I attempted a wobbly grin. “She spoils him.”
Dinky’s laugh jiggled his jowls. “Only a small bit. Come, now. You must be excited.”
Not at all, but he didn’t need to hear that. Dinky’s life revolved around the vampires and pets he tended. I sometimes thought he looked on all of us as his family, and I certainly appreciated it. In the few weeks since I’d crawled out of the cage, he’d become something close to a surrogate father, filling in for my own, whose life had been cut so tragically short.
Dinky squeezed my fingers with his gloved hand and led the way to the ballroom where a string quartet played a waltz. I held myself erect and regal, as Alice would do, and nodded my readiness to Dinky. He threw open the double doors leading into the ballroom and announced, “Mistress Gianna, unnatural granddaughter of Elizabet, wife of Eric, Mistress of Jason.”
The ballroom was long and narrow. Its parquet floors gleamed under the dim lighting of half a dozen chandeliers hanging down the center of the arched ceiling and the many sconces placed in regular intervals along the antiqued yellow walls. Alcoves were recessed into the wall along my left while windows curtained in flowing forest green drapes occupied the wall on my right. The string quartet had set up on a raised dais at the far end from the entrance, their music a soothing backdrop.
A crush of beings, some of human origin and others not, were scattered in groups throughout the room. Conversations rumbled into silence as one and all turned toward me. I glided into the room, chin high, expression carefully composed. Eric and Jason stepped forward, one slender and dark, the other tall and light, both dressed in beautifully tailored black tuxedos. I placed my hands on top of theirs, signaling my acceptance of their protection, Eric, my husband and one of Elizabet’s favorite pets, and Jason, the favorite Eric and I shared between us. Technically, Jason and I should’ve bracketed Eric, since he was by far the strongest, but he’d never liked center stage, preferring instead to manipulate from the sidelines where he had a good view of the entire playing field.
I was so proud of him. My memories of the Before were returning at a rapid pace, had been since the night of my birthday. Mostly, I thought, because of my renewed bonds with Jason and Eric. We hadn’t attempted one again, but those basic individual bonds had been reestablished over the past couple of weeks, lending me a strength I sorely needed.
More importantly, I was beginning to remember the love. Surprisingly, that emotion grounded me, aiding my ongoing quest to quell the shadows lingering in my mind. Their love was a comforting weight in my heart and mind, and I reached for it daily, reassuring myself of their presence.
Though we weren’t one, we moved together, Jason and I subtly allowing Eric to lead us through the crowd’s renewed murmur. We came to a halt in front of Elizabet. Her long, dark curls cascaded down her back over an intricately fashioned scarlet gown and her pale, creamy skin glowed softly. My husbands dropped into bows in front of her and I into a deep curtsy.
Elizabet nodded, her black eyes glimmering her pleasure. Her mind touched mine briefly. You’re doing very well, dearling.
Thank you, Grandmother.
Eric, Jason, and I stood slowly.
Elizabet turned to the woman at her side, a petite blonde with alabaster skin and dark eyes as piercing as the winter wind. “My queen, allow me to present Gianna, the newest turn in my crèche.”
Lanu gaze fell on me with the weight of a sledgehammer. Her mind riffled gently through mine, and I bowed my head, offering no resistance. What could I do? She was far stronger and could, if she wished it, kill me where I stood without lifting a single one of her slim, elegant fingers.
The tiniest hint of humor filtered into my mind from hers as she withdrew. “Quite lovely.”
“Eric has excellent taste, my queen.” Elizabet gestured for Jason. “As can easily be seen by his choice of favorite.”
A small smile dented the cool mask of Lanu’s expression. “I quite concur.”
Jason lifted Lanu’s fingers and bowed over them, touching his forehead to the back of her hand. “My queen.”
“Such pleasant manners, as always.” Lanu’s gaze turned sly and slid to Eric. “These three shall grace my bed this evening.”
“Of course, my queen,” Elizabet murmured.
My eyes widened and the blood drained from my cheeks. A whole night in bed with the queen and her favorite? Dear God, I’d never survive. I wasn’t strong enough, couldn’t handle that kind of blood exchange. The shadows would surge forward on the power of her blood no matter what amount I took. I would lose my precarious control over them, even with the added strength of Eric and Jason’s bonds, and the queen would kill me. She would have no choice.
