“Congratulations.” The moment the words left his mouth, Stephan knew it was exactly the wrong thing to say. Estelle’s face stiffened and her red lips trembled. She inclined her head slightly, a queen accepting a tasteless tribute out of good manners.
“What? What did I say?” Wasn’t this good news? Isn’t this what she had spent her life training for?
“Nothing.”
“Estelle.”
She sighed. “I don’t want to do it.”
Luckily, some guardian being was keeping an eye on the situation, so he didn’t go bungling in with protests about how ridiculous she was being. Instead he said, “Why not?”
“No reason.” She crossed her arms.
Stephan allowed himself the very fleeting and ungenerous thought that the century-old vampire was behaving like a child. “What did Wavena say?”
Estelle stood up and pulled her skirt away from her legs, tightening it around her full hips for a brief and glorious moment. Stephan did the same to his hideous shorts, grimacing at the sweat that dripped down his calves. They walked to the end of the canopied path, the sun burning through gaps in the cover. He should have worn a hat. Estelle headed toward a large mesh cage to the left. Her voice drifted behind her. “I don’t want to be seneschal. Never have.”
Stephan caught up to her. “Is that why you went to JDPR? It’s quite a change to go from Florida to Canada.” People usually did the opposite. Ever since he’d found out Estelle’s real status in the vampire hierarchy, he’d wondered why she’d bothered to work at all, let alone as a receptionist for a class-A asshole. It might be wrong to speak ill of the dead, but Julien D’Aurant had truly been a worm.
“Julien’s place was the only arcana PR agency on the eastern seaboard.” Estelle opened the gate and Stephan followed her into the butterfly cage. Thousands of tiny winged creatures fluttered around, darting in and out of the lush vegetation. “That was part of it.”
“Part?” A golden butterfly passed by and Stephan watched it with delight.
“I wanted to know more of the real world. The seneschal training stifled me.”
“How?”
“Toronto was a good distance away and a big enough city that I could feed safely.”
After her non-answer, she turned away. He got the hint: time to change the subject. “So, this invocation. What is it, exactly?” He found a small bench where he could watch the insects nibble on slices of fruit.
Estelle sat beside him. “It’s a ceremony where Wavena will formally title me and give me the responsibility of the seneschal major. I’ll also be assigned a minor.”
He was caught on the first part of her statement. “Title you?”
She glanced away. “There’s a traditional title. Lands. A house. Rather a showpiece. I hate it.”
“Car?”
“With driver.”
“Chef?”
“Cooks gluten-free.” Now she grinned. “Paleo, vegan, keto, you name it.”
“What’s the title?”
Her lips trembled. “I can’t tell you.”
“Come on. It can’t be that bad. Lady of the Dark? Queen of the Fang?” He tapped his finger to his forehead. “I’ve got it. Chief Death, Grandmaster of the Blood.”
She sighed. “Lord of the Crimson Sword.”
He blinked. “Do you go play Dungeons and Dragons after?”
“Very funny.”
“Do you even use a sword? You guys have fangs. What do you need a sword for?”
“I think the whole thing was made up by the first seneschal. He had a twisted sense of humor.”
“I’ll say. Can’t wait to see your business cards.”
She laughed shortly and leaned back. “I can’t believe it,” she said.
“I’m not sure why. You’ve trained for it and you’re good at what you do.” He thought about this. “Fantastic,” he revised.
Her face twisted briefly before she looked away. “I don’t want to do it.”
“You’re already the acting seneschal,” he reminded her. “It’s the same thing.”
“Not really. I’ll have to mentor a deputy now.”
He turned to lean his arm on the back of the chair. “Talk to me, Estelle.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Which means you have a problem. Nothing always means something.”
She stood up. “I like my freedom, that’s all.”
He caught her hand and from the expression on her face knew that was all he was going to get from her today. He could almost hear Selene, his old mentor, whispering in his ear to let it lie. You push too hard. Let it be. Let them come to you.
Seeing Estelle hurting when he could do nothing to fix it was hard but he’d have to deal. He took a deep breath. “I can see that. You’re doing this because of duty, then.”
She looked relieved that he changed the topic. “Exactly.” She sat back down. “Wavena said she’s meeting with potential allies.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t say, but I assume some of the eastern vampire clans who we don’t have formal arrangements with. I also confirmed that a few vampires have been reported missing.”
