by Carina Cook
After all of the drinks and hilarity, she toppled into bed and slept until 2. She awoke refreshed and without a hangover as a result of her thrall metabolism. There wasn’t much to do. No large bridal party to wrangle, nor a roundabout trip to spas and hairdressers and makeup artists. Her hairdresser would come at 6, but until then she had time to herself. She sat down and studied her glyphs until it was time and managed to keep from obsessing too much.
Still, when she finally stepped into her dress and zipped it up, she couldn’t help but marvel at how strange her life had turned out. She was marrying the vampire king. After the wedding, there would be a ceremony—not quite a coronation since vampires didn’t do crowns, but close enough—and then she’d be a queen. As difficult to believe as it was, she struggled all the more with her feelings for Gregor. She had expected to respect him. She’d hoped to like him. She’d never thought he’d propose, or that she’d find herself here and now, eager to accept his hand.
He liked her. She knew that now. And she couldn’t deny that the feeling was mutual. Some people might point out the impossibilities of their relationship. She was mortal, and he was not. But if she could master the blood magic, she wouldn’t have to age and die, not if she didn’t want to. She could live as long as he did, and without having to sacrifice any blood that wasn’t her own. The glyphs to accomplish it were in the new set of books that the Librarian had sent up to her. He’d marked them with Post-It flags, which had really amused her for some reason.
So here she was, marrying the vampire that she almost certainly was falling in love with, if she didn’t love him already. And he cared about her. He would do anything to keep her safe, but he also trusted her opinion. It was like a dream come true.
Of course, there was the uncomfortable bit with Tait, who had barely spoken to her since the whole incident with Chandra, but that was okay with her. He would be at the wedding, of course, but she didn’t intend to spend much time worrying about him. He had made his choices, and although they still hurt, she’d passed into the angry stage. Mostly, she wanted to punch him in the throat or maybe shake some sense into him. It likely wouldn’t work, but at least it would feel good.
Someone rapped on the door.
“Come in,” she called, putting on her delicate diamond earrings.
Dagmar opened the door. Liss had convinced her to buy a beautiful coral colored dress for the ceremony, and it was a purchase well made. She still had the figure of a much younger woman, and the dress suited her to a tee.
“Dad might have a heart attack when he sees you,” said Liss, smiling.
“Gregor might join him on the floor when he sees you,” countered Dagmar.
“I doubt it, since his heart doesn’t beat.”
“Darling, if anyone could give a vampire a heart attack, it would be you. I don’t think that dress looked half as good on me as it does on you.”
“Do you think so?”
Liss looked down at herself. She knew she looked good. The dress was layer upon layer of gauzy fabric, with a wrapped bodice that looked like it belonged on a Greek goddess. It felt magical. She slipped into a pair of metallic gold heels and held her arms out for inspection.
“Am I okay? Other than the hair, I mean,” she asked.
“Darling, you’re perfect.”
The rest of the evening passed in a flash, and before she knew it, she was in the antechamber, waiting to walk into the ballroom. Gregor was just through those doors, and soon she’d walk into the room and see his face. Funny how nervous she was, wondering if he’d look excited to see her—if he’d be excited to see her. Of course he would, but she kept worrying over it anyway. It was silly, but she couldn’t help it.
Her father kept pacing back and forth, listening at the door periodically as if he was worried they might miss their cue. The string quartet was easy to hear. There was no way they wouldn’t hear the fanfare that would signal their entrance, but he kept on checking anyway.
“Dad, are you okay?” she asked finally. “You’re making me nervous.”
He came to a guilty halt mid-pace. “I’m sorry. I just want everything to be perfect. You deserve perfect.”
“It’ll all be fine,” she replied, forgetting her own nervousness in the face of his.
“I’m sure you’re right.” But he walked over to her and took her hands in his cool ones. His eyes met hers and held them. “Liss, I… well, I’m not very good at this kind of thing, so I’ll be blunt and you’ll forgive your father that, won’t you? But I just need to know.” He took a deep breath. “You want to marry Gregor, don’t you? I assume you’d tell your mother if you didn’t, but I just need to make sure. You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
“I know, Dad.” Liss leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. “And I really do want to marry him. I think… I think I love him.”
“Well, that’s good,” he said, and probably would have said more if the string quartet hadn’t cut him off. “I think that’s our cue. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
He offered his arm, and the two of them walked up to the doors. The guards pulled them open, revealing the ballroom full of the members of the vampire court in their finest regalia. Some of them bowed their heads. A few of them smiled. But most watched her with stony expressions that would have made her quake in her boots just a few short weeks ago.
She paid them no mind. Instead, she looked forward, down the aisle to where Gregor waited for her. He was dressed in one of his impeccably cut charcoal grey tuxes and filled it out nicely. His dark hair tumbled over his brow, giving him a bit of a rakish air. But the thing that made her breath hitch was the way his face lit up when he saw her. Like she was the only thing that mattered.
