“I hope not.”
“Forgiven then?”
“There was never anything to forgive. I’m just an old cow who gets pissed at the drop of a hat. Blame that on the ancient,” I smiled.
“I think I remember you being very stubborn well before…”
“Don’t finish that statement if you know what’s good for you.” I walked to the door with him, getting one more kiss before we opened it. ***
Tanda and Martin were made comfortable in the first room off of the area by the larger room with the desk in it in Martin’s secret hidden dungeon. He knew where all of the switches were so there was no prying to find a way in or out. He assured us that we had killed all of the remaining spiders; something else we would one day have to talk about. Alex, however, was chained to one of the beds by the giant, dead spiders and told if he made any sounds what-so-ever that the remaining spiders would make him their next meal. His whispering pleas could be heard as the last of my boys exited the tunnel to his entrapment.
“Watch Inara, it is well known by those who she has pulled into her web that she is, in some ways, stronger in power than her sister. Bernard has been taking from Angelica and Inara, in turn, takes from him. In time, a breeder can gain power if that breeder takes in enough for a long enough time. Angelica has no idea or she would never allow another’s servant to share. Inara’s power may hold stronger in the mind than blood, but either way, she is not to be trusted.”
“Then why does she? I mean Angelica, let Bernard go back. If she allows him to take a sip, wouldn’t she think her sister would?” Derek asked.
“Her power has gone to her head many years ago, my young one, and her cravings far outweighed her thoughts before she allowed her power to rule. Either way, do not put so much trust in her twin.”
“Why do you think Renee put you down here?” Sydney added.
“Sydney? That’s not like you to speak up for me.” I think my heart was smiling as big as my mouth.
“Wow, that was weird, wasn’t it?” he smiled back, then looked over at Garvin who didn’t smile back. “All I was meaning was, you were taking a stand in your own power.”
“What?” I looked around the room to see most looking back at Garvin, then glancing away.
“Our young Sydney no longer belongs to our young Garvin the way that he once did,” Cates explained.
“Oh Garvin, I’m so sorry,” I said and rushed to where he was kicking at a stone.
“It felt good to have a son, for a while.”
“Why didn’t you say something? I didn’t have to mark Sydney.”
“Yes, you did,” Garvin finally looked at me. “There was nothing more important than that. We must be a whole, Renee, not broken because of my love for my child. My one and only creation.”
“Well, don’t say it like that. You’re just breaking my heart. Can’t you just remark him or something?”
“If only it were that easy,” Jacob interjected. “Garvin can take from him as you did your maker, but you have a power that overrides most in this room. One more ancient and you will override all in this room. Garvin is but a fledgling to you, Renee.”
“Even Martin?”
“See, her first ancient craves more power even with Renee at the helm.” Martin’s words were shocking.
“If we had more time, we would talk about that remark, Martin. But, we don’t.” I looked at my fancy dressed little ones. “Don’t we have a shindig to get to?”
“A what?” Jacob shrugged.
“I believe she means, the gala,” Cates laughed, with the others joining in.
“You city folk have so much to learn,” I shook my head and lifted the bottom of my hoop and headed out of the dank area. “Tanda, watch over my husband and I will take care of yours.”
“Not so much as a kiss,” Martin called out.
“You heard him, Cates, that’s an order,” I called back, snickering because I knew Cates would do it. “Love you, sweet pea!”
“Is this your torture? Be gone, you old fool.”
Echoes of Cates’ laughter filled the halls of the house as we made our way into the kitchen. Tanda came back up with instructions on how to lock the sliding door when she went back down. She insisted on making sure our make-up and clothing were in order before we left. While she worked on Tammy and then myself, the boys readied the unmarked coaches for our trip to Angelica’s gala.
Chapter Twenty Seven
I would be lying if I said I was confident on our ride over to the gala, because I could taste my own fear. The beating of my dead heart was locked into the base of my ears. Martin had his own normals that ran his grounds as well as took care of his boats and such. So we had two of them driving our coaches. It seemed the rest were by the coastline and that’s why we hadn’t seen them. They were left to ready his ship in case that he needed to head back out in search of me. Jacob, Derek, Sydney, and I were in one coach while Cates, Garvin, Tammy, and Fala were in the other. I knew Derek and Sydney felt as stupid as I did by the way they kept pulling at the garments they were wearing. As for the others, they didn’t seem to be as bothered. I gave that thought over to them being breeders much longer and forced to do ridiculous things. “We are almost there,” Jacob said, leaning his head out the coach window. I tried to put my head through the window, but my wig was too big and I growled. “What can you see? How do you know how close we are?” “You will give yourself one of those heart attacks if you do not slow down. First, I know the distance. Second, if you could put that thing on your head out of that window you would be able to see the lights at Angelica’s gates.”
“We are so going to have to have one of our talks when this night is over, Jacob,” I complained as I readjusted my wig.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked.
“Not even a little. I’m actually more nervous about this than I was anything we’ve done to date. It’s just so different from anything that we’ve ever done.”
“I know you will not like hearing me say this, but you must refrain from losing your temper, at least until we have time to make our way to the front of the room where Angelica will make her entrance.”
“You know I would never agree with anyone that said something to you that made you have a look like that on your face,” Derek said with a smirk, “but on this one I have to agree with Jacob. And if you don’t stop looking like that, with that crap on your face, I’m gonna lose it by laughing my ass off.”
“Oh, and getting down on your knee was a real show of who was boss…my ass,” I rolled my heavily made-up eyes at the both of them, causing all three, including me, to start snickering. The coach came to a stop and we all became silent. The driver spoke softly to the gatekeeper and we moved slowly through. “What exactly did the normal say?” I whispered.
“Avior ce nuit. In your tongue it would mean, ‘to have this night’. It is the passwords to enter this gala and what was written in the note that came from Inara as she had said it would. Something that also came while you were occupied with other things.”
“I completely forgot that she had given her word about that note. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you, yourself, just said it, you had completely forgotten and I would say due to having far too much on your mind, as it were. Now, if you are finished asking your questions, the doormen are walking out to meet our coach.”
“If you want me to be on my best behavior, then you best stop pushing my buttons.” I closed my mouth and crossed my arms. I got a hard stare from Jacob and uncrossed them and very childishly slapped my white gloved palms down on the thighs of my legs.