on his heel. Seeing her with tears in her eyes felt like somebody had driven a stake through his heart. He couldn’t deny that he felt something for Faye, that despite the misgivings he had about her, he was drawn to her like to no other woman. To hear that she wanted to leave had felt like a punch in the gut.
He couldn’t allow it. Faye had to stay.
Cain ran out the door, chasing her down the corridor. He followed her scent up the stairs and through the entrance hall. The two guards at the door tossed him surprised glances, but he ignored them and ran past them.
The humid night air hit him as if he’d stepped into a sauna. His eyes scanned the grounds. He spotted her as she ran past a copse of trees. He sprinted toward her, reaching her within a few seconds. He captured her in his arms and turned her to him.
“Please let me go, Cain!” she begged.
She struggled for a moment, but then all resistance seemed to drain from her, and sobs filled the silence of the night.