This could go on for hours. My legs felt like jelly, my head buzzed, my limbs tingled. I was exhausted. From the corner of my eye, I could still see the Kral’s severed head. No one else in the room had shifted.
I’d had enough. But I’d been taught well. Politics was a game for champions; a cunning arena I hadn’t fully appreciated utill now. I held back the tide of fatigue and stepped up to Aliath. The battle had been won, but the war was not yet over.
“Godfather,” I said. The Fairy King looked down at me, vivid green shining in his eyes. I pulled on some of his Fey powers and shielded myself. He smiled. “This basty thing,” I said. “It’s clearly powerful, I wonder…” I trailed off.
Aliath sighed.
“No,” I said with a small frown. “Of course not. It’s from our realm, Europe I’m guessing, so it wouldn’t be something you’re familiar with.”
Aliath crossed his arms over his chest. Hakan snorted softly behind me. Papa watched on amused, shaking his head, laughter and pride in his eyes.
Then Georgia said in a drawl as she walked into the room, a bunch of non-authorised creatures behind her, including fucking Norms, “Just ask him to fry it, El. He’d let you get away with one measly question. You did just acknowledge he’s your godfather. You’ve opened a can of worms there, my friend.”
“Hundr,” Aliath growled. “You step out of line.”
“The little one deserves the boon, Fairy,” the Dark Shadow said.
Aliath stared at Georgia. The Dark Shadow stared back. Samson’s Black Dog prowled off to the side, backing its mate up.
“Very well. One boon, goddaughter,” Aliath acquiesced.
I smiled up at the King of the Dark Fey and said, “Free my mother please, Aliath. Get rid of it.”
He nodded his head and the red vines sizzled, burned, and then shrivelled up and disappeared from sight.
Papa was beside my mother in the next heartbeat. They were kissing each other rather deeply after that.
I looked away. Aliath was still watching me.
“You could have taken the power and done it yourself.”
“That seemed rude,” I said.
“No ruder than you using my power to block my glamour.” His eyes, he meant.
I shrugged. “Small steps, god-daddy. Small steps.”
I turned away, leaving him to deal with his Ljósálfar cousins and searched for my twin.
“You need training,” Aliath called out after me. “I can teach you.”
Lessons in Álfheimr? Nah-uh. Not this chick. I waved and kept hunting for Luc.
He was sitting down beside my Uncle Gregor, talking quietly.
I didn’t want to disturb them, but I couldn’t seem to walk away. Hakan was surrounded by his Mhachkay cousins, Zahra was deep in the middle of the pack - or did they call their Mhachkay halves a flock? - right there with him. The Turkish vampires’ Erbörü familiars swarmed around them. Any minute I expected them to climb on top of each other like overenthusiastic puppies. Alain had disappeared as he so often did. Here maybe. Watching probably. Licking his wounds, undoubtedly. Everyone else was accounted for and busy.
I came to rest before my brother and uncle. Both looked up at me. Uncle Gregor shifted over and patted the seat between them. I turned and sat down, my Svante knocking the floor at my back.
“Hey, kiddo,” Uncle Gregor said. “You sure did make an appearance tonight.”
“Too much?” I asked innocently. “It was too much, wasn’t it? I should have worn the black and not the red.”
Luc snickered.
Uncle Gregor placed a hand on my knee and squeezed and then stood up and walked away to talk to the other councillors. Or cause trouble for my parents, it was debatable which.
Luc and I sat silently beside each other, staring out into the chaos that was the breached inner sanctum of the Iunctio Council chamber.
“I think I broke Dad’s office,” I said.
He snorted but said nothing.
“You know that saying? The one about never bringing a sword to a gunfight? Well, I brought ghouls and shapeshifters and fairies and vampires and Norms. Overkill much?”
Luc sighed.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“I don’t want to say it. Saying it makes it real.”
Tears threatened my eyes, and I didn’t know why they were there.
“Please don’t,” I whispered.