Eric’s hand touched my bare waist above the low-cut back of my dress and an equally reassuring warmth flooded our bond. “It would be an honor to serve you, my queen.”
“In my rooms, on the first stroke of midnight.” Lanu held her hand out to Eric, palm down. “Don’t be late, pet.”
Eric gripped her fingers in his, turned her hand over, and kissed the palm. “My queen.”
Eric and Jason led me away. My knees were shaking so badly I would barely stumble along between them. The scene replayed in my mind, caught on the moment when Eric turned the queen’s hand over.
“Eric,” I said, my voice little more than a harsh whisper. “What were you doing? The queen will kill you for presuming to be her equal.”
I will be her equal, Gigi, his mind whispered to me. She enjoys it. Trust me.
Trust him. Ha. Eric and his little games. I didn’t presume to understand the whys of them yet. Most days, it was all I could do to deal with reality. But I knew he had a plan. I just hoped it was a solid one.
I exhaled a shaky breath and regained my composure. Eric introduced me around the room, to more beings than I feared I’d ever remember. Politeness dictated that we nod and smile, even to those we didn’t particularly like. Raquelle, a vampire who swore her loyalty to Elizabet, was not someone I wanted to make nice with. My memory wasn’t so poor that I’d forgotten the way she’d challenged me on my first night out of the cage. As far as I was concerned, she was no friend. Eric, though, had his reasons for maintaining a polite demeanor with her, so my smile was there. Thin and razor sharp, but there.
Nathaniel, on the other hand, I couldn’t really pin down. He was polite, debonair, and handsome in his own quietly lethal way, with black hair and a slender, athletic build, his eyes so pale and blue, they were almost silver. Between the night I’d first met him and this one, he’d visited Elizabet’s two other times. During each, I’d caught his light eyes following me more than once. I would’ve been flattered, but I was pretty sure his interest wasn’t what it seemed.
Nothing among the Vampyr ever was.
“Gianna.” He held both my hands in his and bowed over them, bringing them to his mouth for a kiss of greeting. “You look lovely this evening.”
“Thank you, Nathaniel.”
His lips were warm on my knuckles, soft, and his tongue flicked out for a fleeting taste of my skin. My breath caught. I lowered my head, hiding my surprise, and tugged my hands out of his as soon as politeness allowed.
He let them go, though a small smile touched his serious expression. “Good to see you again, Eric.”
Eric nodded. “Nathaniel. How’s Charleston?”
“Miserably humid. I was happy to have an excuse to flee for a day or so, to celebrate your lovely wife’s debut.”
Jason’s mind brushed mine. Yeah, right.
I pressed my lips together, hiding a smile. Behave, Jase.
He arched an eyebrow and slanted his cornflower blue eyes at me. What’s the fun in that?
Eric and Nathaniel’s conversation turned to business, and I tuned out. I know, I was supposed to learn all about that, and someday I might. At the moment, though, I wanted to dance. I eyed the couples whirling around the floor near the string quartet, in the space that appeared to have been unofficially reserved for t
hat purpose. Eric wouldn’t dance with me. We’d already gone that route. He’d given in just once on the night of my birthday, and that reprieve had been so short, it hardly counted. Poor man. He had many talents. Dancing was not one of them. Jason wouldn’t leave Eric alone with a rival vampire, no matter how polite that vampire was, so I was stuck.
I sighed and tried not to fidget. The music ended to a spatter of applause, couples left the dance floor, others entered it, and a new song was struck. Jason’s elbow grazed mine. I glanced up and followed his pointed gaze to Nathaniel’s outstretched hand.
“Would you honor me with a dance, Gianna?” he asked.
I froze. What should I do? Dance, yes, I so wanted to, but shouldn’t I stick with my husbands? Or was I supposed to dance with anyone who asked? My mind emptied in a panicked rush and all of Alice’s careful schooling on etiquette for this night drained right out of my head.
