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Ryder colored. He hadn’t blushed in ages. “No, I… that was not why I was informing you! I am aware that our immortality interests mortals. I thought that you would want to know that.”

“Interests? Yeah, I guess. I mean, it is pretty cool thinking that you’ve lived so long and seen so much. But the one thing that always threw me was how you could ever be interested in a human,” Grayson said.

Ryder frowned as he studied Grayson’s rather elegant jaw. “Why?”

“The age gap. We all must seem like kids to you.”

Ryder shrugged. “Some perhaps. But have you not met someone younger than you who seems wise beyond their years?”

Grayson slowly nodded and nibbled on that tempting lower lip. “Yeah, but that’s normally something earned from a hard life.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Uh, so you’re a Weryn Vampire, right? You can turn into animals? I mean I saw you do that, which was pretty cool, by the way,” Grayson said with a shy smile.

“Yes, I am Second of House Legion. I am representing the Weryn Bloodline at the academy,” Ryder answered and shut his mouth after that.

He felt the urge to share with Grayson since Grayson had shared with him, but Weryn Bloodline business was not necessarily the best thing to discuss. Yet Grayson seemed to hone right on in it.

“What you said to Balthazar, something about it not mattering if you read the rules or not, are you not like a part of the school? Not going to pick your humans or whatever from the class?” Grayson asked.

Ryder grimaced, but even though this young man seemed to have no desire to become a Vampire, perhaps it was best he knew exactly where Ryder and Weryn overall stood. It was strange though that his stomach seemed to curdle in his chest a little as he thought that.

“The Weryn do not pick our fledglings from a pool of candidates,” Ryder’s voice sounded frosty even as he said it. “There is a spiritual connection between ourselves and the ones we turn. They are not just becoming our Children, but the Children of the Weryn. They are pack.”

Grayson’s eyebrows rose. “You sound more like shifters than Vampires, or at least, how shifters are described in the books. Are there real shifters?”

“We are likely what those stories are based on. A sort of legend that was passed down,” Ryder admitted.

“So you’re not going to choose anyone from the school?” Grayson clarified.

Ryder shook his head. “We are here to honor the king, but we will not be made to abandon our traditions and what matters to us to make the humans feel at ease.”

Grayson’s eyebrow rose. “That honoring the king thing though… Daemon wants this, right?”

Ryder’s expression grew blank as he remembered his experience with the Vampire king. It had been heady and overwhelming. Daemon was truly their leader.

“So don’t you worry about pissing him off by not choosing someone? Or are you just going to never take on another fledgling forever and ever?” Grayson asked.

Ryder blinked. “He… he understands our position.”

“But he doesn’t like it, right? He doesn’t accept it? After all, not doing something your king wants sounds treasonous or something, isn’t it?” Grayson asked with a blithe wave of one hand through the air.

For all of Grayson’s easy words, he had said exactly what Ryder had feared from the beginning. Was there some way to honor Daemon, but not do what he wanted? They were attempting to thread that needle. Grayson sounded like he didn’t think it was possible. It was easy for him to think that the young man’s words meant nothing since he clearly didn’t understand all the nuances. Or, it could be that the answer was so obvious that even someone barely considering it knew the truth and that the Weryn were tying themselves into knots thinking there was a way to disobey their king without disobeying.

“We hope that Daemon will come to understand our position better in time,” Ryder said stiffly.

Grayson stopped outside one of the clothing stores. There was a man placing some more clothing options with the academy’s crest on it. There was a long black coat with popped collar, casual tops that skimmed the wearer’s form and flared out at the bottom, cotton trousers that had the crest running down the outside edges, and more. There were even shoes with laces with the crest, socks with the crest and underwear with the crest.

“So I’m really the only one going to be dressed like this,” Grayson said darkly.

“There appear to be a variety of styles with crests. Yours is--”

“Balthazar’s choice. I didn’t get an option. He chose this. He really does have a uniform fetish.” Grayson chuckled and shook his head, the annoyance leaving him as fast as it had come.

“You look… quite handsome,” Ryder said.

“I look like a preppy--”