Mircea grabbed the thing desperately and drained it dry before he bothered to look around. “Why is that?” he finally croaked.
“Well, one thing would be, every time you go out, you almost die.”
Mircea managed to focus his eyes enough to see Jerome sitting on the foot of his bed. At least, he thought it was Jerome. “What did you do?” he asked, staring at the man’s head.
“It’s the latest thing,” Jerome told him, pausing to admire himself in the small convex mirror over the washstand. “What do you think?”
“That it looks like you’ve lost your damned mind,” Bezio said, from the doorway.
“I wasn’t asking you.” Jerome sniffed, and looked expectantly at Mircea.
Mircea thought it looked like a terrified poodle had climbed onto the vampire’s head. And died. Because, in place of his former sleek locks, Jerome now sported a wide shock of frizzy blond hair, with a shaved neck that virtually forced the two sides to stick out like, well, like a dog’s ears.
“Isn’t it fun?” Jerome asked.
“It’s . . . stunning,” Mircea said truthfully, and rolled out of bed. And went to his knees, but not because of blood loss. But because—
“What happened to me?” he whispered, wondering why everything hurt. And then he caught sight of himself in the little mirror and just stared. For a moment, he was terribly afraid he was about to be told that this was also “the latest thing.”
“I told you,” Jerome said patiently. “You almost died again. You need to stop doing that.”
“I’m sure he’ll keep that in mind,” Bezio said dryly. He looked at Mircea. “You really don’t remember?”
Mircea shook his head, and then immediately regretted it. His skin felt too tight, and looked it, too. It was also slick, shiny, and bright red. If he hadn’t been a vampire, he’d have thought he had a bad sunburn.
But that was clearly absurd.
“I could explain but . . . I’m not sure I could do it justice,” Bezio told him. “It’s better if you see it.”
“See what?”
Jerome laughed, and slid off the bed. “That’s right! He can watch it with us. Come to Marte’s room when you get dressed,” he told Mircea. “But don’t wait too long. It’s about to start!”
They left. Mircea gingerly walked over to the wash basin and repeated the performance of the previous day. The water felt as good as it had then, better even. And without the need to breathe, he could keep his whole face in the cool, cool liquid, waiting for it to stop feeling like it was going to combust.
The gown was secured by a jeweled clasp on each shoulder. Mircea didn’t bother removing them. He pushed the material aside, impatient, greedy, suddenly ravenous. And found sweet, firm flesh that pebbled under his tongue as she arched up, heedless of the nearby crowd.
Possibly because it was no longer there.
A glance showed him the final guests heading down the stairs, glasses in hand. A few paused to look back at them, and then to whisper something to each other, before hurrying away. To join the crowd beginning to assemble in the gardens below, as the contest drew to an end.
He decided he didn’t care.
“There’s to be a ceremony,” she said, as he slid the dress off the other shoulder.
“You’re going to miss it,” he told her.
Coral lips curved. “I’ve had ceremonies.”
He stood up, efficiently stripping off his cioppa, the short velvet robe worn over the doublet on formal occasions. Too efficiently, as it happened.
“Slower,” she told him, as he threw it over a nearby table.
He stopped, realizing what she wanted.
And an insane, mischievous urge caught him. He slowed his movements to a crawl, undoing the several dozen small buttons on his doublet with excruciating deliberateness. He then carefully folded the expensive garment, so that the tiny jet beads on the embroidery were inside and protected, before finding a spot for it on the table with his robe.
His client watched him through lowered lids, and said nothing.
He toed off his shoes, biting back a smile, before carefully lining them up beside the chaise. He decided they weren’t quite straight, and nudged them into line with a silk-covered toe. Better.
The shirt he left in place, the mass of embroidered linen as long as a tunic, the extra needed for pulling through the slashes in the doublet. The belt and hosen were easily dealt with, but he stretched out the process, being as careful with them as Paulo could have hoped. He was still dithering about, trying to find the best way to fold a garment that was in no way square, when he heard bracelets clink.
And looked down to find a beautiful face—and yes, it was beautiful, how had he ever thought otherwise—staring up at him from a few inches away.
And then the shirt was torn in two, leaving him wearing only a few scraps of expensive linen.
“I thought you wanted a show,” he said, in mock protest.
“I’ve had shows, too,” she said, and jerked him down.
Mircea surfaced, hard enough to send a plume of water splashing against the wall. It left a large mark on the old plaster, which he watched soak in as he tried to summon the memory again. It didn’t work.
The last thing he recalled was being pulled down onto the chaise. And catching his breath at the implication that she’d had shows but not him. And his immediate resolve to correct that deficiency.
He stood there for a moment, naked, dripping, and quivering in frustration, waiting for more. Which stubbornly refused to come. He scowled at his reflection, but stopped because it hurt. Even tiny movements did. Not too surprising, since the sunburn or whatever it was had not been confined to his face.
Mircea twisted in front of the small mirror, frowning. If it had been the sun that left him like this, shouldn’t his face be the worse off? Or his hands? They’d been exposed for far longer, after all. But they were actually less of an issue than the back of his body, which was several shades darker and far more painful than the front.
He looked like a pig on a spit that a careless servant had left to roast for too long without turning. He hadn’t blistered, or if he had, his body had already taken care of it. But he understood why he’d been sleeping on his stomach.
He finally started dressing, using the shirt from his red outfit in place of the one designed for the black. It matched well enough, although he was certain Paulo would notice the difference. Not that Mircea would have cared if he could just remember—
The smooth, olive-skinned body was draped in acres of shimmering silk, so diaphanous that it might have been merely a glittering cloud. It concealed well enough when bunched together, but offered tantalizing glimpses of the treasures below whenever she moved. Or stretched, or arched up shamelessly, destroying the last of his resolve.
Mircea feasted on the silken purity of a long throat as he worked his way through the excess fabric. “I hadn’t planned . . . on this today,” she laughed, as he fumbled with her belt.
“But you did . . . plan on it,” he said, still kissing her, as the stubborn thing finally came free.
“It crossed my mind. When you’d recovered.”
“I’m recovered.”
“So it would seem,” she murmured, pressing up against him. “Your mistress fed you well.”