Jjeffalch

Marco Woll adjust admirably to the new challenges, I suspect. After all, he is rather intrepid. He might even become a herding cat and show this ranch dogs how one keeps recalcitrant cattle in line. Or, he might just lie around and let Mrs P take care of him.

As I said in my comments on the last chapter, it was not necessarily going to be Miles who tried to re-ignite the relationship with Troy. Like @pvtguysays, "Troy is rekindling feelings" here. Miles' behavior since Edinburgh has been above reproach. Troy failing to tell Owen about going to meet Miles at the beach was for me the telling red flag--there was no reason not to, since Owen already knows about his previous texting with Miles and the planned dinner. If, as several readers suspect, Owen is already straying, well, that makes for a very neat ending and we won't have to feel that Owen is being hard done by. The only outstanding question then would be whether Troy and Miles return to the Ranch to settle down. Troy is doing so well working on his own that he can do that from anywhere. But that would raise an additional question--will Marco Polo find a Wyoming cattle ranch to be an acceptable substitute for the Kentucky horse farm he was forcibly removed from?

I was saddened to see the torture Travis has to go through now because he couldn't, or wouldn't listen to well-meant advice from Will. First to talk to somebody about help him deal with his reaction to Julian; and second, his failing to heed Will's warnings about Kendo. But he's, what, 18, or 19 years old? Not a good age for taking good advice. It's just such a shame because it could all have been avoided.

Fair point. But as I said in my penultimate comment, I don't necessarily believe he will be the one to try to rekindle things.

This is why we love you and faithfully report for reading each new chapter. There are few certainties in life--three come to mind: death, taxes,and Kbois' ability to entrall. I don't think I have missed a word you have written on this platform, @kbois. It would probably take the first of those three certainties to cause me to miss any in the future.

Well, we will see how the dinner goes. Maybe Owen attends--all good. I don't see the dinner leading anywhere except perhaps to a better friendship possibly among all three of them. If Owen doesn't attend, well, we'll see there too. I don't mean to imply that Miles will necessarily be the one to initiate something that goes beyond the purely platonic--it could be Troy. After all, Miles has had eight years to come to terms with the situation, Troy has had five months. They both have (residual?) feelings for each other. Maybe Troy is less well placed to "let sleeping dogs lie" than Miles is, certainly less well placed than he would have been had Miles sent him the explanation earlier. As I say, we'll see.

Thanks, @kbois, for a wonderful chapter. It provided a completely plausible and understandable explanation for The Abandonment, and a wrenching description of Miles' perspective on things at the time he decided to leave. He was an immature kid overwhelmed by his memories of the past. It's a shame he couldn't have left behind a little note to Troy setting out what he was feeling. Leaving like that made it worse and it almost sent Troy over the edge. Nothing in the chapter, however, gives me any satisfactory explanation about why Miles remained silent all thise years. Once he had understood why he had to leave and why his jealousy of Troy's life outside their relationship made him fear being abandoned and led him to pre-empt that by himself abandoning Troy first, Miles could put all of that into a letter to Troy. To offer the explanation and the apology that Troy deserved and that Miles finally could no longer avoid giving to Troy when they encountered each other in Edinburgh. To reinforce to Troy that he bears no responsibility whatsover for The Abandonment (for surely Troy was tormenting himself asking what he did to cause Miles to leave) -- that it was instead all due to experiences in Miles' past before he ever met Troy. To tell Troy that he knows that he has moved on and wishes him every happiness--he just thought that Troy deserved an explanation that might help him find closure. If they hadn't accidentally met in Edinburgh none of that explanation and apology would have happened. Miles would have continued his life of the the last decade and Troy would have continued his. So be it. And yet I have this horrible feeling inside that Miles' visit to Virginia is going to open the possibility Troy falling back in with him. Miles gave up on their relationship, not only through The Abandonment, but far more importantly, through the continued and deliberate silence thereafter. He does not deserve a second chance with Troy, especially since Owen is in the picture. I noticed that our Esteemed Author and and Torturer-in-Chief has (deliberately?) not revealed whether Owen knows that Troy has remained in contact with Miles. I can only hope that he has told Owen --the text messages ("always light and usually funny") seem harmless enough to have been shared. But I really really really hope that Owen joins them for dinner so that Miles can see, clearly and definitively, what he would be destroying in Troy's life if he even thinks of giving into the temptation to try for another chance with Troy. If he means what he told himself when he met Robbie after saying goodbye to Troy, that he "had to let him go",then Miles has to resist that temptation. If he doesn't, he is an entirely self-centered bastard who will compound the involuntary emotional devastation he inflicted on the man he claims to love with a deliberate destruction of the relationship that helped pull Troy out of that devastation. But frankly, that is exactly what I expect to happen, more's the pity.

