Dark Obsession (Vampire Royals of New York #3) - Sarah Piper Page 0,81
Dorian had expected, but with a look of love and brotherhood. Understanding.
“You say your brothers abandoned you, Dori,” he said, “but they didn’t. They merely left. Leaving someone isn’t the same thing as abandoning them. Sometimes, walking away is the kindest, most compassionate thing you can do for someone you love.”
For the second time in as many hours, Dorian’s memories spun and blurred, then sharpened again, rearranging themselves to make room for a new version of an old story that had shaped Dorian’s life for decades.
The old stories, the things he’d told himself, the things he’d thought he’d remembered… He’d set the cadence of his life by those things. Used them to forge the iron gates around his heart, walling himself into the impenetrable fortress only Charlotte had truly managed to break through.
In so many ways, those stories—the old versions—had made Dorian the man and vampire he was.
Without them, who would he become? What was left of the Redthorne vampire king when the light of truth shone down on a legacy of lies?
He’d been wrong. About so many, many things.
He glanced down at his hand, still curled over the pages of his dark book. A hand that had slaughtered so many innocent people. A hand that had nearly cut off his brother’s head. A hand that had nearly torn out another brother’s heart.
Fuck off, brother. We’re all monsters, carved in our father’s image, just as he intended…
“What do I do, Aiden?” he whispered, his own black shame nearly shattering him. “Where do I go from here?”
“Forward,” Aiden said. “As we all must go.” He came to stand beside Dorian, reaching down to close the Crimson City Devil book in Dorian’s lap. “When you spend your life reliving the past—whether by tormenting yourself or making amends for things you cannot change—you miss what’s right in front of you.”
“How do I move forward when I’ve still so much to atone for?”
“I don’t have all the answers, Dorian. But I don’t believe we atone for the sins of our past by dwelling there. We do it by living now, moment by moment. Every deed, every word, every thought is a chance to do better. To be better.” He cupped Dorian’s cheek, brushing away a final tear with his thumb. “Let it go, brother,” he said gently. “It’s time.”
“And what of my brothers?”
“I don’t know if or when Malcolm will find his way back, but Colin and Gabriel? They’re here, Dori. Whatever happened in the past—whether it was two centuries ago, fifty years ago, or even an hour ago—they’re still here. They need you as much as you need them. All of you deserve a chance to be brothers again—brothers as you should have been, not as your father made you.”
“All of us,” Dorian said, rising from his chair. He gripped Aiden’s shoulder, holding him tight. “All of us deserve to be brothers again.”
Aiden nodded, a smile touching his lips. “Oh, very well. But I refuse to adopt the title of princeling. It’s beneath me, Dori.”
From somewhere deep in Dorian’s chest, a genuine bout of laughter broke free from the darkness, and with no more than a last, passing glance, he tossed the book—the brutal reckoning of his past sins—into the fire. Together, Dorian and his best friend watched the pages curl and blacken, just as they’d watched the remnants of his father’s dining room do the same, and for the first time in nearly fifty years, Dorian felt as if he could truly breathe in his own home again.
Aiden was, as ever, right.
His brothers, despite their mistakes, despite the shadows that lived inside every one of them—Dorian most of all—were part of one another’s hearts. No matter what challenges they’d faced—no matter what storms still gathered on the near horizon—they were stronger together.
“One thing’s for certain,” Aiden said, draining the last of his scotch. “If the presence of the princelings at Ravenswood is to become a more permanent arrangement, we’re either going to need more booze or less drama.”
“Perhaps a bit of both,” came the response, and Dorian and Aiden turned to see Gabriel lingering in the doorway, his face inscrutable. “But the less-drama bit may have to wait another day.”
Dorian had no idea how much, if anything, Gabriel had heard.
No idea what, if anything, to say.
Gabriel spared him the awkwardness of fumbling for his words by speaking first. “I just heard from one of my guys. Rudy and his man Travis slipped up. We’ve confirmed Sasha’s location.”