by M. J. Scott
A very pretty young girl with blond hair and bite marks on her neck stood next to the two vampires. She wore a soft pink gown that somehow made the red of the wounds stand out more than usual. Jet-beaded cuffs circled her delicate wrists, signaling her status for anyone who cared to look.
I hid a shudder. They were obviously feeling bold to bring . . . refreshments. Still, the girl was a Nightseeker and there wasn’t anything we could do about that.
It was perfectly legal for the Blood to feed on a willing human. In fact, the treaty guaranteed them the right. The girl’s face bore a glazed look of pleasure that told me either one of the Blood had been using her for sex or she was a true seeker and one of them had been feeding her their blood. The blood of a vampire.
Addictive and nearly always fatal for humans who allowed themselves to be ensnared by it over time. The only escape for a human addicted to the blood was to be turned. Which Nightseekers rarely were.
Guy stiffened, his arm turning to stone beneath my hand. I glanced up, thinking that it was the Blood who had him on alert, but he was staring at the girl. She looked at us for a moment before turning to stare at the female Blood with a worshipful look. That solved the mystery of exactly whose little morsel she was. Adeline wouldn’t feed in public. The older Blood rarely did. Sometimes they might indulge at an Assembly, but then, they didn’t really consider those to be public, more an extension of their court.
I dug my fingers into Guy’s forearm, trying to remind him to control himself.
“I believe Lady Adeline wishes to see me,” I said to the nearest Trusted. He nodded and opened the door to the box after a moment’s hesitation in which he studied Guy and Guy stared back. I’m not sure what silent male communication passed between them, but it had obviously been made clear that Guy wouldn’t be letting me enter alone.
The music swelled louder and the nape of my neck prickled as I stepped into the dark. I had never overcome my dislike for being in close quarters with the Blood, though I frequently had to be. I liked having them behind me even less, but having Guy with me eased my nerves somewhat.
And, as the Blood went, Lady Adeline was relatively civilized. She had always treated me with courtesy. She paid promptly and had never tried to seduce me into letting her feed. I’d always been glad of it. But that didn’t mean I enjoyed our encounters.
“Holly, how pleasant to see you.” Adeline rose from her seat and walked to where we were hovering in the rear of the box. Hers had fewer seats than the one Guy and I were using. Only one row of chairs was arranged near the front of the box. The rest of the space was filled by several low sofas. Sofas to make feeding easier. I made a note not to sit on any of them.
“Won’t you take a seat?” Adeline tilted her head at Guy. “Who is your charming companion?”
“This is Guy,” I said.
Her eyes widened for a moment and her gaze flicked down to his hands. He’d refused to wear gloves, pointing out that they would defeat the purpose of letting people know he was no longer a Templar. In the darkness his tattoos were partially obscured, but the Blood can see far better in the dark than I. No doubt Adeline could see what adorned Guy’s hands. Even with the work of the sigiler, anyone who knew Templars would be able to see the original design beneath the new ink. I wondered whether it had been a mistake to bring him. If Adeline interpreted his presence as a threat, who knew what she would do?
But she didn’t move or bare her fangs. No, instead her mouth just curved in the darkness. “How . . . interesting. Sit down, please, both of you.” She ushered us toward the nearest pair of sofas, where we would be mostly hidden from the view of the rest of the boxes.
Which meant Adeline didn’t want everyone to be able to see.
Interesting indeed.
Was she hiding me or Guy? She wasn’t stupid. I had no doubt she knew exactly who he was. But I didn’t think she was quite so certain about what he was doing with me. Her eyes, lit with curiosity, studied us closely.
“Did you have a task for me, my lady?” I asked softly when Guy had eased himself into a seat. He’d picked the one closest to the aisle, the one between Adeline and me. It had a clear path to the door. I’d made the same calculations in choosing my seat but had decided to let him have the best vantage point. After all, if this did go wrong, it would be his strength and fighting skill that was our best defense.
“Perhaps,” she said, snapping open her fan and setting it gently wafting. The movement of the air made her perfume, something laden with musk and herbs, drift toward us, turning the air cloying.
I resisted the urge to grit my teeth. The Blood turn everything into a dance of careful negotiation and tiny drips of information, always trying to keep the upper hand. I kept my tone carefully polite. Annoying the Blood most likely to assist me would be ill advised.
I opened my own fan, matching the indolent pace of her movements. “May I ask how the situation stands at present?”
Adeline flicked her fan toward the front of the box. “No particular change. Things have been relatively quiet this week.”
I doubted that was the whole truth. “Does that mean things have settled?”
The fan snapped shut as she shook her head. “That would be an overly optimistic interpretation. Indeed, this particular lull is making me somewhat uneasy. It is unlike my beloved brethren to pause for breath, so to speak.”
“Do you think there is a play about to be made?” I hoped not. The last thing we needed was a full-out Blood war in progress while we tried to find my father. Though it might reveal the information Guy sought more easily.
Adeline shrugged and smiled slightly, red lips not revealing her fangs. “That remains to be seen.” She tilted her head at Guy. “Does your friend need to hear our conversation?”
“My friend is . . . protection,” I said. “He stays.” I snapped my own fan shut to emphasize the point.
“Oh, but not merely a bodyguard, surely? He is too delicious for that, Holly.” Adeline’s smile widened. She was probing now and I had no choice but to reply. The Night World had to think Guy and I were lovers.
“He has other talents,” I replied silkily. I hoped it was clear enough what those talents might be.
“Quite a coup,” Adeline murmured. “I had heard there was some . . . unpleasantness at the Brother House yesterday. But we had not expected . . .” She tilted her head at Guy again.
News traveled fast in the City. I’d hoped it would, that word of Guy’s expulsion would have reached certain ears before he appeared at my side, but I couldn’t help wondering how he felt about it. He looked calm enough, sitting there in the half-light watching Adeline, but who knew what was underneath that trained facade?
Time to change the subject. “I know a good thing when I see one. In truth, it has made things easier for us.”
“You knew him before?” Adeline’s brows arched high.
I gave a tiny shrug and what I hoped was a coy smile. “A lady doesn’t kiss and tell, my lady. Now, before we get down to business, may I ask for some information on my own behalf?” I phrased my words carefully. She was not a Fae to trap me in obligation, but the Blood were nearly as tricky to deal with. They liked nothing better than to hold a debt over your head.
“You may ask.”
Well, that was as much as I could hope for. Ask the question and she would decide whether or not to answer. Plus she would gain the knowledge of what exactly it was that I was seeking. Still, I had to take the gamble. I straightened in the chair. “I’m trying to determine the whereabouts of Cormen sa’Inviel’astar,” I said.
“Your—”
“Yes.” I cut her off before she could say any more, the geas flaring with a wave of pain. I hadn’t known for certain that Adeline knew of my relationship to Cormen. Now I had to make sure she didn’t reveal it to Guy or I wasn’t sure what the geas would force me to do. “Yes. Has he come to your attention lately, my lady?”
She cocked her head, considering, and then her smile spread w
ider in a way that made my neck prickle even more. “Why, yes. And how fortuitous because I do believe he is invited to attend a gathering at Halcyon tomorrow night. Ignatius is throwing a party. And it was Ignatius I needed you to watch for me.”
“Is Ignatius a concern, my lady?” Her interest had given me an opening to ask.
“He grows bolder, yes. He’s always been ambitious, but it takes more than ambition. He is young yet. Previously he lacked the necessary resources.”
Money, I took that to mean. Sheer force of personality and willingness to kill weren’t enough to hold the Blood. No, it also took money to build alliances and secure a position. “Previously? Has he acquired such resources now?”
Adeline pursed her lips. “He has grown more extravagant lately. I believe he is obtaining funds from somewhere. I would like more definite information.”
Which was where I would come in. If Adeline didn’t know who was bankrolling Ignatius, then the source was either beyond her reach within the Blood or, more likely, coming from outside the Blood.
The thought made me shiver as I remembered the pouch of gems in my father’s safe. I didn’t like coincidences. “I will see what I can do, my lady. I assume you can acquire an invitation for us?”
* * *
Anger roiled off Guy as Adeline’s entourage disappeared into her box, leaving us alone in the corridor. The sound of the music rising faintly through the walls of the boxes was the only reminder we were in a building full of hundreds of people.
I didn’t look at him. The corridors of the Gilt were hardly the place for a disagreement and I could tell he was spoiling for an argument.
I was beginning to wonder if this had been a ridiculous idea. If Guy was going to let his temper get the better of him here at the Gilt, the first time I agreed to something he didn’t want to do, how was he going to cope with the other much worse things we might do or see as we moved more deeply within the Night World? Maybe his Templar instincts were just too deeply ingrained and he wouldn’t be able to pull off the charade after all.
But I didn’t know how to broach the subject. How does one tell a warrior knight he might have to let someone else lead him into unfamiliar territory and that he couldn’t just attack the enemy head-on?
I had no idea.
Maybe he just needed time to calm down. But time was a luxury we didn’t have.
“I’m going to the—” I gestured down the corridor toward the bathrooms, figuring that, at this point, leaving him alone for a few minutes might be the safest ploy. “I’ll meet you back at our box.”
He didn’t argue, just turned on his heel and walked away. For a moment I let myself admire the view as he stalked down the corridor. For a large man, he moved beautifully—even as tightly controlled as he was now in his anger. Like a dancer or, I supposed, the trained warrior he was. A man in charge of his body. One who knew how to use it.
I tapped myself on the forehead with my closed fan. I shouldn’t be thinking about Guy’s body and what he might or might not know how to do with it. I should be thinking about how we were going to find my father, how to find out more about what the Favreaus might or might not be about, and how I was going to navigate an angry knight through the perils of a Blood Assembly without any bloodshed tomorrow night.
I forced myself to turn away and head to the retiring room. Given that we were still in the early stages of the first act, it was deserted. No one had had time yet to grow bored or consume too much champagne.
But no flashes of blinding insight occurred to me as I stared at myself at the mirror and delayed returning to the box by fussing with my makeup.
Settling my own armor in place for the battle to come. I recognized what I was doing even as I went through the motions. I needed Guy to do what I wanted. There was one obvious way of increasing my influence over him. Take him to bed.
My body approved of the idea even as my brain cringed at the calculation behind the thought.
Curse Cormen to the seven depths of hell. His machinations were going a good way to turning me into the one thing I’d always sworn I wouldn’t become.
A whore.
Though was it whoring if all I got in return was the usual willingness of a male in lust to please his bedmate?
It would be if the only reason I bedded Guy was to get him to do what I wanted. I curled my lip at my reflection. If only it could be that uncomplicated. But it wasn’t.
Stupid, Holly girl.
I needed to be hit in the head with something far more effective than the fan. Then maybe I wouldn’t find the idea of Guy in my bed so enticing.
But if I didn’t use sex, then my alternatives appeared limited. Guy wasn’t the sort of man to be persuaded to something he didn’t want to do easily. One only had to spend a few minutes in his company to realize that. And it wasn’t as if there was no attraction between us. The kisses we’d shared were ample proof that we shared an attraction. Both of us would be willing participants.
Wasn’t sex always a battle on some level?
Perhaps it was, but I preferred to be on the same side as my bed partner. I scowled at the thought.
“What a pretty sight.”
The voice came out of nowhere. I whirled, heart hammering. My father leaned against the door, his eyes fixed on me like an eagle tracking a mouse. I hadn’t heard him come in. Or noticed the door opening and closing. He’d concealed himself somehow.
My spine prickled. I forced myself to act relaxed, let my hand stray to the fan on the table. There was a dagger hidden in its handle. A thin, sharp stiletto. Iron mixed with silver. I’d use it on him if I had to.
