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Cai was looking between them like he wasn't sure if he needed to fight the vampire queen or smack Rand in the head. Putting his hand on Cai's shoulder to hopefully prevent either option, Rand executed a short bow.
"My lady," he said courteously, "Cai was trying to protect me. I expect you have those in your life you'd take similar, inadvisable steps to shield."
Lyssa blinked. "It has been said."
As Jacob coughed over a chuckle, she sent him an admonishing look.
"My servant has clothes up in the room," Cai said shortly. Fancy words work better if your junk isn't hanging out there, being a distraction.
Without distraction, you'd probably be a greasy spot on the carpet.
She likes me. I can tell.
Lyssa glanced at Jacob. "Send Giles to retrieve Rand's clothes. He need not be too hasty about it."
It was Jacob's turn to give her a narrow look, but he crossed the room and stepped to the door. He kept it cracked so the house servant couldn't peer within. While his voice stayed low, Rand detected the last words. "Make haste."
The glint in Lyssa's eyes became like that of a faceted jewel. Jacob returned to her side only a couple moments later, clothes in hand. She gave him an openly amused look. "I was unaware Giles was an Olympic sprinter."
Jacob offered an ambivalent grunt.
As Rand took the clothes and stepped aside to pull them on, she turned her attention back to Cai. "Your convictions need not be brayed like a mule to be truth. I've lived long enough to experience loss, betrayal, and know how terribly unfair life can be. It can also be glorious, when the essential elements needed as a balm to those feelings are discovered. I hope your tongue allows you long enough to find them."
She switched back to the original topic, ignoring Cai's bemused reaction. "Are you still accepted as one of them?" Lyssa asked.
"I said I won't--"
"Indulge me in a hypothetical. Are you still accepted as one of them?"
Cai scowled. "Probably. Yes. No. Maybe. The one who leads them now is the vampire who stole me when I was a kid. Goddard."
He should just stop talking, but he'd promised honesty. It was no big deal. Cai could say it out loud. It didn't mean anything and he'd be out of here soon.
But saying the male's name was harder than it should be. He wanted to spit it out a few more times, just to prove it had no hold on him, maybe scream it and add a few expletives to embellish it...but that might make him seem a bit unhinged. Right? More than he'd already proven he was.
He could feel Rand's gaze on him. He's alive, why?
Cai appreciated the male's wave of homicidal support. Just as he'd appreciated his reaction of a few moments ago when he'd lost it like a fledgling. It should have made Cai even more unsettled, but the wolf sitting down next to him, leaning against his leg had been...calming. Fuck.
Rand had donned the jeans and shirt. Rand and Torrence were almost an exact match in size and breadth, though Rand had a slightly narrower ass. Or Torrence preferred to wear his jeans looser. Cai was guessing servant preferences didn't usually dictate their clothing choices; their Master or Mistress did. Helga would want her servant's ass to be as nicely defined as possible in his clothes, so Rand's muscular butt being narrower was likely the correct conclusion.
"You have a sorcerer who could find me among millions of square miles of parkland," Cai reminded the vampire queen. "Why don't you just have him poof her out of there?"
"Unfortunately, there are strict limits to how he may help us, and we have reached those." She lifted a shoulder and frowned. "Particularly since Greenwald's retrieval team used his help inappropriately. But we have a support member of this Council, Lord Brian, who is our scientific research director. He is on his way here and has said he has additional resources for any rescue attempt we are framing."
Cai set his jaw. "And I'm the picture you want to put in that frame. Doesn't matter what ideas he has, we're still talking slim-to-none chances."
"True. But according to your information, our slim window of chance rests on having someone who can get in there without raising alarm. That person would have the resources we could provide. And our gratitude. Which, in our world, goes a very long way. You may not want us to give you anything, Cai, but how very pleasing would it be for us to owe you?"
Before he could formulate a response to that, Lyssa cocked her head.
"Why do you have one steel fang?"
Cai blinked at the sudden change of topic. "Because Trads are elitist assholes," he said flatly. "A vampire made from one of their captured humans is considered inferior. Citizens of their fucked-up world, yes, but second-class ones."
