Cake (29 page)

I opened my mouth to protest, but could get no words to come out.

Leave them alone. Geez, aren’t I paying enough for their safety?

“
Xavier is an orphan, Armanita. That is why I chose him. No worldly ties and no police investigations.”

Marcus’s voice preceded him as he came into the room, carrying socks and a pair of shoes. Since he was already wearing some, I assumed the ones he was holding were for me. “Come here, Xavier.”

Crossing to the couch where he had taken a seat next to the councilor, I tried to take the shoes from his hand, but he narrowed his eyes and patted at the empty space beside himself pointedly.

You have got to be kidding me.

He shook his head and I flopped down, and as I did so, he grabbed at one of my legs and set it in his lap where he wrestled a sock over my toes and ankle before wiggling my foot into a shoe and tying up the laces. I felt like I was back in kindergarten as he set about doing the same to the other foot. I couldn’t look at Claudius, who had trailed in after him or at Armanita, who was watching from her end of the couch. Blushing, I ducked my head and examined non-existent lint on the sweater I was wearing.

“
Are you trying to embarrass me, or are you just being kinky?” I whispered under my breath at him.

Marcus frowned. “The floor is too cold to be barefoot,” he answered simply, dismissing my feeling of awkwardness.

“
And the discussion has been, up to this point?” Claudius inquired, easing himself into the overstuffed leather chair I had vacated.

“
The councilor is trying to convince me to let her start a holy war to restore the Empire,” I blurted out.

Marcus stiffened at that remark. “Armanita, that I cannot allow.”

“
It is his birthright,” she returned calmly.

Claudius had sprung back up out of the chair, his calm voice belying his anger. “You cannot publicly proclaim his lineage. If you do, you are sentencing him to death.”

Death? What the hell is this death business?

I tried to swing my feet down from Marcus’s lap, but now found myself being dragged over and sitting on it sidesaddle, his arms looped loosely around my hips. When I tried to move, they tightened, and as soon as I stopped, they hung loose again.

Damn it.

“
Xavier is of the Blue Line,” Armanita was saying. “He has the wings. These cannot be ignored or hidden.”

“
Hello? Xavier is sitting right here listening to you discuss him,” I piped up. “I’m not some Lord Emperor. I can’t even control my fangs. You’ve got Blues around, why can’t I just be one of them?”

Claudius hadn’t taken his gaze off Armanita. “There are still Blues?”

Marcus’s voice rumbled to life behind me. “Why has the Council not informed everyone that there are still Blues?”

Armanita turned and arranged herself on the couch so as to be able to watch both Claudius and Marcus as she spoke. “The High Council is aware of twenty Blues that have somehow survived the cull. All these fledglings were birthed after the Inquisition. Xavier is the twenty-first. Who those Blue Fledglings are is being kept secret. They are hidden throughout the Nation, and those who guard them are blood sworn to take the knowledge of their Blue charge to the grave. Those vampires who worked with the Inquisitionist were not all captured. That danger to the Blue Bloods is still there and is to be regarded as real.”

Marcus tightened his hold around my waist as she finished speaking, pulling me back to him. He set his chin on my shoulder as he threw another question at her. “You want to take Xavier and shove him into the limelight? Why? To draw out the assassins?”

Armanita looked wryly at him. “You, Marcus, are cautioning
me
about assassins?”

“
It is difficult not to when the intended victim is my son,” he shot back at her.

Claudius shook his head. “Armanita, you must admit Xavier is in no condition to make a claim to the throne. He would not even be able to defend himself. As he pointed out, he has no fang control. By revealing him, you would be marking him for assassination; we all know that. Just because the House would not take the contract doesn’t mean there aren’t others who would walk away from it if offered.”

The councilor leaned forward, unashamedly showing off her bountiful cleavage. Was she trying to seduce us to the dark side? She did the typical girl hair flip as she fluttered her long eyelashes. She was!

“
I know, Lord Xavier, that you are a new fledgling,” she said, focusing her attention on me. “You are still working out the excess essence of your First Flame. It is just such a thrill for me to see that the Royal Blood Line has survived, that the Blue Line has returned to us. Claudius, you see what goes on in the Council Chambers…” She switched her charms to the black-haired vampire. “The members have become factions, and while it is my duty as one of the three High Councilors, I am growing weary of trying to keep order in the galleries.”

She twisted back toward me, offering up her fleshy goodies again. I felt sick to my stomach. “Lord Xavier, there are many things you must learn, many gifts you must master, just as a normal Red Vampire would have to do. As a Blue Line, you have so far only discovered two of your special gifts. More will emerge as you get stronger, or when you find yourself in situations that call upon them.”

She stood up, brushing her hands down her dress, the brisk movements she used echoing the determination in her words. “I will report to the High Council that you have a Blue fledgling, Marcus. That fact cannot be disguised. Should you ever be out, and Lord Xavier went into Flame, it would get reported back to the Council. It will be easier if they know about your son in case that happens. We shall say that you were hesitant to come forward because your fledging was Blue, and you were not sure how well he would be received. Claudius, as Lord Xavier is your grandson, this story must be yours as well.”

