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“Do you remember when she threw up her ice cream on Father’s lap?” Et’enne asks.
El’jah nods. “And then turned around and threw up on Mother?”
I laugh with them because I remember my mother’s horrified face. It was at someone’s wedding, and El’jah let me drink that night for the first time. It was all too much fun. Not that I remember all of it.
We start talking about the things that pissed off our mother, and I’m grateful that my brothers are hanging out with me until twilight comes.
39
FLEUR
After a while, Aamako picks up Et’enne so he can show him the repairs he’d done to the court. I’d have loved a tour of the new Winter Court, but I’m too worried about my vampire to leave the Ice Princess.
June and Augusta steal El’jah for a cheese tasting. They’re both pregnant and hungry all the time, not to mention my brother offers entertainment by just being himself.
I’m sitting on the edge of my bed and watching the sun go down, wondering if it’s always taken the sun this long to fall behind the mountains or if it’s just me who thinks it needs to hurry up already.
I’m biting my fingernails. “Come on, come on…”
Almost there.
The moment the mountains hide the sun completely, I sprint out of my room and down the spiral staircase to reach the still-quiet ground floor.
The vampires aren’t up yet.
Besides, I have no idea where Nottuza sleeps.
I can locate his office and the round magic room, but I’ve never been inside his bedroom. Come to think of it, he’s never spent the night with me. Or perhaps he has, but I’ve never woken up with him in bed with me. We’ve never shared breakfast.
Not that he eats food.
He does eat me. Quite well.
And now I’m thinking about his clever fingers, and tongue, and the pressure of his fangs when they pierce my skin, that hungry and horny growl he makes as he eats… Now, I’m horny.
“Hello,” I call out, then remember I can summon him, but it feels like something a siren would do to lure her victims and not something I want to do to the love of my life.
Instead, I seek him out in his office. Which is, of course, empty of people. Not of books and maps. There’re piles of those, even under the desk on the floor now. He needs a filing system and a bigger office.
Closing the office door, I turn and run into a male.
“Oh my fates, Ledger, you must announce yourself from now on.”
“I have just arrived.”
“Right.” Vampire speed and predatory hunting skills.
“What are you doing here?”
“Looking for Nottuza.”
“He will be resting for a while longer.”
Leroy walks up from somewhere below, followed by several more notturnos, most of whom I recognize from last night.
I worry my lip because everyone besides Nottuza seems awake. “Why is he still sleeping?”
Leroy digs into his pocket and hands me an old black leather sack. It doesn’t look like it’s holding several vampire heads, so I don’t brace before opening it. Inside are torn pieces of clothing. Confused, I frown and pick up a piece, then examine it. It’s the emblem of the Mecri vampire house. They’re all emblems of houses, ripped from the jackets of the heads of the houses Nottuza defeated last night.
