“It won’t happen again.” Titus assured me, “The new bloods always get carried away, but we’ll control them better this time.”
“These are the last ones.”
“So I’ve been told, but if there’s one thing war creates reliably, it’s victims.” Titus glanced out the looming ridgeline, ballistae lining it for as far as the eye could see, “Still, I have enough.”
“Where will you go after this?”
“We have a little abode in the catacombs of Castle Alkandra waiting for us. I do hope the governess there will be amenable to her new neighbors.”
“From what I’ve heard of Adrianna, she’ll be delighted to have you.”
“And I am anxious to make her acquaintance.” Titus flashed a fanged grin, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Zander, I would like to meet my new children.”
I stepped aside, and the two vampires passed me silently; Titus walking with a slight limp, Tiffany carrying a bundle of extra robes. Sitting on the grass, I pulled out my pipe, removed all the chastity spells, and waited. An hour later, a silent procession of black-robed figures left the tent. Their limping leader waved to me, and I waved back. Then the incubi stumbled from the tent flap, looking pallid and sunken, but still able to walk. I counted all fifty of them as they passed me by, and I handed each their payment.
“Verto,” I said to the last one, clasping my hand over his.
“Yes?” He asked tiredly, rubbing at the puncture wounds on his neck.
“I’ve heard you do an excellent high-elf impression. Can I see it?”
The incubus inclined his head, and morphed into a high-elf male.
“I have a job for you, if you’re interested.” I said to him.
“You want me to go behind the elven lines?”
“No, to Bentius.”
He raised his brows. “I’ll need to be paid very well.”
“I’ll make you one of the richest men in Alkandra.”
He considered me for a moment, then nodded. “Who do you need me to kill?”
ELENA
When I opened the office door, I found Leveria sitting beside it against the wall, hugging her knees. I frowned down at her. “I told you not to eavesdrop.”
“You knew I would anyway.” She muttered.
I crouched to her level, and caressed her wet cheek. “What did you hear?”
“Not much.” She sniffled, “I heard you laugh. You don’t laugh with me like you laugh with her.”
I sighed. “I wish you could love without jealousy.”
“But I can’t.” She smiled sadly, sniffling, “You and I will never have what you and she do.”
“No,” I said, and pulled her into my arms, “but she and I will never have what we do. Come on,” I stood up, and carried her into the bedroom, “you promised me the whole night.”
Hours later, Leveria was lying atop my abused body, snoring with the utmost contentment. I savored the feeling of her breaths against the cuts around my right nipple, marveling for a moment at how pain and pleasure, captivity and freedom, power and weakness all worked in harmony when Leveria loved me. She was a tactician of lovemaking. Even when she and I engaged in spur-of-the-moment passion, I was always left wondering if she’d planned it all out. Yavara was a beast of the present, improvising effortlessly, changing her role without pause to best fit the moment. I did not know who was better, but Leveria and I had certainly developed a repour that I hadn’t with Yavara. For all that I loved Yavara, for all that I longed for her, I’d only been inside her three different times, and I knew Leveria’s holes down to the texture.
I jettisoned the thought, and focused on the task at hand. Droughtius, Feractian, Feltian, Xantian, and Huntiata. I needed all five to hold a six of ten majority in the court, and have enough power to sway either Ternias or Leveria. And though I thought them all to be available, in truth, I did not know for certain. Ternias’s conspiracy had terrified Leveria, and after meeting with him, I realized her fear had been well-founded. Somewhere within these five names, there was very likely a trap. How would I know which one?
“Mmmm…” Leveria groaned sleepily, “what are you thinking about?”
“Plotting your downfall.” I whispered.
“Can that wait until morning?” She nuzzled herself against me, “I can feel your anxiety, and it’s making me restless.”
“I’m not anxious.”
“You should be.” She chuckled, “I’m going to destroy you.”
I laughed with her, petting her fine hair. “I have a question.”
“I have answers.”
“If a noble comes to me and professes their interest, how do I know if they’re working for another?”
She snorted. “They call it the den of snakes for a reason, Elena. You will never truly know someone’s loyalty.”
“There must be a way.”
“I know only one.”
“What?”
“Torture.” She grinned up at me, her blue eyes glinting in the lunar light, “But most nobles won’t be too keen on following you if you did that to them. You are of course, the exception to that rule.” She snuggled against my side, “Now I get to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
She opened her mouth, then shut it. “Never mind,” she whispered, “go to sleep, Elena.”
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