As they walked closer, she only had eyes for him. So much so that she didn’t realize until she was all the way up to the dais that he wasn’t alone. Of course, the priest stood there with him. But the priest didn’t come down a few steps toward her to help with her train. Isabeau did. And the priest didn’t offer a steadying hand at Gregor’s elbow. That was Oliver. Her two friends smiled at her—genuine smiles, not the syncophantic expression that she’d gotten used to from the courtiers. These were people who were honestly happy to see her, and happy for her.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed delightedly.
Isabeau gently took her bouquet and kissed her on the cheek. “We had intended to leave, but Gregor convinced us otherwise.”
Oliver took a step forward and kissed the other cheek. “I wouldn’t have stayed for all the politics in the world. But for a friend? Of course we will. We reopened the house, and we’re here to stay.”
Tears rose to her eyes. She’d been looking forward to the wedding, but she’d known it would be a lonely existence afterwards. She would have Gregor to confide in, and her mother, but not much else. Her father would support her, of course, but he wasn’t much of a talker. And Tait? Well, he didn’t even factor into the equation any more.
But now, because of what Gregor had done, she would have friends. Someone to study with during daytime hours. Someone who didn’t see her as a piece on a chessboard, but as a friend and companion. Someone who would allow her to just be Liss.
He really did understand her. He really did care.
It was a bit early in the ceremony for it, but she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his for the briefest of moments. It was a closed mouth kiss, designed to limit her exposure to his pheromones, but still a bit out of order wedding-wise. The priest cleared his throat but did nothing. He couldn’t have been too much of a stickler for the proprieties considering that he was presiding over a vampire wedding. She wouldn’t have cared anyway. When she pulled back, he smiled at her.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“I love you,” he said back, just as quietly.
She knew she needed to respond, to tell him that she felt the same way. But she also knew that if she did, she would start crying in front
of all of these people, and she didn’t want that. They didn’t realize that what had started out as a political maneuver had ended up being a love match, and it wasn’t any of their business. Let them try to drive a wedge between her and her husband. They would find out soon enough.
But for now, she couldn’t speak. She nodded and held back her tears. He seemed to understand, or at least he wasn’t offended by her lack of an answer. Together, as one, they turned to face the priest.
CHAPTER 21
Gregor had never had so much fun. Not that he could remember in all of his long years. When he’d been young, before he’d turned vampire, all of his waking hours had been consumed by the study of music. In his teens, he’d sucked up the adulation of the crowds and his rich patrons. They’d brought him to their opulent revels and plied him with drink and riches, but he’d taken himself too seriously to really enjoy himself. And then a new patron had come along. Viktor’s riches and power had put the rest of Venice to shame, but fun had never been on his agenda. Viktor’s idea of fun was making people do what he wanted, no matter what the cost.
Those tendencies had rubbed off on his court, but for the first time, Gregor saw them begin to relax the way that he had. He saw thralls smiling, when previously they’d been drawn and ready for action. The dancers on the floor looked as if they were enjoying themselves rather than simply going through the motions of a minuet because that was expected of them. He saw enjoyment rather than caution. Of course, there were still some members of the old guard who held court because they enjoyed that kind of thing. They took pleasure in verbal fencing and the exchange of information and the power that came with it. But they could choose to do that in his court. He would not stifle them the way that Viktor had done to him.
Perhaps they were happy because he was happy. How could he not be, with Liss by his side? Of course, at this moment, she wasn’t exactly by his side. She stood at the buffet table with Oliver, talking brightly about something he couldn’t quite hear from across the crowded ballroom. His senses were quite acute, but the room bustled with noise and excitement. Some of the vampires still looked upon her with trepidation, but they would see that she’d be a fair queen. She’d bring some life to the throne, quite literally. And it was much needed. They’d spent too much time dead to the world—or maybe that was just him.
He had no use for the food, and the strong scents of human food sometimes overwhelmed him, but it was worth enduring to stand next to her. He wanted to know what she found so amusing. But before he could make his approach, Tait intercepted him.
His thrall had been quiet all evening, fading into the background in a demonstration of tact that Gregor wouldn’t have credited him with. Of course, that might have been the doing of his parents, who had kept a close eye on him all evening from what he’d seen. One of them had kept him in constant tow, but for the moment he’d been left unattended, and he’d made the most out of the opportunity.
Tait wore an uncertain expression that didn’t sit well on him. He normally seemed so confident and self-assured, even at times when Gregor had known he was completely making up whatever he was saying. But now, his eyes flickered uncertainly, and he moved with a bad-dog slink that made him seem a different person entirely. Gregor would have felt badly for him, except that he firmly believed that Tait had brought this all upon himself.
“May I speak with you, sir?” asked Tait in a quiet voice.
“If you must,” replied Gregor coldly. “But you should know that I am still very angry at you. If it comes down to it, I will end the conversation rather than make a scene at my wedding.”
Tait swallowed. “Of course. And—congratulations. On the wedding.”
“I am very lucky indeed. What do you want?”
“I just wanted to explain. It all just got out of control, you see, and once I’d gotten in, I didn’t know how to get out. I started talking to Chandra like you ordered me to, and I intended to report back to you, but I just never had the opportunity.”