Go with him, Gigi, if you want to. Eric’s thought held a gentle humor, and so much love I relaxed. You’re safe enough with Nathaniel.
Safe enough. Ok, then.
Jason’s mind touched mine. Don’t worry. We’ll be watching the whole time.
Well, that was good to know. Just like Jason would never leave Eric, he wasn’t supposed to leave me, either. He’d promised me, and I intended to hold him to that promise, no matter what.
I inhaled an anxious breath and placed my hand in Nathaniel’s. “I’d love to.”
He smiled, a real smile, one that lit his light eyes and filled them with genuine pleasure. “Shall we?”
I nodded and walked with him into the couples waltzing in loose, colorful circles around the floor.
Chapter Two
Nathaniel’s hand was warm on mine. It reminded me of Eric’s. Slim, elegant, capable. There were slight callouses on the fingertips. I wouldn’t have noticed except for the way he held my hand. I’d tucked it into the crook of his elbow, more familiar than was polite, but the only way to avoid actually holding his hand. He’d rested his other hand on the back of mine and now stroked his fingertips along my skin.
It made me nervous. I think he knew that, too, though I was pretty sure he wasn’t doing it on purpose. It was a feeling I got from him, nostalgia and loss and…something. I reached a tentative tendril out, not to his mind, which would almost certainly be blocked with so many people around, but to his heart, the seat of emotion I’d found so easy to explore in others. He missed something and I…
Nathaniel whirled me onto the dance floor and into the waltzing couples, gliding easily along. I dropped my search and matched my steps to his.
“You dance beautifully,” he said.
“I’ve been practicing.” Alice had been given the task of reminding me what my feet already knew, thanks, apparently, to a short stint of dance lessons as a teenager. The memories were still hazy in my mind, but they were there. “You must get a lot of practice.”
His grin was wicked and charming, and held far more humor than I’d ever observed in him before. “The Vampyr live and die by society functions. I’ve attended my share over the past couple of centuries, though I’ve held few companions as beautiful as you.”
I lowered my eyes to the bright white of his shirt, mostly hidden beneath his black tuxedo jacket. This close, the faint aroma of starch drifted to me and a memory popped into my head, unbidden. My father, stiff and uncomfortable in his Sunday best, holding me gingerly as we waltzed around the tiny basement of the church where Eric and I had been married. My heart squeezed tight in my chest and tears pricked at my eyes. I missed Daddy so much. I closed my eyes, willing the tears back, willing the heartache to soften, knowing it never would.
Nathaniel slowed and pulled me to one side of the floor, his fingers solicitous on my elbow. “Are you all right?”
A flush of heat flooded my cheeks. “I’m fine. Sorry about the dance.”
“Don’t be. You’re still healing.”
His thumb flicked across my cheek, catching me off guard. I brushed shaky fingers over the heat left behind by his touch and found moistness. “Well, now I’m really sorry. I bet not many women cry on you in the middle of a dance.”
He laughed, low and soft. “Not many men have the privilege of having tears shed in their presence by a woman like you.”
I met his eyes carefully. “You’re trying to woo me from Eric and Jason.”
“No, sweet. I’m merely stating a fact.” The waltz ended and the string quartet began a new song. Nathaniel’s pale eyes slid to the dance floor. “How do you feel about the rumba?”
“Um.” I glanced at the couples dancing, their steps much more complex than the simple waltz Nathaniel had led me in. “How do you feel about your toes?”
His eyes lit with what in anyone else I would’ve deemed an unholy mischief. He raised my hands to his mouth, and this time, I knew it wasn’t my imagination. He licked my skin, the gesture hidden behind a polite kiss.
His mind opened, drawing me in. If not for your husbands, I would do more.
I glanced over Nathaniel’s shoulder. Eric stood rigidly beside Jason, his eyes black and vicious. Jason had a massive hand cupped over one of Eric’s shoulders, holding my husband in place. They were both staring straight at me. No. They were staring beyond me.
Jason’s mind touched mine. Get off the dance floor, Gigi.
Nathaniel’s fingers tightened on mine. “What is it?”
I dropped my voice to a whisper. “Jason said I need to move.”
