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"I recorded the song, hummed it over and over. I didn't know if you remember it when you wake, but I thought it might bring you peace and memory during your waking hours. If you'll forgive my presumption, I thought it would also give you something of me to have with you, if that would be of value."
"Ah, Mariela." He set the recorder aside, and lifted her to her feet. He saw the lovely touch of surprise in her face again as he drew her close. Then he was holding her against him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders, head bent over his, her blonde hair curtaining him. He pressed a kiss between her breasts, inhaling that sweet heat. "You are a treasure, my dearest. Should I return and find anyone has undervalued you, I will rip his or her unworthy heart out, toss it before Council and demand they give you a proper vampire."
Mindful of the need not to make this more painful to either of them, he eased her back. As he looked away from her to give her a few seconds to compose herself, he discovered someone else in his doorway. Keldwyn leaned against the frame, waiting on them. Uthe wondered when the Fae had arrived and how much he'd heard. "I bring news from Queen Rhoswen," he said.
Mariela stepped back, her normal expression in place, his faithful InhServ. But no longer his, he reminded himself. "My lord, do you have further need of me?"
No was the right answer to the question. However, under the circumstances, it seemed harsh to say it that way. "Thank you, Mariela," he said instead, gesturing to the recorder. She offered him one more faint smile and a glimpse of her sad brown eyes before she turned.
He expected her to move past Keldwyn with her usual brief but respectful acknowledgment to the Fae. Instead she stopped and looked directly at him. She never met the Fae Lord's eyes, always deferring to him as she did other vampires. The expression on her face wasn't deference. It concerned Uthe enough he rose from the chair. "Mariela," he said, a low tone of warning.
Keldwyn had not moved, though a thrum of tension vibrated from him. It was what had brought Uthe out of the chair. She looked back at Uthe.
"My lord, what you said about being undervalued? Should I have the means and strength, I would do the same to any who treated you badly."
Keldwyn's brow lifted. The Fae and Uthe's former servant held locked gazes for a protracted blink, then Keldwyn spoke. "Close the door when you leave, Mariela," he said in an even tone.
It was a direct order. If Uthe didn't countermand it, she was required to obey. Her jaw firmed, but she looked Uthe's way. He nodded, not unkind, but firm.
She bowed to him as Keldwyn shifted away from the frame, taking several steps in the room. Mariela left them, the door closing silently behind her.
Queen Rhoswen and her party had departed after the ball and a short, private visit between the two queens, but tonight Keldwyn was dressed more as Uthe would have expected during the Queen's visit. His swallow-tailed coat was a deep green velvet, over another ruffled, laced shirt in the golds of summer. His hair had several slim braids overlaying the loose weight of the rest. The braids were woven with gold ribbon, and the shell of one of his pointed ears was lined with copper rings. A leaf pattern was imprinted on his right cheek and brow, a colorful tattoo that surrounded the right eye and made it somehow more piercing, looking at Uthe from among that camouflage.
"If that woman wasn't human, she might be mildly unsettling," Keldwyn said.
"I find most strong women to be unsettling, in a very stimulating way. And never to be underestimated. Our Lady Lyssa, for example, as well as your Queen Rhoswen." Uthe settled back in his chair. He wanted to ask if the Fae had been here earlier, if it hadn't been a dream. But he couldn't. His desire to ask the question was problematic enough. The answer would be even worse, whether it was yes or no.
Keldwyn lifted a shoulder. "On that note, Her Majesty has granted you the right to enter the Fae world for the sole purpose of completing your mysterious quest. She also sent you a gift."
"Should I be worried?"
"Always, my lord." Keldwyn withdrew an amulet on a cord, tossed it to Uthe. It looked like a piece of ice, and was cold like one, but there was no melting against the fingers. Inside something shimmered, like captured energy.
"The cord is to help you hold onto it, but do not put it around your neck until you need it."
Uthe wondered if it was a noose that would strangle him, then dispelled the morbid thought. "What will it do?"
"Repeat these words." Keldwyn spoke a short sentence in the Fae language. Uthe repeated it, then the Fae Lord had him do it several more times, until he had the pronunciation correct.
"Roughly translated, it means: Should all about to be lost, may those true of heart and of like mind come to aid my purpose, be it of the highest intent."
"Ah. And that means..."
"Your guess is as good as mine. Either it will help, or it will summon an army of blue Smurfs. They are very true of heart."
"You have been watching TV with Kane again."
"True enough." Keldwyn crossed his arms over his chest as Uthe tucked the amulet safely in a drawer. "It can only be used once, so save it for when the need is dire."
"Good to know. You told me to trust you, and you came through." The Fae preferred gifts to thanks, so Uthe usually worded praise accordingly.
Keldwyn swept a gaze over him. "She had a condition for your travel in the Fae world. In order to act 'freely' there, you must be bonded."
Uthe's brow creased. "Meaning?"
"Meaning you are the full responsibility of someone from the Fae world. She has an aversion to letting a vampire wander around the Fae world like an unsupervised child." Kel spread out his
hands. Today he wore only the amber ring with the rose petal. "Her words, not mine."
"Though I'm sure you would have been capable of supplying her the phrase if she was at a loss to find it."
"I have never known Queen Rhoswen to be at a loss to find the right words."
Uthe studied the Fae. There was a curious expectancy to Keldwyn, an energy humming off of him that made Uthe want to shift restlessly in his chair. "Who has been assigned to babysit me?" he asked lightly. "Or am I not allowed the information until I have breached the gate to your world?"
"I am the obvious candidate, since there is no one else who knows you well enough in our world to vouch for you. Unless you have other relationships with Fae royalty I did not know about until now?"
The slight trace of sarcasm was unexpected. Keldwyn already knew Uthe hadn't fully recalled Reghan until contact with Rhoswen had brought those memories rushing back. But the Fae were easily irritated. Uthe chose not to remark upon it. He was digesting the idea of Keldwyn as his guide.
He genuinely hadn't expected it to be the Fae Lord. While the male might like toying with him in the Council setting, the Fae Lord had many responsibilities, to both Fae courts as well as to the Council. "My lord, I have no problem with you vouching for me to another, rather than tying yourself up with this matter. I have no intention of causing harm in your world, but I've also no idea how long my task will take."
"Accompanying you is my decision. I have conditions for that patronage, and I am your only option. While you are bound to me, it means you are subjugated to my will, Lord Uthe. My vassal, so to speak." Keldwyn took the guest chair across from Uthe, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles to the right of Uthe's. "Are you aware the origin of the word of vassal is 'boy' or 'vessel'? So if I called you my vassal, you would be 'my boy' or," his gaze slid over Uthe, "my vessel."
Uthe didn't rise to the bait, burying the images Keldwyn was planting in his head under far bigger concerns. "What does subjugated to your will mean, Lord Keldwyn? I have a goal to accomplish. It does me no good to go to your world if that mission will be hampered by your demands."