Taylor should document all of Stephanie's nastiness. There will come a confrontation, and it will be good to have it all ready to show Jason what kind of witch he is with. Cynthia will support him.

This is a beautiful story, built on a startlingly original premise, and written so very beautifully. I have enjoyed all your stories immensely, @mastershakeme, but this one stands apart. Watching Eli evolve and manifest his inner strength was a wonderful experience for me-- that strength calmed and absorbed the latent menace that was always Lucien. Somehow, you have woven a beautifully self-contained tale of the intersection of the 'lives' of two people in the period of the few months between Eli being brought into the Vespers, and Eli and Lucien leaving the university after the Valentine's formal that satisfies the reader perfectly. Both protagonists have a weighty and consequential past but I never felt that the story was somehow dinished by the absence of detail. Eli starts out as an insecure freshman seeking to avoid attention, yet with the inner strength to take up the invitation from the Vespers, and not allow his insecurities to deepen into a crippling sense of inferiority. Lucien is a fascinating and entralling figure even without us understanding how he was trapped in the cell below the Chapel. The Vesper members perpetuated the monstrous crime their ancestors had initiated two centuries ago, yet somehow that was not their defining characteristic, they were interesting and mostly agreeable people. The details of that crime itself never seemed to matter for the flow if the narrative, nor did they distract from the awful reality that Eli decided, freely, to alter. That these mostly agreeable people died to enable that alteration was what made the resolution complete--their death was the consequence of the original crime--the only way to break the binding spell--and it was perfectly justified. It was handled beautifully, almost dignified. It also satisfied my sense of the need to avenge Lucien's suffering by punishing the evildoers. The two lovers now face an uncertain, totally unlimited future, but I won't feel cheated if a 'sequel' does not materialize to describe it. This story is perfection as it stands. I have one more thing to say. Bravo!

I can only go by what has been shown to us thus far. Whatever the trauma that led to The Abandonment, and however he las learned to deal with it in the intervening years, Miles does not seem to have had any non-hookup-style, lasting interaction with another male. How could he have, with his wandering life over the last 8 years? So, zero experience with an intimate relationship of any duration with someone he might have become emotionally interested in. That's what meant with that comment. Robbie was in fact a very strong and very intimate relationship, of course, but that is more of a mother-son/best-friend deal, at least as described.

I love how you explain this, @Philippe, and the comparison to the 10-year high school reunion is perfect. Neither of the two know the other and you are absolutely right to underscore the fundamental differences in their life styles. There is absolutely nothing that they have in common. They both have changed. Miles' career as a traveling YouTuber has him on the road, with an 8-year history of anonymous hookups in different ports and different cities. Troy has built a centered life and a committed relationship, WITH OWEN. They're both approaching their Thirties, and are in fundamentally different places, emotionally. Miles wouldn't know how to go about developing an emotional relationship, with Troy or anyone else. Troy already has the relationship he needs. I hope they both understand this. Their meeting is going to be wrenching and emotional, and very disturbing. But it doesn't have to be destructive, if they handle it like that high school reunion, and if Troy simply accepts Miles' explanation for The Abandonment and his apology for what he did. They can bring each other up to date on their lives; Troy can meet Robbie and introduce Miles to Owen as his freshman "boyfriend who left", and that all that's needed. They go back to their separate lives --Owen and Troy work through why he didn't come clean about knowing Miles after the vlogs; and Miles resumes his travelogue life with famous cat. I'd hope Miles would take a trip out to the ranch as soon as he gets back to the USA to apologize in person to Erik. That Abandonment was a betrayal of a good and decent man who opened his heart, home and family to a list and scared boy and who has continued to be supportive. Erik did not deserve how Miles has treated him over the years.

