Mark of the Rose: The Tudor Vampire Chronicles (5 page)

Read Mark of the Rose: The Tudor Vampire Chronicles Online

Authors: Kate Pearce

Tags: #Romance, #Paranormal, #Fiction

BOOK: Mark of the Rose: The Tudor Vampire Chronicles
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A shadow moved between them and Rhys also palmed his dagger.
“Good evening, Lady Verity, Sir Rhys.” Elias Warner appeared from behind the yew hedge, his smile flickering in the bright moonlight. “It is a pleasure to see you both again.”
Rhys put away his dagger, stood up, and bowed. “Good evening, Elias. And how are you faring these days? Not too well if you are willing to seek out your old enemies.”
Verity grabbed his sleeve. “Why are you talking to him? Shouldn’t you just kill him?”
“I doubt I could.” With some difficulty Rhys removed her fingers from the now crumpled velvet sleeve of his doublet. “Elias is an old friend, and despite his handsome appearance, one of the most dangerous Vampires I have ever met.”
Elias inclined his head. “Thank you for the introduction, Sir Rhys, but Lady Verity and I have already met. Like her brother, she seems disinclined to trust me at all.”
“Why should I trust you? You’re a Vampire!” Verity hissed.
Elias raised his eyebrows. “It seems that you are as ferocious as your cousin Rosalind.” He glanced at Rhys. “Appearances can be so deceptive, can’t they?”
Rhys grabbed Verity’s hand. “You can put away your dagger, my lady.”
“Thank you, Sir Rhys.” Elias smiled. “I am glad that you have returned. As I mentioned to Lady Verity, I am concerned about the queen.”
“Why?” Verity demanded. “The Vampires hate the king. Surely you would be pleased if someone disposed of both his wife and his child.”
Elias looked insulted and leaned against the rose arch. “Not all Vampires want to kill the king. Most of us simply wish to maintain some semblance of order in this country.”
“As long as you are in control of that order, Elias?” Rhys asked.
Anger flashed in Elias’s cold eyes. “You would prefer the Vampire Council be run by someone like Anne Boleyn?”
“Of course not, but I don’t understand why you need our help.”
“Because, as usual, someone wants more power.” Elias said dryly. “And because the Council is incapable of resisting the lure of controlling the king and queen, they allow such plots to flourish like monstrous weeds.”
Verity stirred in Rhys’s grasp. “I didn’t sense that the queen had been turned into a Vampire.”
“I agree,” Elias said. “But why not? If a Vampire can get that close to the queen, why not turn her?”
“That is what we need to find out,” Rhys said. “Have you any idea who is involved, Elias?”
“Not yet.” Elias grimaced. “My position as Council liaison is already difficult and I suspect I’m being kept out of certain discussions.”
“Which is why you turned to us.”
Elias hesitated. “In truth, I hoped to see Lady Rosalind and Sir Christopher here as well.”
“They cannot leave their home at the moment.”
“Ah . . .” Elias nodded. “I wondered about that.” He bowed. “Will you allow me to take your blood, Sir Rhys, so that we may find each other more easily?”
Verity shot to her feet and tried to block Elias’s path. “You will not touch him!”
Elias’s amused gaze met Rhys’s over her head. “You have another female protector. How fascinating.”
Rhys scowled as he took Verity by the shoulders and set her to one side. “My lady, if he takes my blood, we will be able to summon him when we need him.”
 
