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Yeah, I thought. And she could kiss my—
“Dory!”
That was Radu, speaking aloud, because I guess whatever mental message he’d been trying to send wasn’t getting through.
Not surprising. My head felt heavy, closed off, almost leaden. I wanted to sit down.
No—better yet, I wanted to go home.
But here was some more nonsense I had to get through first.
“Kiss the hand,” Radu said, fairly shrilly, bouncing around behind the tall guys. “Kiss the hand!”
Why? Is she the pope? I didn’t say, because Radu finally fought his way through the crowd and grabbed my head, bobbing it downward before I could tell him where to go.
I did not kiss the damned hand. But I guess it must have looked like I did. Or maybe Her High-and-Mightiness figured that was as good as she was going to get, because it finally withdrew.
“We thank you for your service,” the vision informed me. She glanced around the room. “Twice in a month a dhampir has come to our aid when others failed. It will be remembered.”
Okay. Well, that was bright and shiny, I thought, in some relief. She’d actually wanted to do something nice for a change, and thank me.
I was almost impressed.
She looked back at me. “Is Lady Dorina available? I should like to speak with her.”
“It, uh, doesn’t work quite like that.”
“How does it work?”
The question was mild enough, but it was kind of like Burbles’ comment. It wasn’t the words so much as the inflection. And the fact that she was standing there, glimmering at me, surrounded by a dozen of the biggest vamps I’d ever seen, while her snakes squirmed and her jewels glinted and I started to feel inadequate, which pissed me off. Because, Hey lady, don’t recall inviting you to stop by.
“She comes out when she wants to,” I said flatly. “Or when she sees a threat. I don’t control her.”
“Ah. Then come with me.”
She swept out, along with her entourage, and I found myself being hustled after her, in the middle of mine.
Chapter Forty-eight
“What’s going on?” I asked Burbles, because he’d stuck himself to my side like a charming burr.
“The consul has formally noticed you,” he told me, brown eyes gleaming. “Even better, she came to you. It is a great honor. For you and the entire house!” He was literally quivering with joy.
I started to explain that I could give a shit, and just wanted to know where we were going. But another look at his face, and I gave up. Let the damned vampire be happy for five minutes. It wouldn’t last.
Not around here.
Instead, I hurried, as much as I could in what I now saw were embroidered slippers. They matched the robe, the background a deep blue velvet that was almost invisible because it was so heavily encrusted with embroidered fruits and flowers and ribbons and bows. And gold insects, their minuscule wings raised above the rest and fluttering, fluttering, fluttering.
Like my horde of vamps, who appeared almost as awestruck as Burbles—why, I didn’t know.
The bitch wanted something.
I mean, come on.
But nobody was telling me what, so down the hall we went, and one nice thing about my suddenly acquired entourage was that they took no prisoners. Get in the way of the Dory train? Screw you, here’s a wall. Stop in the middle of the hall to stare at the consul and the crazy dhampir coming atcha? Wow, bet that hurt.
Not that I saw my guys actually shove anyone, unlike Her Highness’ up there, who seemed to view it as a sport. But elbows and feet can be so careless, can’t they? And this train was on a roll.
