Giovanni turned toward him. “I’ve tried to hide my reaction, but I’m not immune to it either.”
Ben stood and paced in front of the fire. “So I’m going to be on edge in my childhood home from now on? That’s not okay, Gio. I don’t consider you a threat.” Ben turned to him. “At all. Ever.”
Giovanni stood and put a hand on his shoulder. “Be calm.”
Ben saw the flames in the fireplace whipping back and forth wildly. He took a deep breath.
“I don’t consider you a threat. I never would. These are our instincts, Benjamin. You are not human anymore. You were turned very recently by an enormously powerful and ancient vampire. Very few vampires can even imagine the changes your body and mind are going through right now, simply because of the power in your sire’s blood. My amnis reacts because it knows you’re a dangerous predator, and you’re in proximity to my mate and my child.”
Ben swallowed hard and had to fight back tears. Another overreaction. “Should I leave?”
“Of course not.” Giovanni pulled him into a hug. “You’re not the first powerful vampire who’s ever been in the house. Think about Carwyn or Tenzin. It’s just the newness. Sadia and Beatrice have been around Kato, Ben. He’s far more threatening than you are.”
“What do we do?”
“Nothing.” Giovanni pulled away and rubbed Ben’s hair like he’d done when Ben barely came up to his shoulder. “We do nothing. Like so many things in this life, we acknowledge the feeling and we give it time. It’s going to be rough for a while, but this feeling will pass. Our amnis will recognize each other as family, and we’ll be easy with each other again.”
Ben swallowed hard. “I am fighting the urge to punch you right now.”
“Completely understandable.” Giovanni released him. “Tenzin and I were uneasy around each other for decades. Of course, I was initially hired to kill her, so that didn’t help.”
The sound of her name made Ben flinch.
“Another instinctive reaction,” Giovanni said quietly. “But a very human one.”
“She betrayed me.”
“I know that’s how you feel.”
Ben ignored the surreptitious response. “Do you talk to her?”
“I do.”
Ben’s eyes rose. “Does Beatrice?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“In all ways but blood, she is your mother, Benjamin. She is angry on your behalf.”
“She and Tenzin were family once.” Part of him was satisfied and another part mourned. “I don’t want… I don’t know what I want.”
Giovanni looked to the fire. “You can love someone and still be angry with them.”
“Are you angry with her?”
His uncle said nothing.
Ben felt his fangs lengthen. He willed them back. “Are you?”
Giovanni put a hand over his heart and turned toward him. His eyes were full of pain. “Did you see Caspar at dinner? Did you sense it?”
“What does Caspar have to do—?”
“He has everything to do with you and your anger toward her. With me and my anger. Because I am watching him die, Ben. And even though he has had a good and long life—the life he wanted—I will lose…” Giovanni cleared his throat. “I will lose a part of my soul when Caspar is gone.”
Ben fought back his emotions. “But he made a choice and you respected that. I didn’t—”
“No.” Giovanni shook his head. “I know you didn’t. But how can I remain angry with her, Benjamin? How can I resent her for saving my son’s life?”
“She knew.” His fangs fell and he didn’t try to stop them. “She knew how I felt. I made her promise so many times—”
“I couldn’t have watched you die.” The words rushed out of Giovanni’s mouth in a quiet torrent. He clutched the hand over his heart into a fist. “Is that what you want to hear? Or need to hear? God forgive me, but I couldn’t have watched you die when I knew I could save you. Would you have forgiven me?”
“You’re my uncle.” Ben swallowed hard. “It’s not the same.”
“But she was your friend. And I know there was more, but before anything else, you were her friend, Benjamin. She doesn’t have many.” Giovanni’s eyes drilled into him. “She lost Stephen. She lost Nima. Did you think she could lose you too?”
Ben looked away. He couldn’t face the raw pain in his uncle’s eyes anymore. “You’re saying I was selfish?”
“Maybe.”
“She didn’t have to take me.” He walked to the table and threw back the glass of whiskey he’d poured earlier. “She didn’t have to keep dragging me back. I was trying to get out, and she kept pulling me back.”
“And you kept answering the call.” Giovanni put his hands in his trouser pockets and stared at the fire. “She asked you to swim, but you dove into the deep end. Living that life was never only her choice.”
Ben stared at his uncle, wanting to hug him. Wanting to fight him. Wanting to erase the words Giovanni had just said from his mind.
You were her friend, Benjamin. She doesn’t have many.
“I’ll take the plane,” Ben said quietly. “You’re right. I’ll be able to move faster.”
Giovanni kept his eyes toward the fire and nodded.
“I’m also going to ask Chloe to come with me to Bucharest, so it’ll be more comfortable for her to fly privately.”
“If Chloe goes, Gavin will go too.”
Ben took a long breath. “I’m counting on it.”
Giovanni looked at her. “Asking her to swim?”
“Yes. But unlike Tenzin, Gavin will make damn sure she doesn’t jump into the deep end.”
It was early morning in New York and just before dawn when Ben managed to catch Chloe on the phone.
“Gavin’s already on his way to LA.” Her voice was cheerful. “He kind of figured you might need me, and he says it works out because he has three places in Eastern Europe he needs to check on anyway. I’ll email Radu’s people now and set up a meet for the two of you in Bucharest.”
“I’ll book you a flight tonight if that’s enough time. You can take the red-eye.”
“It’s enough time as long as you’re putting me in first class.”
Ben smiled. “Of course I am.”
She sighed deeply. “I do love working for rich people.”
“And we’ll take Gio’s plane to Bucharest.”
“I’m going to be ruined for economy flights,” Chloe said. “I better stick with you from now on.”
“You’ll be support staff only on this, okay? You’re not going to be sneaking through corridors and breaking into museums like you did in New York.”
“You’re so responsible now,” Chloe said. “Fine. You know I’m not an adrenaline junkie like you anyway.”
“I was never an adrenaline junkie.”
Chloe laughed out loud. “You’re adorable.”
Ben ignored her laughter. “I’ll book you a flight and text you the details. Pack for three weeks.”