Cai bared his fangs and pointed to the steel one. "They break one off and dig it out from the root, then cauterize it with your blood so it won't grow back. The 'one fang' designation says you were made within the Trad clan, but you're not a pure vampire. You were once one of their slaves."
He could feel Rand's gaze on him again. Not that it had ever left, but sometimes it felt as if the guy was staring inside his head. The second mark wasn't an open two-way street, but with Rand, it felt like it was. Cai really should have done a better job of pissing him off so the shifter would have stayed out of this pointless meeting.
"On the other hand, for all their faults, Trads are pretty self-sufficient." Cai swept his gaze over the room. "Those made vampires I talked about? I'm betting most leave within a short time, because they're not prepared for the rustic realities of Trad life, the lack of comforts. A true Trad wouldn't be caught dead here."
Lyssa watched him another unsettling moment. "You're an interesting mix, Cai. So full of hate for both sides, but you will favor one over the other when it suits your purpose to sneer at the one before you."
Cai shrugged. "I'm an asshole. It's the best thing I know to be."
"Hmm. I think that suit of armor has been purposefully dinged and tarnished. I don't think you want that young female to be harmed, or to die."
"I don't want a lot of things," Cai said harshly. "But my wants have never meant a damn to anyone but me. So can we get this over with? Go ahead and torture me under the illusion that it will get me to agree to a suicide mission, or kill me."
"Neither at the moment, I think." She ran a fingertip over the surface of the desk, back and forth, a meditative gesture. "I wish to give this matter some thought and talk to the rest of the delegation. Georg exceeded his authority in how he brought you here, but don't leave until I grant you permission. We may need further information from you. If you exercise patience, you'll be released without further harm. You have my word."
"Patience isn't my strong suit. Nor trust."
"I wouldn't have guessed." That faint smile again. Her gaze slid to Rand. "I've told no one but the Council delegation what Rand is, and it wo
n't leave that circle at this time. It's your decision whether to expose his human side to anyone else here."
Rand nodded, a courteous albeit cautious appreciation. Cai was less impressed. He lifted a brow.
"That a threat? I behave or else you'll tell everyone shifters exist?"
Lyssa blinked. "You told me very specifically what your terms were for this audience, and chastised me for believing you were angling yourself for greater spoils. I believe you can take my response at similar face value."
Well, he hadn't expected that. Expected to believe her, that is. Unsettled, Cai looked toward Rand. Up to you. You can shift back to wolf before we leave the room. Or, since the only ones we have to fool are Greenwald and his staff, we can build on what Giles has likely already spread around. That you're my servant, and you just arrived. I'll tell anyone who asks that the wolf is out hunting in the forest.
Rand accepted that with an interesting push of agreement that was wordless, much as he'd communicate it in wolf form. Cai managed an awkward half-bow to Lyssa that made him feel like an idiot, but she inclined her head. Probably laughing her ass off behind that neutral expression. Or maybe not. What had been discussed these past few minutes, and what had brought Cai here, weren't really laughing matters.
When he left the room, Rand stayed close enough on his heels Cai felt the heat of his presence. Yet he didn't draw a deep breath until he heard the double doors close behind them. Even then, it felt as if something was constricting his chest. Holding him back, holding him tied to the words in that room.
Goddamn it.
Jacob crossed his arms as he watched the two depart. Rand had followed Cai, but paused at the door, looking back at Lyssa with a hard-to-read expression on his face. Then he left.
A shifter. I wish Kane could have seen that.
Yes. Lyssa offered an absent smile as he referred to their son. She meant it, but Jacob knew a lot of far more troubling things were turning over in her head.
To ensure their privacy, Jacob continued to speak in his Mistress's mind. You won't convince him, my lady. His mind and heart are set. The trauma they did to him runs deep. You're asking a man not just to confront his nightmares, but wade into them up to his neck and risk drowning.
She lifted a shoulder and turned the desk chair to face him. If there's any chance of convincing him, it won't be me who does it. It will be his wolf.