“That excuse would be fine and good up until the part where you physically abducted her. Even if what you say is true, you had to know that she could have been hurt. You could have found a way to get word to your parents, or to me. But you chose not to. Either because you were in on it, or because you were too weak to stand up and do what you knew needed to be done. I suspect it was the latter, but it matters little. Either way, it means you are no use to me.”
Tait’s lower lip trembled. “So you’re going to get rid of me? Fire me? Get another thrall in my place?”
“No, I won’t be keeping thralls as the king,” said Gregor. “But you can continue to work for the casino, and I’ll continue to feed you on a yearly basis along with the rest of your family.” He held up a finger. “But this is done out of loyalty to them, you understand. If it weren’t for them, I would hang you out to dry.”
Tait nodded wordlessly, licking his lips.
“As for Chandra…” Here, Gregor blinked, looking around the room. He couldn’t remember seeing her at all that evening. Not like he’d looked for her, but he would have expected to see her sulking around somewhere. Or plotting in a corner. Or sucking up and pretending that nothing whatsoever had happened. Technically, she still held a position at court, although he fully intended to remedy that problem as soon as possible. “Wait. Where is Chandra?”
“She’s not here,” said Tait. Now he seemed uncomfortable, like he was afraid to be the bearer of bad news but knew he had no choice. He took a deep breath. “I think she left.”
Gregor’s mouth twitched. He couldn’t decide if this news delighted him or alarmed him. On a personal note, very few things would make him happier than having Chandra out of his hair. But on a political one? He wasn’t sure. Then again, maybe he was counting his chickens before they hatched. Tait’s ambiguous statement could mean a lot of things.
“What exactly do you mean, left? She left the wedding in a huff? She left the room? She…left court?”
This last option filled him with glee, but he tried to keep it off his face. On the outside, he hoped he appeared as his normal self, quiet and grave, but on the inside, he felt like dancing a jig. Having her leave entirely was more than he could have ever hoped for. She wouldn’t be messing with Liss anymore, or waylaying him in the middle of court with her latest machination. If only he were so lucky and it was true.
Tait nodded. Gregor couldn’t help it. His face broke out into a wide smile. Perhaps that smile was out of character for him, because it attracted Liss’s attention from all the way across the crowded room. Or perhaps she’d been watching them casually. Either way, he noticed her begin to weave her way toward them from across the room, stopping to exchange pleasantries when necessary. She looked beautiful in the Grecian gown that Dagmar had worn. He remembered the day Dagmar and Konstantine had married, and he didn’t intend any slight to anyone when he said that Liss took the gown to new levels. It was only right for him to be biased in favor of his new bride. The bride that he very badly wanted to kiss. He’d had to plant one on her cheek, when they’d been married. Otherwise, his vampiric pheromones would have taken over, and regardless of whether they’d been in a church or not, that simply wasn’t proper.
Tait grew visibly more uncomfortable as his sister approached and actually moved to the opposite side of Gregor so he wouldn’t have to stand next to her. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and appeared to be trying to make himself small and unnoticeable, which would have been a feat for a man of his size. But maybe he succeeded better than Gregor had thought possible, because Liss didn’t even acknowledge his presence.
“What’s so delightful?” she asked Gregor, stopping a short distance away.
He couldn’t stand the space that separated them. He wound an arm through hers, drawing her gently closer. She gave only a token resistance and smiled up at him.
“Your brother has just informed me that Chandra has left. Perhaps he will tell us the details,” he said.
Liss didn�
�t seem as pleased as he felt. Her mouth tightened as she turned to Tait.
“Well?” she prompted.
“Chandra is gone,” Tait said, looking at his shoes. “All of her things were packed up. Closets emptied, and that kind of thing. Her thralls are gone too. I don’t know where, but I expect she won’t be back.”
“And why is that?” asked Gregor.
But Tait just shook his head. It appeared that he wasn’t going to answer until Liss took a step forward. Tait immediately retreated before her anger, practically cowering.
“Answer the question,” demanded Liss.
“She was supposed to take me with her,” choked Tait. “Can you blame me? Everyone’s treating me as if I have leprosy, and so when she said she was going to go overseas and join the Italian court, I asked if I could go with her. They don’t have thrall limits, you know. She could have taken me along with her other thralls, and no one would have minded. We were supposed to leave early tonight, but when I got there, she’d already gone.”
Gregor glanced at Liss to see how she was taking this news. It was one more betrayal from her brother, and he worried that hearing it would ruin their wedding night for her. That was the last thing he wanted. But she didn’t seem angry—not any angrier than she’d been before, anyway. She simply looked unsurprised by this news.
“Come, husband,” she said, tugging gently on his arm. “Dance with me.”
Gregor arched a brow rather than asking the obvious questions. She caught his meaning immediately.
“There is nothing to be done about Chandra now except keep watch for her return,” she said.
“And your brother?” he asked, allowing himself to be pulled toward the dance floor. The current dance was just winding up, and the dancers bowed and curtsied to each other before exiting the floor for rest or refreshment. It was perfect timing for them to enter the new formation, once the next dance was announced.