"I am with Sienna, the Woman of the Wood. Yes. I left her at the inn while I came in search of you."
"I am Deborah. Folks call me Deb." With a nod, she waved him to follow. "Come on back."
He did. Two brutish men were cutting up a whole roasted pig that had been cooked in an oversized oven, much like the ones he'd seen in the kitchen at the palace. They glanced his way, then set back to work, hacking into the beast with cleavers and deft precision.
Deb opened the door leading out of the butchery, the rain finally slowing down. She pointed to a barn. "That's where we'll meet, but I'll need to show you where to enter."
She led him through the barn door where stalls lined both sides. There was a cow or two, and a long pen of pigs rooting around in the hay.
"Right over here," said Deb. She marched over to the corner where a cart sat filled with feed.
She moved the cart forward and brushed her foot over the spot, revealing a square door in the floor. "This is where we'll meet." She tapped a foot on the spot. "Only those who I trust will be there."
"Thank you for taking the risk," said Nikolai.
Now that he stood closer to her, he realized she was younger than he thought at first glance. A hard life had toughened her exterior.
Hands on hips, she stared out the barn door where the rain slowed to a sprinkle. "No reason to thank me. I have my own motives."
"And they are?"
She fixed her gaze back on him. "My father was called to the palace for the last Blood Ball for Prince Marius. His reputation was wide for cooking the best meats in the region. He didn't want to go, but he did."
She swiped the back of her hand across her face with a sniffle. He wasn't sure if it was to stop herself from crying or a nervous twitch.
"And he never returned home?" he asked quietly.
She huffed out a sigh. "He never returned home. No one knew what happened to him."
"I am sorry for your loss. The blood madness had taken root with some of the Legionnaires. I didn't know it at the time. Those vampires are gone now."
"Well, not all," she said. "The mad queen is still there."
Nikolai assented with a nod. "Unfortunately, yes. And she builds her army, which is why it's important to build our own."
Deb crossed her arms and faced the open door. Nikolai stood quietly at her side, hands clasped at his back.
"And now we've got a vampire prince and his lieutenant on our side?" She shook her head. "If I didn't trust Ivan and he hadn't convinced me of the truth, I'd have thought you were just playing a part to discover the crown's enemies."
Nikolai understood her distrust. Her father had been killed by his own kind. Hell, he'd been killed while under Nikolai's charge as the chief lieutenant of the Glass Tower. All those who'd died in that place were his responsibility to keep safe. And he'd failed. Grinding his teeth together, he finally managed to turn to her and answer.
"Yes. I am vampire, and I do not apologize for it. But I have always upheld the laws to keep the balance between the species. I have never taken blood without consent, and I have protected the innocent from vampires who would take by force." The rain slowed to a stop, droplets trickling from the overhang of the barn. "Your father died under my watch. For him, and for many others, I have much to atone. I will not stand on the side of murderers, even if they are my own kind."
She studied his face for a moment, the tightness of her own relaxing. "I see now." She held out a hand for Nikolai to shake. He did, having never shaken a woman's hand like a man. But Deb was different. She took over her father's business, a man's business. "I'll see you tonight then. At ten."
"Tonight," he agreed.
Deb marched back toward her butchery, but Nikolai cut through the buildings back toward the inn. He was anxious to get back to Sienna, but he had one quick stop along the way.
Chapter Nine
Sienna was in pure heaven. Sunk in the hot bath before a crackling fire, steam rising from the surface, the rain pattering softly outside, she couldn't imagine anything more divine.
Actually, she could. But she tried not to let her mind wander to the tall and deliciously handsome vampire who filled her every thought as of late. Taking a bar of soap in hand on the stand beside the tub, she started at her shoulders and arms.
There was a bed dressed in a white coverlet, a rough-hewn vanity whose mirror was tarnished, and a side table with a pitcher and ewer. It was sparse but clean. A pleasant room for a break in their journey. A pretty bed for other things.
Nikolai was kind to offer this respite. The cold had seeped through her clothes and skin, straight down to her bones. She hadn't been able to stop the shivering. But he saw to her needs. Even this morning, he'd brought her breakfast, had it waiting for her when she awoke. For a fierce former lieutenant of the Royal Guard, he was quite kind and thoughtful.