Yes, he was sad she was gone, but she’d chosen to sacrifice herself to protect Ethan, and he respected her choice. He was also relieved that she’d found peace at last. Winter’s gift of seeing her ghost one last time proved to him that she was now happy. She’d admonished him to be happy, but he wasn’t even sure what that was for him now.
“Is there anything I can help with?” Marcus offered.
“No. Everything is fine. I think I just need to get away from my desk for a little while. Clear my head.”
“Okay, I’ll tell Ronan that you’re not receiving guests at the moment,” Marcus said.
“Ronan’s here?” Aiden demanded sharply. He stood quickly, not wanting to look too closely at the fact that his heart had sped up and the previous melancholy evaporated.
Marcus arched one eyebrow, but whatever he was thinking, his son kindly kept it to himself. “He just arrived, requesting to see you.”
“The rest of the European Ministry envoy?”
Marcus shook his head. “He came alone.”
“Could you show him up?” Aiden inquired. He dropped into his seat and smiled at his son, who looked as if he were struggling not to say something incredibly negative. Aiden was willing to guess that it was something along the lines of not trusting him. He’d heard plenty of that from Winter already.
In the end, Marcus just grunted and disappeared. Of his four sons, Marcus walked the most interesting line of trying to always be the diplomat while also speaking his mind when he didn’t like something. Particularly when it came to protecting his family.
Aiden turned to his computer screen, closed the email he’d been composing, and shut down the program altogether, not wanting to be disturbed while he was speaking with Ronan. Not that he thought the vampire had come to discuss politics without the rest of the envoy. After their brief conversation in the woods the night before, Aiden thought this visit might be more personal in nature.
Was that why his heart was racing in his chest? And his palms had suddenly become sweaty?
This was absolutely ridiculous. Aiden Varik was too old to be feeling this way. He didn’t get nervous over a boy like he was some schoolyard crush.
Yes, this was the man he’d fallen in love with so many years ago.
But this was also the man who was an emissary from the European Ministry. The man he hadn’t seen in centuries. He could be different now. This could be an act. A lie.
The sound of Marcus clearing his throat had Aiden’s head snapping up again. God, how long had he been lost in thought? He needed to get his head pulled together. This was nonsense. Whether Ronan was the man he’d known as a human or a vampire aiming to kill him didn’t matter. His first responsibility was to his family, to protecting the vampires within his domain.
His eyes fell on Ronan’s smiling face, and Aiden found himself speechless once again. He was alive. It hadn’t been a dream or a hallucination brought on by stress. Ronan was truly alive and standing in his doorway.
“I can tell by your expression that you didn’t expect to see me again,” Ronan teased.
“I think it’s more that I didn’t trust my memory that I’d truly seen you last night,” Aiden murmured.
Ronan’s smile widened as he stepped farther into the room. Tonight, he was dressed a little more informally. Dark slacks wrapped around narrow hips while his button-down navy shirt with a tonal diamond pattern was open at the throat.
“I had the same thought. It’s why I rushed back over here tonight. To make sure I hadn’t dreamed it all up.”
“Will the rest of the envoy be joining you?” Marcus asked stiffly.
Shaking his head, Ronan’s smile never wavered as he looked over at Marcus. “Nope. They don’t even know I’m here.”
“A social call?” Aiden said.
“Yes, definitely.”
It took some effort for Aiden to pull his eyes from Ronan, but he smiled up at his son. “Thank you, Marcus. You’re free to spend some time with Ethan or check that your brothers are staying out of trouble.”
Marcus growled what sounded like “Highly doubtful” but left Aiden alone with Ronan.
Aiden turned his attention to Ronan, who was smiling softly as he looked over the room Aiden had claimed as his office. When he’d officially moved into Marcus’s home, his son had tried to give him the office he’d set up, but Aiden had refused. He liked that Marcus had an office between the music room with his favorite piano and the office where Ethan completed his college studies and other work. It was their space and kept his son close to his two loves in life—Ethan and music.
The room Aiden had chosen was on the first floor, toward the back of the house, with a wall of windows looking out on the forest at the edge of the property. It wasn’t a particularly large space, but there was an openness to it that Aiden enjoyed. Of course, he didn’t spend much time in here. He was usually in the library with his sons or relaxing in what Ethan had dubbed the “family room” because it was the space with the extremely comfortable furniture and large TV.
“So this is the life I escaped,” Ronan said after a moment. He stood in front of a bookshelf that contained a motley collection of books Aiden had deemed his favorites over the long years. “Endless meetings and dealing with people who want things they can’t have. I can’t say I’m sorry I missed out on it.”
Aiden snorted, relaxing a little in his chair. “You didn’t care for anything that took you out of your saddle or removed a sword from your hand.”
Ronan’s mouth fell open in mock surprise. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I also appreciated the harvest and all the wenches at the brothels.”
“And they appreciated how liberal you were with your coin.”
Sliding his hands into his pockets, Ronan partially turned toward Aiden, a sad smile on his lips. “Would you believe me if I told you that I thought by drowning myself in women I could forget how much I wanted just one kiss from my best friend?”
Heat burned across Aiden’s cheeks, and he had to lower his gaze as his heart gave a happy little flutter. His throat was dry, and he barely croaked out, “Ronan, I…”
“I would have traded all those women for just one kiss from you and been completely happy for the rest of my human life,” Ronan said in a soft but fierce voice.
“People change,” Aiden whispered. That truth was the only thing keeping him in his chair rather than rushing over to Ronan’s arms. So many years of unknown history separated them. They were different men now. There was no going back in time to that night in the woods when Ronan had invited him to run away.
“True, but becoming a vampire doesn’t mean that I necessarily changed for the worse.” Ronan strolled over to Aiden’s desk and dropped down into one of the comfortable leather chairs positioned in front of it. “You might not remember this, but when I was a human, I was a complete asshole.”
A choking noise escaped Aiden as he attempted to snort and laugh at the same time. Of all the things he’d expected Ronan to say, that was not one of them.
Ronan held up both hands at Aiden. “No, don’t defend me. It’s true.”
“I wasn’t going to argue. You were a spoiled, self-centered asshole.” Aiden chuckled at Ronan’s glare.