The Devil's Liege (The Mathias Saga Book 2) (21 page)

Well, that wasn’t what he expected to come out of her mouth. He sat down on the opposite sofa. This was one area where he would tread very carefully. “And why do they think you’d want to harm Mathias?”

“Because it was my home Nosferatu was housed in.”

It was Stuart’s turn to blink. All the pieces fell together. “You’re the Snow Queen?”

She bowed her head to him. “Some call me that.”

Stuart swallowed. “And why would you not harm Mathias?”

She smiled, revealing a mouthful of pointed teeth. “Because he is my equal.”

* * * * *

Mathias stretched his wings. He was tired as hell. Too many interruptions to his sleep. He needed a normal mundane life. Too bad long ago someone decided he wasn’t going to get it.

He got up out of bed, walked over, and looked out the window. Nothing looked strange. Just snow. Cold. Normal Siberia in January. That was good.

What wasn’t good was that he was dreaming about Lilith again. He had to figure out some way to stop it. At least he wasn’t hearing her voice during the day anymore, but if these dreams were going to continue, he was going to have to figure something else out.

He stretched his wings again. Of course, there as a big possibility that the Snow Queen was fucking with his brain. He couldn’t think of her by any other name. Not yet.

Still, she’d been there last night when he had the dream. She could be planting them, but for what purpose? Maybe she did care in her own twisted way.

Maybe he was being paranoid and maybe he wasn’t, but the women he kept meeting were not exactly nice. The best one had been Lucretia, his old friend from the streets. She, at least, taught him to survive, but she’d also introduced him to Nic. Give and take. Good and evil. Everything had a balance.

None of it mattered anyway. The thing needed to leave him alone. He wanted calm for a while.

A knock sounded on the door.

“Yeah?” Mathias asked.

“May I come in?” Vlad asked from the other side of the door.

Mathias walked over, opened the door, then headed to his bed and sat down.

Vlad closed the door behind him and sat down in the chair near the window. “I came to apologize.”

“For what?” Mathias asked. Vlad didn’t usually apologize easily. If he could, he’d write this down in a record book somewhere.

Vlad sighed and looked down at his lap. “For thinking that you had gone insane.”

Mathias was kind of taken aback. Something must have happened. He took a guess. “So you saw her?”

Vlad shook his head. “I talked to Azazel.”

That explained it. Sort of. He didn’t remember talking to Azazel all that much about her. But, he had been pretty adept at catching his thoughts. So, maybe it had a simple explanation after all. If it didn’t, well, Azazel was not … normal. That, in and of itself explained a lot.

Mathias almost wanted to know how much Azazel told him. “Okay. So, we’re good?”

Vlad laughed. “We’re always … good.”

* * * * *

Stuart led Xiao through the halls. The best thing he could do was to see what Nossy did in her presence. If he acted anyway out of the ordinary for him, that meant she was using Nossy like a puppet. If nothing happened, then he could make sure she hadn’t done anything to hurt him in the castle, besides not give him food and water that is. If everything was fine, then she could be trusted—to a point. That was his logic anyway.

“Would it be possible to slow down a little?” she asked suddenly.

What now?
Stuart stopped and turned around. She was holding her dress in both hands as if she was trying not to trip on it.

“Yeah. No problem.” He turned back around and continued to Nossy’s room … a bit slower. He wasn’t used to dealing with girls and it showed.

* * * * *

Nossy was sitting up in bed eating a few pieces of fruit. Pomegranate was noticeably absent. This was his second tray this morning. The first one had ended up thrown across the room. He’d never accept a pomegranate seed from anyone else again. In fact, it would be a while before he ate pomegranates period.

He chittered a bit. It felt good to be feeling more like himself. He was still skinny, but the muscles were coming back.

“Nossy?”

He looked up. Stuart was standing in the doorway to his room with a curious expression on his face.
Now, what is this about?

“What’s holding you back,” he said. “Get in here!” Might as well find out what the boy wanted. He didn’t have anything better to do anyway.

Stuart looked outside the door, then back at him. “I’ve got someone with me who would like to see you.”

Nossy raised a bushy eyebrow. He’d missed his eyebrows. He knew it couldn’t be Vlad or Mathias. One, they had already come. And two, there was no reason to have them wait. “And this is a problem, why?”

Stuart cleared his throat, stepped into the room, and a woman followed him. She was dressed in this weird velvet and sparkly thing get up. It looked like something his mother would have worn in the Dark Ages. What was it with women and sparkly things? He chittered again.

“So, where did you find such a ravishing creature?” he asked Stuart.

“Um. She found me, actually.” The boy was twitchy. This was something new. At the same time, the kid seemed almost afraid. Something was up. This creature was putting Stuart on edge. Interesting.

Nossy turned his sights on the woman. He patted the mattress beside him. No sense for the ravishing creature to stand.

She smiled and gently lowered herself onto the mattress.

“Now, what can I do for you?” Nossy asked her.

“He,” she pointed, “is afraid that I will hurt Mathias.”

Nossy scratched his chin. The plot thickened. “And why is that?”

She blinked oddly. Sideways. What the hell was she? A vampire she was not.

“Because you were in my house,” she said.

It was clear now. This was the one all the fuss was about. Interesting. Even more intriguing was that she as so concerned about Mathias. “And because you agreed to let them keep me there—“

“Not exactly,” she said. “I think it is because I did not feed you or help you escape.”

Nossy nodded. Very fascinating that she was here. She certainly hadn’t given any regard for his life. That meant there was something here she wanted. It couldn’t just be Mathias could it? “That would have been nice, you know.”

She smiled strangely with the corners of her mouth strained. “I never said I was nice.”

