Page 39 of Vampires of Eden

Discreetly, I glance over at his stony expression in the fading afternoon light. I’ve committed myself to beingnicerto him, but it’s not going great. When Oliver lived with us, I didn’t talk to him very much and Leoni was always on my back about that. I didn’t dislike Oliver. He was just so young and… fidgety. I’m like an old battered dog and suddenly there was this eager puppy in the house. I didn’t feel like being bothered.

Alexander doesn’t exude silly puppy energy, though. How old is he? He’s obviously young, so he might be close to Oliver’s age. Usually, these arranged royal couplings have a ridiculous age gap where the older vamp with more money chooses the younger, more malleable mate. Not always, but it’s pretty standard.

Alexander navigates us away from the village and onto the narrow two-lane road that splits the lower valley. The sun has dipped below the horizon, so the sky above the mountain range is painted in hues of coral and gold.

I haven’t said anything for the first fifteen minutes or so into the ride because it’s clear that he needs to decompress. After a while, the fact that I don’t know how old he is nags me.

“I remembered you,” I say as an opening. It’s random, but what’s not random at this point?

His eyes flicker over to me before focusing back on the road. “What are you talking about?”

“From my performance at the Álvarez Estate. You asked me once if I remembered you, and I do now. You were with your father, right?”

“Yes,” he says, then goes quiet. There’s a lengthy pause where I think he’s finished, but then he speaks up once more. “It was a long time ago.”

“Right… how old were you back then?” I narrow my eyes. Real discreet.

“Fourteen.”

The math calculates quickly in my head. We’re eight years apart. Huh. He is the same age as Oliver. Interesting. Their vibes couldn’t be more different.

“How old were you?” he asks.

“Twenty two.”

“Oh, you’re the same age as Raph.”

“Who is Raph?”

“My manservant. He turned thirty this year.”

“Ah, your servant,” I nod. “Where is he now? This manservant. You float around a lot on your own, so I wasn’t sure if you had one.” Maybe, secretly, I was hoping that his being so independent meant that he didn’t actively participate in the practice of employing ranked vampires in roles of servitude to the upper class. How silly of me.

Alexander shrugs with both hands on the wheel. Ten o’clock two o’clock, like a responsible driver. “I don’t know, he lives his own life, mostly—when he’s not stalking me.”

“Stalking you?” I ask, skeptical. “Isn’t it his job to be at your beck and call? His role is aservant, after all.”

“Yes, but… our relationship isn’t like that. ‘Manservant’ is his formal title but he’s more like… I don’t know. An annoying older brother? Or maybe my best friend?”

A laugh bursts from my chest because I couldn’t hold it in this time.

“What?” Alexander asks, casting a guarded glance my way.

“It sounds odd. He’s your servant, but like a brother or best friend. Don’t you pay him?”

“Yes, of course?—”

“You wouldn’t pay a brother or best friend to hang around with you. To pick up your dry cleaning or manage your schedule or whatever he does. Does that seem normal to you? Does that seem genuine?”

Alexander is silent for several beats and the air in the car stiffens. I felt righteous in this declaration, but without warning, a flash of self-consciousness heats my face as I backtrack and consider my tone.

I’m failing at being nice.

Miserably.

“Maybe it’s not normal,” Alexander says, staring intensely through the windshield. “But given our situation, I consider myself extremely lucky. Our relationshipisgenuine and he’s one of the few vampires in my life that cares about me—not just because he’s my servant. And I pay him because I want him tohave autonomy and a good quality of life. It might be unorthodox or funny to you, but I don’t care what you think. Who are you to sit here and judge and question what’s probably the only real relationship that I have left in my miserable existence? You don’t know shit about it.”

Shifting, I look away from his stern profile and through the windshield. The sky above is still coral, but a deeper shade has manifested in the distance, like indigo. The gold lining along the horizon has morphed into copper.