a hand through his hair, hesitating. Great. He clearly felt awkward at my request for help. “Aren’t any of your friends around to accompany you?”
I shook my head.
Ethan swore under his breath, his jaw working. “I’ll go with you then.”
“That’s okay. I wouldn’t want to put you out.” I didn’t mean for that last sentence to sound so touchy, but it did.
“You aren’t going alone,” Ethan argued. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed, and I’ll take you.”
He motioned me inside, and I stepped into the hallway, trying to look anywhere but at his naked torso. He silently closed the door and left me standing in the entryway as he went upstairs to get dressed. When he came back down, he was wearing the same jeans as before, with the addition of a T-shirt, jacket, and boots.
“What time does his flight land?” he asked, pulling out his car keys and pressing the button to unlock the door as we stepped outside.
“Um,” I said, rummaging in my pocket for the details I’d written down. “Terminal 3 at nine-thirty.”
“We should just about make it then,” Ethan said as we strapped ourselves in and he pulled away from the drive.
Silence fell between us. I didn’t know whether to turn the radio on or just sit in the quiet. Finally, Ethan spoke, “You should tell me the story of how you found yourself back in Tribane and working for the DOH.” He gave a casual shrug. “You know, to pass the time.”
I sputtered a laugh. “Right, because what we need is a topic that will make this car ride even tenser.”
“I’d like to know what it was that spurred you to conspire against me,” Ethan said, his expression blank.
I heaved an anxious breath. “It wasn’t like that. I had nothing against you. You just happened to be close to Whitfield, so it made sense to use you to get to Rebecca.”
“Use me?” Ethan questioned, jaw tensing.
“Wrong choice of words. You were the only person who could bring me closer to Rebecca. Saving her was my main goal.”
“And so, you just decided to destroy my reputation to achieve it.”
“I didn’t realise what would happen. I didn’t think Whitfield would blame you. I just thought …”
“What did you think?”
“I was stupid, okay? I shouldn’t have involved you as I did, and I apologise for that, but you have to admit kidnapping a child is fucked up. Didn’t you care at all that Whitfield planned to feed from Rebecca?”
Now his brows furrowed. “He didn’t plan to feed from her. He was merely holding her as leverage.”
I stared at him, suddenly realising that Ethan didn’t know about Rebecca’s blood. I fell silent, and he frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing,” I said, and he frowned harder. He must’ve put two and two together because a moment later he swore profusely in Romanian.
“The girl … she is like you?” he whispered.
I didn’t confirm or deny his theory. Ethan swore some more. “That bastard.”
Another stretch of silence fell. I peeked at him out the corner of my eye and saw he’d calmed down a little. “You forgave Delilah for joining up with us,” I whispered. “Can’t you ever forgive me, too?”
“Delilah recognised that she was in danger with Whitfield rising to power. Something I was too blind to see at the time. I understand why she left, and I’ve forgiven her for it. You, on the other hand, weren’t in a life or death situation. You decided to betray me all of your own accord. Nobody was holding a gun to your head. I took you into my home, a place very few humans have ever stepped foot, while you were living under the roof of a slayer and plotting against me.”
I flinched at the venom in his words, tears threatening to spill out. I thought we’d made some headway, but he still wasn’t over it, not by a long shot. I bit back my tears, my resolve firming.
“You know what, Ethan? I might’ve spied on you, but don’t you think, even in some small way, that it was warranted? Sure, you didn’t agree with Whitfield’s decision to kidnap Rebecca, but you didn’t do a whole lot to prevent it from happening either.”
His jaw ticked. “My hands were tied—”
“That’s a bit of an easy excuse, isn’t it?”
“You have no idea about the intricacies of power in the vampire world. Even if I had outright rebelled against Whitfield’s decision to kidnap the girl, he could’ve compelled me to