31. Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

An itch was scrubbing against Nero's psychic senses. Pinpricks of sensation swelled along his clan's borders, tripping his internal alarms and alerting him to the presence of something skirting his sight. Despite teleporting to the spots of interest multiple times—and having his lieutenants do the same—nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary.

It was the only outlier to the serenity he'd found tonight. Nero realized he'd never been quite this happy before. His mate had woken up after battling for her life—and she'd be well . She'd lived through her transition and now, they would be together without the threat of a mortal death.

He finally had his blissful happiness. And it would be shared with Eden.

From the moment she'd risen, Nina, Eden, and Nero had walked the paths of his sanctuary, discussing what her new immortal life would bring. Eden's inner scholar had taken the driver's seat, revealing how much she truly knew about lore and mythology. Though Nero had thought himself something of an academic himself, his mate put him to shame.

As dawn slowly rose on the horizon, they made their way back home.

Sensing their need to be alone, Nina wandered over to perch quietly on the couch in the living room. Nero knew that she would remain close as Eden walked into the first season of her immortal life. The sire-fledgling relationship was complicated, as he had learned, and the juvenile would depend upon their sire for years before truly feeling confident in their own immortal skin.

The sky had begun to lighten, and Nero could sense Eden's pull toward slumber as dawn rose.

"Will you be here waiting for me when I wake up?"

Eden nuzzled into his shoulder as he ascended the stairs with her in his arms, happy to play caretaker. "Every single night. I'm never going to leave you."

"You drew me again," Eden said, her words muffled against his shirt.

He nodded. "It's my favorite pastime. At first, it was because I yearned for you with everything I was. Now, it's because I can't get enough of you, Eden. Every time I see you, the artistic urge takes over. I want to capture you—exactly as you are—and I don't see that ever changing."

Eden's eyelids were already shutting as Nero gently laid her on top of the sheets and pulled the covers over her body. Hesitantly, he grabbed the sketch from the pad in the corner of the room, placing it in her outstretched hand while she studied it, smiling through her tiredness.

It depicted her sleeping soundly while she made the transition from mortal to immortal. It was nearly finished; Nero had had multiple hours to work on it while his mind fretted and his anxious energy needed an output.

"Do you ever sketch because you're bored or anxious?" Tucking her head into the pillow, Eden yawned, and he placed the sketch on the nightstand.

He considered her words. "Both, perhaps: an idle way to spend time, or a retreat. It's always been my reprieve from the world, and if I don't have a pencil in my hand, then I'm imagining the strokes, planning the shading." He smiled then, the expression full of affection. "I enjoy it. Come on, let's tuck you in, Sleeping Beauty."

"I'm Belle tonight."

And then she was asleep.

The press of a button blacked out the windows and any sunlight that might disturb her sleep. Nero pressed another kiss into Eden's cheek, savoring the closeness and the sweet smell of peony that still clung to her skin.

Over the course of the last twenty-four hours, he'd gone through turmoil he hadn't been prepared for. Eden's life had hung in the balance while a battle was fought within her body, one with which he couldn't aid her.

Everything about her transition had been out of his hands. It'd reminded him of how little he'd been able to assist, and how much his friends and clansmen had shouldered the burden that'd been meant to be his alone.

Nina had given them both a gift Nero couldn't ever repay: the life of his mate.

As he strode downstairs, pondering how he could begin to express his gratitude, his friend looked up at him.

"You've done well, Nero."

An almost scathing laugh rumbled from his throat. "I wouldn't go that far."

Settling onto the recliner across from Nina, he relaxed into the familiarity of their relationship. They'd been companions for centuries—and seen each other through awful trials. Nothing would ever change their friendship, but he knew he had something to apologize for.

"I'm sorry I was short with you, Nina," he admitted. "Before. When I said you owed me."

She frowned. "There's nothing to apologize for."

"That's not true. Zeke was right. You don't owe me anything, my friend." Nero shook his head, angry at himself. "I asked something of you that was unfair, put you on the spot, and when you told me you weren't certain of the outcome, I didn't listen. I was upset, and I let my feelings get the better of me." He looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry. Truly."

"I know, Nero. All is forgiven."

"I owe you my mate's life."

"There has never been a score to settle between us," she reminded him. "That doesn't start today."

Raw emotion thickened Nero's throat as he bowed his head and forced the tears from his eyes. He followed her gaze to the piano that lingered in the front room.

"You've yet to play, Nina."

"I've been rather preoccupied with my youngest fledgling." The sound of her chuckle seemed far wearier than what he'd expected, even after the effort of siring a new vampire.

