Despite the worrisome, then simply strange, start to the evening, Eliot’s mood had improved greatly by the time he returned to Sean’s haven shortly before dawn. He was wearing a wide grin, and even had a sort of spring in his step as he entered the main hall of the home once more.
His smile deepened when his eyes found Claire sitting on a sofa at the edge of the huge hall. Lucian was unfortunately sitting next to her as well, but even that couldn’t dampen Eliot’s mood as he gracefully approached them.
“Claire” he greeted her with that continued smile, “I discovered something amazing tonight...”
Though Claire’s expression was much more than somber as she looked up at him from where she had an arm wrapped comfortingly around Lucian’s shoulders. Lucian himself seemed quite distraught as well, his face buried in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees beneath his usual impeccably tailored slacks.
“Now’s really not a good time, Eliot” Claire told him dismissively as she turned her eyes sympathetically back to Lucian.
Eliot looked as though the wind had been knocked out of him by her words, his smile immediately waning. Not sure how to even respond, or if he actually should, Eliot instead opted to slowly walk away from the two of them. He then climbed the stairs with one more nearly heartbroken look back toward Claire before continuing to head off to hide himself away inside his room upstairs, which adjoined she and Sean’s master suite.
Downstairs, Claire gave Lucian’s shoulders another little squeeze before she spoke softly to him, “I know it’s not the same, but back about a century and a half ago, Sean and I took in a human little girl. We raised her as our own. And then we lost her when she was only twenty years old. I know how painful this must be. And I am so, so sorry this was done to you, to her, just because of a vendetta you had no part in” she told him with a slight sniffle at the memories of Erica she had always tried to keep buried since coming out of that opium haze she had spent a decade buried beneath after the girl’s death.
“How am I ever going to stop blaming myself for... whatever she does to her?”
“You probably never will” Claire admitted, which just caused a stifled sob from Lucian, “and I know reminding you that the blame belongs on someone else, it won’t really help with that either. I’m the expert at blaming myself for anything and everything that goes wrong around me. I just can’t stop doing so” she admitted in the same near whisper. “So I’m the last person to tell you to just get over that inclination. I know it’s much easier said than done.”
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The next evening, Claire had to ask more than one of she and Sean’s many servants before she even managed to discover where Eliot had gone off to while waiting for her to wake. She eventually found him out near the stables, watching the horses play. Though he was leaning upon the fence looking like he was in much lower spirits than he had been the night before.
“Finally found you” she greeted him with an attempt at a smile as she approached.
“I didn’t know you’d be looking” he stated softly as she reached his side, though he still hadn’t turned his eyes to meet her as he spoke.
“That’s a rather strange statement” she stated warily as she looked up at him, “is something wrong?”
Eliot tried to hide a scoff before replying, “other than us suddenly being friends with Lucian now, you mean?” he asked as he finally looked back down at her with a smile that was more questioning than jovial
Claire softly sighed, as she was now the one averting her gaze, “something bad happened. He was really upset last night. Likely still is” she added more quietly.
“So, we are friends with him now?” Eliot stated with a hint of cynicism to his tone.
Another sigh from Claire before she attempted a response, “he finally got the memories of his sire back. It’s not a pretty story” she told him softly as she turned her eyes back up to him at last.
“So he finally told you what his sire’s plan even was then?” Eliot replied, though the mistrust was still clear in his tone.
“Suffice it to say, his sire was someone I knew long ago. And she’s always been out to get me. Lucian was just her latest attempt at finding some way to do that. He never actually knew her full plan. But I know her, so it’s a pretty easy bit of guesswork from there” Claire admitted with another drawn out sigh.
“So, you know he was planning to make you love him then betray you in some way. And again, I say, so we’re friends with him now?” Eliot pressed.
“She had his daughter, Eliot” Claire returned pointedly.
“So that removes any blame from him somehow?”
“A lot of it, yes” Claire told him sadly.
“I see” was all he said as he turned his eyes away again, letting out a heavy breath as his eyes took in the stars above while the horses continued playing in the field below.
“He was being used, Eliot. In a horrible, heart-wrenching way” Claire defended weakly, “I think he’s finally earned that benefit of the doubt he asked me to give him back on the train.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Eliot let out another long breath, both of them silent for a long time. He then finally spoke up once more, “I think I need to go home” he stated thoughtfully, sadly.
“What?” Claire asked as her eyes flew up to his face once more. “This can’t just be because of me giving Lucian a second chance when he needs friends more than anything right now.”
Eliot scoffed again, though it was a sound that was more sad than disapproving, “no, Emma brought news from back home.”
“Emma?” Claire asked with a bit of a bite to her tone.
“Seems you don’t approve of one of my friends either?”
Claire was the one to scoff now, “Emma’s your friend?” Claire asked with a bit of disbelief.
Eliot took a moment before allowing an awkward answer, “more of an acquaintance, really” he mumbled, “but yes” he added at a normal volume once more.
“I find that just a little... hard to believe” she settled on.
“You know, you’re the second person who has voiced some kind of disapproval of me speaking to Emma now.”
