After her discussion with Sean following their last meeting, Claire still wasn’t sure whether or not she had gotten through to him. After all, there’d be no way to know that for sure until the next time he found himself needing to pass judgment on a lawbreaker again. To distract herself from worrisome thoughts for at least an hour or so, she pondered taking one of the horses down the beach to try and clear her head. But before she could do that, she’d have to have her nightly meal. On that thought, she headed out of the bedroom to locate one of the servants.

As she descended the stairs, she took pause when she saw that there was a man waiting in the main hall outside Sean’s office. He sat upon one of the sofas with some combination of boredom and impatience. But that was not the first thing she noticed; the first thing was his beauty. He had long black hair which was slowly working its way loose from a ponytail that had been resting upon his shoulder. The long mane was accented by dark eyes above a thin frame where he was dressed in fine, rich red and black velvet.

Upon noting her arrival, he stood with a polite smile while Claire continued to stare across the main hall at him for a long moment, “am I right?” she heard him asking a moment later, unaware of what he had said prior to that at all, as she had been too distracted by his appearance to notice anything else for several seconds.

“Pardon?” Claire responded, her attention returning to the present at last and forcing her feet to take a few steps toward where he now stood a small distance in front of the sofa that had been his seat upon her entrance.

“I said you must be the Prince’s wife” he told her with a knowing smile at that obvious distraction that had prevented her from even processing the beginning of his greeting.

“Or just Claire” she offered with a slightly embarrassed smile as she moved toward him to offer her hand. He easily took and kissed the hand, his lips just as cool as her own skin, telling her what his aura only faintly displayed, as he was apparently nearly as old as she.

“Pleased to meet you. Palmiro Cantarini; or just Palmer” he offered with that faint Italian accent and a charming smile as he released her hand after another moment.

“Are you waiting on Sean?” she managed, her composure slowly returning to her.

“Well, I was waiting to speak with him after he was done speaking to his new Primogen” he offered, the smile still frozen on his face along with the obvious air of nobility, “but I may not need to, now.”

Claire narrowed her eyes a bit at that as she looked up at him, “why is that?”

“Because, I was actually coming to locate you” he told her in that same confident manner that he managed to hold despite her own presence which only slightly outweighed the supernatural allure he too possessed.

“Me?” Claire asked with surprise as well as wariness. After all, any time she met any new Kindred, she couldn’t help those subconscious fears that she still struggled with, despite her twenty-five years of intimacy with Aidan, Daniel and Anastasia.

“I heard that you were forced to close down a business you had run” Palmer began as he moved back toward his seat, gesturing for her to join him there.

Claire gave him another questioning look as she hesitantly moved to take the seat a moment before he retook his, “Were you interested in buying it or something? Because technically Sean is the owner. I only ran the place.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in selling it” Palmer returned.

“I hadn’t really thought about it, honestly. We’ve owned the place for over fifty years. It’s just been shut down periodically” she stated, her voice dropping slightly as the memories of all the lives that had been lost at The Loft came back to her. She then looked up at him again, “if you didn’t think I was selling it, then why did you ask about it?”

“Because business is something I have a talent for. And if you were interested in reopening it, I’d be interested in helping run it” he told her with that combination of charm as well as a businesslike manner which most Ventrue spoke in.

“Helping?” Claire asked skeptically.

“I have a feeling that the managerial side of the business appeals to you far less than the entertainment and hospitality side. And I am much more gifted in managing mortals’ money than I am when it comes to entertaining and interacting with them” he told her plainly, though his smile remained.

“So you’d deal with the money and I’d deal with the customers giving it to us?” Claire repeated with a raised brow.

“I’m very good at making a profit; just as I’m sure you’re very good at dealing with humans” he stated in the same confident manner.

Claire allowed a slight chuckle, “profit has never really been my main concern” she stated as she gestured around the lavish home they currently sat in.

Palmer then returned her chuckle, “well, it has always been mine; which is why I think we’d balance each other out very well indeed” he told her pointedly as his dark eyes moved over her.

