"Lissa, these people aren't Howard Graham. They're waiting for you to accept their love. I think you're holding yourself in reserve with all of them so the pain won't be so bad when they betray you. Gabron betrayed you, I know. That has dealt a blow. I wish there was some way to make you trust us. Some way that you might be able to listen to me have my little fit after you interrupted my instruction and know that underneath it, I still love you. I think I loved you the minute you dropped several Solar Red priests and their van in the street from fifty feet above their temple. If there was ever any way to get those fuckers' attention, that was the way to do it."
"They were about to go into a house where a couple and their five children lived. They had guns, Dragon. No way was I going to let them kill any babies if I could help it."
"I know. I'm asking you now not to measure all of us against Howard Graham. I might yell at you, but if you think I would ever lay a hand on you, then you need to think again. Merrill says that one of the biggest mistakes he and Wlodek ever made was the decision to hand out a beating as punishment. I think he would stand naked on the dome of your palace and scream an apology if it would make any difference."
"Interesting visual, but I don't think that'll help," I muttered, leaning my head into my arms on the table.
"For now, I'm asking you to forgive me. I want things to be better between us when Grace and Devin ask you to dinner. I owe you my life, Lissa. I just forgot that for a while. Tell me you don't regret saving me—and Refizan—all those years ago."
"I don't regret it, Dragon," I straightened and looked at him. "And I'd do it again, even if I do feel a little grumpy at you."
"Good. I don't like needing my ass saved, but if it needs saving, I'd prefer that you did it." He grinned before standing and stretching.
"Anytime," I said, smiling back. When I stood, Dragon pulled me into a bone-crushing embrace. "Just don't forget we love you," he whispered and disappeared.
* * *
"Where is the Raona?" Roff asked when Flavio led him into the Council chamber. Gardevik Rath, Lissa's High Demon mate was currently presiding over the Council, logging names of attendees as they arrived. He was Prime Minister on Kifirin, under his brother Jayd's rule. Of all Lissa's mates, he had the greatest amount of experience in governing.
"The Raona is on her way; I just received mindspeech from Gavin and Winkler," Flavio explained as Roff took a seat next to his vampire sire. "Both are escorting the Queen to today's meeting."
"Is she well?" Roff asked.
"She is quite well. Winkler returned to her and I believe they spent the night together."
"Someone else spent the night with my Queen?"
Flavio lifted an eyebrow at Roff's statement—he'd made my Queen a proprietary statement. "Child, are you trying to tell me something?" he asked.
"I wish to spend the night with the Queen. I see all the others with her and I want to be one of them."
"Are your memories returning?" Flavio asked gently.
"No. I still cannot remember," Roff frowned at the admission. "But I want her, father. I want to know her better. Is that wrong?" Roff searched Flavio's face for approval.
"It is not wrong. Perhaps you should court her. I hear women love to be courted. Do you have your comp-vid with you? Order flowers and use my account."
Roff immediately thumbed through many arrangements, looking for something he thought the Queen would like. "What about this one?" He held up the comp-vid.
"Lilies are always nice, but ask them to add roses. Roses are generally the accepted gift."
"Ah. It says when you wish to say I love you on these red roses. That seems appropriate. I will send roses and lilies." Roff set about placing the order. "What is the Council meeting about today?"
"Today, we are discussing something that is unprecedented. Lissa wishes to see all the female vampires and their mates. We will learn if any of the twenty-seven are trapped in compulsion."
"How will we know that?" Roff asked.
"The Queen will know, child. And since this has never been done before, we will have extra guards coming in case any of the males object to their compulsion being removed at the Queen's command."
"Some of the females may not want the males they are with, but may be forced to stay with them anyway? That doesn't seem right."
"It isn't." Radomir settled into a seat beside Roff.
"Hello, