“I find that difficult to believe.” Julian paused, his hand on one handle of twin doors. “He could not stop himself if he wanted to, and I can’t imagine why he would want to do so. His state makes it obvious that one or both of you is trying to deceive us. I will warn you not to speak such obvious lies to the council. They take a dim view of people who attempt to mislead them.”
“Lie!” I stopped him as he was about to open the door, anger at being so clearly wronged doing much to drown out my concern and nervousness at the thought of seeing Kristoff again. “Me? I haven’t lied to any of you vampires, and I’m certainly not deceiving anyone. I’m sorry you don’t believe me when I say that Kristoff won’t answer me when I try to talk to him, but it’s the truth. I tried just a couple of days ago, as a matter of fact, and he shut me down quickly enough.”
Julian frowned at me for a moment, his gaze searching my face. I had a feeling he was trying to judge whether or not I spoke the truth.
“Why would he do that?” he finally asked, evidently realizing I was speaking with absolute honesty.
“I have no idea. If he’s saying I’m refusing to talk with him, he’s either delusional or . . . well, he’s lying, but I don’t think that’s very likely. He didn’t seem like the sort of man who lies.”
“He has proven himself a master of deception,” Julian said simply, dumbfounding me as he flung open the twin doors. He indicated the room beyond. “That much has been demonstrated during the last month. The council awaits you.”
It took me a moment to gather my scattered wits, so shaken was I by Julian’s statement. Kristoff, a master of deception? What on earth was he talking about?
I entered the room, my gaze quickly searching it for any signs of the man who haunted my nightly dreams. There were four people standing together, three men and a woman, the latter speaking as I came in.
“. . . might have at least warned me she was coming so I could make her comfortable. Honest to God, Christian, you may be nine hundred years old, but sometimes you act like a caveman! That poor woman is probably as confused as all get-out, and you’re not helping-Oh, hello.”
The woman who was, to my utter amazement, chewing out the very frightening Christian Dante turned and limped over to me with a friendly smile and outstretched hands. “I’m so sorry about this. You’re Pia, aren’t you? I’m Allie, Christian’s wife. You’ll have to forgive him for simply dumping you in the attic like you were a bundle of old laundry. I didn’t have a chance to check your room first to make sure you’re comfortable up there, but I’ll do so just as soon as we’re done here.”
“There’s no need; my room is lovely,” I reassured her, momentarily nonplussed by the fact that her eyes were mismatched-one was very pale grey, almost white, while the other was an odd sort of mottled brown.
Her smile took a wry twist as she gestured toward her eyes. “They’re a bit freaky, aren’t they?”
“They are not freaky in the least,” Christian corrected, frowning at his wife as he moved over to stand next to her. Behind him, the other two men-Sebastian and Rowan-stood silent and watchful. “They are charming and unique.”
She made a face at him before turning back to me. “I tried contacts, but I’m allergic to them or something, so I just have to live with what I have. Josef! No! We do not bite guests!”
I spun around, looking in surprise at the toddler who had crept up behind me. He, too, had eyes that didn’t match, one being green, the other brown, but the difference was not nearly so pronounced as in the woman I assumed was his mother.
Allie scooped up the boy and told him to say hello.
“Hello, Josef,” I said, smiling.
He bared his teeth at me. I was stunned to see that he had fangs.
“No!” the boy said, pointing at me. “Bad!”
“Not bad, pumpkin. She’s a Beloved, like Mommy,” Allie corrected. “I’m so sorry, Pia. He just got his fangs, and we’re in the process of weaning him off mortal food and onto a blood diet. It makes him a bit fractious sometimes, and he tends to want to bite people.”
“Allegra,” Christian said, a warning in his voice as he moved to stand protectively between us, as if I posed some threat.
“Oh, stop it! I don’t for one moment believe anything you lot have been wringing your hands about,” she answered back in a tone that I wouldn’t even dream of taking with the head vampire.