Raphael shrugged. “He’s sworn to me, but he’s not my child. I’m not certain I’d feel his death at this distance.”
Jared looked up with an unhappy expression. “You’re going to go.” He said it as a statement, as if Raphael’s decision was a foregone conclusion.
Raphael nodded. “I see no other way . . .”
“Well, I do,” Cyn protested. “Don’t go!”
Juro gave Cyn a sympathetic glance, then bowed slightly in Raphael’s direction. “You probably want to think on this, Sire, and the sun is near. We’ll leave you to your rest.”
Cyn choked back a scoffing breath as Jared offered a duplicate bow and followed Juro out of the office, closing the big doors behind him. She knew what Juro really meant to say. He was giving Raphael the privacy to argue with his crazy human lover over an outcome that wasn’t going to change. Well, damn it, she sure as hell was going to try to change it.
Raphael took her hand and crossed over to the elevator, entered the security code to open the doors, and pulled her in after him. He didn’t say anything until they were back downstairs in the privacy of their underground suite.
“Cyn,” he began, but she put her fingers to his lips, stopping him.
“Do you remember Mexico, Raphael? I know you do, because it was only a few weeks ago, but you seem to have forgotten what happened there.”
“What have I forgotten, my Cyn?” he asked gently.
He was humoring her, and she wanted to punch him. But she had to try anyway.
“It was a test, Raphael. They put ten master vampires up against you to see what would happen. If they’d managed to kill you, it would have been a bonus, but their real purpose was to test you, to gauge your strength. You should have killed Violet before she could report back to them.”
“I should have,” he agreed, with a short nod. “I don’t think her death would have stopped what’s coming, but it might have handicapped them somewhat.”
Cyn still wanted to punch him, but now she wanted to scream in frustration, too. “Why are you doing this then? I know you’ve made up your mind to go, but why?”
Raphael tugged her against his broad chest, holding her with exquisite care with arms that could tear a man apart.
“If we fight this war, hundreds of vampires will die,” he said.
“And if you go to this meeting in Hawaii, you could die.”
He was silent a moment as if trying to figure out how to persuade her. Finally, he said, “How many humans live in the United States?”
Cyn frowned. “What? I don’t know, something over 300 million.”
“And in Canada?”
“Raphael—”
“Humor me. How many?”
She sighed. “Maybe thirty, forty million?”
“And Mexico?”
“What is this, a geography quiz?” she said, impatiently trying to pull away from him. “It was never my best subject.” He didn’t let her go, only looked at her expectantly. She rolled her eyes in disgust and said, “I’d guess that there are probably over a hundred million in Mexico, but I don’t know how much over.”
“So, in all of North America, can we agree on 450 million humans?”
Cyn shrugged, not caring what number he used as long as he got to the point. “More or less.”
“By contrast, lubimaya, there are no more than 15,000 vampires on this continent. Answer one more question for me.”
She thumped his chest. “Is there a point to all of this somewhere?”
He smiled. “There is. Tell me, if your president was asked to risk his life for a chance to save ten million human lives, would you expect him to do it?”