How much Giovanni was willing to put up with to get his sire’s library back was debatable, but he wasn’t in the mood to confide in the blond bastard in front of him.

“Go away and do something useful, Lorenzo,” he said. “Never mind, that’s probably not possible.”

“So sullen, Papà. Where is your toy human? Has she taken another lover again?”

With one sweep of her arm, Tenzin blew the four guards halfway across the grounds before she rounded on Lorenzo. She lifted the vampire by the collar and shot into the air.

“Be careful what you say about my friend, little boy. You may think you are safe here because it is customary to respect the Elders, but do not forget that my sire is the oldest of all. And while I may bow to his wishes at times…” She dropped Lorenzo a few feet before grabbing him again. “…in general, I am a very disrespectful daughter.”

She spoke just loud enough for Giovanni to hear. He noticed that Zhongli’s guards were taking their time walking back across the grounds, and Lorenzo’s dangling form was beginning to attract attention.

Giovanni smiled and sat on a bench to wait.

“Let me down.” Lorenzo was trying to sound nonchalant, but Giovanni could hear the quiver in his voice.

“Fine,” Tenzin said and she dropped him. His son landed in a heap at his feet before he shot up and walked back toward Zhongli’s guards, never sparing Giovanni a glance. Tenzin flew down and sat next to him.

“You really need to get rid of him.”

“I know.”

“What were you thinking?”

“It’s a long story.”

Giovanni watched Beatrice pace their bedroom, recounting in detail the different weapons she had tried in practice that night. It was a few hours before dawn, and he could tell she was exhausted. But still, her heartbeat was jumping.

“—and then I tried the other spear, and it kind of had this hook on the end, too. Like on the side? And it was a lot lighter than it looked, something about the way the shaft is balanced or something, and then there was the shuang gou. Oh, Gio, I can’t wait to learn those. Baojia said that once I turn—”

“Which may be unnecessary. We don’t know yet.”

She only rolled her eyes and continued. “Yeah, so once I’ve turned, I’ll pick up the hook swords no problem.”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Really? He said, ‘no problem?’”

“Well, he said something about my body catching up with my amnis… or my amnis catching up with my mind. Something like that, but after that, he said I’d pick it up easily.”

Giovanni thought she was probably being optimistic, but he had to admire her enthusiasm. He smiled. “Well, even if it takes some time, it sounds like you’re getting a good idea of what options you’ll… what?”

She had turned red in the face when he said the word “options.”

“Beatrice?”

“What?”

He didn’t know what. It was strange, but she almost looked…

“Why are you blushing?”

“I’m probably just… tired. You know, I should take a bath and go to bed, I’ve—”

“You’re not just tired.” He frowned. For a brief flicker, she had looked… “Why do you look guilty?” He felt his temperature begin to rise.

Her mouth dropped open, but there it was again. Just a hint in her eye.

“I do not look guilty.”

“You do.” He sat up. “And your heart is racing. Why? Did Baojia do something inappropriate?” While he knew the vampire was interested in Beatrice, Giovanni could not imagine him acting inappropriately toward Ernesto’s favored granddaughter. Nor did he think that Beatrice would be unfaithful, but…

“No! No, Baojia was just… kind of flirting. That’s all.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Flirting?”

“Yeah.” She waved a hand. “He was joking about ‘knowing your options’ about weapons and, you know, there’s some kind of obvious jokes and… yeah, just being silly.”

“Silly?”

“Why do you keep repeating the last word of everything I say? That’s annoying.”

He couldn’t keep the smile from his mouth. “Annoying?”

She picked up a pillow and threw it, hitting him dead in the face as he started to laugh. “We were just joking around!”

“I believe you, so why are you throwing things at me?” He couldn’t stop chuckling at her consternation. “You’re very cute when you’re embarrassed.”

“I’m not embarrassed. I’m irritated.”

“At Baojia?”

“At you!”

He kept laughing and pulled her onto the bed as she tried to walk past. “Did he ask if you wanted to play with his sword?”

“Stop,” Beatrice said as she began laughing, too. Soon, they were wrestling on the bed and he had her arms pinned above her head so she had to stop slapping at him. “I’ll have you know,” she said, gasping, “I told him that I only liked European spears.”

Giovanni burst into laughter again and leaned down to kiss her. His head fell forward as he buried it in the crook of her neck. “Beatrice, I’m not jealous.”

“Why not?”

He lifted his head and met her mouth, stealing her breath when he kissed her. “Because no one, tesoro mio, will ever love you the way that I do. Of this, I have no doubt.”