by Kayleigh Sky
“In the dungeon.” He grinned at the sour look on Otto’s face. Let the bastard remember who Zev was. He let his fangs slide down for good measure. “I know what I’m doing.”
Otto’s jaw bunched. “You want to keep things from me, I might as well go home.”
Zev wasn’t about to tell Otto how little he knew himself, which was why he knew things weren’t always the way they looked. He rose from his wicker chair. The sunroom got too hot for him in summer, but he enjoyed it other times. As he crossed to the rain-splashed window, his pain eased. He needed to move and walk under the pines, but it was Otto’s idea to drag his recovery out and keep him inside the walls of the manor.
Zev turned his back to the window and stared at Otto. “I never said I’d be easy to work for.”
“You can be as pissy as you want to be. I can take it. Just don’t get in the way of me and my job.”
“Your job is to find Asa.”
Otto shook his head and leaned his elbows on his knees. “We both know he’s right here. You were probably right beside him the last time he was ever Asa. Maybe he was Emek after that, or maybe some other names came in between. It can hardly be a coincidence that a guy named Emek was on the train—a guy Rune warned you—”
“Not warned.”
Otto scowled. “What?”
“Not warned. He told Jessa to tell me to remember the name.”
Otto made no sound, made no response. He only stared, then sighed and sat back. “I know you don’t want to think the worst here, but there’s no reason for you to remember the name of a harmless stranger. And there’s zero explanation for him showing up here. You are not safe from him. He’s looking for something, and it isn’t the priceless family candelabra.”
Zev laughed. “I don’t have a priceless family candelabra.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I assigned him to work on the annual inventory. Adalyn will know if he takes anything.”
“He won’t. He’s not a common thief.”
“How do you know that?”
“My gut.”
“You don’t like Justin either.”
He shrugged. “So I’m not infallible.”
“I agreed to move the meeting. You’ll be there too. You can help keep an eye on Emek.”
“Why am I going to be there?”
“I assumed you’d accompany Jessa.”
“Jessa isn’t much for this prime prince thing.”
“We do our duty.”
“You’re a glum bunch, you know that?”
Zev let his fangs show again. “That’s why you fit right in, detective.”
23
Sudden News
Asa entered the dining room behind Jere. A long, rectangular table surrounded by cushioned chairs took up most of the narrow space. Sage colored walls and oak coffered ceilings enclosed it. People sat at the table and stood against the walls. Only the body pressing behind him forced Asa to continue.
His gut churned. Too much murmuring. Too many bewildered expressions. Getting together, all in one room, wasn’t normal for this household. He found a spot against a wall beside Jere and stared at the others. Then a door opened, and Justin entered.
He didn’t smile or greet anyone though he’d been gone for two weeks. He stood at the end of the table, fingertips resting on the glossy surface.
“Quiet, everyone. We have much to do in a short period. Those of you who work on site must be prepared to travel by four a.m. The rest of you will be on vacation while we are gone but will still receive your monthly paychecks. Those of us who are traveling will receive a vacation of equal length on our return. I can’t provide an exact timeframe for the duration of our stay, but plan for several weeks. In the meantime, we need everyone to assist in final preparations for our departure.”
Asa’s heart dropped into his belly with a sickening thud. Out of the corner of his eye, he took in the frown developing on Jere’s face. So this was news to him too. Which meant Solomon didn’t know. Could Asa or Jere get into town? The buzz of voices around the room indicated this was definitely out of the ordinary.
The dull slow clomp of Justin’s hands clapping sank into his ears.
“This isn’t a topic of conversation. These are instructions. I suggest you all begin preparing now. Please report to your supervisors for directions. Those of you who report to me, please proceed to my office. I’ll join you shortly.”
As he turned, Asa caught sight of the twist of anxiety on Isaac’s face. Worrying about his stupid fated love? Well, that was the least of anybody’s concerns. They’d return, and Isaac’s fantasy lover would still be here, but if Jere couldn’t alert Solomon, Asa would be left trying to explain why he hadn’t either. He’d learned logic meant nothing to the nutjob light bearer.
But what if…
What if he didn’t come back from wherever they went? What if he ran?
His body tingled, energy surging through him at the thought, but what if... What if they catch you? What if they drain you dry?
He shivered and shook the idea out of his head. He’d never get away.
In Justin’s office, they each received a list of tasks. As soon as they were dismissed, Asa hurried to the butler’s pantry off the formal dining room. Adalyn stood at a butcher block table, wrapping china and setting it in boxes.
He removed another stack from the buffet cabinet and set it by an empty box. A fine gold and silver crackle spread like fissures across the robin’s egg blue finish, and a jade-embossed symbol decorated the center of each plate.
After a few boxes were packed and taped, he said, “Why are we doing this? Aren’t there dishes where we’re going?”
“Not like these,” she said. “The pattern is a very old one, passed down through generations. King Qudim commissioned replicas of the ones that had belonged to the Senera family before the Upheaval. Only the king has permission to use them now.”
“Why the Senera family?”
