Matt just blinked. “No, of course not. I know what a good man he is.”

“Then don’t even ask. If you ask B, you’re forcing her to reveal information she holds in confidence or lie to you. Do you understand?”

Matt paused before he spoke. “Yes, Tenzin.”

“Good. Now, go get your wife. I want to know more about this company.”

Matt looked abashed when he was dismissed, and Beatrice tried to catch his eye, but she could tell the man was already focused on the task at hand. The thought of Matt and Dez working with them almost brought tears to her eyes. Part of her wanted to force them to return to Los Angeles with Ben, but the other part knew that she needed them more than ever.

“Hey.” She heard Ben’s voice at the door and turned. “What’s going on?” Ben yawned and rubbed his eyes. “And who’s the weird guy?”

Ziri smiled. “My name is Ziri, boy. And I am a friend of your aunt’s.”

“What’s going on? Matt looked really upset. Is everything alright?”

Beatrice waved him over, and Ben came to sit next to her. She blurted it out, knowing that nothing she said would soften the loss of his uncle. “Gio’s been taken prisoner, but he’s going to be fine.”

All the bravado fell from Ben’s face, and he looked like the insecure child she’d first laid eyes on in the bushes outside the Huntington Library years ago.

“What? He... he’s—”

Carwyn stepped in and put a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine. We’re going to get him out. It’ll just be—”

Ben shot out of his seat; anger spread across his face. He stalked over to Tenzin. “Where the hell have you been, Tenzin? If you were here, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Beatrice rose. “Ben, she was working on—”

“What does it matter if you find Lorenzo if Gio gets killed? Don’t you care about him?”

Tenzin said nothing, staring at the boy through her dark curtain of hair.

Ziri spoke quietly from the other side of the library. “Lorenzo is here, Benjamin. He’s working with Livia. He’s the reason your uncle was taken.”

Ben eyes darted between Ziri and Beatrice. He looked back at Tenzin. Beatrice could see his anger flee. “Is it true?”

Tenzin only nodded; she stiffened when Ben threw his arms around her. Tenzin waited for a moment, but finally lifted her small arms and hugged the young man back. Beatrice could hear Ben whisper, “Get him back, Tenzin. Please, get him back.” Then he spun on his heel and rushed out of the library. Beatrice could hear him climb the stairs to his room.

They spoke about details for a few more hours. Ziri asked for the use of a bedroom with a desk and some paper to write a few letters. Beatrice was still confused about what, exactly, his part in all this was. She got the impression that there was a lot that Ziri wasn’t telling them. She also got the impression he was waiting for the mysterious Lucien Thrax, who Tenzin thought would wake a few hours after dark. Beatrice was still confused why such an old vampire needed so much sleep.

Matt had already been on the phone with Emil Conti’s people, arranging a meeting with Carwyn and their boss for the following night. Dez and Tenzin were talking about the details of the Bulgarian cosmetics company.

And Beatrice felt lost.

Finally, she realized she would be useless for anything until she could spend some time alone. She climbed the stairs to their room, only to find Ben sitting outside on the floor by the door. He looked up with red eyes.

“I know you usually don’t let anyone in your room, but—”

“Come in.”

Beatrice unlocked the door and she and Ben entered. She fought back the tears when she saw the rumpled bed Giovanni hadn’t made because they were rushing to get ready for the party the night before. A damp towel was tossed on the floor by the couch. She picked it up and inhaled the distinctive smoky smell of her mate’s skin a moment before she crumpled to the floor.

She felt Ben’s hands lifting her and pulling her to the couch. He grabbed a linen handkerchief from his pocket. He had taken to always carrying them, just like his uncle. He joked that it impressed the girls.

“I need to calm down,” she whispered, patting the bloody tears from her eyes. “He needs me to be thinking straight. To be calm and smart and—”

“It’s okay, B. It’s just us, okay?” She could hear the hitch in his voice. “For right now, it’s okay. It’s just me.”

She sniffed and tried to remember when Ben had grown up. It had happened without her even realizing it. The young man threw an arm around her shoulders, and Beatrice allowed herself to lean into him. Ben rocked back and forth, comforting his aunt and sniffing back his own tears.

Beatrice looked over to their bed and knew that she would not lay in it again until her husband returned to her. Ben was murmuring comforting words in her ear, his arms tight around her shoulders. Beatrice finally let herself close her eyes and let go of the sorrow that she’d held back for hours.

Ben was right. It was just them.

Chapter Ten

Crotone

1504

He heard Andros’s heavy step in the hall. Jacopo looked up for a moment, but quickly returned to the translation of the Arabic manuscript he was working on. It was one that his father had rescued from the destruction of the Mongols in Baghdad.

The door swept open and Andros walked over and patted his shoulder. Jacopo heard Paulo follow, carrying a heavy trunk.