Nero felt it then, the thin thread of despair and anguish coursing beneath the weariness in Nina's emotional psyche. With a start, he dug deeper, allowing free rein to the emotional barometer within him. His gift locked onto the thread, pulling on the string until it revealed the vast swell of darkness that seemed to constrict around her.

"Why are you despairing? Nina, what's wrong?"

Connected as he was to her emotional signature, he experienced firsthand the flicker of fear that jolted through her. Though it was banished immediately by a smirk, Nina couldn't hide from him. Not now that he'd already discovered the truth.

Her blatant attempt at covering her darkness was preposterous. She was putting on a front for him.

"Everything will come out with time, Nero. Don't worry about it."

What did that mean? "That's a ridiculous answer and you know it. We've never lied to each other," he reminded her of her earlier words, "please don't start now. Tell me what's wrong."

When Nina met his gaze, he realized then how much something weighed on her. Before, he'd been focused solely on Eden, and hadn't noticed when his oldest friend was struggling.

"I can't, Nero," she whispered. "It's my burden, not yours."

He stared at her, trying to decide whether to push her on the subject or not, when she launched into another discussion about keeping bagged blood on hand, and how best to keep Eden safe while she slept. Not even five minutes later, she teleported away.

He didn't have a moment to contemplate the oddness of their conversation. As if she'd known the exact moment Nina would leave, Key appeared on the couch across from him.

"Key."

"Sovereign."

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Though Key had done nothing truly wrong, his animosity piqued as his panther prowled behind his eyes.

And she knew it. "Sovereign, I'm sorry. I had no way of knowing that Eden would be in danger when you found her, and those initial visions covered all the time she'd have left. It was never my intent to harm you, and if my gifts had cooperated, I would've told you."

"You keep secrets, Key. Deliberately . How can I know if you're willfully withholding information or are genuinely unaware?"

Her tears resurfaced. "Sovereign, there were only ever four visions, and I shared each of them with you. Please— please —you have to believe me."

Though he wanted to trust her, he'd been burned in the past. Nero stilled, reading her emotional signature for the truth. Sharp despair, bitter unhappiness, and an overwhelming tide of guilt but no deceit or duplicity.

That assessment alone could've cleared her name, and the fact that she was sitting on his couch bawling was another good indicator of her innocence. Nero was still reluctant.

"Did you send Myko over?"

"Yes." Sincerity rang true. "I couldn't tell why he needed to go, just that he did." The foreseer sucked in a breath, almost backpedaling. "But that's all I've gotten for Eden; I've not seen anything else with relation to her future. The rest remains a mystery."

Nero examined the Raeth before him. For the foreseer to be confused was a testament to just how twisted and convoluted the path here had been.

"Did you take all of my sheets, too?"

It served to snap her out of her despair. "Yes, I did. Are you complaining?"

Nero shook his head. "Absolutely not."

"Good." Then, she muttered mournfully, "At least I did one thing right."

Regret hit him square in the face. "You didn't do anything wrong, Key."

"My visions almost cost both of your lives," she countered.

His heart twisted, and his shoulders sagged at her increasingly fractured psyche. "Key, I have my mate because of you. While I may have been blinded to the truth for a moment and took it out on you, I've never stopped trusting you. I know you'd never intentionally cause my mate's death, nor mine."

He looped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss into the silver-blonde braid. "We saved her, Key. Tomorrow night is the full moon, and we'd have certainly lost her if she'd turned wolf. But she's here. She's alive and that's how she'll stay."

"I don't like that it's shaken your trust in me, sovereign."

Hurt rammed through his gifts. "Key, my wrath shames me. And I pressed you—impossibly—into seeking visions you were blind to. Forgive me. It was never your burden to bear."

The power of her foresight pressed abrasively against his skin in that moment, gravity shifting as the force of it slammed into him. "Soon, we'll all bear one another's burdens, sovereign. And it will be our allies who determine whether we live or die."

At the whispered words of prophecy, Nero bristled. "Our allies? Who are you referring to?"

Her eyes were frosted white, the color indicating the phenomenal use of psychic strength. "Our world is threatened, and soon, you and every other immortal must prepare for the end."

"Key, what does that mean?"

Before she could answer, the foreseer was collapsing against him, the energy drought following the expenditure too much for her to bear. Shifting to take her weight and gently lay her down on the couch, he manifested a blanket and covered her shivering form.

Key's foresight was both a gift and a curse, as Nero knew firsthand.