Chapter Thirty-Three
Tempest was still weak from the tranquilizers when they arrived at Roman’s home. She’d napped most of the hour and a half drive. That was proof she was still feeling the effects of the drugs. While Aiden drove like an old woman, Roman drove like he was in a street race, and she was pretty sure most people found it hard to sleep while he was behind the wheel.
Roman insisted she be checked by Justin and for some reason, wanted her in his home for the exam. His house came as a surprise. While the house was on a very large piece of land, it wasn’t very big. She’d say it was larger than your average middle class home, but would be surprised if he had more than five bedrooms. She remembered Aiden had told her Roman preferred solitude. She supposed he had little need for dozens of bedrooms if he didn’t have many visitors.
She leaned heavily against Aiden as they walked to the house. He was still scowling because she wouldn’t let him carry her. Ivy was scowling at her for the same reason. Roman alternated between scowling at her for being injured and scowling at Aiden for touching her.
Suddenly, the door burst open and a girl who looked around twelve or thirteen years old raced across the lawn to greet them. “Claudia!” she shouted. Her vibrant red hair cascaded behind her. Her eyes were covered with dark sunglasses, but Tempest knew they would be almost purple. Roman’s description of her in his blog had been perfect.
“Sofia?” she asked, and Roman seemed surprised by her recognition of his mother.
Sofia hugged her. “I cannot believe you’re still alive! When I left you, I thought I’d never see you again. Was I wrong about the baby? Or was it one of the Maitlands? Aiden, take your hands off her!” she scolded in her heavily accented voice. “Seeing your hair this color makes me want to change my color, as well. How did you manage to get it so light?”
Everyone looked confused. Roman recovered first and asked, “Do you have something you want to tell me? I mean about Claudia, not why you’re in my home.”
Sofia flushed. “I’m sure Claudia has already told you what happened.”
“I’m not Claudia,” Tempest explained.
Sofia seemed to deflate.
“This is my granddaughter,” Roman introduced before gesturing to Ivy. “Both of these young ladies are my granddaughters.” Most people would probably have assumed he felt nothing, but Tempest saw the slight tensing of the muscles in his jaw. “The last time I saw you with Claudia, you wanted her dead. Obviously, you saw her after that. You saw her after I believed she was dead. Would you care to elaborate?”
“I don’t understand,” Sofia said, appearing more than a little lost. “How can you have granddaughters?”
“It would seem, on rare occasions, we have female children, but the women don’t inherit our longevity,” Roman explained.
“I assumed she wasn’t pregnant when she couldn’t take blood or energy,” Sofia explained, but she seemed to be talking mostly to herself “I tried to teach her how to feed but she couldn’t do it, and the blood made her terribly sick.”
“How did take blood without a male to help you?” Roman asked with a look of horror.
“With a knife of course,” Sofia replied as if he were an idiot.
“Of course.” he muttered. “You and Claudia were going around slicing people open to get blood. I wonder why I hadn’t guessed that.”
Sofia merely shrugged, oblivious to his sarcasm.
Aiden held Tempest closer when she swayed some. “Can we finish this discussion inside? Tempest really needs to lie down.”
Roman nodded and gestured toward the house. “Justin should be here soon.”
They all moved into the family room. There was a huge television on the wall, and several comfortable sofas and armchairs around the room. Aiden settled her onto one of the sofas and Roman wrapped a fluffy blanket around her. Ivy watched with amusement as the men fussed over Tempest.
When they were satisfied Tempest was comfortable, Roman sat and turned his attention to Sofia again. He idly played with the wedding band on his finger as he considered what he’d already learned. When he rested his hand on his knee, Tempest noticed the pink nail polish stain on his dress pants. She didn’t get a chance to wonder where the stain had come from.
“Now that we have Tempest settled in, I would like to know what really happened to Claudia after my father found her,” Roman told Sofia.
Sofia paced back and forth rather than taking a seat. “I’m not really sure where to begin.”
“Start with how Claudia ended up with you,” Roman suggested.
Sofia finally stopped pacing and sat across from Roman. “You already know I was angry at your father for bringing Claudia home. She was just another woman to replace me. It had been happening for years and obviously it did nothing for my ego. As you may have guessed, at that time, I was having an affair myself. After our confrontation, I realized my jealousy was silly. Claudia didn’t want your father any more than I did or she wouldn’t have run off with you. Why fight with her over a man neither of us wanted? My intention had been to let you go on with your lives.
“Alessandro, my lover,” she gave her explanation to Tempest and Ivy, “left me a note saying he’d found a way for us to be together. I knew he was going to offer to trade Claudia to your father for my freedom. I also knew your father would kill us all if we were lucky. During my marriage, I discovered there are many things worse than death. I knew about your estate in London, and I knew Viktor was heading to Ireland. I’d hoped to beat your father there and find a way to keep us all alive. By chance, I ran into three men taking Claudia away. They were humans, talking about the horrible things they would do to her before she died.”
Roman paled, but Sofia smiled. “Claudia was so brave. She didn’t show an ounce of fear. When they noticed me, naturally, they thought I was no threat. I used a simple compulsion to make them kill each other and fled with Claudia. I took her to Scotland because I knew the Maitland’s would be willing to hide her from your father until I found you.”
“How did you know how to find the Maitland’s?” Roman asked, obviously struggling to keep up with the story.
“At one time, Lochlan Maitland was a friend of your father’s. During his many visits, we became very good friends.” She leaned in close to Ivy and spoke in a conspiratorial voice, “The Maitland’s are quite impressive, in case you’re still single.”
Ivy blushed.
“You had an affair with him, too?” Roman sounded more impressed than reproachful.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Roman,” Sofia scoffed. “Lochlan prefers men.”
Roman laughed. “That certainly explains his falling out with my father. Please continue.”
“I had a brief tryst with Collin Maitland,” she explained without giving Roman a chance to reply before she continued. “I had so much fun traveling with Claudia. I’d never had a female friend before. She was so spirited and full of life. I hated to leave her, but I’d promised to find you. I didn’t think it would take me so long. By the time I located you, nearly a century had passed. There wasn’t any reason to tell you all this. Claudia was gone, and you couldn’t stand the sight of me.” She shrugged her delicate shoulders. “I’m not really sure what happened to her. I thought about contacting the Maitland’s, but I couldn’t stand the idea of hearing about her death. It was easier to lie to myself and pretend I would see her again one day.”
Roman remained silent as he tried to process what Sofia had told him.
“There are other women in their family,” Aiden told her.
Sofia smiled brightly. “I would really like to meet them all!”
Roman looked sad and a little lost.
It came as no surprise when Ivy moved to stand by his chair. “Are you okay?” She gave him a shy smile. “I’m still not really sure what to call you.”
He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. “There have been a great many shocks for all of us lately. We’ll work through them together and figure out titles.”
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“I’m sorry about your son,” Tempest said, remembering his recent loss.
“Thank you,” he replied. “It was a terrible shock.”
Ivy’s eyes widened and Tempest wondered what she had suddenly picked up from their grandfather. It was becoming obvious there was much more to him than people knew.
The sound of the doorbell was a welcome interruption.
“That’s probably Justin. I’ll go let him in,” Roman offered as he hastily left the room.