Secrets (The Forever series, Book 8) (14 page)

“It’s not what you think,” he says to me quietly. “It was my
mother’s name.”

Oh…wow! He gave me his mother’s name. I flush with pride and
he is pleased that I like it.

After much applause, I sense the crowds warming to me
slightly now that their King is clearly accepting, and I breathe a sigh of
relief. Maurelle stands and with that he dismisses the hall and people start to
leave. Drake takes my arm and moves me out of the line of his wife and Trystan
comes over to offer his acceptance of me. He is a cute little thing. From what
Drake said, he would be eighteen and looks just like his father. Mind you,
having said that, they all do. I get completely snubbed by the elder set who
leave without a word, leaving the so-called “unruly” middle boys and the shier
younger ones. Maurelle glares down her nose at me with a look that would kill
me if I were anything other than what I am. “You may go back to your room now,”
she says with so much frost I actually shiver. “I don’t want your Halfling
presence tainting my sons.”

I hear the sharp intake of breath from Trystan, but I am
just thinking, Halfling? What is a Halfling?

“Maurelle,” Drake warns her with a pointed look and she
shrugs her narrow shoulders.

Oh, clearly it is an insult, and a pretty bad one round here
it seems, for a crossbreed such as myself. Well, I think, pulling myself up, no
way am I letting this bitch insult me. I adopt the exact same sneer that she
has on her face and say, “It is interesting that you think you are better than
me. I am a Queen by birth and will be an Empress one day, whereas you are just
an adornment picked out to breed a girl. Too bad you couldn’t even do that
right and my father had to go elsewhere to get the job done.” I know I have
been unusually harsh, but I don’t give a damn. I am hungry, lonely, tired and
fed up, and this woman has just gotten on the wrong side of me.

“Aeval,” Drake snaps at me, as Maurelle steps closer to me,
ready to strike me. He pulls his wife back and all the boys who had been
hovering decide now is a good time to leave. All except my little shadow,
Trystan, who inches closer to me. Maurelle’s gaze zeroes in on him and I pity
the tirade that is coming his way.

“You step to defend her against me?” she asks, deathly
quiet.

I am smug and that infuriates her further. Sparks flare from
her fingers and I hope that I am capable of defending myself against anything
she throws at me.

Drake, having had quite enough of this little display, grabs
my elbow and half drags me out of the hall. “I told you yesterday, you will not
disrespect my wife,” he snarls at me.

“She disrespected me first,” I say even though it is
childish and lame.

“Well yes, what she said was uncalled for and I apologize,”
he mumbles. “You are my daughter and I will not have you insulted in that
manner, even by my wife.”

I raise both my eyebrows at him, my mouth forming a slight
“O” in surprise.

He catches my look and smiles slightly. “I suppose you are
starting to grow on me,” he says grudgingly and I give him a quick squeeze, but
say nothing because I can tell he won’t want me to.

When he has led me back to my room, I ask, “Will you teach
me your language?”

He looks delighted that I asked and says, “Yes, of course.
It is not easy though.”

I tell him of my extraordinary linguistic abilities and he
nods. “Very well. I will leave you for a time now. I feel I may have some
family issues to deal with.” He sighs and departs, and I am alone again, still
hungry, lonely and tired.

A knock at the door startles me out of a half slumber and I
stand up and arrange myself into a decent state before I open the door. A very
tentative Trystan is standing on the other side and I beckon him in. He stands
around uncomfortably, shifting from foot to foot and I wait for him to say
whatever it is he wants to.

“So, a Vampire,” he says eventually and I smile.

“Yes, among other things,” I reply.

“We are taught to hate and fear your kind,” he says, “but I
don’t find you that scary.”

“Good to hear,” I say.

“Our blood is highly prized by you,” he says
conversationally and I wonder where he is going with all this. I stay silent as
I have no satisfactory response for him. “Would you like to, uhm,” he says and
blushes a bright red and I get what he wants of me. He wants me to bite him. My
fangs are already dropping and he takes an inadvertent step back.

“Sorry, I’m starving,” I mumble.

He nods decisively. “I had a mind you might be. You can
drink from me,” he says. “But don’t tell anyone,” he adds. “They will skin me
alive.” He says it with a slight laugh, but I have a horrible feeling it might
be the truth. His mother most certainly will have his hide, and mine, if she
ever finds out about this.

So, I am wondering that if Faerie blood is the key to
Vampires walking around in the sun, and even though it is temporary when you
drink from Sebastian, he can do it all the time because his blood is constantly
running through his veins, I have to ask myself now: is there a difference
between Light Fae blood and Dark Fae blood? Or is all Faerie blood the same?