 
Rhys tried not to wince as Elias punctured his wrist with his fangs. The sudden pull on his senses made Rhys swallow hard. Elias finished quickly, his tongue swiping over the wounds to seal them. He smiled at Rhys, the tips of his fangs still bloody. “Thank you, Sir Rhys.”
Rhys nodded and Elias vanished. Rhys sank down on the bench under the rose arbor and took a long, slow breath. He hated to admit it, but when the blood was freely given, there was something about a Vampire’s bite that was far too sensuous. Perhaps it was the ancient connection between their races that made it so pleasurable—Rhys wasn’t sure. He just knew it was dangerous to link himself to a powerful Vampire like Elias for too long. Luckily, the link should last only a day or so.
“Rhys?” He looked down to see Verity on her knees in front of him examining his wrist. “Are you all right?”
He shook himself to get rid of the strange sensations. “I am well.”
Verity looked pale. “I have never seen anything like that before.”
“A Vampire’s fangs?”
She shuddered. “I have seen those, but never used quite like that.”
He regarded her for a long moment as he sought the right words. “If you offer your blood willingly, a Vampire can use magic to make the experience very . . . pleasant.”
She shivered and searched his wrist for the puncture wounds, which were now almost invisible. “You did not look as if you were enjoying it, exactly.”
“I did what was necessary to keep us connected to Elias. Now he can find me when needed, and I him. Sometimes it is useful to have a touch of your enemy’s blood. It . . .” He struggled to find the right words to describe the powerful sensation. “It helps me understand the strength of his abilities.”
“Well, you are braver than I am!”
He couldn’t resist reaching down and cupping her cheek. “Which is why you should go home.”
“I will not. I am no coward.” She raised her chin, but he kept his hand in place and stared down at her, the exhilarating sense of power he’d gained from that momentary link with Elias pulsing through his body.
“If Elias asks you to let him take your blood, would you allow it?”
She held his gaze, her blue eyes defiant. “Yes!”
He wasn’t sure he believed her and leaned in closer until their mouths almost brushed. He touched her full lower lip with the tip of his tongue. “Even if he asks to take the blood from here?” He caught her lip between his teeth and tugged on it. “I’ve heard that can be a very erotic experience.”
Her breathing was as harried as his own and he slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her. He plunged his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers, to share for a long, luscious moment a kiss so fiery that he wanted it never to end.
She flattened her hands against his chest and he drew back and released his hold on her. Her eyes were bright, her expression scornful. “Did you think to frighten me?”
Rhys didn’t say anything as she got to her feet, brushed at her satin skirts, and took a stumbling step away from him.
“You forget that I am not a shy virgin to be overwhelmed by your kisses and then sent packing like a child.”
Rhys sat back and contemplated her. He needed a moment to control the unruly urges of his body, and her anger gave him that. “Yet you forswear your late husband’s name.”
“Because my marriage was a disaster and I’m a still a Llewellyn, whatever anyone thinks of me.”
He let his gaze travel over her. “I don’t think of you as a child, I can assure you of that.” Actually he was beginning to appreciate her womanly charms far too well. Judging by his past blunders, if anyone stood in danger of allowing attraction to rule his decision making, it would be him. “I’d much rather kiss a woman who knows what she is about than a virgin.”
Her cheeks flushed and then she bit down on her lip. “I am
not
going home.”
“I am beginning to realize that.” Rhys stood up. “So we must find a way to work together.”
Despite his attempt to set her at ease, her eyes narrowed. “What exactly does that mean?”
“Tomorrow night I will meet you by the queen’s chapel and you will demonstrate your fighting abilities to me. If I think you are competent, we will divide up our duties accordingly.” He paused to make sure she understood him. “If you aren’t able to fight, or I find you unteachable, we will need to think again. Do you agree?”
“I suspect this is yet another ploy to be rid of me.”
Rhys bowed. “I have every right to expect the slayers I fight with to be capable of defending themselves.”
She sighed. “I suppose you do. I will meet you there after the queen has gone to bed. Good night, Sir Rhys.”
“Good night, my lady.”
He watched her leave with a certain grim set to his mouth. He’d meant what he’d said. If she couldn’t fight, he wasn’t going to expose her to the Vampires. He absently touched his lips where her sweet scent still lingered. He would keep her safe—whatever it cost him.
Chapter 4
 