That was the family Louise had told him about. The one the real king had belonged to. The one with the prince who’d given up the throne and the drainer prince Isaac had fed. Sometimes it helped to play dumb.
Adalyn eyed him, then huffed. “It’s not a bad idea to educate yourself a little about vampires. The Seneras used to be the first of the royal families.”
He grunted. “Yeah. I guess I remember something about that.”
“Anyway, these are for special guests of the king, so they go with you.”
“Go where? Nobody’s said.”
“Somewhere not here, that’s all I know. You can start hauling the boxes to the vehicles. I’ll keep packing. There might be a dolly in the storage closet in the back hall.”
“I’ll check.”
When he opened the closet, the dim light fell on brooms, mops, buckets, shelves stocked with paper towels, cleaners, and polishes, but no dolly. Asa sighed, returned to the pantry, picked up a single box, and carried it out to the garage. He set it by the open back of a black SUV.
A guy named Chris leaned one knee inside, shoved two suitcases into the back, then turned to face him.
“Careful,” Asa said. “These are special.”
“Got it.”
Asa hurried over to another SUV that rolled out of the garage a few doors down and stopped in the driveway. Jere got out and strode back into the empty bay.
Asa followed. “Will you be making a run into town?”
“Could be. Propane’s on the list and some of the tanks need filling.”
“Take me.”
Jere shook his head. “Can’t. No reason to either. Whatever you got is supposed to go through me.”
“This changes things.”
Jere glanced around the garage. “How’s that?”
Asa ground his teeth. What was he supposed to do now? The necklaces were in the manor, and he wasn’t going to be in the manor anymore. Was he free? Was he supposed to keep playing his part? He wasn’t asking Jere, who, as far as Asa was concern
ed, was in the same boat he was in. One of Solomon’s pawns. Going through Jere shoved Asa even farther into the dark.
What if Jere told him it was time for him to kill Zev?
His stomach turned, and Zev’s dark eyes floated into his vision. Eager-eyed, lit with a boyish smile whenever Asa made a tricky chess move Zev wasn’t sure how to counter.
Would Asa do it? Take Jere’s word?
Bile burned his throat.
Unclenching his jaws, he said, “Try and figure out a reason for me to go with you.”
Not waiting for Jere to reply, he hurried back inside, startled to see Zev’s figure at the end of the long hall. He met Asa’s eyes for a brief moment before he swung his crutch in front of him and disappeared from view.
After that, Asa hauled seven more boxes out to the garage. All the while, his mind raced.
Where were they going?
A city?
Could he just fade into the crowds?
Isaac’s laughter rang out in the kitchen. The kid didn’t laugh a lot. His smiles came and went as though he might be charged for every second they stayed on his face. Solemn as he was though, for some reason, he’d designated Asa as the recipient of his secrets.
Fated love.
What a fucking joke. But Asa’s thoughts jumped immediately to Zev. Sure, he lusted after him. Who wouldn’t? The lush lips, the quirky way he smiled. The hot but controlled passion in his eyes. And his chest. Holy fuck. Asa had forgotten more gorgeous guys than he remembered, but sitting across a chessboard from Zev wiped out the rest of the world for him. He got lost in the moment. And it wasn’t the game. It was Zev. Always had been. Why else would he have handed over that flash drive so many years ago? Handed over everything. His whole life. His heart and his future.
I promise…
God, he’d been an idiot, and now anger surged through him.
He had to get into town.
24
Lever
Zev rubbed the underside of his arm. He didn’t need the crutch anymore. The pain had settled into sore spots no worse than bruises. He walked with barely a limp. But there were advantages to appearing weak. Defeated.
He’d learned that from Rune.
The red hue of the glass on the table by the fireplace caught the light from the flames and danced with gold. It had the telltale scent of lucanith, but it wasn’t the same cup. That one was still in the dungeon. He picked it up and held it in his palm. How close to the original was it? The beauty of the one he held spilled a luminous glow over his fingers and dimmed his memory of the one in the dungeon. He touched his lips to the golden rim. The cup had arrived with a note he’d already burned. Drink from it. Keep them guessing. Rune.
He’d carry it with him to the lodge.
He stood with his crutch and sat again at the chessboard.
His heart hurt looking at it. Emek hadn’t made the next move. Was he too busy? Was he the spy or assassin Otto thought he was? Zev refused to believe it.
He sighed and stroked the side of the white king.
When he thought of Emek, he remembered an excitable boy with a black and white dog that had made Zev forget the smell of death that had followed him everywhere. And here and now, the game was a pause in his real life. A place where he forgot who he was. Where he wasn’t a king and was just a player who wasn’t as good as his opponent. A vampire who didn’t want to die alone. Didn’t want to live alone. Why hadn’t Emek made his next move? So much hid behind the mask he wore, but sometimes Zev glimpsed the face of an orphan underneath and ached for him. The minute Emek saw Zev’s gaze though, the gray of his eyes hardened to steel again. Did he know how much power he had over Zev? Power Zev couldn’t let him take.
He leaned back in his chair, eyeing the board again.
