He took a deep breath, dropping his eyes to the counter for a moment. He lifted them again, meeting hers head on. He kept his voice even, no hesitation. "The vampires desired servants on that side of the Veil. As for my fetters? Some of them always remained on my person. Others were hidden away. One was something, someone they'd never be able to lay their hands on."
He twisted the heavy ring on his finger from his hand, showing it to Mika, handing it to her. "That was one of them. It never left my hand." The ring itself is some very heavy metal, wrought with careful and fine detail, cradling a clear emerald. Two sets of initials sat to either side of the gem. LM and NM. "Another is a book that has been mine since before that orphanage. The third was the bundle of letters that I rescued from my old house. Sent back and forth between my parents during the war." He cupped his hands around the glass that sat in front of him. It was getting harder for him to look at her.
"The fourth is a family portrait, one of the only pictures I have of my parents. And the fifth, the one they could never get..." He closed his eyes, and actively avoided meeting her gaze. "The fifth was you."