Vasile looked to me and then to Christoph. “Your clan is yours to do with as you think best. We won’t protest.”
“Thank you. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Christoph said, body visibly shaking, his pride no doubt doing the same. Mine shook with it, knowing how much it wounded him to be seen like this.
Vasile and Sorin left, and I followed them out.
“You’ll be there for Christoph Junior, help ease the transition?” Vasile said.
“I’ll be there,” I said, voice strong. I’d be there as I had promised, just not for Christoph Junior, but for the men he led.
“Good. He’ll need you,” he said. That an outsider could so clearly see it was simultaneously a blow to the pride I held for Clan Constantin and a reminder of why I held Vasile in such high esteem.
After our good-byes, I went back, arrived just in time to catch Christoph as he crashed against the chair, strength seeming to leave him all at once.
“You need to lie down,” I said.
“Why? That’s all I’ll be doing soon enough,” he said.
I looked at him, again noticing the grimace that he wore and then noticing the robe, paying attention as I hadn’t before.
“Who got that for you?” I asked.
“I sent Lily after it,” he said.
Which meant she’d gone upstairs, had had access to Christoph’s most unguarded places. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. My first instinct was that her being unescorted was wrong.
Then I remembered how she’d cared for him, realized in that instant that I trusted her, and my worry ceased. She’d brought Christoph what little of the comfort he’d experienced, and despite my natural wariness, the suspicion that had kept us alive, I didn’t question that trust.
Christoph’s deep, wheezing cough shook his body, and a few seconds later, Lily was there, again giving him the breathing treatment, helping ease him through the coughing fit. Her presence comforted me as much as it seemed to him, a feeling I realized I liked, one I didn’t want to get used to.
As she worked, Christoph Junior entered and I saw her stiffen. She quickly recovered and went back to her task, but the awareness, the fear that had gripped her, had been there. The need, the obligation, to protect her rose in an instant.
“Are you well, Father?” he asked.
Christoph Senior looked at his son, eyes watery as he struggled for breath, his expression conveying the annoyance that he didn’t have the breath to give voice to.
“I see you’re having some trouble. Good thing the nurse is here to help you,” Christoph said nonchalantly. He looked at Lily then. “You’re doing that, right, Lily? Helping him.”
He stared at her with a flat, curious gaze, one that I’d seen before when Christoph Junior was in the mood for one of his games, in the mood to test someone’s wits or their loyalty. Perhaps both. I wondered if this was a test of mine. I put myself between them, blocking his view of her.
“Is there business to discuss?” I asked lightly, though the hunch of my shoulders, the way I’d shifted toward him, was heavy with menace, a menace I hoped he was smart enough not to ignore.
Christoph Junior met my gaze, frowning, and I watched him, waiting, the sounds of his father’s labored breaths, Lily’s soft encouragement, pushed to the background, the moment having turned heavy, dense with danger, in the blink of an eye. He’d sensed my warning, but there was still the question of whether he’d heed it.
I turned my head to follow Christoph Junior’s gaze to where it landed on Lily, though I didn’t move. She paused, looked at Christoph Junior, and said, “I’m doing what I can.”
“Good,” Christoph Junior said, nodding. “Keep that up. Make sure you stay safe so you can be here for him.”
She turned away, looked back at Christoph Senior. “You should lie down,” she whispered, echoing my earlier words.
But unlike when I had said the same thing, he nodded as best he could and grunted as Lily helped him up.
I moved then and took the burden of Christoph’s weight. When my fingers brushed hers, I felt the rush of electricity, but I ignored it. “Let’s get you settled.”
I gestured toward the door, waited to move until Lily exited, not wanting her between Christoph Junior and me. I quickly got him to bed, and after a lingering look at Lily, I returned to the office, where Junior waited.
“What was that about?” I said when I entered.
“Just wanted to make sure the nurse wasn’t getting too comfortable, you know?”
“I thought you said she was fine. Why the change of heart?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “It seemed like a useful reminder. And I don’t answer your questions, Anton.”