AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"He is no different from the rest of us males. We pretend to be complex only to impress our sexual conquests, but under those trappings we are decidedly dull."
"I believe he attempts to impress you quite often then, my lord."
At his look of surprise, she lifted one smooth shoulder. "It is the way he looks at you when you are not looking at him." She pressed her lips together as if she thought she'd said too much, but Uthe touched her face, lifted her chin. Since she was six feet tall, and tonight she wore three-inch heels, they were eye to eye.
"Speak to me of your concerns, Mariela. I value your thoughts. You know this."
"I do not know his motives, my lord. When he is near you, I am concerned for your wellbeing. It is as if he could simply make you disappear for his amusement."
"Well, he is Fae. But considering his queen and Lady Lyssa would like to see some advance in the relations between our two species, and I do believe he has that same wish, perhaps he'll hold off. He'll wait for a more expedient time to put me in a box, tap it with a wand and produce a rabbit."
Her full, moist lips twisted. "I cannot tell what he wishes, beyond his desire for you. And I think desire to a Fae is no simple thing."
"Desire rarely is a simple thing, for any of us."
"Hmm." She suddenly was very focused on the tie again. "My lord, I hope you know I would never allow my concerns to interfere with my service to you. Should you have an equal desire for him, and wish me to be part of what you want from one another, I will not shame you."
"I would never think you would, even if you told me he repulsed you and you had to imagine someone far more handsome than either of us to get through it. Like...who was the actor in the movie you were watching the other day in the servants' common room?"
"My lord." She pushed at him. "A Council member should have far more weighty concerns than spying on servants."
"Now my servant is chastising me." He chuckled. "Another reason to punish her later. Right now, I would do nothing to muss your beauty. I will have that name from you then, though."
She shook her head, her reserve returning as she completed the task of helping him dress. He enjoyed teasing her, but he could not indulge the easy informality like what was between Lyssa and Jacob, or other vampires who enjoyed greater intimacy with their servants.
He'd never considered that a burden, and he didn't now, but it made him think about how often of late he woke up with a feeling as if he were bound in heavy chains. The sensation sometimes lingered throughout the night. Because of it, he prayed more, worked out harder, pushed himself further on Council duties. Which was what could have led to his slip earlier tonight, he mused, where Daegan had seen Uthe's fighting skills were greater than most knew. He needed to figure out the right balance to restore his equilibrium, but the problem was the fulcrum of that seesaw was moving daily.
He could not give in to the fatigue. Or the fear of what it all meant. Too much remained to be done. One moment at a time. For tonight, Lady Lyssa and the Council were depending on him to be who he'd always been for them.
"My lord, did you review the mail I left on your desk today?"
He tuned back in to Mariela. She had a voice like a flute, haunting like a dove's coo. It soothed. At times he allowed her to read him to sleep at dawn. Perhaps he'd do that tonight. "I didn't realize I'd received any."
Though many things were communicated electronically, correspondence requiring excess discretion was usually couriered. He searched his mind for what might have come from the Berlin office, but came up with nothing.
"It was just a postcard. I should have propped it up on your desk and made it more noticeable. I was going to throw it away, because it was from a tourist attraction." Mariela grimaced. "Even vampires end up on marketing lists."
"Evidence of the Devil at work, for certain." Uthe shrugged into his coat.
"Hmm." She smiled at him. "However, this card had a first class stamp and it's handwritten in Arabic. It may be inconsequential, but..."
Mariela moved to his desk, her skirt flowing out from her like peacock feathers, the light in the room reflecting off her blonde hair. Picking up the single postcard, she brought it back to him. "Discover the Holy Land Experience" was in bright red letters on the front of the card, and layered over what looked like a map of the exhibits one could see there. It appeared to be a Florida tourist attraction. His brow creased. Solomon's Treasures, the park's gift shop, was circled with a black marker. When he flipped the postcard, there was only one handwritten line. In Arabic, as Mariela had said.
Your gift is ready!
It is ready. He should know what that meant. It was the missive. Heat flushed through his body beneath the confines of the tuxedo, and a tremor went through his fingers. His mind strained, panicked, as the information eluded him. By the Holy Relics, this was important. So important.
"My lord?" Mariela was staring at him. "You have gotten...paler. Are you..."
"Leave me." He spoke brusquely and turned away from her. "I will see you on the back lawn."
"Yes, my lord." He heard the hesitation in her voice, the worry, but she was ever-obedient, his beautiful Mariela. She closed the door behind him.
He stared at t
he card, passed his fingers over the writing. Damn it, damn it. Closing his eyes, he dropped to one knee by the bed and began to pray, fervently. But he was trying too hard, he knew it, and he could not open himself to God's will. The information eluded him.
* * *
A couple hours later, he stood on the back lawn of the Savannah estate, facing the forest perimeter. He'd tucked the card into his jacket, hoping the proximity to his body might jog something loose, but right now this had to be his priority. Keldwyn had indicated the Fae Queen preferred to be met at the forest portal only by her half-sister and the Fae Lord. She and her entourage would then proceed to the house, which was why they were all assembled on the lawn, awaiting the Queen's arrival so she could greet them formally there.
Jacob had accompanied Lyssa. Though Mason and others of the Council hadn't been pleased by Lyssa meeting a Fae entourage so unprotected, it was a reminder that this was supposed to be a social visit, peacekeeping observed on all sides. Vampires were far too used to an evening ending in blood among their own kind, let alone a species with whom they'd had less than friendly relations since...ever.
At one time, the blood triggers for a vampire social event could have been anything from true insult to an idle desire for lethal sport. Considering their population was not large, intelligent vampires like Lyssa had realized channeling the energy into sexual play with servants at such meetings kept more vampires alive. The evening might still end in blood--just of the less fatal variety.
He thought of Keldwyn's mouth so close to his own, the Fae Lord's whispered words. You frustrate me.
A shift in the assembled Council vampires and attendants brought his attention back to the forest edge. As the Fae court made their appearance, firelight flickering off their trappings, the line between past and present blurred. For an instant he was on a battlefield years ago, and horses were emerging over the ridge, the sun catching the glitter of weapons, helmets. It felt odd, not being on horseback, ready to meet them, waiting for the call to charge.
