“You know I wouldn’t do this if I could think of anything else.” I wanted my cousin, above everyone else, to understand how much this went against my nature.
But she reached out, put her hand over mine. “I know. Cicely . . . when I burned that little girl to death . . . even though I didn’t intend for it to happen, the fact is that on that day, I realized I could never go back. I could never again be the person I’d been before then. No matter what I did, I’d always be affected by my actions that day. My anger had been my undoing.”
“I’m not angry at him, though.” I bit my lip, hurt that she might think so.
But she merely smiled. “No. You aren’t angry at him, not at all. And yet you are ordering that he undergo a painful and dangerous test. The reason you are doing this? Because on the day we accepted the crowns, on the day we created our heartstones and took the thrones, we changed who we were. We’ll never again be just Cicely and Rhiannon. We’ll always—forever—be affected by the choice we made that day. And every action we take will be affected by those choices. It is what it is.”
It was then that I began to understand something about my cousin. I’d been worried she might not be strong enough to withstand the changes we underwent. But now I saw that Rhiannon had developed an inner strength. Yes, it was a quiet strength, but it was resilient. Rhia had landed smack in front of her demons long ago, and even though she’d run from them for a while, she finally had turned to face them, and to own them.
I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it gently. “Twin cousins, forever.”
“Fire and ice.”
“Amber and jet. Summer and Winter.” With a soft smile, I unbuckled my seat belt and slid out of the car, meeting Check and Fearless as they raced over to my side. Rhia’s guards joined her.
As Kaylin and the others fell in behind us, we turned to the mansion and—with a cloud looming over my shoulders—I led the way into the ambush we’d set for our friend.
Chapter 5
The maid who opened the door recognized me. She’d been there the night Lannan brought me back to heal me from Crawl’s last attack. When the Blood Fever had taken me in thrall, I’d needed sex—rough and wild and as feral as I could get, and only Lannan could offer me the intensity that would shake the fever loose from my system.
She ushered us into the mansion. The great hall had taken on some renovations, though it still sported the sweeping staircase to the upper floors, nestled between two halls that ran the depth of the mansion. Large, luxurious rooms veered off from the hallways. We’d been in two of them. I’d been in one other room in the house—Lannan’s suite, though I doubted it was where he slept during the day.
To either side of the staircase spiraled massive, heavily pruned junipers, sculpted into coiling snakes that gazed over the hallways in their glistening green finery. Marble benches and tables made of heavy dark wood lined the walls at intervals, and the floor was polished tile, gleaming so brightly that I could see my reflection in it. I’d hate to be on the cleaning crew for the Regent’s mansion—it was expected to remain spotless and meticulously groomed. As were most of the vampires making their home here.
I motioned to the maid as another servant took Luna, Ysandra, Peyton, and Kaylin’s coats. Pressing a note into her hand that I’d prepared while still in the car, I whispered, “Please, give this to the Emissary now—before we’re shown into her office.”
The maid glanced at me, quizzically, but simply curtseyed. “I’ll be back for you in a moment,” she said to everyone. “Please be seated while I make certain the Emissary is prepared to receive you.” She tapped away down the hall, her kitten heels tattooing a quick beat against the floor.
We waited a moment—then two, before she returned. “Please follow me.” And she led us down the left hall to the office of the governing Regent.
Behind the heavy double doors, Lannan and Regina were waiting for us. Regina was sitting behind the desk; Lannan was sprawled in a chair next to it.
Twins with hair as golden as sunlight, spun straight and silky, the pair were as depraved as they were gorgeous. Regina was statuesque, curving in all the right places, and she wore a red pantsuit with a black corset beneath the blazer. Her hair was swept up into its usual chignon, and sparkling rubies studded her ears. Lannan, on the other hand, had hair that swept past his shoulders, and he wore black leather pants, tight and formfitting—showing off every attribute he had. He had on a brilliant blue button-down shirt, open to the naval, and an ornate black leather vest.
They were true vampires—not Vampiric Fae, but truly the living dead. Their eyes were black as pitch, but no stars swirled within, and they ruled the town, even though there was an ostensible city council.
As a pair, they were stunning.
Lannan stared at me, his eyes taking me in with one sweep. I blushed—I couldn’t help it. He was obsessed with me, and I’d been bound to him by a contract until I was chosen to transform into the Queen of Snow and Ice. I’d knelt at his feet, forced to grovel and beg him to humiliate me. Vampires had glamour, and most of them didn’t care what their chosen subjects felt. They were top-of-the-food-chain predators, and they knew it and used it, although there existed a delicate balance between the governments of the Vampire Nation and those of the yummanii and the magic-born.
“Your Majesty, please be seated.” Lannan stood and gave me an exaggerated flourish of a bow. While technically showing respect, I knew he was goading me. Ever since he’d fucked the Blood Fever out of my system, his obsession with me had grown.
“Brother . . .” The cautionary note in Regina’s voice echoed through the room. While Lannan might be Regent, his sister was the Emissary, and her word held sway over everyone in the Vampire Nation, save for the Crimson Queen herself.
“I’ll behave myself. Don’t get your bun in a twist.” Lannan motioned for us to sit down. “Please, be seated.”
I paused, wondering how this would unfold. My note to Regina had asked her to please find something to occupy the others while Rhiannon, Grieve, Chatter, and I talked to her in private.
But Regina was smooth. She stood. “I have official business to discuss with the Courts of Fae before we all make ourselves comfortable. My servants will escort the rest of you to the drawing room, where you will find tea and refreshments. While you are there, perhaps Luna can look over the arrangement on the piano. I’ve attempted my hand at a composition. While I’m pleased with it, I would welcome your input on ways in which to strengthen the intermezzo. Your musical eye would be highly appreciated here.”
Luna blinked, clearly surprised. “Of course, Emissary.”
“Thank you. I respect your skill.” Regina smiled at her, a cunning beautiful grin that was hard to resist.
I blinked. “You play piano?” I don’t know why this surprised me. But after I thought about it, it seemed like a skill I’d expect Regina to have.
“I have played for well over two hundred years and am fairly accomplished, but I’ve never before attempted my own composition.” She smiled at me, her fangs showing ever so slightly.
Luna looked a little puzzled, but she motioned to the others. Warily, they edged out of the room, following the maid.
Once they were gone and the door closed behind them, Regina turned to me. “You needed a private audience?”
“I did, but we needed to bring the others, to have them here on the estate, in case you agree to what I’m about to ask.” Here I paused. What I was about to ask was turning me into a traitor to Kaylin, but once again, my heart told me there was no other way.