Claire looked back up at him again, “maybe there’s a reason for that, Eliot” she told him pointedly.
“Yes, well the first was Lucian” he stated coolly.
Claire looked down once more before responding, “and what did Lucian tell you about her?”
“That she has something called a personality disorder. Whatever that even means coming from him” he added in a mumble.
Claire sighed again, “he was right. It means Emma believes that she’s someone she’s not. Like say, some innocent French girl bringing you some dire news from back home” she told him pointedly.
Eliot narrowed his eyes slightly at that, “she knew about my family though.”
“Well, she is from France, that much is true” Claire admitted, “but doesn’t everyone in France know about your family, considering?”
Eliot looked down again as he let out another held breath, “but if what she said is true...” he just shook his head.
“What exactly did she even say?”
“That my father is ill. That Louis hasn’t gotten much healthier” he stated worriedly, referring to his younger half-brother.
“And that you have to return to possibly take a throne you don’t even want?” Claire guessed at the rest of the statement, her brow furrowed.
Eliot shook his head as he leaned upon the fence sadly once more, “I don’t plan to return to take the throne. Like you said, I don’t want it. Especially not now...” he confirmed, though his voice trailed off as he spoke.
“Well, then why would you consider returning at all?”
Eliot let out another sigh, “to help my little brother.”
Claire looked further confused by that, “how so?”
Eliot took another deep breath, not sure how to even go about the conversation he had wanted to have with her last night. Somehow having an entire night to plan said conversation, had actually made him less sure of even how to explain all the things the man in the tavern, Douglas, has explained to Eliot himself the previous night.
“I’m not sure you’d understand” he settled on, trying to buy himself more time to find the words to tell her the things he had been so eager to share with her just twelve or so hours earlier.
Claire just shook her head at that, then suddenly spoke up as another thought occurred to her, “what about the blood?”
“Pardon?” he asked as he looked back at her.
“If you do go back home, how will you maintain the partial bond? How will you keep from suffering the withdrawal and... and aging half a decade all at once?” she asked more quietly.
Eliot took another deep breath, then realizing that he would have to try and find a way to make those explanations to Claire after all, hard as they would be for her to likely believe. “I won’t have to worry about that anymore” he began warily, his eyes moving to watch her face as he began.
“That sounds rather ominous, Eliot” she returned warily.
He almost smiled at how immediate her worry for him was, “I met a man, a gorgeous man,” he couldn’t help adding, “last night. Douglas. And he showed me how to make it last.”
“Make what last, exactly?” Claire asked with further confusion.
“The partial bond. Your blood” he smiled down at her.
“He showed you how to make my blood last?” she stated with a continued look of puzzlement.
“Permanence spell” he offered with another smile, nervous though it was.
“What now?” were all the words she could manage.
“Douglas said it was originally used to keep food from going bad. But funny thing is that it can keep anything from breaking down and wearing away. Like, say, vampire blood” he told her with a slight twinkle in his eyes then as he began regaining some of the excitement he had initially felt upon his return home that morning.
“But that’s not how the bond works” she stated slowly.
“It is now. At least for me” he told her with a slightly amused smile at how stunned she looked. After all, the tables were usually turned, with Claire being the one introducing Eliot to fantastical elements of the world that he never knew existed or were even possible.
Claire took a long moment to process before finding more words, “so some stranger you just met last night told you that he could do a spell that would keep you from needing our blood anymore? Keep you from suddenly aging if you did actually stop drinking from us?” she replied with a healthy doubt.
“Trust me, I had trouble believing at first too. But he explained that I’ve been making things happen for a long time, without even knowing it. He just showed me how much more there was to learn. And how to tap into it” he stated excitedly.
“And you don’t see how this all sounds just a little too good to be true?” Claire asked pointedly, though kept her tone gentle.
“A vampire who’s a skeptic?” he teased, pointing out the irony with another soft smile.
“Still, Eliot” she sighed again, “it’s kind of a lot to take on blind faith. I just don’t want to see you get a rude awakening when it doesn’t work.”
“So, you need proof, yes?′ he held his smile.
“How are you going to give me proof without actually waiting til the blood does wear off?”
“That’s just one thing he showed me how to do. There’s much, much more.”
“Like?” she couldn’t help asking.
“Remember how I said I wanted to help my brother? I actually can now. That’s why I even came out here at all tonight” he told her as he reached for her arm to lead her back inside the stables, to the far end of the stalls where one of the horses was curled onto the ground, breathing heavily, the pain and sickness clear in its huge brown eyes. “This was my favorite mare. The servants told me she’s gotten so ill they’ll likely have to put her down by the end of the week.”
“That’s terrible, Eliot” Claire said softly.
“My thoughts exactly” Eliot returned. He then took a step closer to the dying animal, concentrated a long moment, and finally made a slow, deliberate, upward gesture with his hand. In the next moment, the animal’s breathing returned to normal as she stood, immediately coming toward them and softly nuzzling Eliot before happily hurrying off to play with the other horses outside once again.