Luc reached over and slipped his hand into mine.
“I never thanked you,” he said. I shook my head. “You came after me. You found me. You saved my life.”
“Zahra did that.”
“Only because you asked it of her. She wouldn’t have looked twice at me if her Kafinefendi hadn’t made the request.”
There was that hint of jealousy again. So not Luc. So not my brother.
“I’m leaving,” he said.
“You can’t,” I whispered, turning toward him. “We just got you back. Mama and Papa haven’t even had a chance to hug you yet.”
“And why is that, sis?” Luc asked.
“Because they’re as horny as freaking rabbits,” I replied, arching my brow at him.
Luc didn’t fall for it.
“You’ve proven yourself, Ellie,” he murmured, staring off into the crowd and seeing nothing. Or maybe seeing something I could no longer comprehend. “I need to prove myself to them too, but first I have to figure out who I am.”
“You can’t do that alone!”
“I can’t do that with someone telling me how to act, who I should be, what they think I’ve become.” He looked down at me. “She doesn’t know, El. Zahra. She doesn’t know what the hell to make of me.”
I shook my head, unable to form a worthy argument. He spoke the truth. Zahra was stumped just as much as we all were.
“But she can help you figure it out,” I urged. “If anyone can, it’s the witch who stuck you with the black magic in the first place.”
“It’s called Muska. And there’re places I can go to learn.”
“Learn from Zahra. In Edirne. The Mhachkay castle must have rooms full of old books you can read.”
He pulled away and stood up. I stood up too, frantic.
“I don’t want to read about it, El. I want to learn to control it. I can’t do that with every single Mhachkay vampyre watching my every single move; I just can’t.”
“And Mama and Papa?”
Luc sighed, ran a hand through his dark hair, and looked out across the chamber to our parents.
“They’ll understand,” he said quietly.
“Well, I don’t,” I growled.
He smirked at me. “Mysteries are good for the soul, I believe.”
Had he heard Mama in Paris? He’d been unconscious. Smoke swirled in his eyes when he blinked innocently at me.
“Luc,” I said, my heart breaking.
“Let me go, El. Let me go. Please.”
Tears spilt over and slipped down my cheeks. My brother leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
“You’re a queen now,” he whispered. “Give them heaps.”
And then he spun away and in the next breath lost himself like Alain does in the crowd. Disappeared when I knew he had to be there still. Vanished when I could still smell his signature scent. Still feel his heat.
“Luc,” I whispered. “Damn it.”
18
And They Have Chosen
“Hayatim,” Hakan said from behind me. “It is time to go.”
I’d been standing on the rooftop of The Plaza Hotel for the past two hours hoping to get a glimpse of my brother. Down there, in amongst the chaos and rubble; flitting between the shadows like only a spy could.
It had been three weeks since he’d vanished. Alain had vanished not long after him. I could only hope they were together. Three weeks of mending wards and glazing Norms and putting supernaturals back in their boxes.
Three weeks of negotiations between the new Mhachkay Kral and the Iunctio Council.
Negotiations ha
d now come to an end.
“Is it done?” I asked my Savaşçı. “Are the Mhachkay once again part of the Iunctio?”
“Yes,” Hakan said quietly, walking up to my side. He stared out at Auckland City. At my home.
I could see the wharves from here. I could almost make out the crater in the ground that was once Travis’ home. The fires that burned in drums to keep the homeless warm. The makeshift arenas that dotted the landscape. I could see toward Newmarket and Guts & Glory Bar. I could see Reggie’s place down on Lower Queen and Fort. I could see Georgia’s and Samson’s home. My own.
I knew every crevice, every broken down shelter. I knew how the ghouls thought and what was acceptable to barter. I knew the sixteen different and complex routes the Iunctio guards took. I knew this VC like the back of my hand.
It was my home.
But no longer.
Mhachkay Krals do not rule without their Mhachkay Kafinefendi beside them. And I would never let Hakan go anyway, so there was that.