She waited for some rebuttal but carried on talking when none was forthcoming. “Lord Xavier, you must master your gifts as soon as possible, especially your wings. Anger or rage will bring them out, the same as with fear. Claudius, you know it would not bode well for any of us if it gets out that we have the Von Drachenfeld Blood Line back in the Nation. It would be a bloody battle, just as Lord Xavier fears. Marcus, can your staff can be trusted with the knowledge of his existence?”

“
They would not be working for me if there were any doubts about their loyalty,” Marcus snapped, his voice sounding rather put out at the question. Better she annoyed him than me.

“
Marcus, do not act out of character. You have been called before the Council on charges of keeping a human for the allotted year. You have been put on record claiming him as your son, and he has been added to the House Roll of Du Bussey. The thirteen Houses know that you have a fledgling. Lord Xavier must be seen, it would only arouse suspicion if he is not. Teach him to hunt in your normal haunts, Marcus. He must be viewed as nothing more than a simple but beautiful fledgling.”

I furrowed my brow. Did she just call me simple? “Well, how about you stop calling me Lord for starters?” I threw back at her.

“
Forgive me, of course.” She gave a little laugh, bringing a hand up and laying it across her ample bosom as she bowed her head slightly in my direction. “If it is alright with you, Marcus, I would like to stop by weekly for progress reports on his Blue Line achievements and failures, and to provide him with history lessons.”

“
History lessons?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

“
Your House of Von Drachenfeld goes back over a thousand years. You must know your lineage,” she elaborated.

Claudius nodded, agreeing with her. “Yes. It would do Xavier good to hear our history”

“
Excellent, then by your leave, I must return to the High Council and inform them of the twenty-first Blue.” Armanita stood before me and Marcus, and lowering herself to one knee, she pressed her fist to the floor and bowed her head low. Since I was still pinned to Marcus’s lap, I gathered as much dignity as I could. Uh…okay. What was I supposed to do here?

She remained in that position until Claudius gestured with his hand in an upwards motion and said, “Rise.”

Gracefully returning to her upright position, Armanita looked down on me, and her green eyes softened with tears. I didn’t get her. “I do hope that in time you will see it in your heart to forgive me for yesterday. It was not my intent to cause such grievous injuries to either of you.”

“
Yeah well, it’s not happening today,” I answered smartly, wincing when Marcus squeezed my waist hard in warning to remain polite.

Owww.

“
You did not know of my vow to protect Xavier, therefore you have my forgiveness, High Councilor,” Marcus said, and when the pregnant pause continued to the second trimester, he nudged me in the back.

“
Not today,” I replied again, and he gave a big sigh behind me.

Armanita lowered her head in a bow once more and then turned and left the drawing room, leaving Claudius to show the good manners both Marcus and I were missing by escorting her out of Marcus’s house.

“
That was rather rude, Xavier,” Marcus chastised when we were alone.

I leaned back against him and stared across at the mantle. “I’ll forgive her when that little dent in your chest is gone,” I told him.

He brought his hand up to his sternum. “You can still feel that?”

I got angry. Of course I could feel that. He’d had a spike sticking four inches out of his chest less than ten hours ago. I wiggled on his lap, wanting to get away from the woman’s scent that lingered in the room. “Let go.”

“
This is where my lover sits.” Marcus tightened his embrace. I sat on his lap and just…pouted. Yes, I said pouted.

Claudius returned and took in our little vignette, shaking his head. “You have had him for a year already, Marcus. Show some restraint.”

“
It is not enough,” Marcus said, grabbing the back of my neck and tipping me backwards over one arm for one of those soft, tender specials of his. His lips nibbled at my flesh as he coaxed a response from me. He didn’t demand it. He didn’t bruise my lips with the force of his kiss. He caressed as lightly as a butterfly’s wings until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

Reaching up, I tangled my fingers into the long, soft hair at the back of his head and pulled him down to me, opening my mouth wide and sucking in his tongue. He laughed into my mouth and returned to his kissing lesson.

Yeah, it definitely wasn’t enough.

F
ifteen

Mind Play

Marcus was a lingual master, and his talented tongue seemed to have the power of shutting my brain down, of making me think only of wanting more of it, of him, devouring me, kissing me.

Wait.

I blinked my way back to the moment and frowned up at him, confusion ripping through me internally yet again. This was just something physical between us, wasn’t it? I mean, it was simply that my body was used to him jumping me every day, maybe because of this Blue Flame thing I had, and his kiss was flaring it up higher. I mean, I’m not gay. I don’t go out searching for sex from men, do I? Or was I getting excited because it was
him
that was holding me?

Trying to shift off his lap, I realized I might as well have been glued there. “Marcus, we have to talk, and I would rather look at your face than have your cock drilling a hole in my back while we do.”

My world shifted on its axis, and suddenly I was flat on the drawing room couch with Marcus laid out on top of me. “Get off me, you…you oaf!” I cussed.

“
But this way, you can look at my face, and my cock is no longer drilling into your back. See, I can comply with my mate’s wishes,” he answered glibly, giving me a tender smile that actually reached up to his eyes. I stopped struggling and just stared at him. Mate? What the hell was this mate business? He’d given me a friendship earring…right?