Brigette, surprisingly, didn’t take the opportunity to make another dig at his conceit.
“You said you snuck into a rival clan?”
“A stupid stunt. But looking back now, I realize I was manipulated by a traitor.”
“Another vampire?”
Xi clenched his hands. The familiar pain rushed through him as he remembered that fateful night. He’d been strolling through the massive castle that served as their lair, looking for entertainment. When he wasn’t on guard duty, it was all too easy to become bored.
A fatal failing when combined with his oversized ego.
“A beautiful vampire named Emeline,” he forced himself to continue. “She dared me to bring her the crown from the rival clan chief.”
Brigette parted her lips, but whatever she was about to say was forgotten as she was struck by his words.
“Vampire clan chiefs wear a crown?”
Xi shuddered. Anyone who tried to stick a crown on Styx’s head would find himself nailed to a tree and left for the sun.
“Only Drayson,” Xi assured her. “He used to host massive banquets just so he could prance around with his golden crown and fortune in jewels attached to various parts of his body.”
“He sounds…flamboyant.”
“He was an egotistical prick, but he was also a brutal leader with a cunning ambition.” Xi’s jaw tightened. When he was young, he was stupid enough to judge a demon by his appearance. He’d allowed Drayson’s outrageous behavior to lull him into a false sense of security. “I was a fool to underestimate him.”
She studied him with an unreadable expression. “You decided to steal the crown to impress Emeline?”
He jerked, caught off guard. Brigette had never met Emeline or she wouldn’t ask that question.
“No.”
“But you said she dared you.”
“She did. But I had no interest in her.”
Brigette narrowed her eyes. She clearly didn’t believe him. “Even though she was beautiful?”
Xi shuddered. “She was also a cold, humorless bitch who made my flesh crawl from the night she arrived in the lair.”
Brigette’s long lashes lowered over her eyes. Was she trying to hide her emotion? Before he could decide, she was glancing back up at him.
“So why did you do it?” she demanded.
He didn’t want to answer. Not just because the memory of that night still haunted his dreams, but because he was ashamed.
“My bloated pride,” he grudgingly forced himself to admit the truth. “I thought it was a game to pillage objects from various demons. Over the years, I’d stolen treasure chests filled with rubies from a troll chieftain, bags of gold from a band of goblins, and an enchanted sword from the local tribe of wood sprites. My increasing mound of loot impressed my clan and frankly kept me entertained. When Emeline challenged me, it never occurred to me that it was a trap.”
“Were you captured?”
Xi’s fangs ached. He would never forget the moment the silver leash had been snapped around his neck. Or the faces of the bastards who’d tied him behind a horse to drag him miles across the frozen ground. The fact that he’d been denied his revenge only made the memory more difficult to bear.
“Yes.” He managed to keep his lingering fury out of his voice, but nothing could hide the ice that was crawling over the cement walls. It wasn’t hard to determine a vampire’s mood. Ice bad. No ice…well, there’s a chance no one is about to die. “I barely reached the edge of our territory when I was ambushed. And chained to a tree.”
She hesitated, as if debating whether to probe for more details of his capture. Then she shook her head, no doubt sensing that the memory still caused him pain.
“That doesn’t explain how you were responsible for your clan being destroyed.”
“Emeline told my chief that she’d witnessed me being kidnapped. She implied that if they hurried, I could be rescued.” Another layer of ice coated the walls. “My sire sent his warriors to rescue me.”
“Leaving your lair unprotected.”
“Exactly. By the time the warriors realized they’d been lured away, it was too late.” The words threatened to stick in his throat. Possibly because he’d never said them out loud. “They returned to find our lair burned to the ground, along with their mates and our sire. They had no choice but to accept defeat.”
“Did they release you?”
“No. I managed to escape.”
“You didn’t return to your clan?”
He had. After he’d escaped, he’d been forced to find a nearby hovel to hide for the day and heal. But once the sun had set, he’d raced back to the castle. At the time, he had no idea his people had been attacked, not until he’d arrived at a smoldering pile of rubble. Wandering through the wreckage, he’d struggled to imagine what had happened. Finally, one of the warriors who’d managed to survive the battle revealed the brutal truth.
Because of him, the clan had been destroyed.
“They didn’t consider me a member any longer,” he said. “In fact, they insisted I leave. I don’t blame them.”
“I do.” Astonishingly, Brigette reached out to lay a hand over his clenched fist. Heat blasted through him, easing the agonizing ache at the center of his soul. He desperately wanted to grasp her hand and press it to his lips. Or tug her closer so he could wrap her in his arms. Thankfully, he was a skilled hunter. This was the first time she’d initiated a touch, and he wasn’t about to do anything that might cause her to pull away. “It wasn’t your fault,” she continued. “Emeline was the traitor.”
“It was my arrogance that allowed her to so easily dupe me. A better vampire would have ignored her dare. Or recognized her danger to the clan,” Xi insisted.
“Say whatever you want. It wasn’t your fault.”
His lips twitched at her stubborn insistence. He’d ripped open the wounds of his past to prove that the worst sins could be overcome. The last thing he’d expected was to have Brigette lessen the guilt that still gnawed deep inside him.
“You sound like Styx,” he murmured.
“I just know the difference between poor decisions and betrayal.”
“Intent doesn’t matter. The outcome was the same.” He leaned toward her, absorbing her rich musk. The scent was intoxicating. “The past is the past.”
She scowled, but she didn’t argue. And even better, she didn’t pull her hand away. “Did Styx tell you that?” she instead asked.