I ask the question to my brother and get an interesting
response, after the amazement that I don’t already know, of course.

“The spell your Vampire witches use is concocted with Dark
Fae blood. It is ours that allows you your freedom from the shadows. The Light
Fae blood is weak,” he says it as a slur.

“Do you know how the Vampires get your blood?” I ask. I know
I must sound absolutely ridiculous, but if he thinks so he doesn’t say.

He shrugs. “I know not of the ins and outs. Perhaps that is
something you can figure out once you return to your Realm?”

Damn right I will. If anyone knows it will be Corinne and
she will be coughing up the answers to my questions.

Trystan sits on the bed and asks, “How do we proceed?”

I giggle at his formal tone and I point to the dresser stool
for him to sit on instead. He moves and I advance on him slowly. I grab his
shoulders and he tenses. “Relax,” I soothe and he does and I lower my mouth to
his neck. As soon as my fangs pierce his skin, I get an almighty rush, but it
is too strong for me. I release him after only a couple of pulls and gasp. The
only way I can describe it is if you were used to drinking only water, and then
one day you gulped down a glass of tequila instead. Wow. The instant high wears
off quickly, but it leaves me satisfied for the time being. “Thank you,” I say
to him and he grins at me.

“No, thank you,” he says.

I chuckle at his enthusiasm and his awkward posture as he
realizes what has happened to him. I turn away from him to give him a minute to
calm his arousal. It is a natural reaction across species and I don’t take
offense to it, nor do I find it creepy because we are sort of related. It just
happens, he isn’t reacting to me exactly, just to the high that comes along
with my bite. It occurs to me belatedly that I perhaps shouldn’t have bit him.
He is incredibly innocent and is likely mortified by his reaction. He rushes
out with flaming cheeks and a mumbled, “I will see you later,” and I turn back
to the bed and climb on, no longer hungry, but still lonely and still tired. It
was a nice act for Trystan to offer his blood to me. I can’t say that he will
offer again, but it was thoughtful. He reminds me so much of Pierre in this
moment, with his innocence and embarrassment. I close my eyes and remember him,
of the way we were before he tried to stake me.

Paris, France, 1898 – Margeaux

Devon and I had travelled back to Paris from Russia, the
long way around. Constantine had come to find me in St. Petersburg and asked me
to return to Italy with him, which we did not. Devon hadn’t wanted to and I
didn’t want to leave Devon so we made our way back to France, much to my sire’s
anger. He once again thought that I chose Devon over him, but I didn’t see it
that way. If Constantine had wanted me for us to be together properly, I
wouldn’t have hesitated, but I knew that wasn’t what he wanted.

I met Pierre in the summer of 1898. He was eighteen and
totally beguiling. His innocence and naïveté of the world held me captive and
he had me completely under his spell. I had Shifted after we left my sire at
Devon’s request, but as soon as we arrived in Paris I Shifted back to my
natural form. There was a driving force behind it that I couldn’t explain. I
later wondered if it had anything to do with Pierre. I was glad that he met me
as I was. He was the grandson of a bookshop keeper and the sweetest thing I had
ever come across. He had dark hair and eyes to match and his face lit up when
he saw me. I teased him mercilessly for weeks, coming into the store every
other day so that he could catch a glimpse of me, but I never spoke to him. I
flashed him pretty smiles and coquettish looks and if I had let him, he would
have followed me around like a little puppy. After a few weeks he finally
plucked up the courage to speak to me, and I batted my lashes at him as he
flushed and stammered through his greeting. Devon thought I was being unduly
cruel to the poor boy, which was amusing coming from him. He played with his
women like a cat would a mouse. That was when I finally decided to let up my
aloofness. I asked him to join me for a picnic and he readily agreed. I was delighted
with his attentiveness. He treated me like a princess and I loved it. I grew
very fond of him and as the days passed, I knew I wanted to turn him. He was so
shy that I was sure he had never been with a woman before and that made me want
him even more. I hadn’t ever bedded a virgin and I liked the idea immensely. On
one such picnic I decided it was time for him to please me. I let him kiss me
with his soft, gentle lips. He never took it any further, but that day I
whispered to him, “I want you, Pierre.”

“I am right here, my love,” he replied with a confused
look that made me giggle.

“No, I want you inside me, pleasing me,” I said.

He blushed a bright red and stammered.