“May I speak with my daughter?” a cultured voice said from behind us. Hakan turned to face my father and nodded his head. His mind brushed mine in comfort and then he was gone. Taking oregano, mint and the soft breeze off a salty ocean with him. Taking the sunlight, tulips and olive groves.
It called to me.
I would come running.
Papa walked up to my side and stood shoulder to shoulder, staring out over the darkened city. His city. Never mind it had a Master Vampire in charge; Jett was a figurehead, and he knew it. He’d long ago accepted his power lay in a different direction, wielded by the hand of a snarky Nothus and her Dark Shadow.
“Where is he?” I said.
“I do not know. I cannot feel him.”
“You cut his threads,” I accused.
“He was pulling me under.” Pulling the Iunctio under.
“Did you even try?”
“I sent you. What more did I need to do, ma chérie?”
I snorted.
He turned to look down at me.
“Listen to me, Éliane, for I shall say this only once. Never doubt yourself. You are your mother’s child. Your Light far outshines any other. Even hers.”
“She’s the Lux Lucis Tribuo.”
“And you are Èliane Durand, entwined with a Mhachkay, Kafinefendi of their kind. One drop. One bite. That’s all it would take, my darling. You are Blood Enchanted. Just like your brother.”
“You trust he’ll come back to us.”
“Oui.”
My father only ever spoke French when he was emotional. I turned and looked up into beautiful magenta-washed eyes. His dragon stared back at me and then retreated to his garden, leaving a puff of smoke on the air. It reminded me of Lucien.
“The dragon understands what he is, doesn’t he?” I said.
“He has an idea.”
“Has he told you?”
“Yes.”
I arched my brow.
“Do you not think it best,” my father said softly, “that I allow Lucien to discover this on his own; without interference?”
“You? Not interfere?” I snorted again.
Papa smiled. “Kiss your mother goodbye when you go,” he ordered.
I saluted him.
“Ma chérie, je t'aime. Je t'adore.” And then the Champion walked across the roof and disappeared inside.
“Huh,” I said, and pulled myself together.
I found my mother down in the foyer, decorating the twelve-foot Christmas tree in blood-red baubles.
“You’ll come back in a few weeks, won’t you?” she said. “Christmas dinner? We’re having roast lamb.”
“Of course,” I told her, wondering if Christmas would be empty without my brother. “But you’ll also have to come to our place and try out the Turkish cuisine.”
“Mmmm,” she hummed. “Tzatziki?”
I laughed. My mother wrapped me up in her arms; I felt her tremble. She was thinking of not being able to wrap Luc up like this. It was breaking her apart.
But when I pulled back, I saw only the Nosferatin in her. Never show fear. Never give an inch. Always stay on guard.
And never let them know your heart is breaking.
“À bientôt, Mama,” I murmured.
“Go kick some Turkish butt,” she said in answer.
I was laughing when I walked outside onto the driveway. Hakan waited with Ediz, along with those of his Mhachkay vampires who’d stayed behind to help out with the negotiations as well. Some had gone on ahead to prepare the castle. Zahra had been one of them.
I missed her. I wondered if she’d even be there when we arrived or whether she would have gone after my brother.
Hakan had convinced her to stay until all was settled with the Iunctio. Wandering the world without their protection was not wise. He’d told her she could hunt her prey when the dust had settled. In those exact words. Hunt her prey.
I’d seen the spark in her eyes.
“Ready, hayatim?” he asked, holding out his hand.
If Norms were watching they’d see the might of the Mhachkay. The power they wielded. Our exit had been planned and approved by my father. I reached out and slid my calloused hand into that of my husband’s.
My Kral’s.
He grinned at me. Silver flashed in his eyes. And then we were in a sumptuous chamber, incense burning, candles flickering, the shutters closed to keep the sunlight out. I could smell meat cooking. Heavy with spices. The Mhachkay ate normal foods as well as consumed blood to stay alive, so I didn’t doubt that I’d get good meals in this castle.
