Instead of the words of comfort I
expected Irulan to give me, she frowned and folded her arms across her chest. “Our
way,” she said. Her voice was so low that if it wasn’t for my enhanced hearing,
I wouldn’t have heard her.
“What are you talking about?” I
asked, trying to keep the annoyed tone out of my voice. We’d all been through a
lot and I didn’t want to get upset with her. Not now when we had to leave in an
hour.
“We want them to see things our
way,” Irulan replied. “David is my son as well, or have you forgotten?”
“I can’t believe that you even
had to ask me that,” I spat, unable to hide my anger. “I know you love him just
as much as I do. Why would you−”
“Because you, Val, and Tamerlane
spent half the night going over vampire protocol and archaic rules and never once
thought to include me in the discussion,” Irulan huffed. “Did you not think I
needed to be a part of that, or am I supposed to show up today and be the
supportive, but silent wife and let you all handle everything?”
I was pissed. I wanted to scream
and shout, but because of what I’d become since awakening my Fae genes, losing
control was dangerous for the people around me. Not only could my ill mood
spill over and affect others, if I wasn’t careful I could draw strength from
their emotions as well. Feeding from someone's emotions drains them in a way
that a few pints of blood never could. I might be irked with my wife, but I
would never risk hurting her like that. So I took a moment to pull back my
growing anger before I responded.
“Ire, your day was just as
fucked up as mine was. Maybe I was just trying to be a good wife and let you
get some rest,” I sighed.
“That’s a lie,” Irulan spat, not
missing a beat as she touched the side of her head. “Aside from the fact that I’ve
known you your entire life, I also have a direct line to your thoughts. So
please don’t stand there and pretend that leaving me out wasn’t your way of
getting back at me for her.”
She did it. She brought up her
ex. I didn’t want to have this conversation now. I’d intentionally avoided it because
I need to have a clear head. But there was no way around it now. She’d opened
the door.
“Not all of my thoughts,” I
grunted as I tried to push by her and head for our closet. But Irulan grabbed
my arm, refusing to let me go.
“And what’s that supposed to
mean?”
“It means exactly what I said,”
I sighed. “You may be my equal in many areas, but shielding isn’t one of them. If
you caught a glimpse of my thoughts it’s because I let you.”
“So why the thoughtful wife line
if that’s how you feel, Val?” Irulan huffed. “By the gods, say what you mean. It
may sting but at least I can respect the truth.”
The truth. I thought about the
many truths that were running through my head and an icy wave spread through
me, replacing the anger with cold calm.
“Alight, Ire, here’s the truth.
Your demented ex almost killed my grandmother. My family lost good vampires
trying to protect her. She helped that banshee cut a path of devastation through
the city that will take months and millions of dollars to repair. She could have
gotten not only my brothers, and my best friend, killed, but our son and his friends
as well, and when it came down to the wire, you hesitated. I could have died
and you hesitated. Hell, she was in this realm because of you. So part of this
entire mess is on you.”
Irulan gasped and tears filled
her eyes as the human glamour faded and was replaced by raging storms. I regretted
the words as soon as they left my mouth. “Oh my god, Ire. Baby, I didn’t mean
it.”
I reached for her but she leaned
away from my touch.
