Leo looked away, toward the crack in the curtains, where the sunlight started to shine through. "By the time Nora was fourteen, my father needed funds to help with his bloody war against the fae witches and whatever enemy he had that particular week. Older vampire males were willing to pay a small fortune, first to take Nora's virginity, and then to breed children on her."
Yesenia’s stomach churned. It was much, much worse than she'd imagined. Nora had only been fourteen, still mostly a child herself.
One thrown to strangers, males decades older than her, who had probably taken her against her will.
And if being raped hadn't been bad enough, her children had been taken from her. Somehow, she didn't think Ambrose had been the only one.
Trying her best to keep tears from falling at how shitty Nora's early life had been, Yesenia finally found her voice. "How many times did she have to go through it?"
Leo clenched his fingers into fists. "She birthed five children. Nora only has Ambrose because his father didn't want a defective son who couldn't talk and my father allowed the heartless bastard to impregnate my sister again for the fifth and final time before her frozen state set in."
Holy hell, Nora had been forced to have sex with at least four males and birth their children. Four babies torn from her arms forever, without a word, no doubt.
And she'd gone through the fucking ordeal twice with one of the males, one who'd tossed away Ambrose as a piece of trash simply because he wasn't what he considered perfect.
Oh, Nora.More than ever, Yesenia wanted to keep helping her.
Although right now, as she stared at Leo's clenched fingers, tightened jaw, and the way he refused to look at her, she needed to focus on him. Because he somehow blamed himself, although given what she knew of him, she couldn't imagine how or why.
Before she could ask any of the million questions running through her head, he continued. "I'm fourteen years older than Nora. I should've been able to protect her, to keep her safe, and save her from all those years in hell."
She touched his arm, but Leo flinched and she retreated. "I think you tried to, though, right?"
He shook his head. "I never had the chance. At twenty, my father sold me to the human army for a twenty-year contract. Nora was six when I left, and by the time I returned, she was already in her frozen state. I didn't know about any of what she went through until it was long over."
Having been in the army, all the scars on his body now made sense. "Leo…"
His eyes finally returned to hers, blazing. "I wasn't able to help Nora when she needed me most. I couldn't protect her, give her the choice to whom she bedded or when. Nor could I prevent her birthing children and having them ripped from her side. But I won't force anything onto you that you don't want, Yesenia. On that, you have my word. I will do whatever you wish to make it so."
* * *
Leo waitedfor Yesenia's gaze to turn horrified at how inept he'd been in his youth, regarding Nora. Even if his sister had assured him repeatedly that he hadn't known, their father had threatened anyone who dared breathe a word to him or Laurie, and he'd had no way of stopping what had happened.
And yet, Leo had never accepted that. He'd been young at first, enjoying the final years before his frozen state, fighting and fucking his way through his twenties. A more responsible brother would've written to his sister and grown suspicious when she didn't write back, since he'd learned later their father had kept Nora in near isolation from aged fourteen until twenty-four, when she'd finally frozen.
Even now, his sister wouldn't step out of their home unless absolutely necessary, afraid of taunts and sneers by those who still remembered what their father had done. Despite her having no say, females leased out as breeders were seen as ruined, soiled, and their behaviors contagious to anyone who associated with them.
As if kind, gentle Nora could ever be either of those things, let alone encourage others to follow the same path. Nora never talked about that hellish decade, but the few times he'd caught her staring out the window unawares, he'd seen shame, and fear, and a number of emotions he wouldn't wish on anyone, let alone his little sister.
With anyone else, he'd never breathe a word of Nora's past. But Yesenia was his bride, and he needed her to believe he meant what he said about not forcing her, ever. And not just because lying was painful for him. He'd never force a female to have children against her will, let alone watch her be as powerless as his sister had been in the decision-making process.
Many of his contemporaries scoffed at his attitudes, but then they'd never had their beloved sister sold into a type of sexual slavery and dealt with the aftereffects.
She placed her hand over his fist and squeezed. Even though he should brush away her touch, he couldn't seem to do it, wanting the peace and calm it seemed to bring him.
Yesenia finally spoke. "I hope you aren't trying to equate yourself with your father, Leopold Yates. Because even if I've never met him, saying you're just like him is a load of horseshit."
He blinked. "Pardon?"
"You heard me: horseshit. You aren't trying to sell my body for money, or whatever else that rotten bastard did. Honestly, once I get my magic working, I'm tempted to make your father's final moments painful and hellish. End his life a few minutes early, perhaps. That way you'd still be here without anything changing, I think, and no one would be the wiser about my slice of retribution."
He frowned. His bride wasn't making any sense. "You're not going to murder anyone, Yesenia. You don't want that on your conscience."
She sniffed. "Maybe not. But perhaps I'll find a trained horse to kick him in the balls, or something. He deserves some sort of pain for being such a monster."
Her blood thirsty nature made him smile a beat before he remembered why he was here in the first place. "My father is long dead. Right now, I'm only concerned about you and what you want, Yesenia."
She tilted her head and studied him a second. "Well, it's a little early to freak out yet, at any rate. I know, I know, I did last night. But it was just…a surprise." He opened his mouth to apologize again, but she continued before he could, "However, going forward you'll promise to use condoms, or get me sponges, or a magic-infused ring, or whatever else you use to prevent pregnancy in 1890. I'm not saying I never want to be a mother, but I have a shit-ton to do right now, you know? Starting with getting my magic working as it should."