"There's an awful lot of moaning going on in here," Row comments, putting his head through the door from the library next door.
"Try this," Reina says, holding a piece out to him. Curious, he reaches for it, and Reina pulls it away, grinning playfully. He eyes her suspiciously as she holds it out again, then bends to take it from her fingers with his lips. He meant it to be sexy, but the effect is rather ruined when his eyes widen and he stands up moaning louder than either of us.
"This is amazing," he says, ignoring our laughter. "Where did you get that?"
"Chocolatier up the road," I tell him. "This neighborhood is incredible."
"Beyoncé has a house here," Reina adds, still sounding a little awed. She’s not even a fan, but the mere proximity to someone like that is inspiring.
"You don't want to know how much we paid for this," I finish.
Row laughs, shaking his head. "Sounds about right. Old vampires always end up rolling in it."
"Well, when you don't have to eat," Reina says with a shrug. "Or sleep, or worry about medical bills, or plan for retirement because you're going to live forever, and also you can just eat anyone who messes with you-"
"It does cut down on bills," Carver summarizes, entering the room behind Row. We share a smile for a sweet moment before he falls into the window seat where I'd been before. "I knew a Kresova who decided he wanted a house in the Quarter, so he threw a few hundred dollars into a savings account with a good interest rate, invested in a few low-risk long terms stocks and simply went to sleep for a few decades. Picked a mausoleum in one of the historical graveyards where he knew he wouldn't be bothered and just snoozed away the seventies in a crypt. Woke up a millionaire."
"We can do that?" I ask, a little surprised, sitting next to him and smiling at the natural way his arm settles around me. The sunlight through the window dapples his golden hair and halos it in white. "Just pass out for that long?"
"After one of Morana's parties, I once overslept by a week without even trying," Carver answers, squeezing me closer. "And everyone knows of a Baetal we call Van Winkle. Turned in the early eighteen hundreds and decided he wanted to see the future. Buried himself for two thousand years and woke up at the turn of the millennium. Apparently, he only stuck around a few decades and decided he didn't care for it. Went back to sleep to wait for a time more like his own. No one's beaten that record, as far as I know."
"Yeah, no thanks," I say with a grimace. "Remind me to always set an alarm from now on. I'll be waking you up too, just so you know."
I point a finger at Carver in warning and he just smiles.
"Well, ideally," he said, taking my hand and kissing the back of my knuckles. "I'll be sleeping close by enough that your alarm will wake me up too."
I blush at the implication but I can't help smiling. It’s a future I’m looking forward to, and totally worth losing the one I’d been planning.
"I don't know, sleeping for a week sounds like exactly what I need," Reina says with a sigh, sitting on the edge of the pool table. "Right after finals I would have payed blood to be able to do that. On second thought, I guess I did."
"Oh man, me too," I say, remembering finals. "And February. I could sleep through February every year. Worst month ever."
"Ooh, and when you find out Netflix isn't releasing the next season of the show you're binging till next year?"
"Or when you order something online but you're too cheap to get the fast shipping so it's going to take like two months."
"Or when someone you really don't like is having a birthday and expects you to show up and you're just like 'oh, sorry, I slept through that whole month actually!'"
"I'm pretty sure you've done that one before," I say, laughing loudly.
A tap on the door interrupts the four of us continuing to list the pettiest reasons to sleep for a month. I recognize James, a friend of Row's who's been helping us, as he looks in cautiously. He's a cute guy, a little awkward in that clumsy puppy way, broad and shy and a bit dumb, with curly dark hair and blue eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt," he says with a sheepish grin. "Lucian sent you a message through the secure channel. I thought you'd want to hear it."
I feel a squirm of guilty discomfort twist in my gut at the mention of Lucian. I'd been avoiding thinking about him since I'd found out about his fiancé. Which was ironic considering I couldn't stop thinking about him at first. And I had it on good authority he'd been similarly fixated. That was the heart of the problem really. We both knew what we were probably destined to be to one another, but the fact that he was already engaged made the situation painfully uncomfortable.
I made my peace pretty easily with the idea of loving three people at once. It had been a bit overwhelming when the oracle had first told me. I sometimes had difficulty believing I was good enough for anyone, let alone three guys, let alone three guys as amazing as Carver and Lucian and whoever else were. But once I had time to think about it, it felt right. Not just like it was something I was destined for, but like I would have chosen it eventually regardless. Looking back, a lot of the feelings and fantasies I'd had when I was younger made a lot more sense.
But I would never force that on someone who didn't want it, destined or not. And Lucian's fiancé would almost certainly not be okay with her future husband being part of my harem. And I couldn't make Lucian leave someone he presumably loves, for me. Either destiny had messed up somewhere or we were destined. Whichever it was, it made thinking about Lucian a landmine of uncomfortable feelings.
"Of course," Carver answers James instead of me. "Is something wrong?"
"No, everything's fine," James says, holding his hands up. "He just heard about the girls being, uh, displaced, and wanted to let them know they were free to stay with him if they wanted. Uh, he attached an address."
He hands a scrap of paper to Carver, who reads it over quickly before handing it to me. I stuff it in my pocket, wondering if I should burn it to protect Lucian's location.
