propped on your fist, eyes guarded. “I wholeheartedly believe my most sacred duty is to help you navigate this existence and serve you until you’re strong enough to lead on your own.”
“And then you’ll leave me?” you asked with another cold look.
“Never. But if you dismiss me, I will go.”
You wrestled with that for a moment, your expression dark and brooding. “But how could I possibly?” you asked. “I only know who I am because of you. In this life and in my last, it was always you. I’m bound to you, Henri, mind, body and soul.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and truly I was, for I knew what it meant to be trapped. Spiritual bonds were just as potent as physical ones.
“It’s going to be different this time around,” you said. You propped yourself up by your hands so that you towered over my reclined form. I nodded, waiting for your next edict.
“You’re not going to make the decisions for the both of us. Or act like you know better. You lorded your age and experience over me and ignored my demands completely.”
Not completely. We could have picked up this same argument in your last life, and yet, I understood the gravity of your words and the fervency with which you delivered them.
“Yes, Vincent.”
I waited for further reproach, but your next sentiment was soft, cautious, and accompanied by a gentle caress. “Do you miss what we had?”
You were my past, my present, and gods-willing, my future. I wouldn’t trade one for another.
“I miss the life you could have had. The beauty and wonderment your talent might have brought to the world. That you never had the opportunity to dance your favorite pieces or experience the world as a man. To grow old. I took that from you, and I regret it.” I tapped your chin so that you’d look at me again. “But there is no boundary to my love for you. It spans lifetimes and only continues to grow.”
“I’m not a dancer anymore,” you said with a wistful longing.
“It’s natural to grieve the life that you lost.” The life that I stole from you. I didn’t delude myself into thinking I was worthy of this role, but you needed comfort, and I could provide it.
“Do you wish I’d never known the truth?” you asked softly.
“No. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. And that you had to hear it from Lucian instead of me.”
It seemed you’d exhausted your questions for the time being. We lay together, simply breathing, both lost in our own private contemplations.
“You’ve always called me cucciolo,” you said.
“Yes.”
“You loved me.”
“I love you.”
“I’m still mad at you.”
“I accept that.”
“And you still owe me.”
I would be forever in your debt, but to say it might cause you to question my motives, as if you were an obligation, not a blessing. You were my purpose and my reason. My entire world encapsulated in one precious soul.
“I will do anything to earn back your trust.”
“I want you to never lie to me again. Promise me, Henri.”
“I promise you.”
You lifted my hand and drew an X across my skin, dried blood sloughing under the path of my fingertip. It was an oath I held sacred. You’d made me cross my heart.
23
Vincent
I didn’t hear the knock on our door, but you were already leaping out of the chair to answer it.
“Henri, you’re naked,” I called. I wasn’t wearing much more than you.
You directed me to duck behind the couch as you approached from the side of the door. In your right hand, your dagger was prepared to strike. Where did that even come from?
There was another knock, impatient this time. You spied on our visitor through the peephole and groaned.
“Who is it?” I whisper-yelled from where I was still crouched.
“Lucian.”
I’d cut our first visit short, but I’d expected him to return with news about Mater. He must have followed you to our hotel last night. I went to the bedroom to tug on a pair of athletic pants. I found yours and brought them over to you.
“Maybe we could not greet him with a knife?” I said.
“He’s not to be trusted.”
“I get it, Henri, but how about we take the aggression down a notch?”
You pulled on your pants, still gripping the blade, then told me to stand back. I didn’t believe Lucian had anything to gain in harming us, but I did as you asked. When you finally opened the door, he greeted us with a dazzling smile. His looks were disorienting