“It’s all right,” I reassured him. “I will show you what
to do.”

I wanted to unleash my Vampire on him, but he still
didn’t know about me and it might have scared him off, so I went gently with
him. I laid him down on the blanket and started to unbutton his shirt. He was
as stiff as a board and I told him to relax. I placed little kisses down his
chest that made him shiver. When I reached his pants, he was already hard and I
brushed my fingers lightly over him, loving how much he wanted me to at the
same time as trying to push me away in embarrassment. I smiled to myself and
undid his breeches. Before I could get him free, he grabbed my hands, shaking
his head.

“I fear if you touch me there, I won’t be able to stop
myself,” he said.

“I don’t want you to stop yourself, Pierre. I meant what
I said, I want you inside me,” I told him.

“No, I will not defile a lady such as yourself,” he
insisted.

Oh, if he only knew I was no lady, but that in itself
might make him run, so I whispered to him, “Please, Pierre. I love you. Don’t
you love me? Don’t you want to be with me?” I peeked up at him from my lowered
lashes and it worked like it always did.

“Yes,” he breathed. “I do love you, Margeaux. Do you
truly love me too?” he asked hopefully.

“Of course,
chéri
,” I said to him. I wasn’t sure
that I was in love with him, but I cared for him and enjoyed him, and I wanted
him. Desperately. The growing lust in me to have him was fuelled by his
innocence and his chivalry at not wanting to defile me.

“Let me show you how we can please each other,” I said
and he nodded as his cheeks blushed like two sweet apples.

After our encounter that day he became my faithful
servant. He never wanted to leave my side and he lived for the time we spent
together. As winter grew closer Devon and I were planning to leave for Portugal
and I wanted him to join us. I still hadn’t told him of my true nature and I
was determined to tell him and to ask him to come away with us. Devon was most
upset, but I didn’t let that bother me. I made my plans to tell Pierre and I
went to his grandfather’s shop to ask him to join me on a walk. Before we left,
his grandfather, M. Aubin, called us to the room upstairs. He was angry with
Pierre and then turned on me.

“I know what you are!” he spat at me. “I know you are
Satan’s spawn.”

I looked quickly at Pierre, who was looking back at me
with sorrow and confusion, until his grandfather told him what I was.

“It was her kind that killed your mother and father,
Pierre. How can you associate with such a disgusting, evil creature?” he yelled
at Pierre.

I frowned at him, as I have evolved. I am no longer a
killer and I certainly did not kill Pierre’s parents. I put my hand up to
explain myself to him, when he lunged forward and grabbed the stake out of his
grandfather’s hand, aiming it straight for my heart.

“No!” I shouted at him, as I dodged his attack. “Pierre,
I can explain. I was going to tell you this day who I am and ask you to come
away with me.”

“Never!” he said. “I will never want to be with you
knowing what you are. You are evil!”

My heart was breaking at his words, but I fled the shop
as he was quite serious about trying to end me. I ran to Devon and we left
without another look back.

I lie on the bed, sad that things had turned out that way. I
never knew how M. Aubin found out about me, but it doesn’t matter now. I was
seduced by his innocence as my sire was of mine. I sigh as I grow bored. I
remember that I left Cole rather abruptly this morning, but I couldn’t very
well finish what we started with my father standing right there. I felt his
anguish and his exhaustion. I wonder if he went back to bed. I close my eyes
and try to reach out to him. If Remiel can do this whole dream world thing,
then so can I. I am tired of him being more powerful than me. I find Cole and
latch onto the telepathic connection we have and I can see him. Just as I did
before, only he is asleep. I call out to him, but he doesn’t wake, so I try to
slip into his subconscious. It’s not as hard as you would think. Remiel is
right, guards are down and it is just a case of having enough power. I enter
his dream world and shape it so that he is still sleeping in our bed and I
climb in next to him. He automatically reaches for me in his sleep, and I grab
his hand and kiss it. His eyes fly open and he starts to speak, but I silence
him with a kiss. He pulls me on top of him and I proceed to give him exactly
what we were speaking of before we got rudely interrupted. I know he will feel
the effects of it after he wakes, because I did when Remiel was messing with my
dreams. Not that I shall admit that to any of my boys. It wasn’t a dream, but a
reality, and I am giving Cole everything he wanted from me. I snuggle into him
and stroke his chest until he falls back to sleep, purring with content. I
reluctantly pull out of his dream and return to my own reality, which is sucky
and boring. I decide to try my hand at exploring, assuming I can get past the
guards stationed outside my door, of course.