“B
efore we start, Sir Rhys, there are a few things I wish to ask you.”
Verity saw the reluctance on Rhys’s face, but she continued anyway. She had no wish to fight him, and in her mind the longer it took for them to come to blows, the better. She looked around the dank underground cavern beneath the queen’s chapel to which he’d led her. Despite the heat of the summer evening above, it was as cold as death.
Rhys straightened, giving her a fine view of his open shirt and the pale skin of his chest beneath it. “What exactly do you want to know?”
He’d shed his doublet and heavy waistcoat and wore only his soft leather breeches and the billowing white shirt. His sword belt completed his attire. He was currently lighting candles around a large open space.
“About Elias Warner. Why do you consider him a friend and why does he seem to know my cousin Rosalind as well?”
Rhys sat down on the trunk of weapons he’d shown her earlier. “Elias helped us defeat a rogue Spanish Vampire and Anne Boleyn and her brother.”
“But why?” Verity noticed that Rhys’s gaze was fixed on her legs and she decided to sit as well. She had donned her brother Jasper’s clothes, which still felt strange, but there was no way she could fight Vampires in her cumbersome skirts. “Why would he help us?”
“Because he’s adept at surviving the treacherous world of the Vampire Council and he’s not averse to using anyone or anything to achieve his goals.”
“And yet you said you trusted him.”
“As far as any Druid can trust any Vampire.” He met her gaze without flinching. “A Vampire like Elias who has survived for almost four hundred years and is prepared to fight on your side is well worth following. Even when he doesn’t really wish to save you, he will, if it preserves his own life.”
“He scares me a little.”
“He should. Elias is a very dangerous man.”
“Yet he also knows about my cousin Rosalind’s marriage.”
“Aye, he always had a strange fondness for Rosalind.” Rhys rubbed at something on the hilt of his sword. “And of course, Christopher is . . .” His fingers stilled. “Well, let us just say that the ties between Elias and Christopher run deeper than you might imagine.”
“Would Elias harm them?”
He looked up. “I shouldn’t think so. He was the one who suggested that the manor house at Avebury was a safe place for them to live.”
“Avebury . . .” Verity mused. “Is that where they live?” She pictured the large stone circle, some of the stones shaped like diamonds, other as uneven and rugged as the side of a mountain. To her it had always felt far more powerful than the rigid perfection of Stonehenge.
Rhys’s expression hardened. “You do not need to share that information with every Druid you meet, Verity. I would prefer it if Rosalind and Christopher could live in peace from both the Vampires and the Druids.”
“I would not betray them. Despite everything, Rosalind is my cousin.” He looked skeptical and she hurried on. “Sometimes I have no love for our Druid customs myself.”
“And why is that?”
She held his gaze and offered him half the truth. “Because even before she married that Druid killer, Rosalind was always treated unfairly simply because she was a woman and a slayer.”
“That is true.” Rhys nodded and shifted in his seat. “Now, if you have finished asking questions, perhaps we might proceed?”
Verity held out her hand. “I have one more thing to ask you. How far
should
I trust Elias Warner?”
His smile wasn’t pleasant. “If you remember that his most powerful instinct is to preserve his own skin, you will never go wrong. He’d sell you to the Vampire Council if he thought it would gain him an advantage. But when your interests and his are aligned, you will find him very helpful.”
“That isn’t very comforting,” Verity muttered as Rhys stood up and stretched, making her all too aware of his well-muscled body and fighter’s lethal grace.
“It’s not meant to be. If he wanted you dead, he’d kill you before you even realized his intent.”
“Even if I tried to fight him?”
“Even then.”
“So why do I need to prove I can fight if he could kill me so easily?”
Rhys advanced into the center of the lit circle. “Because Elias is on our side. It’s all the other Vampires who want to stop you from protecting the king and queen that we need to dispose of.”
He waited patiently for her to join him, his stance relaxed, a small smile playing on his lips. “Are you ready, my lady? Do you wish to show me your prowess with a sword or with a dagger?”

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