Page 85 of Thorn Evermore
“What’s wrong with Yves?”
“Nothing’s wrong. He’s resting.” She glances over her shoulder. “Viv gave him something to calm down.” She opens the door wider to let us in. “He…” She pauses, clearly struggling over her words. “I don’t know how to explain it, but he felt something that really disturbed him.”
“Something?”
“He wouldn’t say what it was, but he called it a ghost from the past.”
Her words trigger a memory. “Second time that’s happened recently. Is he awake?”
“Yes, but he’s not himself.”
“I’m fine, Viper,” Yves says, appearing in the hallway.
His appearance startles me. The normally composed man is wearing only pajama pants, his hair is messy, and he looks tired.
“We have a new member of our family,” Yves continues, his smile warm.
Kyson smiles, but leans into me.
“Don’t fear me,” Yves says. “Thorn is far more terrifying, so if you can handle him, you can handle me.”
“You downplay yourself, brother.”
Yves’s eyes settle on me. “I am happy for you. You needed Kyson more than you knew.”
I nod as my chest fills with warm feelings for my maker. “But how are you?”
“Better now. Come, let’s have a celebratory drink.”
“I think you need to rest more,” Viv says, stomping around the corner. “What I gave you was powerful.”
“Obviously. I feel wonderful.”
“Yves,” Viv whines, glancing at me with pleading eyes.
I simply shrug. “No one can make Yves do what he does not want to.”
Yves chuckles, heading for his study. Viv hurries over to me with Viper on the other side of Kyson.
“You should have seen it,” Viv whispers, as if Yves couldn’t hear her if he wanted to. “He was distraught.”
I glance in his direction, filled with concern. “These memories have been popping up. Something happened before us.”
Viper nods. “He said it was nothing but his memories compressing.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“I can hear you,” Yves calls out. “It’s nothing to be worried about.”
“Are you sure?” I ask, entering the study. “You can talk to me, or I can get Syn if you’d rather.”
“I don’t need to talk.” He pours several glasses of the finest blood in his collection. “It’s… remnants of memories. Nothing solid.”
“But why does it bother you so much?” Viv asks. “At least tell us that.”
His expression hardens but he nods. “It’s about my original coven. I haven’t thought of them in centuries, but for some reason I’ve been having flashbacks. Like I said, just snippets. Someone died. Someone important to me. Tonight, Iswear…” His voice trails off as his eyes move to the windows. “I swear I caught his scent, but then it was gone.”
“Brother,” I whisper, but he waves off my concern.