Reunion

Chapter 5

Marise was finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate. As though it wasn’t bad enough that it was raining, freezing cold, and slippery underfoot in the cemetery, she couldn’t get her thoughts off Jascha and Tynan was driving her insane.

She turned sharply to face him. He stopped, keeping the thirty foot gap between them steady. It was a wise move. If he came much closer, she would kill him for dogging her.

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. She really didn’t need him following her everywhere she went. It had been annoying enough in the mansion and there she had been able to shut herself in a room and leave him outside. Here, she couldn’t shake him so easily.

“Was it Timur’s idea to annoy me, or Jascha’s?” she said, reaching the end of her tether.

There was no way she could continue her search for the vampire hunter when all her focus was being stolen by her increasing anger.

“Does it matter?” he said, cool and calm, as though there was a right and wrong answer and if he chose the correct one, she would let him tag along as he so clearly wanted to.

Marise knew who had sent him. Her question had been pointless. Timur wouldn’t have ordered him to help her. He was too busy trying to convince his entire bloodline to remain inside the mansion and starve to death. It had been Jascha. Or had it been Tynan’s idea. She knew Jascha inside and out. He was recovering well, healed enough now that he wouldn’t see his injuries as a hindrance and would most likely want to protect her out of some strange, hopeless chivalry. Of course, Tynan would never allow Jascha out of bed until he was fully recovered.

“No,” she said. “I’ll ask you to leave either way.”

Tynan took a step closer. It was a brave move, but then her bluff wasn’t too hard to call. She would never raise a finger to hurt him or Jascha. Her heart ached. She loved them both too much.

“I can’t leave, Marise. I promised Jascha I would protect you.”

She laughed, mirthless and bitter.

“Do I need a babysitter? Who is elder? Who has years of training as a Law Keeper? If a hunter attacks, it will be me protecting you!” She went to turn away and then held her nerve, locking eyes with Tynan and allowing her feelings to slip their leashes. “I am not a youngling. I am four times older than you and Jascha!”

Tynan backed off. “Jascha is just concerned.”

She laughed again.

“Go home. Tend to your brother.” She turned and walked away.

Tynan didn’t seem to take the hint. She could sense him following her. She held the sigh inside. If he tailed her into the next cemetery, she would make him leave.

“Why did you come back? Wasn’t any of your reason to do with Jascha?”

Marise spun on a pinpoint to face him. He had stopped a distance back, clearly before he had spoken. Her hands shook as she struggled against the onslaught of feelings that his words had released and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about them to find an answer.

Looking into his eyes, she couldn’t ignore the honesty they demanded and the assurance they offered. He wouldn’t tell his brother. He was just concerned about both of them. He always had been, acting like a brother to both her and Jascha, a confidant she could speak to and know he would never tell anyone, not even Jascha.

She gave a tiny nod, her voice tight with emotion and fear. “It was, in a way. But it doesn’t change what happened, or my feelings.”

“He doesn’t know.”