Stephan forced himself to stop looking at the butterflies landing on her head, then realized the sweat was running down his neck in rivulets. The greenhouse environment of the butterflies was not cooling. “Dawning sympathizers?”
“That’s what we thought at first.” She held her arm out and a butterfly settled on her skin, emerald wings trembling. “Now I’m not sure.”
“I’ve heard rumors too,” Stephan said. Mai, who had taken over Tom’s security duties, had heard whispers of masquerada disappearing.
“Minh said one of the security team was gone.”
He frowned. “I didn’t hear that.” That was bad, and he should have been told.
“Not sure if he’s reappeared. Wavena’s concerned, though.” She lowered her arm and the butterfly flew away.
“How many do you have missing?” he asked.
“Unknown. We only have informal reports.”
He stood so suddenly that she jerked back in surprise. “We need to find out.”
“Now?”
“Unless you have something else to do.”
Her gaze darted quickly over his body before she shook her head hard and coughed. “No. Nothing at all.”
* * * *
Estelle opened the door for Stephan, glad to be thinking about a topic other than her invocation. She had too many feelings about Wavena’s orders and now was not the time or place to sort through them. When that would be, she had no idea. Probably never. What was the point? As Stephan pointed out, she had been trained for this job. The headache threatened again. As if she hadn’t been working around the clock already. It was hard to live up to Cressida, who had done everything the role required effortlessly.
“Is there a library?” Stephan asked as she pulled the door shut.
Estelle sighed as the rush of air conditioning hit her. “Yes. Our central reference library is in the other wing.”
Stephan turned around, his face red with the heat. “Do you have branches?”
“Don’t you?”
“Masquerada aren’t as academically oriented as vampires.” He glanced down at his clothes. “I need to get some things.”
“I’ll wait.”
When he next came out, it was as the usual Stephan. Estelle took a moment to look him over and tried not to lick her lips. The masquerada ability to take on personas fascinated her. She’d asked both Miaoling and Caro to demonstrate one night and had been astounded at how both of the women remained themselves, but also…not. This ability was what made the masquerada an easy target for bigots from other arcane groups, who said you could never trust who was in front of you.
Idiots. It was as if everyone in the world needed someone to hate or distrust.
Like Stephan and vampires.
“Let’s go,” he said. He had a laptop tucked under his arm and Estelle was glad to see some of the bleakness that had marked him for the past few months was missing. They went back through the maze of corridors into what Estelle thought of as the semipublic space. Unlike the bedrooms, which were private, the library was open to all vampires, though hidden from human visitors. The corridor also held an artifact room and several art galleries. Stephan glanced longingly at these as they passed but didn’t pause. “Time for that later,” he murmured.
The library was at the end of the corridor, its climate-controlled environment protected by a triple door. The Florida humidity would have destroyed the ancient books otherwise.
Once in, Estelle took a deep breath then stood aside to let Stephan get the full effect of the space. “This is our research library.”
“Incredible.” He circled around to take it all in. “I had no idea.”
The space was an amalgam of the best aspects of the paramount libraries in the world. The Vatican. The ancient library of Alexandria. Trinity College. Books, scrolls, bamboo rolls, and stone tablets filled the shelves, which filled the middle of the room and all the available wall space. There were no tables in the main section, but small, glass-enclosed rooms dotted the library, preventing noise from interfering with other patrons.
“Estelle.” A tall, elegant vampire popped out from behind a shelf and gave Estelle a stiff nod before looking at Stephan. “Who do we have here?”
“Stephan, this is Dr. Raoul Montega, head librarian. Raoul, meet Stephan Daker, official masquerada liaison to Wavena, deputy to the North American Hierarch and a personal friend.”
Best to make the relationships clear from the beginning. Raoul could be sniffy to those he considered not of his social or professional calibre. She almost wished Stephan hadn’t changed from shorts, out of a petty desire to see Raoul’s reaction.
Raoul stared at Stephan. “A masquerada. I see. A word, Estelle?”
Estelle put on a smile. She would try to keep it friendly but it looked as if Raoul was going to be difficult. “I don’t think that’s necessary. Stephan will have the same library access as I do.”
Raoul went still. “This is very unusual for visitors. Especially this kind of visitor.”