Emek’s knight threatened Zev’s rook. If Zev took the knight he opened his king to check. Getting away would mean the sacrifice of his queen. If Zev chose to escape. Sometimes it was best not to thwart the enemy. Better to let him hang himself.
But Zev didn’t want Emek to hang himself.
What had he been looking for in Zev’s study? Things to steal?
Zev’s aunt and uncle had collected artwork, rare books, and porcelain figurines. Not to mention silverware and crystal. The manor had no shortage of valuable objects. More than Zev kept in his study.
Was Emek working for somebody else? Somebody here? Or somebody in town? He went there often enough. But so did the others. Where else would they spend their time off?
Zev groaned, set his elbows on the table, and squeezed his head. Emek. Smile. Laugh while you take my queen. Make me forget the world for a while.
But that wasn’t possible, and Zev was a fool to hope for it.
He slumped back in his chair again and dozed until the sound of the study door opening roused him. He opened his eyes and watched Emek approach.
“You wanted to see me?”
“I need help,” he said, gratified by the roughness of his voice.
“With what?” Emek’s gaze shifted to the chessboard, and he chewed his lip.
“Moss is busy, and I want a bath.”
“You want me to draw it?”
“I need help in and out.”
“Oh.” Emek’s eyes darted away from Zev. “I’ll… uh… get it started.”
“Use the bath balls in the dish on the side of the tub.”
“Sure. Got it.”
Maybe it would help to remember Emek was a servant. A traitorous servant. Somebody to wait on him. Give of himself and his time.
Zev’s family had had help, of course. It was expected even if their residence wasn’t that large. The family had a responsibility to employ others and put a certain face on what it meant to be royal. They had an image to uphold, a position that gave others a sense of security.
But Zev had always bathed himself. Loved to cook for himself and others.
Certain intimacies were best… Well, best kept intimate.
How else to keep Emek busy though? To save him from his own noose?
The walls muffled the rush of water through the pipes. He sat with his gaze pointed toward the bedroom door, filling with Emek’s body as he came through it. He wasn’t particularly big, not even for a human. His limbs swung with a loose strength though. He’d cut his hair, maybe to tame the curls, and it seemed darker now, but the light behind him cast him in shadow. Up close, sandy freckles stood out on his skin. A stiff smile stretched his lips.
“You ready?” Emek asked.
“You haven’t made a move.”
Emek froze, then breathed out a laugh. “I was going to. Your detective interrupted me again.”
“My detective,” Zev said softly. “I don’t think so. I don’t think I have anyone I can call mine.”
Emek squinted, tightened his lips, and came closer. “I’ll help you up.”
“Just hold the crutch.”
Zev passed it to him, flattened his palm to the table, and pushed. Once on his feet, he took the crutch back and hobbled into the bedroom.
With Emek behind him, the skin over Zev’s spine crawled. He was a vampire and had been king long enough not to trust the shadows in his own room. Sometimes he wished one of those shadows was Rune come to tell him he’d done enough. That he was free. Free to sit in a dusty old library with no sword hanging over his head.
But he’d be damned if he’d let the evil slithering through this world go on. He stood shoulder to shoulder with Rune—he just wished he had somebody to lean on the way others leaned on him. Somebody who didn’t forget to play his turn at chess. Who sat across from him with a smile that lit the sun. Who saw the fissures running through him and stuck to him like glue.
He stepped onto the cool marble floor. Gold, gray, and white stripes alternated on the walls, and steam clouded the pewter-framed mirror. A sluggish fan whirled overhead. He glanced over his shoulder into the human’s narrowed eyes. “You’ll have to come in with me.”
“I know.”
Zev
hadn’t taken the biggest rooms in the manor, and that included the bathroom, but the tub was big enough to fit three if he’d wanted it to. Now it was a sea of glossy bubbles. He turned, handed Asa his crutch, and shrugged off his robe. Nudity meant nothing to vampires, but Emek’s cheeks flushed, and his gray eyes turned sooty. A storm brewed beneath the surface.
Zev reached out a hand, and Emek gave him his arm. His foot plunged through bubbles, and he sank beneath them into deliciously hot water. A sigh broke from his lips.
“God, that’s good.”
Emek’s jaw clenched, his face flushed a mottled red. “Do you want me to stay?”
Zek flicked his fingers at the wide corner of the marble surround. “Sit and keep me company.”
Emek obeyed and leaned back against the tile wall, his eyes looking hooded from that position.
Trying not to see too much?
The bubbles covered everything, but they wouldn’t for long. Zev curled his hands into fists. His dick brushed his thigh, thickening. Closing his eyes would only summon the picture of Emek kneeling at his feet, swallowing him down with spit-slick lips. An ache spread through his belly.
“Is anything wrong?” Emek asked.
“What do you mean?”
“The move seems sudden.”
“Things happen.”
Emek swept his tongue over his lip, gaze dropping, then rising. “What things?”
Zev shrugged. “Political things. Ellowyn things.”
“So something is wrong?”
“Depends on what you think might be wrong. I’ll be entertaining guests. The manor won’t serve us for that.”
Emek’s face darkened. And why not? Zev was lying to him.
“What are— You’ve obviously had guests here before.”
