Free Desire and Duty by Marie Medina

DESIRE AND DUTY
     
    Valladora Tales, 1
     
    Marie Medina
     
    Copyright
© 2016
     
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    Valladora
    3155, The Year of Suns
     
    Gwynn sat by Vane’s bedside with an
open book in her hand. She kept turning pages pointedly, but she wasn’t reading
a word. She was trying not to strangle the vampire in the bed beside her. She’d
been walking down the hall when Vane’s mother had come careening around a
corner and nearly sent them both tumbling. She’d sent Gwynn to sit with Vane
without explaining what was going on. Gwynn had hiked up her skirts and bolted
to the chamber, knowing something had to be wrong if Lady Evane was dashing
around as if her skirts were on fire.
    And then she’d learned the truth.
Vane had been hiding a key fact that could help save his life, and she’d had to
dig her nails into her palms to keep from strangling him when he told her. Vane
had the Dissolution, the only disease a vampire could get, and the illness
almost always proved fatal unless the vampire could drink from its fated mate.
Vane had insisted on being stubborn when his family began making plans to find
his mate. Vane and Arion, apparently, had fallen out with each other twenty
years ago, and Arion had left. Gwynn hadn’t been born at the time, so she’d
only pieced the story together through what others had told her over the last
few days. But according to everyone, it had been tragic and heartbreaking on
both sides, and Vane had never tried to seek his mate out and reconcile with
him.
    She shifted in her seat, glaring
over at Vane. If he wanted to be that way, it was his business for the most
part, but it was a completely different thing when it could kill him. He’d
hidden the fact that Arion was a lycan, knowing full well that telling his
family that vital detail would make it so much easier to track the man down.
Unless Arion returned and gave his blood to Vane, the vampire would probably
die. Only a small percent of vampires recovered from the Dissolution on their
own.
    Vane sighed and met her glare with
a pleading glance. “Just smother me. We’ll all be happier. You’re so angry the
castle might spontaneously combust any moment.”
    “Glad you’re feeling well enough to
make jokes,” Gwynn said sharply before tossing the book onto the bed. “What
bloody right do you have to hinder others from helping you? If you’d just told
everyone right away that Arion was a lycan, they could’ve written to Sigmund.
You’ve cost them days, and we don’t even know how many
fucking days you have.”
    Vane swallowed and fidgeted with
his blankets a little. “I can’t do anything but apologize. I know you don’t
want to hear excuses—”
    “You’ve got that right!” she said,
cutting him off. She sat back in the chair and crossed her arms to keep her
hands still. She wanted to give him a good shake.
    After taking a couple of deep
breaths, he said, “But I truly would rather die than see him again. It’ll hurt
too much. Why can’t I make anyone understand that? I was in love with him, but
he never loved me. I ruined things just as he was warming to me. He’s built a
life for himself, and I don’t want to intrude on that.” He sighed. “You know
the story? Everyone’s been whispering the last couple of days, I know.”
    “Aye, I’ve got the gist of it. A
girl was raped, and she accused him. You locked him up, and then it turned out
it was actually one of the bandits he’d saved you from. He was hurt and left.”
The stories she’d heard had contained more details, but angry as she was, she
didn’t want to cause Vane more pain.
    Vane’s eyes glazed over a bit.
“Yes. He was so angry and hurt. I broke his heart, too, in a different way. He
said he could never love someone who had so little faith in him. He said if I
truly loved him I would leave him in peace and never try to find him. I made a
promise, and I’m angry you’ve all made me break it.”
    He didn’t look very angry, and