The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(44)

He wanted her. Desperately. Painfully. But he needed her to understand what it meant before he made her his. He needed her to get used to the idea before it happened. For when he drove deep inside her body, he'd never let another man touch her. Never. He parried and fenced with the devil living inside him for far too long to believe otherwise. Once he'd crossed that threshold with her, there would be no turning back. She wasn't simply any woman. She was Sienna.

For a maid who had lived alone for many years, Sienna was a confident woman. She was open to his attentions. Quite open. He wasn't sure if that came from years of loneliness and womanly curiosity or if it was because of him. If her sensuality had nothing to do with him specifically, then he would be forced to leave her before they'd crossed a bridge too far. If she was simply coming into her own womanhood and exploring her sexuality, then he must let her go. Even if it shattered him into a million pieces. 

He'd like nothing more than to be her casual lover. But there would never be anything casual between them. She'd buried her claws deep, and his need for her was a terrifying reality that had shaken him to his core. He knew himself well enough to know once he'd crossed that bridge with her, he was done for.

"Good morning." Friedrich stepped into the parlor behind him.

"Morning." Nikolai pulled himself from the window.

"Sleep well?" Friedrich wore a wicked smile like the fiend that he was.

"Not especially." He had rested easily next to her, but sleep eluded him. Wonder why.

"That's too bad." Friedrich chuckled and ambled toward his desk, surrounded by bookshelves on every wall. "I've been told those bedrooms are very comfortable."

"Yes. Well, there were other reasons for my discomfort," he said on a sigh.

"I imagine that there were."

Nikolai aimed a death glare at the duke, for there was innuendo in every word he said.

With another fiendish smile, he waved him over. "Oh, come, lieutenant. Wipe off the scowl. I have something of importance to show you."

Nikolai joined Friedrich at his desk, where he pulled out a map from a locked drawer and sprawled it across the cherrywood top. It was a map of the northern provinces, Winter Hill at its center. Along the southern border of the map, there were a few villages circled in red ink.

"What are these?" Nikolai pointed.

"I have my own scouts out there seeking information."

"Legionnaires?"

"No." Friedrich's charming countenance had slipped, his brow pinched into a frown. "I don't keep Legionnaires. I have a personal guard."

Surprised, knowing Friedrich had always arrived at the Glass Tower with his own escort of Legionnaires, he asked, "Since when did this happen?"

The duke stared at him pointedly. "Since Marius fled the Glass Tower and reported to me that his mother, our queen, had fallen into the dark of sanguine furorem. Besides, my uncle had set his own spies amongst my soldiers."

Nikolai scoffed. "Not surprising. I've been thinking on the queen."

"And?"

"I don't believe she had ever fallen. She was the first of us, the one who slayed her twin brother for the crown. I believe she's always been a host for the blood madness."

"If that's true, then she's been hiding her secret for thousands of years. Why is it only a few months ago that she's gotten sloppy enough to get caught?"

Nikolai clenched his jaw, swallowing his pride before he answered. "Unfortunately, there have been signs for some time. When I first joined the Legionnaires, I witnessed an attack of the blood madness at a ball. That was long ago. I've also heard reports over the years that one of our soldiers had lost control and drained his bleeder dry. But each time I looked into the account, there either was no body to support the rumor or my interrogation came up empty."

"Didn't you suspect so many rumors as being suspicious?"

"That's just it." Nikolai settled into a black leather chair opposite the desk behind which Friedrich stood. "It was never close together. It happened perhaps two or three times per decade. So it always appeared as a singular incident."



       
         
       
        

"Oh," said Friedrich, a dawning expression raising his brow. "I always forget you're over a century old." Friedrich was only half his age. "So what caused you all to finally catch on?"

Nikolai heaved out a sigh. "That's the hard part of it all. It was Arabelle who brought it to our attention."

Friedrich grinned. "That's right. Marius told me as much after he'd absconded with his new bride. Marius has his hands full with that one."