“Now, Leah,” Etienne whispered, his mouth at my ear, “I’m going to let you go and we’re going to talk. If you do anything unwise, I will let Marcello have you. Are you going to do anything unwise?”
Fuck no. These were vampires. No way I was going to do anything unwise.
I shook my head.
“Excellent,” he murmured then let me go.
I took two quick steps away then turned my back toward the hall and moved back two steps more. But it was there I stopped because I had three vampires’ eyes on me and I felt Nestor come out of the dining room behind me.
I looked amongst them, feeling my chest rise and fall, my fingers tingling, my legs quaking but I kept my shoulders straight and stood tall.
Then I moved my eyes to Etienne.
“What’s going on?” I asked and was pleased beyond reason my voice didn’t shake.
“We’ve decided it’s time you knew a few things,” Etienne answered.
I didn’t want to know a few things, of this I was certain. I also was certain I had no choice.
“What things?” I asked.
“Things about our culture. Things about your culture. Things about my son. And things about this world and your place in it,” Etienne replied.
That was a lot. Some of which I knew or thought I did.
Though, not their versions of it.
“Okay,” I whispered.
“Now be a good girl, Leah, and let your superior speak. I’ll tell you when and if you’re allowed to ask questions,” Etienne stated and I swallowed.
God, seriously. He was such a dick.
Still, with no other choice, I nodded.
“Very good,” he leaned in, his eyes lighting, creepy, amused and terrifying, before he finished, “pet.”
Oh God.
“Did you know,” he started, “that for five hundred years, it has been strictly forbidden for a vampire to take concubine as lover?”
I couldn’t help it. I wanted to but I couldn’t. My midsection swayed back like he’d struck me.
Etienne grinned.
I opened my mouth to say no but remembered his order and instead shook my head.
“I didn’t think so,” he muttered then spoke louder when he informed me, “But it’s true. No vampire has taken anything but blood from their concubine for centuries. Centuries. But my son had your contract altered. He did this without the knowledge or the assent of The Dominion. They’ve since found out and they are not happy.”
The rule he broke.
The not insignificant rule he broke.
And he broke it to have me.
Please tell me this wasn’t happening.
I stayed silent.
Etienne kept speaking.
“Vampires do not live with their concubines. They don’t kiss them at Feasts. And seeing as he’s obviously f**king you, he’s done whatever the f**k he wished to do prior to receiving permission from The Council. They will not take to this kindly.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded so he knew I heard him.
He went on.
“Whether willfully or coincidentally, this has made other vampires question this law. We,” he flung his arm out to indicate Marcello, Katrina and Nestor, “welcome this. Because this means war. And we are ready.”
Okay. Right.
This wasn’t just not good.
This was not good!
“It has been a long time coming,” Etienne whispered. “Vampires hunt. Vampires feed. Immortals should rule this planet not be ruled by rules.”
I fought it but I couldn’t stop myself from trembling.
Etienne was far from done.
“We do not wish to take your kind as mates.” He spat out the last word and if I didn’t already have a fair inkling about how he felt about “my kind” I knew by the way he spat that word. “We simply wish to take your kind whatever way we like, whenever we like. And this is how it will be.”
Yes.
Not good.
I pressed my lips together.
Etienne kept going.
“Lucien, either wittingly or unwittingly, began that process. Everyone within our culture is positioning. Vampires who do not wish change and are willing to fight for status quo. Concubines who desire to keep their place as the parasites of our culture. Vampires who wish to be free to find their mates whatever form they take. And my brethren,” again with the sweep of his arm, “wishing simply to be free to be vampires.”
Well, one thing I could say about that. That was pure Lucien, doing what he wanted to do and damn the consequences.
When he stopped and didn’t start again, even though I didn’t want him to continue, I nodded anyway.
So he continued.
“Do not fool yourself into thinking my son cares about you. He wants you to believe this, of course, it is the way with a taming. But it is not real.”
Another body sway when the impact of his words slammed into me and he smiled. He was loving every second of this.
The bastard.
He went on but this time he did it quietly, slowly, savoring the pain he knew he was going to cause.
“He had his mortal mate. The delectable Maggie.”
God. God! God!
“Maggie was captured, tortured and killed during The Revolution.”
Oh no.
Oh God.
God. God! God!
“Maggie was my son’s one and only true love, as sickening as that may be, it is the truth. Maggie’s death was the reason Lucien was unstoppable during that conflict. Maggie’s death was the reason he was unstoppable in hunting his own who would plot to resurrect the conflict. Maggie was everything to him. Maggie was his reason for being. Without Maggie, he exists. He does it well, he enjoys his life and the fruits of his endeavors, but it is simply existence. Nothing more. You, delicious Leah, he is using. Our lives are long, we must have our challenges and even if you’re simply breathing, you must find diversions to break up the monotony. That is what you are, Leah. A diversion. An enjoyable one, a succulent one, but simply a diversion.”
Love is a blanket that keeps you warm.
Lucien knew that to be true because of Maggie.
We’d talked a lot. He’d spent time educating me. He’d told me stories of his family.
But he’d never mentioned Maggie.
I fought the tears that filled my eyes.
I didn’t succeed.
And I hated it when Etienne grinned a triumphant, creepy grin when he saw them slide down my cheeks.
“I will educate you about our taming,” he said with false gentleness. “We have been forbidden to do this as well but we all yearn for it. We all enjoy it. But once a taming is complete, we will take pleasure in the spoils of our victory and then we will retreat. Move onto the next taming, the next meal, the next diversion that makes a vampire’s life sweet.”