She went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “He will also be given every assistance you and your team can offer. In fact, assign him someone to help.”
“This is an outrage,” Raoul sputtered. “Only Wavena and the seneschal get that kind of service.”
There it was. “Have you forgotten who I am?” she asked sweetly.
“You’re acting seneschal.”
Enough. Estelle let her fangs show, an unmistakable act of aggression. “Tell you what, Raoul. I’m taking our honored guest to a study room. Get back to me with who’s going to be giving us a hand.”
“This is my library,” he said, leaning forward. “You don’t give me orders in my library.”
“Keep this up and it won’t be yours for long.” She had a job to do.
“Is that a threat?” He sounded disbelieving. “You are threatening me?”
“If asking you to extend a valued visitor the appropriate courtesy is a threat, then I suppose I am.” She bared her fangs again and Raoul’s fists clenched.
Before she could take it further, Stephan’s hand landed on her arm. “Let’s go in,” he said calmly. “Estelle, where do you want to sit?”
The best room was in the north corner and this was where she went, fighting the urge to put that idiot Raoul in his place before they left. The head librarian was an unabashed snob, but she’d never had a problem with him like this before.
Once the glass door closed behind them, she checked to see what Raoul was doing. He was already on the phone, no doubt calling Wavena for confirmation. “Sorry about that,” she said. “Of course you’re welcome here. Raoul is a bit old-fashioned. He’s also a friend of Felix’s, so who knows what he’s been hearing from my brother.”
“Old-fashioned. You mean a bigot?”
She shook her head. “I knew he was proud of his lineage, but I’d never experienced that before. He’s always been nice to me.”
He laughed. “Well, yeah.”
“What do you mean?” She frowned, confused. He’d said it like he’d met Raoul before.
Stephan groaned. “Estelle, he is a vampire. You are a vampire and second only to Wavena. Of course he’s nice to you.”
Estelle opened her mouth to argue but then shut it immediately. How blind was she? Stephan was right.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Not your fault he’s like that.” Stephan opened his laptop and his typing indicated a clear end to the conversation. Estelle bit back another apology. Raoul’s nasty small-mindedness had become more prevalent and accepted among vampires over the last two years. The masquerada Franz Iverson, who as well as being a total dick who had tried to kill both Eric and Caro, had built a base united by a sense of shifter dominance. After his death, the surviving members banded into the Dawning with other like-minded arcana to forward his goal of enslaving humanity. The ancient masquerada Yangzei had taken the movement over, sparking fears of a masquerada ascendancy.
Vampires, almost equaling the masquerada in political power and numbers, were not pleased at this prospect and unfortunately, some loudmouth fools were taking advantage of this.
“Mai says Jimmy is still gone,” Stephan reported, scanning his screen. “She spoke with his parents and friends. No Dawning leanings.”
“If he was on that team, he would have been vetted heavily,” she said. “Could someone from the Dawning have turned him traitor?”
Stephan shook his head. “Jimmy was with me when we found one of Iverson’s cells. There were five dead from failed masquerada transformations. He took it hard.”
Estelle mulled this over. She needed data. “We need numbers. Get Mai to run down every missing masquerada she can and divide them into who had Dawning leanings and who didn’t. We’ll do the same here.”
“What about the lithu?” Stephan asked as he typed.
“They’ve never been involved in arcane affairs,” she said. “Ignore them for now.”
“How many are there?” he asked curiously.
She sighed. The relationship between lithu and vampires was fraught and she didn’t want to get sidetracked. “We don’t know, but there are far fewer than there are vampires. They keep to themselves.”
“Surely you must have some idea,” he pressed.
“Because all blood-eaters should be buddies?”
“Not what I meant.”
“Sure sounded like it. We have no more to do with the lithu than you do.” They stayed out of the lithu’s very scary way. Vampires learned stories about the terrible lithu from an early age: They could ingest only blood and could even become invisible. They were the equivalent of boogeymen for human children.
Stephan bent back to his laptop and she sighed. Their conversations kept devolving into this stupid bickering. It wasn’t even fun, sexy bickering, but draining and inefficient. She thought about it. It was her turf. She was one of the highest-ranked vampires in the realm. It was her responsibility to be the bigger person and make sure the two of them could work together.
Then she looked over at his face, closed and not giving an inch, and wanted to throw every book in the place at him.