There is a certain poetic justice in Adrien providing Eli's first feeding as a vampire. That he did it willingly brings in balance and the possibility that he and Eli can, just maybe, develop another kind of friendship, on a completely different basis, and of course, under the suspicious supervision of Lucien.

..."a self-made mess"... but Troy had no hand in it. He was the victim of The Abandonment and had to go through 8 years not knowing what became of Miles or where he was or what he was doing, until Owen showed him the vlogs. This whole drama of the "first meeting since The Abandonment" would not have been necessary if Miles had sent a short message to Troy at some time in this 8 years, also because Troy would have talked to Owen about Miles upon getting the message. But that's been litigated to death already. The issue is what happens next. Troy has a life with Owen at the heart of it and a career that is likely to be turbocharged after the award. He needs to keep that front and center when he interacts with Miles. Miles has a motorcycle and a famous cat. He needs to think about all those remaining states he has to visit, and all his online followers whom he'll have to serve by traveling to those remaining unlimited states. They have paths that intersect accidentally in Edinburgh, but only fleetingly. Neither of them needs to allow this accidental encounter to destroy what they have each built up so over the last years.

With every scene, Ryan seems to me to be infinitely preferable as a partner to Marcus than Cameron. Ryan offers his whole self to Marcus. Cameron takes what he wants from Marcus. The question is--what does Marcus really want, and will he find out what that is in time to prevent damage to all three of them?

Of all the settings for their first contact! Troy probably hasn't spoken to Owen about Miles yet. This is going to be very awkward. So I guess we finally learn the reasons for The Abandonment in a tortured confession from Miles to Troy.

Miles does know that Troy has moved on. He said so at the end if the sunsets vlog. I don't see that as a hindrance to a simple message saying " I know what I did to you. I am sorry. And I am glad that you have found happiness." That's all it need be, I think it would be a good and honest gesture. But if he can't, he cant. Then he should just continue the way he has since The Abandonment and stay away. Totally.

Even if Owen did know about Miles, Troy should explain the surprisingly strong reaction he had to seeing the vlogs and the feelings that persist. Hiding those from Owen would start their marriage off on a very shaky foundation—if, that is, the marriage goes ahead at all, which I FERVENTLY hope it does. Sorry, eloquent apologetic messages attached to beautiful sunset vlogs notwithstanding, I cannot get over the fact that Miles has never once tried to contact Troy. Back in the US and not having to battle different time zones, every passing week of continued silence is a choice that he makes not to acknowledge directly to Troy that he knows and regrets what he did. That might allow them both to come to closure (and no, I do not expect that such logical thought processes influence the way he is thinking about this aspect of his life). But his soliloquy at the end of the subset video demonstrates clearly that he knows the damage that he caused. The very same words he used in the vlog inserted in a text or an email to Troy, even sent through Erik if needed, is all that is he has to do. He hasn’t done so, and probably never will. He may have valid reasons. But under the circumstances, if he sees their paths about to cross somehow, I hope he will do the decent thing and aim his motorcycle in a different direction. Troy does not need or deserve Mikes turning up after all this time to upset (however inadvertently) what could otherwise become a very strong and beautiful lifelong commitment to Owen.

Preceded by a long overdue and totally honest talk with Owen.

Wracking my brain but I can't remember whether Troy ever told Owen about Miles and the trauma of The Abandonment. I doubt it, though, otherwise Troy's reaction to the vlog would have been different. I hope he does tell Owen though. If he doesn't, the poor man will be totally unprepared for the inevitable meeting between Mike's and Triy that seems to be rumbling up like distant thunder. Dear God, @kbois, I surely hope and pray you are not planning to let Miles' emotional problems from the "the better part of a decade ago" reach out from the past to destroy the long and obviously good relationship between Troy and his Owen. Miles isn't cooped up on a little boat anymore, and it's a big country that he's exploring with cycke and cat. There must be some handsome, hot and hunky, single, motorcycling, cat-loving, emotionally well-centered and stable man whom Miles can meet by accident, fall into a deep attraction with, and finally start building his first healthy relationship--maybe the first months of which spent on the road riding off in the opposite direction to where Troy lives. Miles' childhood trauma should not continue to traumatize other innocent people.