“I’m surprised to see you here tonight,” Cormen said, his voice ice edged as he continued to track me with those emotionless eyes. “I set you to a different task.”
“I am working on that,” I said. It wasn’t a lie. Not outright.
“Is that so?” He took a step toward me and my hand tightened on the fan. “I told you to watch Simon DuCaine, not bed his brother.”
Gods. He knew who Guy was.
“And how better to gain Simon’s trust than to win his brother’s?” I retorted.
“I don’t have time for you to use your dubious charms to win over the DuCaines. I want that information.”
The words ended with a crack like a whip, and pain suddenly clawed my stomach. Cormen tugging on his leash. I steeled myself, trying to remember how to breathe, and stared him down. The urge to attack him in return, to hurt him until he told me where my mother and Reggie were and if they were still alive, pounded through my veins. But Cormen was fast and his magics were stronger than mine. My only hope of defeating him in a face-to-face fight would be a lucky strike. One that killed him.
Leaving me without the information I needed and possibly damning Mama and Reggie to rot in whatever hole he had stashed them in.
For now I needed him alive.
Alive and unsuspecting.
“You wanted me to do this because I’m good at what I do. You need to let me do it.”
“I don’t have to do any such thing.” He moved closer still and I had to fight not to back up. My throat dried and I suddenly recalled his face as he ordered the Beast to beat me. My stomach clenched against a wave of nausea. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he scared me.
“You will deliver what I asked. You will deliver it quickly or you will pay the price.” His voice was whispered ice, turning me to frozen fear.
I’d always hated Cormen since he’d abandoned us. That hate had grown over the years, and the beating had only set it burning fiercer. But I hadn’t realized that the beating had planted fear too.
He’d ordered someone to hurt me with no more thought than one might give to throwing away a broken piece of crockery. And with no more remorse than one might show for that act. He would do it again—and worse—if he had to. I knew that much for sure.
“I am working as quickly as I can. It’s not as if I can walk up to Simon DuCaine and demand
that he tell me his secrets.”
“You were at the hospital for days.”
“And most of that time I was bed-bound, thanks to you. Your thug was overly enthusiastic. The healers at St. Giles are very conscientious. They don’t let patients who are recovering from being severely beaten wander around out of bed.”
“That is not my problem. Perhaps all that is needed here is to provide you with some additional motivation.” He reached into his pocket and drew something from it. A long glittering chain, twin to mine. The pendant dangling from it was a stylized heart set with black diamonds and sapphires.
I knew that pendant as well as my own. I’d seen it hanging around my mother’s neck every day since I’d been born. The fear stalking my nerves blossomed into something nearer to terror. I couldn’t breathe.
So. Here was the proof I’d been seeking, the proof some small broken part of me had hoped not to find. Cormen had my mother and likely Reggie too. “Where did you get that?” I hissed.
The pendant glinted in the light of the chandeliers, the jewels set in the gold sending sparks of black and blue dancing across the walls.
“Your mother let me borrow it.”
“You bastard,” I spat. “You leave her out of this.”
“Why should I? She belongs to me.”
“She does not. Neither of us does. You walked away from us. You cut us off and left us to rot in the gutter. I swear, Cormen, if you’ve hurt her I’ll—” The words cut off as pain choked me, acid claws wrapping my throat, burning down to my belly.
“You’ll what exactly?” he said with a sneer. “Don’t get above yourself, little hai-salai.” He grabbed my chin as I sputtered, unable to talk. “Now. Listen closely. I want the sunmage’s secret.” His bronze eyes gleamed malevolently as his nails dug into my cheeks. “I want it fast.”
He let go of me abruptly, stepped back, and lifted the pendant once more. “And if you disappoint me, this will be the last time you see this or your mother.”
I still couldn’t speak, though I no longer knew if it was the geas or sheer rage and terror stealing my voice. My cheeks stung from the bite of his nails, and my heart raced. I ached to move. To reach the fan and stab him, cut him. Anything to hurt him. To rid myself of him. But all I could do was stand there and listen.