“Everyone be gone.” Mortissa spoke for the first time. The softness of her voice contrasted with the alacrity with which everyone in the room reacted. The double doors were thrown open, and Sistine’s two shirtless fawns immediately exited, followed quickly by the vampires who’d been watching from the semi-circle of couches and armchairs.
When I started after them, Mortissa clarified, “Except you, Alessandra.”
Sistine wiped blood from her mouth, then she slunk out after the others. Her fangs retracted, and she shot one last defiant glare at me from the doorway, then closed the doors.
I licked my lips. By Gaston’s body, dark blood seeped into the white carpet. With his life force gone, the blood no longer hummed. As the bloodlust left me, my fangs disappeared back into my mouth. I turned slowly toward Mortissa, saying nothing.
Mortissa leaned back, her arms on the armrests, her gaze that of the haughty queen she was. Her hair was burnished red, and when the candlelight wobbled in the drafts, long strands of the red hair flickered like flame. A sleek, midnight-black gown hugged her slim figure. Her face was angular, both youthful and ageless, beautiful and terrible. Her skin was bone white, her eyes a dark glittering green.
My knees felt weak, and my heart thundered in my chest. I had been terrified and transfixed when I’d first met her, and three centuries later, the feeling was the same.
“That was nicely done,” she said.
“Thank you.” I risked a small smile.
Mortissa descended from her throne to stand beside me. Even though we were the same height, I always felt shorter. She reached out a hand and ran a finger down my cheek. She examined the streak of blood on it, then wiped her fingertip on the shoulder of my dress. “Yes, little dove, certainly very well done. However, don’t think I didn’t notice that you avoided killing him.”
I wiped my sleeve across my face, cleaning off the remaining blood. “After all these years, you surely can’t doubt me, Mortissa. I’ve killed in your name for centuries.”
Mortissa gripped the back of my neck and pulled me closer. “We’ve been through a lot, you and I, haven’t we?”
“We certainly have.” Over the centuries, I’d become comfortable with my queen’s closeness—most of the time, at least. In that moment, though, with Mortissa’s fingers squeezing against the nape of my neck, a shiver of fear oscillated deep in my bones. Even though I had lowered Sistine a notch or two, showing my willpower to be stronger than hers, the real danger had just begun.
“Many people have history together,” Mortissa said. “But not like us. We have lived through more history than most people have even heard of. We lived through the winter when the Seine froze for over two months. Remember those days? No one riots like hungry Frenchmen. We read Oliver Twist in serialized form.”
“More exactly, we had it read to us,” I said. “Under protest. I never could figure out what everyone saw in Dickens.”
Mortissa smiled. “It’s been glorious, Alessandra. The people of this age think themselves worldly. They know little of the elegance and intellectualism of the English nobility from a century ago and earlier, or of the fiery spirit that led to the French Revolution. Now we have idiots with nothing better to do than watch television programs of other idiots doing nothing. What a world this has become! I barely get any pleasure from the life force of some of these people. They are unworthy of the honor I do them in taking their lives. Even hideous underworld demons hold more attraction these days.”
“Indeed,” I said noncommittally. Most of that rant I’d heard before in one form or another, though Mortissa had never expressed admiration for demons before.
“I’ve always admired your strength,” Mortissa said, squeezing my neck tighter. “It was you who gave me the idea that a female-only vampire family was possible. So many women of that age were docile and weak. I wasn’t like that, not at all, and I saw that same steel in you. And I realized that there must be other women as strong as you and me. From that radical idea, the Colescu family was born.” She paused. “I was always wary of you, though, because that strength meant you would inevitably have to challenge me one day. Or so I thought. But the challenge never came. Any who pushed for your position died or were forced to flee. But you never looked higher. Why was that?”
Had Mortissa really been expecting me to challenge her all these years? “I would never—”
“But why?”
“Loyalty,” I said, my throat dry. “Loyalty and friendship.”
“Friendship.” Mortissa let the word hang in the air. “Once, we may have had that. Or something similar. No. I’ve come to think that it was a weakness in you that I’m only just seeing. What do you think? Can I allow a weakness to fester in the heart of the Colescu family?”
“You have it wrong. You think I’m weak just because I didn’t challenge you? Not everyone thinks like you do. Not everyone wants to rule. My loyalty is not a reason to doubt me. You said yourself I’ve always been strong.”
“But not recently.” Mortissa’s smiles never contained humor, only pleasure or the threat of danger. “You have been distracted lately. More than distracted.”
I faked a surprised look. “Has Sistine been spreading lies about me?”
“Worse than lies, little dove. She’s been spreading truths.”
“Summon one of the fawns. I will kill him in front of you if that’s what you require. If that’s what it takes.” I desperately hoped not to be taken up on the offer, but I had to make it. The dangerous edge in Mortissa’s tone was getting sharper all the time.
“Hush.” Mortissa touched a finger to my lips. “Don’t be so adamant in denying, or I’ll really start to believe the whispers. I’ll allow you to prove yourself to me, though.”
“Of course. Anything.”
“An old crone, one of my workers, is overstepping herself, so you’ll deal with her for me.”
“An old crone. Do you not think someone else...?” I trailed off, seeing Mortissa’s expression. “Of course, if that’s what you wish.”
“Things have drifted between us, and it’s time to bring our relationship back on track.” Mortissa released my neck, climbed back up to her throne, and sat. She gestured at Gaston’s body. “Summon someone to take that away.”
“Of course.” I made for the double doors.
“And Alessandra,” Mortissa said.
At the doorway, I paused, but didn’t turn.
“Just in case I haven’t been clear, I’m giving you this one pass for not killing that fawn. In the future, you’ll sate yourself on the life force of my enemies, or I’ll sate myself on yours.”