“Myra,” Jasper said simply.
“Yes, of course,” Ryan said, snapping his fingers.
“Um … who is Myra?” Lucie asked, glancing at Aedan.
“Myra is the royal family’s banshee. She is bound to their family and is unbreakably loyal. She can’t ever betray them. It’s hard to explain, but she’s bound to the royal bloodline for all eternity. It’s the price she had to pay for the sins she committed against them a long long time ago. Now, she’s harmless. Well, to them. Banshees are hardly harmless. She is a fierce and dangerous guard dog. But she will be our ticket. Having her in the room at night will spare my neck. She would never lie to the royal family. She can’t. And as Derrick’s fiancée, she will bebound to protect you as well. It’s actually quite perfect. Good thinking, Jasper.” Ryan sighed in relief.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this Myra,” Lucie said, trying to remember if she’d ever met her.
“She keeps out of sight so no one knows where she is. She can move through walls, except for the royal walls. She must be invited inside those rooms. But because of her abilities, no one knows where she is or what she could overhear. She has warned the royal family time and time again of things taking place that she felt they should be aware of.” Ryan grinned. “And when she doesn’t think they need to know, she deals with it herself.” He made a motion of a knife going across the throat.
“For now, let her be. We can ask her later how people are responding to you and Lucie.” Jasper stood up from the couch and reached for Lucie, pulling her up next to him. Ryan and Aedan both followed suit, standing up. “You will of course recognize the king and queen, Uncle Alaric and Aunt Willa to me. My parents Jester and Irene will be there. But there are always noble families who are rotated for the dinners. It’s a way to keep connected. These are the people we need to fool first.”
“Yeah, and one of the nobles this week is Lady Camile, sooo …” Ryan said with disgust.
Lucie arched her brow, waiting for someone to explain further.
“Lady Camille and her mother Pamala are blood seekers. A family who often marry upward despite who their mate is. An equivalent to a gold digger among humans, only they go after nobility. Camille has always had her eyes set on me and Derrick.” Jasper scrunched his nose in disgust.
“Is there any danger here to my sister? That’s what I want to know.” Aedan finally spoke up. He wasn’t interested in how Lucie had to play house. He wanted to get to the real reason he was staying by Lucie’s side.
“None. The prince’s bride is priceless, especially among the noble families.” Jasper’s words were absolute.
“But that doesn’t mean women won’t be vying to be the next mistress or two.” Ryan shrugged and looked at Lucie’s darkening eyes.
“There will be no mistress. Anyone who touches what is mine will not live to see another day.” Lucie’s voice turned icy.
“Oh look, she sounds just like Derrick. That was basically his warning to me about touching you.” Ryan chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Guess you two are perfect for each other.”
“When did Derrick talk to you? I’m confused about all that, to be honest.” Aedan looked at Lucie and could see she was now curious about it as well.
“That would be …” Jasper trailed off quietly, looking away a bit.
“What is it?” Aedan asked, feeling like something big was being kept from them.
“Like the banshee who is bound to the family, there is also another servant who is bound to them. It is their more recent servant. In order to spare his soul, he made a deal with the vampires and bound himself to them as their loyal servant.” Ryan looked up at Jasper. This was something he wasn’t supposed to talk about.
“Look, this is a conversation for another time, I think,” Jasper said with a frown. “Basically, they have a servant who can appear when called for, and that’s how Ryan here knew what was going on. The servant delivered messages to him.”
“Why do I feel like you’re hiding something big from me?” Lucie frowned and could tell by Jasper’s eyes that it was because he was.
“Not today, Lucie. Today, the focus is about you pretending to be mated to Ryan, our Derrick here.” Jasper looked at her and gave her a small smile. “It’s a long talk for another time, okay?”
“Alright. I don’t know what the big deal is, but okay.” Lucie couldn’t understand why this was such a big secret. So they had another servant bound to them like the banshee Myra. Why was that a secret?
“Okay, Lucie.” Ryan said, opening his arms to her. She looked at him like he was poison. “Can you do this or not, sweetheart? You need to be engulfed in my scent, my dear. It doesn’t look well for you to smell more of Jasper than me, your mate.” Then Ryan looked at Jasper and he frowned. “So … should we just get like a rag or should I lick her neck?”
“Lick my neck? Can’t you just rub your arms on me?” Lucie was mortified. What was he talking about?
“Why wouldn’t my mate have the scent of my saliva on her? It’s different from my skin scent. You should be wearing it and I should be wearing yours. So, how do you want to swap spit?” Ryan smirked, tilting his head at her.
Oh, he was having too much fun with this. The idea of having his saliva on her skin was repulsive. She hoped they had bleach here, because she was going to be bathing in it.
CHAPTER 38
“You touch her neck with those lips and I will kill you myself,” Jasper said in a low growl. He walked to the bathroom and came back with two rags, handing one to Lucie and one to Ryan. “Here. Spit on these.”
“This is gross.” Lucie frowned as Aedan chuckled beside her.