Claire’s questioning look deepened as she saw his eyes moving over her slowly, “what clan are you from again?”

Palmer chuckled again, “I’m sure your Prince has told you of me and my sire’s arrival this past week.”

“So you are Ventrue?” she confirmed as she returned his look and moved her emerald eyes over him once more.

“I did say I was gifted with business and profit, did I not?” he allowed a playful smirk.

“And also gifted with catering to the desires of those you attempt to make deals with, apparently” Claire returned knowingly.

“You Toreadors are perceptive; I’ll give you that” Palmer chuckled again, “besides, that’s the building block of any partnership; knowing what your partner’s strengths are as well as their wants and needs and making that all work to your advantage as well.”

“And what is it that I want and need?” Claire had to ask with her own wry smile.

“I’m guessing that you want to be surrounded by all that humanity your kind love so dearly. And that you’d much rather be out among the mortals than hidden away in your big fancy house, wouldn’t you?” Palmer offered, “and why not make a business out of it, as you’ve tried to do many times in the past? Only this time you’ll only have to worry about the parts of the business that don’t bore you. I can take care of the rest for you; and do it rather well if I do say so.”

“You did a bit of research on Sean and me before coming here, didn’t you?” Claire replied warily.

“I always do. It’s another building block to that success my kind are so good at amassing” he admitted with another smile.

“And I’m guessing you have some reason for coming to me instead of just starting your own business?” Claire asked as she continued to watch him closely, picking out what few faint colors she could see in his aura.

“Why buy a business of my own, when I can be partners with someone who already has an established business, and doesn’t honestly care that much about making money for themself?” he stated bluntly.

“So, you obviously want a bigger cut of the profit for yourself?” Claire stated as she continued to watch that aura.

“You already have an established life, home and fortune here, as well as your husband’s thriving import/export and real estate business. I took that to mean that you wouldn’t care that much if you retained ownership and managerial rights and I got the bigger portion of the profits from the tavern” he paused only a moment before moving on. “I left my own business behind to come here and let my sire take up the mantle of Primogen for your Prince. I need a new source of income as my own fortune will eventually dwindle, considering how very long eternity is. Your husband’s doesn’t seem to be dwindling anytime soon though” he added with another pointed look around the home.

Claire was quiet a long moment as she continued to watch him before speaking again, “I wasn’t actually forced to close down the tavern; I chose to.”

“Why?” Palmer asked without pause.

“Because it was too successful” Claire told him pointedly.

“Pardon?” Palmer asked with a creased brow.

“Other tavern owners got very angry that I was doing much more business than them. And there was a bloody retaliation which led to more… bloody retaliation” she stated with a sigh, eyes down.

“I hope you greeted them with our own brand of retaliation” Palmer returned.

“Yes but…” she just shook her head as she reached into the cabinet next to the sofa to retrieve a bottle of red.

“But what?” Palmer pressed as she poured herself a glass.

“But there comes a time when it’s just too much blood” Claire told him softly as she took a sad sip.

Palmer scoffed through another faint smile, “never heard a Kindred make that complaint.”

“A lot of people died; people that didn’t deserve to” Claire stated in the same near whisper as she downed another sip.

“You Toreadors really are…” he began, only to halt when her eyes came up to him quickly, a silent warning in them. He then forced another smile, “well at least this way if we’re too successful, which I’m sure we will be; you can share the blame with me. I can take it” he added as the small smirk returned.

“And I can’t?” Claire returned with a bit of coolness.

“You don’t seem to be taking it all that well judging by that guilty look on your face when I’ve heard that it’s been years since you closed the place” he told her boldly which caused a slight glare from her, short-lived though it was.

“So the plan is that I deal with the customers, and you deal with the money and make most of the profit; in exchange for you dealing with the consequences the next time something goes wrong there?” Claire scoffed.

“Well I don’t intend on allowing things to go wrong” he told her with the same confidence that came with his noble birth even before his embrace gave him even more.

“I’ll pretend that didn’t sound like an insult and point out that it’s very hard to predict what may go wrong when dealing with mortals” Claire pointed out.