I looked around the space. It was a room fit for a king.
“And a queen,” he said, watching me closely.
“It’s lovely,” I told him.
I didn’t know what to do with myself.
“Did you know,” he said, prowling closer. “That a Mhachkay King cannot rule without a Queen at his side.”
“You already told me this,” I said softly.
My pulse sped up the closer he got. My head felt fuzzy when I could detect his signature scent so near to me I could touch it.
“The former Kral forgot this,” Hakan said, circling. “Or perhaps he chose to ignore it. In any case, he ruled through thrall, and that is no way to rule at all.”
“You won’t need to enthral your people?”
He shook his head. “Our people, Kafinefendi. And I do not rule alone.”
What was he telling me?
He stepped up to me, chest to chest, thighs to thighs. He reached up and cupped my cheek.
“You are my Queen,” he murmured. “I am your King. We are Entwined.”
“What happened to your uncle’s queen?” I asked, swallowing thickly at the promise I saw in his eyes.
“She died. They were not entwined. We have not had Enchanted for centuries. I am the first to entwine in quite some time, and even if our king had not been mad, I would have supplanted him.”
Was that why it was so easy for Zahra to accept him as Kral? Because he was entwined with an Enchanted?
No, she’d accepted him even before they’d been imprisoned. She’d told the former Kral that just before he’d backhanded her. And did other things I couldn’t stomach.
I pushed the unwanted images from my head. Hakan growled low and cupped my cheeks with both hands.
“He is gone. Your father killed him. The Mhachkay will be in debt for quite some time.”
“In debt to my father? The Champion?” I laughed.
Hakan smiled. “Ironic, no?”
I nodded.
“My Queen,” he said. “I can not do this alone.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Spit it out, Savaşçı,” I said.
He flashed fang. I snarled right back at him.
“We do not have one throne,” he finally said. “We have two. And you and I shall rule side by side. Together. You have earned that right.”
The Mhachkay were equal rights opportunists. Go figure.
I smirked.
Hakan growled.
And then I was on the big, fluffy bed and the gauzy curtains were billowing out in the air that we pushed out as we flew past them, and Hakan was nuzzling my neck, tickling my sides, making me gasp. I sent out my Light. He wrapped me up in his magic. The zilant hissed. The owl hooted. The man kissed me silent.
Edirne, or as the Mhachkay still called it, Adrianople was not yet my home. I was not yet familiar with it. But I would become familiar with it. I would walk its streets. I would find its shadows, and I would shine it all with my Light.
I would meet the ghouls, and I would check out the arenas, and I would make sure creatures of all descriptions knew who lived here. Who watched over the city like my father watches over Auckland.
Like my mother watches over it with him. At his side.
And I would trust Papa. I would trust that he was right. That Luc would come back to us. I would give my brother his space and let Zahra hunt him. And if he didn’t come back in a year or two, I would set out and find him myself and drag his stubborn arse back to Auckland to see his Mama.
Who was I kidding! I’d give him a month, four weeks tops.
“Give him a little longer than that, hayatim,” Hakan said sometime later as he lay naked and sated beside me.
“He’s my brother!”
“And he is an adult. It is his life.”
“You think Zahra will find him, don’t you?” I said.
Hakan smiled, twirling one of my dreads around and around between his fingers.
“I have no doubt,” he said and then buried his nose in the crease between shoulder and neck, and started nuzzling; sending my pulse rate skyrocketing.
“Again?” I accused as his hands got busy and his fangs came out.
“All night,” he growled and then rolled us. I sat astride him. He stared up at me; something I hadn’t realised I’d been seeing in his eyes for some time now stared back. “Always,” he whispered. “For eternity, hayatim. One bite. One drop.”
“Two hearts. Two souls,” I said softly.
“And they have chosen.”
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Blood Enthralled (Blood Enchanted, Book Three): A Vampire Hunter Paranormal Romance Series Page 17