Authors: M.J. Scott
Shadow Kin (44 page)
Who was visiting here at this time of day? The Blood kept their own carriages, pulled by horses accustomed, or ensorcelled—I had never quite known which—to those they carried. The Trusted used those when they had need of transport. I clambered farther down the tiles, bracing a hand on a handy chimney pot as I peered down into the forecourt.
The hackney drew to a halt but nobody alighted. The back of my neck prickled. It didn’t take long for one of the Trusted to appear at the front door and hurry toward the mysterious vehicle. The man wore the stark black livery of Lucius’ private staff. Was the visitor expected, then?
I leaned out as far as I dared, not wanting to be seen but wanting a view of the hackney’s occupant if I could see. As the Trusted reached the coach, the blind across the window snapped open and a woman leaned her head through. She was veiled so I couldn’t see her face, though I thought the hair beneath the dark tulle was light. She extended a lacegloved hand toward the Trusted. In it, there was a letter. A letter that, to my eyes, gleamed gold and green, exactly like the one I’d read at Halcyon. And beneath the lace of her glove, something caught the light, flashing bright for a moment. A ring. A Fae Family ring perhaps? I squinted but couldn’t make out any identifying colors.
Hells.
The Trusted bowed and took the letter and headed back into the house. The woman’s head and arm withdrew back into the carriage and the horses set off with a leap.
I stood where I was, trying to follow their path, but too soon, they were lost to sight around a bend and then merged with the other passing traffic. I couldn’t tell one hackney from another from a distance.
But I watched anyway, heart beating fast, while my thoughts whirled.
I didn’t doubt this was Lucius’ mysterious correspondent or that she was Fae. The question was, which Fae? If I kept my eyes peeled, perhaps I could find out. It was a reason to go on at least.
I didn’t dare try to find out where the Trusted had taken the letter. Not in daylight anyway. Nor was tonight the time for investigations. Tonight I had larger problems to face. I shivered then, despite the heat of the sun.
Tonight. Both too long to wait and too rapidly approaching. I needed to prepare myself for what was to come. The sun would be setting soon. Time to embrace the dark.
Chapter Nineteen
The nearer I got to the room where Lucius slept, the more the butterflies in my stomach bit and gnawed with tiny sharp teeth. The warrens were quiet as the grave, as though Lucius had passed word he was not to be disturbed. I saw none of the Blood, which pleased me. I didn’t want to see their expressions.
They would know why I was going to Lucius’ room. They would probably assume that we would do more than share Blood. Maybe we would. The need was a near conflagration, singing insistently in my veins, making it hard to remember what I was trying to do. My body wanted release. I didn’t know if I’d be able to resist if he demanded more than my blood.
Simon’s face flickered to mind, cutting through the fog of lust for a moment. He had taken me to bed, given me pleasure that wasn’t driven by blood and power. Part of me wanted to cling desperately to the memory and part of me wanted just as desperately to be rid of it. But it seemed he had lodged himself firmly under my skin. I didn’t know how to shake myself free of him, to forget him. Maybe I shouldn’t try.
No. I had to. Thinking of Simon while I let Lucius do what he would to me would be a betrayal.
I walked down another deserted corridor, steps slowing. It was very late. Lucius had waited a long time before sending for me. The summer nights are short in the City and I could feel the first warnings of dawn in my blood. But it was still a little way away. Not that it mattered here in the depths of the warrens. Lucius was old enough that he was not forced to sleep through the day. He could entertain himself with me as long as he wished.
I passed a few Trusted here and there, going about their tasks, but no one bothered me. One or two of the men stared at my chest before ducking their heads and looking away.
No wonder they were staring. I’d dressed for the occasion, donning a black shirt with a thin ruffle around the deep neckline, so it looked like my vest had sprouted frills. I’d piled my braids high on my head so that there was no barrier to my throat. I looked like a Nightseeker displaying myself as a Blood feast.
I turned the last corner and was waved past the guard at the iron door that protected Lucius’ outer hall. Once inside, I was alone again. Lucius, unlike others of the Court, didn’t worry overly much about protecting himself here in his inner sanctum. He’d won his way to power with war and bloody retribution and it had been years now since anyone had made a direct attempt on his life.
One day I might try to change that, but not tonight. Tonight I needed what he was offering.
My steps slowed further as I walked the last few feet, hand curled around my dagger, as my instincts whispered warnings. Back away from the monster’s lair. Flee. At the same time, the need urged me forward. I forced myself to let go of the dagger and raised my hand to knock softly on the door.
“You may enter.” Lucius’ voice was deep, enticing.
I took one last deep breath. Once I crossed the threshold, there would be no turning back. No pretending I was there under any compunction other than the need. It was my choice. My choice to come to him, my choice to let him feed.
To let him touch me.
Lady, forgive me
, I thought fleetingly, then pushed open the door.
, I thought fleetingly, then pushed open the door.
The room was lit with gaslights on every wall, brighter than I’d expected. The lamps were soft, but their combined light was enough to show everything clearly. I’d never been in this room before. The honor of being invited to Lucius’ inner sanctum was one I’d actively avoided. The scent of blood and fear and pleasure rode the air.
The muscles in my back tightened. I was going to become intimately familiar with that smell. With this room. With Lucius. I shivered slightly, my hand drifting down to my dagger before I forced myself to let go.