True, that, about Caleb...Awww, @kbois, don't go spoiling my righteous indignation, at least, not yet--I was just starting to enjoy it!😉

Wow, @Philippe. I read this chapter and was trying to formulate my pretty negative reaction to what we have seen of Miles since The Abandonment, then I read your comment, and you've said it all, and much better than I could have. Good old Miles still seems to have a lot of unresolved stuff hanging over him--not surprising, though. He needs his therapy and seems to welcome it, but traveling as he does he can't do it regularly. But like @Philippesaid--Miles setting those conditions on Erik, well, pretty selfish. And with what right, after "the better part of a decade"?, I ask myself. Nah, he's stamped out whatever latent sympathy I might still have had for him. By the time we finally find out what caused The Abandonment, if ever, it won't matter to me any more. Miles' refusal to make any attempt to contact Troy over "the better part of a decade" and his insistence that Erik not share information about Miles with Troy unless Troy asks directly make any form of reconciliation between Mikes and Troy seem totally out of reach and fundamentally undesirable in any event, and if it does happen, utterly unbelievable. I can't imagine what could motivate Miles to finally explain himself to Troy at this late stage, but if Miles' train does somehow cross Troy's track, and by some miracle he does finally tell Troy what he should have told him "the better part of a decade" ago, then I hope Troy's reaction is to politely say "Thank you" and then to proceed with his life.

I don't understand something. The wireless broadcast drew outside attention to Vane's inhuman abuses and brought Cameron on deck. Did no-one set parameters for the treatment of the boys after Vane? Or are they all complicit, willing to accept a new, equally abusive but more surreptitious approach, anything that could banish the spectre of gayness? What about Lord Miller, who had apparently been threatening the Prime Minister because of the mistreatment of his son?

This chapter was perfect, because Lucien was perfect in it. He made clear to Sadie, and far more importantly, to Eli himself, how utterly absolute his commitment to Eli is. Eli is Lucien's only way out of his entrapment, but what binds them together goes way beyond that. Eli can hold onto that through the tough decisions and actions that lie ahead.

We readers are all relieved that Troy has moved on. But it wasn't easy...as I read the quote below, Troy suffered through a Miles-induced period of about a year, before he could even consider being part of a relationship again. "We had met at a party at the end of my sophomore year. Owen was a friend of a friend that Dutch introduced me to. We had hit it off pretty well that night. I was still reluctant to move forward, part of me wanting Miles to stroll back into my life. Up until then, I didn’t want any part of a relationship. Instead, I spent the months after his departure pity-fucking my way through the Grindr app. Hook-ups had been my coping mechanism until Owen came along." But the first six months were obviously a struggle until Erik finally told Troy that he'd been in touch with Miles and about his job on the boat-clearly Miles wasnt coming back... I feel that that news triggered the actual letting-go process that Troy needed. None of this changes my opinion that somewhere in that period, Miles should have sent an apology to Troy. It might have taken a few months til he himself had settled down after the upheaval. But, not even a one line text message in all that time? I agree with @jaysalmn, logically, that at this point I'm hoping Mike's does not come back. But, I re-read chapter 13. In that whole chapter, Miles' pov, the are two references to Troy--first, when he reveals that he made Erik promise not to say anything to Troy: then in the last sentence, "I felt his absence like the searing pain of a phantom limb." Nowhere any sign that he understands and regrets what he did to Troy, although it probably was unavoidable. Troy by contrast, six months into dealing with Miles' abandonment, reacted positively when his dad, finally, told him what had become of Miles. He smiled and "felt relieved that Miles had found something that would let him travel". That sentiment, that Miles had found something good for himself, enabled Troy to start letting go. The difference in the two mindsets is profound. Troy all along seemed to understand why Miles left and, instead of wallowing in bitterness, deep down wished him well. Miles by contrast, seems still entirely absorbed by his own pain-no thought fir the pain he caused to stroy and to everyone on the ranch. I get that it was probably too soon for him when he started the sailing trip. Maybe in one of the next chapters we'll see how his healing has gone. I hope that he's gets a safe enough mental space that he can finally examine the consequences of his actions, not just for himself, but for the love he left behind. So maybe they should meet up again, in say three more years, so that he can apologize to Troy, then get back on his ship and sail away again.

I get the sense that Daniel is developing feelings for Julian that the latter seems unaware of. If so, I hope it does not lead to tension when Sam arrives.