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“That’s my mom’s café.” Lesa indicated a small, white-washed restaurant with a red roof and bistro tables shaded by striped umbrellas. “You want a coffee?”
“No money,” I said with a rueful shrug.
“Didn’t anyone tell you? You can tell the shops to bill the syndicate—just let them know you’re a new thrall. Actually, they probably know already. It’s a small island.”
“Then I’d love some coffee.”
We ordered coffee and blueberry pie, which arrived still warm from the oven.
“Mom bought the café with syndicate money,” Lesa told me.
“She was a thrall, too?”
Lesa nodded. “I suppose it seems strange if you didn’t grow up here, but where else can you make enough money in a few years to buy your own business? Besides—” her mouth curved—“it’s no hardship to fuck a vampire, is it?”
“No.” I squeezed my thighs together, the memory of Brien moving inside me still fresh. “It isn’t.”
“Hey, you guys.” Eden spoke behind me. “Tell me there’s still some blueberry pie left, or I may have to do you some damage.”
“I don’t know,” said Lesa with a grin as Eden and Pinky took the chairs across from us. “Twilight here had two slices already.”
“I regret nothing,” I shot back and we all laughed.
The server bustled up. “Of course, there’s enough pie,” she said with a frown at Lesa. “Your mom baked a half-dozen just this morning.”
“I’d like a slice, then,” Eden said. “A large one.”
“And coffee,” Pinky added.
“Somebody was up late,” murmured Eden.
“Mm.” Pinky’s mouth curled in a cat-who-ate-the-cream smile.
More pie and coffee arrived, along with bite-sized pastries that Lesa’s mom asked us to test, and that we pronounced delicious. By the time we rose to leave, I realized I was actually enjoying myself, even if the whole time my brain had been ticking away in the background, gathering facts and impressions about the three women and wondering if any of them were working for Kuro.
Back at the castle, we scattered to our own apartments. I couldn’t help noticing that no one else was located as close to Brien as I was. Apparently, he wanted me where he could keep an eye on me.
Jasper had taken off as soon as we arrived back, so after a short stop in my suite to freshen up, I headed out to explore the castle. Might as well test my limits.
The level where my suite was located was a twisty, poorly lit labyrinth. I kept running up against locked doors and having to retrace my steps and try another passage.
Definitely the vampires’ level.
I was at the opposite end of the castle from my own rooms when I came upon a door guarded by a hard-faced soldier. He folded his arms over his blue uniform and glowered at me like I was a roach he’d like to crush beneath the heel of his combat boots.
“This section is forbidden to unaccompanied thralls. Leave.”
“No problem,” I said with a shrug and turned back.
I felt his gaze boring into the space between my shoulder blades until I went around the bend. So that’s where the primus’s apartment was. Why else post a guard outside the door?
I made my way back to the center of the labyrinth again. This time, I climbed the stairs to the ground floor. From the air, I’d seen that the castle was basically a rectangle with a tower at each corner and a curtain wall running around the top. Now, I explored the long corridors between the towers.
The rooms were beautiful, with marble floors and furniture that would have been at home in the palace at Versailles, but strangely empty. They’d clearly been set up for show, not actual living. Other than Avril, huddled over a laptop at a table in the large, book-filled library, the only people I ran into were Kerry, who gave me a short, unsmiling nod before continuing on her way, and a couple of maids.
A ballroom filled the entire north wing, its tall windows draped in red silk curtains that were a lush contrast to the black-and-white checkboard floor. A half-dozen chandeliers dangled from the high ceiling, their crystals polished to a fierce shine. Gilded mirrors hung at intervals along the walls, and a pair of black marble fireplaces with sharks carved into their surrounds stood at opposite ends of the dance floor.
I wandered around, taking everything in. I could almost hear the music playing, see the room filled with vampires and thralls dressed in all their finery, like they had been that night I met Brien.