“Are you in danger?” Nathaniel shifted, drawing me closer with an arm around my shoulders. He glanced at my husbands, then over my shoulder and stiffened. “The alcoves. We can wait for Eric and Jason there.”
He drew me away, subtly edging us through the crowd. What would cause the calm Nathaniel to panic? I peeked over my shoulder. A tall man with unnaturally icy eyes and disheveled black hair stood on the far side of the room next to a smaller man whose features were drawn and pinched.
And beside that man stood Selena.
I froze in place, trapped by the smile gracing the other vampire’s bloody mouth. My heart stilled with me and time stretched to the breaking point. The noise of the murmured conversations, the press of the crowd, the weight of Nathaniel’s arm holding me so protectively, all fell away, leaving me alone with the woman who was responsible for the deaths of my family and the baby I’d carried so lovingly.
Did you think you could escape me, Gianna? The smile stretched wide, revealing pointed fangs coated with gore. Did you think I would leave you in peace, let Eric escape my grasp?
“Selena.” The words barely escaped my throat, clinging to the dry skin of my mouth. “They killed you. Jason gave me the memory. He showed me how you burned under the sun.”
Selena’s laugh stretched silently between us. No, little Gianna. I did not die that day, nor did my plans for your husband. He will be mine, in this life or the next. You cannot protect him from me.
My knees buckled and my heart roared to life in my chest, racing wildly. “You can’t have him, Selena. I’ll never let you have him.”
Something lifted me high. Air rushed over my chilled skin and the ballroom snapped into focus around me. Selena’s laughter echoed in my mind, maniacal, improbable, eventually crowded out by the low murmurs of a man’s voice near my ear.
Nathaniel. I turned my face into his collar, drawing a measure of comfort from the starch tingling through my nose as I inhaled his scent. He was carrying me through the beings gathered to celebrate my entrance into the Vampyr. My fingers curled around his nape over the stiff material of his shirt and jacket.
“I’m fine,” I murmured. “You can put me down now.”
Best to let everyone believe we’re enjoying a tryst, sweet. Nathaniel’s arms shifted, pulling me closer to his chest. Cling to me a little harder.
I smiled in spite of the fear lingering in my gut. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?
He entered an unused alcove and sat on the bench seating curving around the ro
om’s wall, with me on his lap. He tugged at his bowtie and flicked open the top buttons of his shirt. “Here. Take from me. You’re shaking.”
His pulse throbbed temptingly close to my mouth. Male vampires could still give blood, unlike their female counterparts, who could share blood only in small quantities unless they were very old or very powerful. Their bodies regenerated the life-giving substance more quickly than ours, and their strength made it incredibly difficult to drain them, making them ideal mates.
Nathaniel was unmated. I don’t know why that thought struck me, only that it hit me then how unusual his situation really was. A rare male vampire, unmated, holding a city for the queen on the edge of my grandmother’s territory.
No wonder Eric wanted to make nice with him.
Nathaniel’s hand cupped the back of my head, pressing my mouth closer to his throat. “Don’t be stubborn, sweet. You need blood.”
Eric and Jason’s bonds were silent in my mind, though I could feel a great anger building in both of them. I tuned it out, knowing they were handling something important. I was safe enough with Nathaniel or Jason would never have shared me with him.
“Thank you,” I murmured, and gently dug my fangs into his skin, opening miniscule holes there. His blood dribbled over my tongue in small spurts, complex and enigmatic, much like the man himself. It hummed through me, steadying my limbs, strengthening me in subtle ways I’d examine later, when the taste of him wasn’t pinging through me demanding every ounce of my attention.
I drank deeply, unafraid of hurting him, savoring the potency of the unusual treat. He was old, much older than I’d thought. I prodded the memories engulfing me, shared through his blood, through the mind he’d left open to me, and through his heart, which could never be closed. The rock of a boat, the salty mist of the ocean spraying over the bow. Wood creaking, canvas sails unfurling with tremendous pops and snaps as the wind caught and held. The persistent ache of hunger digging into a too-thin body, and a woman’s face. Nathaniel, she whispered, her mocha skin glimmering under the soft glow thrown by a single tallow candle. Je t’aime, mon cœur.
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