"We'll reply tomorrow," Carver tells James after a glance at me to make sure that's what I want. "There's no rush, and it's time for dinner. I just put the last of the food on the table."
"You cooked?" I asked, surprised.
"I am French," Carver says, feigning offense. "Did you doubt I could cook?"
"He ordered take out," Row says, and laughs as Carver glares at him.
"It's the finest take out money can buy, thank you," Carver says, leading us towards the dining room.
We're about to sit down when a knock at the front door sounds through the fine house.
"I'll take care of it," Carver says, waving me towards my seat. "Please, go ahead and start without me."
I watch him go, uneasy, and Reina and Row ignore their food as well, waiting for Carver to return. Someone coming to the door here is strange. No one should know we're here. Even Carver is supposed to be somewhere else.
He returns a minute later, holding a letter in one hand and the envelope it came from in the other. He's pale, his expression grim. My eyes jump to the envelope, bearing a big red wax seal stamped with the letter K.
"What is it?" I ask, my voice thin, already fairly certain I know what it is.
"It's a letter from Morana," Carver replies, meeting my gaze, fear for me in his eyes. I hear Reina's breath catch, and the table creaks under Row's grip. "She knows we're here."
"How?" I ask, my voice breaking.
"I must not have been careful enough," Carver says, guilt on his face. "I knew she was aware of this house, but I didn't think she was watching it. Of course she was watching it." He curses in French under his breath.
"Fuck, she could have killed us in our sleep," Reina whispers.
"What does she want?" I ask, fighting to maintain composure.
"She politely requests our presence at court," Carver says, looking down at the letter like he thinks it might bite him. "To meet the other royal families."
He folds the letter, his face gray with worry.
"She expects us there in three days."
Chapter 5
I pace the billiards room like I'm trying to wear a hole in the antique hardwood floors, dinner forgotten and growing cold on the dining room table, still in its plastic take out bags.
Morana's summons shakes in my hand as I read it over and over again. The polite, formal wording leaves no room for ambiguity. I will be there, or she'll come for me, and everyone I care about. Rude cow.
"So this is obviously a trap, right?" Reina says, hovering in the door way, watching me with obvious worry. Row lingers near the pool table, a cue in his hands like he's preparing to use it as a weapon. Carver sits in the window seat, elbows on his knees, hands folded in fronts of his face, eyes closed in deep contemplation. "I'm not the only one thinking this is totally her calling you in to slaughter, am I?"
"It's very likely," Carver confirms without opening his eyes. I chew my lip until I taste blood, reading the letter again.
"So you're not going, right?" Reina pushes, staring at me, hands open as though I could give her my reassurances physically, looking for some hope that we aren't planning what she thinks we are.
"She does not have a choice," Carver replies, confirming Reina's fears. "None of us do. This is not a polite invitation to tea. This is a test of fealty. To deny her would be an open declaration of rebellion. She would be justified in responding with the full force of the Kresova army. La Tireur would be here the same day with orders to disembowel us and stake our innards out in the yard."
"That was graphic," Row says, laughing a bit hysterically. "And specific. Have you done that one before?"
"Do not ask questions you do not want the answers to." Carver replies a tad harshly.
I sit down abruptly on the edge of the pool table, my face in my hands. My thoughts are moving too fast to follow, fear chasing anger in a whirlwind of panic.
"That's all the more reason Aura can't go!" Reina insists. "Why would Morana demand this unless she knows what Aura is? What she's destined to do? She'll tear Aura's heart out!"
"She may not know," Carver says, trying to sound hopeful. "She may just be suspicious of me. Or jealous. She has never like me spending time with other women, at least not when she isn't there to watch."
"First of all: Ew." Reina is the one pacing now, shaking her head. "Secondly, that is another point in favor of Aura not going anywhere near her, ever. She needs to go into hiding until she finds all her mates and gets superpowers or whatever. We all do!"
"If we even can hide from her at this point," Row says, squeezing the pool cue so hard I can hear the wood creaking. "We're in a house she wasn't supposed to know existed, and she had a letter hand delivered to our door. Where the fuck are we going to go? Narnia?"
"We'll figure something out," Reina says, adamant. “Good pop culture reference though.” She chuckles.
I drag my hands away from my face to look at her, and I can see her shaking. I hold out my arms to her and she runs into them an instant later. I squeeze her close, both of us terrified.
"Perhaps we need to look at this differently," Carver says a moment later, frowning over his folded hands. "This may be an opportunity, rather than an obstacle."
"An opportunity to do what?" I ask, turning to look at him, my stomach twisting in foreboding.
"To discover Morana's weakness," Carver says, his voice icy calm. "And perhaps the location of Abehartach. With Lavinia vanished and the Dakvahar out of communication, this may be our only opportunity to gain the upper hand."
"By walking into the lion's mouth," Reina points out, tense with frustration. "You're not going to get any advantage over her by serving yourself up to her on a silver platter!"
"What do you mean by weakness?" I said, interrupting Reina, intrigued.
"Kresova vampires grow more powerful with age," Carver explains. "But at a cost. A new vampire like yourself is barely stronger than a human, but you have almost no weakness.”
