Mara walked over to her chair and sat, crossing her legs at the ankle while giving him her full attention. He nearly groaned. This was not a conversation he wanted to have.
“What can you tell us about him?” she demanded.
“Nothing you don’t already know.” Ronan pushed himself upright so that he was sitting. “I knew the man he was, but I’ve not seen him in centuries. As I’m sure you know, people change over the years. I don’t know the vampire he is now.”
As he finished speaking, pain squeezed his heart. It was something he’d not let himself think about since he’d first heard about the infamous King Aiden. The man he’d known a thousand years ago was dead. Yes, the creature he’d danced with tonight still had Aiden’s lovely dark-golden eyes and lush brown hair. He had Aiden’s laugh and wonderful smile with the little crinkles at the corners of his eyes.
But the man he’d known was gone.
Was he fooling himself, pursuing Aiden like this? Was he trying to recapture something that was long gone just so he didn’t have to spend another second regretting the chance he never took?
Was it fair to Aiden? The vampire had moved on. He’d loved and created a family. He had a new life that looked to be fantastic without Ronan. Would Aiden be happier if Ronan boarded a plane and returned to his life in Europe?
He kept telling himself that he was getting a second chance, but it wasn’t a real second chance. He’d never taken a first chance. They’d both died and been reborn new people in new lives.
Fine. Then it was their first chance as vampire Ronan and vampire Aiden. If he’d met Aiden one evening while hunting or pursuing some amusement, he still would have been stopped by his beauty and entrancing smile. He would have stopped to hear his laugh, his voice. Ronan would have definitely tried to seduce him.
Fuck Mara and the European Ministry. Fuck the world. He still wanted to try this, whether it was a first or a second chance. He needed to know who was walking around in Aiden’s body, because he thought there might be a small chance that he could love this man at least half as much as he loved human Aiden. And that was still a hell of a lot of love.
Mara glared at him, releasing a slow, irritated breath, but at least she didn’t argue with him. “Should I question whether your allegiance to the Ministry has wavered due to this unexpected development?”
Ronan smirked. “I’m as loyal to the Ministry as I’ve ever been. Nothing on that front has changed.”
Of course, he didn’t feel the need to explain that his loyalty to the vampire-ruling body was kind of ankle-deep at best. He’d spent most of his existence ignoring them, and when he became older than the majority of the ministers, he outright avoided them. It was only out of boredom that he agreed to work for the Ministry. Existence had become tedious, and he’d grown too out of touch with life. He’d thought a job would give him some purpose.
The job didn’t give him any kind of pleasure, but at least it got him out of bed each night.
“So be it,” Mara muttered. “Our task remains the same. We need to uncover how easily Aiden can be influenced by the European Ministry. The last governing body in this land was quite open to whispers from Europe, and the ministers would like to resume that arrangement.”
“Why? Why does it matter what’s happening over here? Doesn’t the European Ministry have enough trouble on its hands worrying about what’s happening in Europe?” Ronan snapped.
Mara reclined in her seat, her hands neatly folded across her tiny stomach as she glared at him. “It matters because when radical ideas take hold in the US and other territories, vampires in Europe start getting the crazy idea that they can have it as well. What if King Aiden decides to inform American humans that vampires are real? Do you think that information is going to just stop at the ocean? Do you think such a thing isn’t going to impact vampires in Europe? And what about this insanity of mating with werewolves? That breaks the old accords.”
“And the European Ministry thinks it’s wiser to simply control him rather than treat him like an equal, have a conversation with him?” Ronan was hard-pressed to keep the disgust from his voice.
Mara barked out a high-pitched laugh. “An equal? Do you really think he’s an equal to the European Ministry?”
Ronan wanted to say that he thought Aiden was superior to all of the Ministry members combined, but that wasn’t going to help his or Aiden’s cause, so he kept his mouth shut. He’d probably said too much already, but he couldn’t help himself when it came to Aiden.