Lucius stood in the middle of the room, in front of a large bed. It was carved from some heavy wood, so dark a brown to be near enough to black in the gaslight. Black as the coat Lucius wore.
“Night keep you, my Lord.” I bowed correctly, then forced myself to move toward him. Each step felt like it took far too long. I couldn’t afford to let him see any indecision or reluctance. I was doing this to buy his trust back. Buy time and freedom.
Buy a chance to one day be rid of him.
I tried to blank my mind and let the need carry me but couldn’t quite do it. I needed the blood to give me that complete escape from reality. I hoped he would let me have it before he drank.
As I reached Lucius, he smiled, his fangs white and sharp seeming far more prominent than usual. “Shadow,” he said softly. “I have been looking forward to this.”
“As have I, my Lord.” I forced myself to respond in a pleased tone and moved closer still, then stopped, waiting for him to make a move.
He circled me slowly, like a wild dog stalking prey. When we were once again face-to-face, his smile came again. “Very nice, my shadow. I am pleased.”
There didn’t seem to be an easy response to that.
Just give me the gods-damned blood
probably wouldn’t have the seductive effect I was trying to achieve.
Just give me the gods-damned blood
probably wouldn’t have the seductive effect I was trying to achieve.
“I am glad to see you choosing wisely,” Lucius continued. “I think you too will be glad of it over time. I will reward your loyalty. This city will be changing, shadow.”
I cast my eyes down, as my thoughts whirled. Changing? What did he mean? Was he planning something? Something more than killing Simon? Something bigger? His tone was smugly certain, carrying something more than his usual arrogance. “I ask for no reward other than to stand by your side, my Lord.”
How I managed to get the words out without choking on them, I wasn’t entirely sure. But he had to continue to believe me. Then perhaps I could find out what he had planned.
Lucius made a pleased noise. “And so you shall. You by my side and the rest of them beneath my feet. But enough talking. Tonight we have more pressing business, you and I.”
His voice had turned silken and low, the sound of it sleeking across my skin and making me shiver.
He pulled me against him, one hand pulling my head back. It seemed his hunger was to be satisfied first after all. I shut my eyes as his mouth dragged along my neck, tongue stroking wetly across my pulse. I breathed deep, desperate to let the need carry me, let the scent of him fan it so that I wouldn’t have to think, wouldn’t have to be so aware of what I was doing.
It helped a little, the fog of desire driving away the other emotions ricocheting though me. Fear. Regret. Disgust. Until Lucius’ fangs cut through my skin with an icy stab of pain and he began to drink. It only hurt for a moment before his venom numbed the wound and there was only the feel of his lips against my neck, the feel of blood being drawn from me and the horribly arousing press of his body against mine.
I focused on that arousal, seeking oblivion. I didn’t want to think or know. I just wanted to be taken away. To be anywhere other than in my own body or my own mind.
As it had in Halcyon, the sensation of him feeding seemed to close around me like a cloak, my pulse slowing to beat like his, intimacy twining between us as he held me and fed. For a few moments I was able to ride the darkness behind my eyes and become nothing more than the sensation, but then he withdrew and before I could do anything, pressed his mouth to mine, kissing me.
He tasted of blood and need and darkness. There was nothing clean or warm in his kiss, nothing like the feelings I had felt when Simon had kissed me. This kiss was more like dying, being possessed by something that might never let you go. Something that would keep you in the dark and hurt you to please itself.
It was horrible even as my body screamed for more of his touch.
He broke the kiss. “Lily,” he said, pleasure and satisfaction darkening his voice.
The sound of my name on his lips broke the spell. He had never called me by my name. And I suddenly knew that I couldn’t stand it if he did.
“Lily,” he said again, and pressed to me again, one hand suddenly between my legs, seeking the buttons to my trousers. Simon’s face suddenly filled my mind. The look on his face as he had touched me. The pleasure and delight. The kindness.
I couldn’t do it, couldn’t let Lucius touch me.
Acting on pure instinct, I shadowed, stumbling back from Lucius blindly, raising a hand that had no substance to try to scrub the taste of him from my mouth, eyes blinded by sudden tears.
It took a few seconds to blink back the moisture, to slow the panic screaming through me. Safe. I was safe in the shadow. He couldn’t reach me here.
But as the room came back into focus I saw that, instead of an infuriated Blood Lord waiting for me to reappear, there was . . . nothing. Lucius had vanished.
I froze, twisting my head to make certain of what I saw. Illusion? Magic? What in the names of hell was going on? Every sense strained. Even a vampire fading into the darkness has a heartbeat. Breathes.
Nothing. I reached for my dagger. Whatever was going on, I didn’t like it. Time to retreat.
I backed toward the door, dagger still in my hand, still listening. I wished desperately that I could call light with a snap of my fingers like Simon. The darkness seemed to press around me even with my night vision.
I had to get away.
Trying desperately to think what might have just happened, I quickened my steps as I passed through the door.
“Hello, my shadow.”
I whirled. “You!”
Lucius’ smile was cruel. “Were you expecting someone else?”
Viewed from the shadow, he was a creature of pure white and black and gray, none of his favored red to stand out and draw the eye. “How . . .”
“Ah. How am I here with you, shadow?” His smile grew wider. Crueler. His fangs gleamed at me, white and sharp. The memory of them pressed to my throat made me shudder.
Run
. I stayed frozen where I was.
Run
. I stayed frozen where I was.
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