"I'm guessing that changes?" I assume, turning to lean against the table, focusing on him.
"After a century or so," Carver went on. "Along with your physical strength, healing abilities, and any psychic powers, so too does your need for blood to keep you at peak strength.”
Even Reina was listening curiously now, captivated by this glimpse into my possible future, if I survived that long.
"When you pass the century mark, the usual weaknesses stabilize. Sunlight? No problem. A wooden stake? Might as well be a toothpick. Instead, you begin to develop stranger, more specific weaknesses. Some that I’ve known of are allergies to wolfsbane, an aversion to black cats, the inability to lie or cross running water while conscious. Odd little inconveniences that, in the wrong hands, could be deadly. Among these midcourt vampires, those over a century but not yet an elder, us it as leverage at court. It’s all about learning your rival's weaknesses.”
“And of course no one knows Moranas.” I state the obvious.
“Not that I’m aware of. Or if anyone knows it, they’re no longer breathing. While power continues to grow with age, these little flaws condense into one, crippling weakness. For the ancients, these weakness are powerful, unique, and ferociously guarded. No two are alike. I've heard of an elder past who's power grew and waned with the sun, who became mortal during an eclipse.”
"And Morana has a weakness like that?" I ask, hopes rising.
Carver nods.
"With absolute certainty," he says. "She is an ancient. Her weakness must be dire indeed. I have been trying to discover it for decades. But she did not become an ancient by being careless with such information."
"Then how do you expect to figure it out now?" Reina asks
"Before, I was biding my time," Carver says, sitting up and adjusting his jacket. "She had... certain leverage over me, which she no longer has. I no longer need to be so cautious."
"And when we figure this weakness out," I ask. "What then?"
"We are one step closer to disabling her permanently," Carver finished. "Possibly even ending her. Ancient weaknesses have been known to be fatal before."
The impact of that statement, of the mere possibility of killing an ancient, leaves us all in stunned silence for a moment.
"I'm going." I break the silence.
"Like hell you are!" Reina declares, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "This is a suicide mission! If you find that weakness it'll be blind luck and there's no way of knowing if you'll actually be able to do anything with it! What if she has something like that solar powered guy? You just going to stall her till the next eclipse? What if she kills you the minute you walk through the door?"
"I've got a destiny, remember?" I say, forcing a grin. "I don't think I'm going to die walking through a door."
"Destiny doesn't mean shit if you act like an idiot!" Reina shouts, shoving me. "No amount of prophecies in the world are going to help you if you commit suicide."
"Reina," I say seriously, looking her in the eye. "I'm going."
I don't need to say any more. She can see it in my eyes. We don't have a choice, but I'm at least going to turn this to my advantage any way that I can. Morana's hurt too many people for me to pass up the opportunity to put an end to her.
Reina stares back at me, her own face set with determination and fear for me. "Then I'm going with you."
A stab of wild fear that must have been the same thing Reina felt when I said I was going hits my chest. "Reina, no-"
"You're not going without me," Reina says, eyes fiery with determination. "Someone has to be around to remind you not to do stupid shit like this. Since you clearly don't have the common sense God gave a goldfish-"
"Reina," I plead. "It's too dangerous."
"Then don't go!" Reina snaps. "I'm fine with either option!"
"I have to go Reina, I don't have a choice."
"There is always another choice," Reina says grabbing my hand. Hers is shaking as she laces our fingers, holding on tight. "You would just rather risk your life running into danger tha
n running away from it. Well, we're in this together, bitch. Your life is my life. If you're going to do some dumb shit my neck is on the line too, forever. Got it?"
I don't know how to respond, my eyes wide. Reina is my best friend. She knows I feel the same way. But I don't think either of us had ever said it that plainly before. To hear it in blunt words, that she would fight for me, die with me even, changed things. I squeeze her hand, touched.
"Got it," I whisper.
"I have a safe house outside Paris," Carver adds. "She can stay there. It will be safer than leaving her here anyway. You may not have many weaknesses yet, but she definitely qualifies."
"Doesn't that make bringing her into the city kind of stupid?" Row puts in, looking worried. I'd almost forgotten that he had an interest in keeping Reina safe too.
"Better that she be there and within reach if she needs help than halfway across the world," Carver points out. "We already know this location has been compromised. I would not put it past Morana to take her the moment our backs are turned. Using loved ones is her favorite way to control unruly pawns."
I pale a little at the thought of Reina in Morana's clutches. Row looks similarly distressed.
"So what's the plan?" I ask, straightening up, though I keep my tight grip on Reina's hand. "We can't just go straight to her. We need a better plan for working out her weakness."
"Lucian," Carver replies, inclining his head towards my pocket where I have the other man's address. "His name was not on the invitation, so she may not know of your connection yet, which makes him valuable if we want to surprise her. His help will be critical if things go badly regardless."
I feel that squirm of guilt in my stomach again at the thought of the other man, but I nod in understanding. He's right. Lucian may be the difference between this being the suicide mission Reina thinks it is and the strategic move I want it to be.
Tempt (The Kresova Vampire Harems: Aurora Book 2) Page 3