“That is true.” He tapped a claw against his teeth. “Honest even. So, what is it you want with Mathias?”

Her entire demeanor changed. Her skin brightened, her eyes starting twinkling. “I would like to mate with him.”

Nossy had to force himself not to laugh. One, he wasn’t stupid. He’d been in the Snow Queen’s castle. Who knew how many hundreds of years old she was. Two, he seriously doubted that Mathias would be enthused. The kid had been through enough without this weirdness added to it. Still though, she was very pretty, whatever the hell she was.

“And why do you want Mathias as a mate?” he asked.

She bowed her head shyly. “Because he is not afraid of me.”

Nossy had heard worse reasons for mating. Still, this was something that was Mathias’ decision. Not theirs. They could only help keep her out if she didn’t take the rejection well. “Any other reasons?”

She almost blushed. “I cannot speak of such things. It would not be proper.”

So, she was willing to let him starve to death, but she didn’t want to talk about carnal things. Interesting. A succubus she was not.

Nossy looked at Stuart. “We better talk to Vlad.”

“Azazel too,” Stuart said.

Nossy grunted and pushed the woman off the bed. She giggled. Then, he ripped the I.V.’s out of his arm. He’d been in bed long enough.

“Shall we?” he asked. He held up his arm for her to take it.

The woman was still giggling.

* * * * *

Vlad was just taking a bite of eggs when he heard a knock at the door. He threw the napkin on the table. Mathias snickered. There was something about Vlad’s breakfast being interrupted lately, and he wasn’t complaining. It gave him the chance to snarf down half of Vlad’s food.

Vlad got up from the table. Mathias stole a couple of pieces of bacon from Vlad’s plate and stuffed them into his mouth. He chewed quickly.

Vlad opened the door to his chamber. And then, looked out into the hallway.

No one was there.

“You really must learn to be more observant,” Nossy said from his seat in Vlad’s green velvet chair next to the fireplace.

To Mathias, the answer was simple. He’d simply blinked himself into the chair. But Vlad was still there standing with his mouth open.

Mathias snorted. Yep. Things were back to normal now.

Vlad closed the door to the rooms and turned back around. He took a deep breath. “Were you officially released?”

Nossy chittered. “They tried to feed me pomegranates for Father’s sake.”

Mathias laughed. Yep, his friend was back.

“So to what do we owe to your presence this morning?” Vlad asked. He walked over to the table, sat down, stared at his depleted stack of bacon and glared at Mathias.

Mathias snorted.

Nossy drummed the arms of the chair with his hands. “We need to go see Stuart in the throne room.”

“Jesus. This sounds like Miss Prune in the ballroom with the candlestick,” Mathias said. Nosferatu was capable of about anything after all.

Vlad rolled his eyes. Then, he turned back to Nossy. “Just what is this about?”

“You’ll see.” The he hopped up out of the chair, darted to the door, threw it open, and left the room.

Mathias stood up.

Vlad shook his head. “For Father’s sake. If we don’t follow him, it will only get worse.” He stuffed the last of his bacon into his mouth and got up.

Mathias walked toward the door. Vlad followed

Chapter Sixteen

By the time they arrived, Nossy was sitting in a chair next to the throne. Azazel was leaning against the wall beside Nossy. Mathias looked around, but didn’t see Stuart right away. The throne room was basically restored. There were no more tapestries hanging from the ceiling though. Mathias welcomed the less frou-frou appearance.

He looked over and sat down on the throne. He was still technically king, and well, Nossy wasn’t sitting there. It was still strange to sit there. It was Nossy’s place, not his. And it looked like Nossy had no plans to reclaim his spot. Vlad stood on the other side of the throne.

“We’re ready,” Nossy called out.

“Ready for what?” Mathias asked. No one bothered to answer him.

From the shadows, Stuart stepped out with
Her
. Fuck. This was not what he wanted today. He would rather go back to his room and read something for a while. Stay away from weirdos.

“Xiao, Snow Queen, Snegurochka, would like an audience with King Mathias,” Stuart said from the back of the room.

“The audience is granted,” Nossy said.

Mathias looked at Nossy and glared. Nossy didn’t even flinch. Traitor.

She stepped forward, still dressed like ice. The crystals looked silver in the dim light. Once she stopped, she curtsied.

Mathias fought not to roll his eyes.

“I have a proposition,” she said.

Wonderful. He didn’t remotely want to guess what it was. Mathias motioned for her to get on with it with his hand. If letting her speak in front of everyone would get her to leave him alone, then so be it.

“You are the first I have encountered that is worthy. Your strength, your ability to reason. You are exactly what I have been waiting for.”

She was starting to sound like a used car salesman. If he hadn’t already been annoyed with her, he could be now. She was becoming like the annoying evil little sister of his best friend that just wouldn’t leave anyone alone.

“What have you been waiting for?” Mathias asked. He knew he was going to kick himself for asking.

She held her head up high. “A mate.”

“Oh, fuck no.” He was not going to have sex with that … thing. Those teeth were enough to make any man cross his legs. He tried to get up off the throne but found himself pinned in place by something he could not see. He looked over at Xiao. She was smiling. Okay, this had just entered the way not cool zone.

Stuart started walking toward her. Mathias’ guessed that the expression on his face displayed his distress.

Suddenly, Xiao held up her left hand and froze Stuart in place too. How many more of them could she freeze at once? “Please,” she said. “Listen. I mean no harm.”

Then, the pressure was gone and Mathias could move again. He didn’t like this. Not at all. It was enough that he could do it, but he didn’t like someone doing it to him. Besides, she was dangerous.