“I guess it’s a good thing we’re so good at controlling them and putting them in their place if need be” he stated with the same bluntness.

“That sounds just a little un-Camarilla-like” she warned with narrowed eyes.

“Camarilla means living peacefully with them when possible; it doesn’t mean coddling them and letting them get away with causing trouble for us” Palmer told her in the same cool, confident manner. “We were given these powers over them for a reason; it would be pure foolishness not to use those powers to keep them in line and maintain that peace, wouldn’t it?”

Claire sighed heavily as that was exactly what Sean had done when it came to dealing with Ilana; but it still never sat well with most any Toreador to deal with humans in such a heavy-handed way as the rest of the clans seemed to. Then again, that was most likely because Toreadors did so highly revere humans and humanity itself; which led to them rarely if ever using those powers against the rather defenseless mortals surrounding them on most nights.

“So you’re basically telling me I need to be less humane” Claire scoffed as she took another sip.

“I’m not telling you to go around the city ripping out throats like some sort of Sabbat vampire; but I do think you’d do well to take advantage of the strength we’ve been given. As esoteric as it may sound, these powers were given to us for a reason; to keep us safe from them. If we ignore that fact, it leads to problems with them… like letting them shed so much blood that you’d rather close down your business and hide inside your mansion than deal with them the way they need to be dealt with when they behave in such a way.”

Claire shook her head, “Sean already took care of it himself; and he already has an enforcer as well” she stated in reference to Lissa’s role as leading most of the blood hunts thanks to her powerful and bestial abilities; back when Sean still had even ordered any of those hunts, before Ilana.

“Then I’ll be yours” Palmer told her with another wry grin.

Claire looked up at him quickly once more, “I’m not a Prince.”

“I was just speaking in relation to your business interests. But now that you mention it, you will be Prince after Sean, won’t you?” he stated with another smile.

That did do well to cause Claire to adopt a look of worry, “was that meant to be a threat against Sean?”

“Come now, you can see my aura, can’t you?” Palmer denied, his smile remaining.

“Faintly” Claire told him cautiously.

“I just mean that you’re his heir aren’t you?”

Claire looked down as that was the first time that thought had even occurred to her. Swallowing hard, she found a response, “we haven’t really discussed it; as he’s not even been Prince for sixty years yet.”

“Well if not you, then who?” Palmer asked interestedly.

“My childe, maybe; if he ever leaves England to move here permanently” she shrugged, “like I said, we haven’t discussed it.”

Palmer scoffed, “I’d say that’s a pretty important thing for a Prince to discuss; especially when the last one was murdered.”

“And that sounded like a threat too” Claire narrowed her eyes at him once again.

“It’s a matter of self-interest, honestly. After all, we came all the way from Italy to serve this Prince. We need to know that his rein is secured and that there’s a plan in place for if anything did happen” he told her pointedly, “and again, look at my aura” he offered once more.

Claire was then the one who scoffed, “you’re telling me that you don’t have any desire to be Prince yourself?”

“Every Ventrue wants to be Prince” he admitted with another chuckle, “but that doesn’t mean we’re plotting to kill our current one. The Camarilla doesn’t exactly look fondly on such behavior.” He then watched her for a moment as she sighed in thought, “you seem to have gotten quite a bit more melancholic since I mentioned you being Sean’s heir.”

Claire sighed once more, “like I said, we haven’t discussed it” she repeated once more.

“And you don’t appear to want to discuss it. Not interested in being Prince yourself?” Palmer asked attentively.

“Neither Sean nor I ever wanted that kind of responsibility” she admitted.

“Definitely not a Ventrue” he murmured through a smile before continuing, “if you are that unhappy about becoming Prince someday then perhaps you should tell him.”

Claire shook her head, “Sean is quite aware that I’d never be interested in that role. That’s probably the reason we haven’t talked about it.”

“Then perhaps you and I need to help him find another candidate” Palmer stated plainly.

“And I suppose you have someone in mind?” Claire returned wryly as she looked toward the still closed office door that both of their sires were still behind.

“One thing about my kind; we always have someone in mind.”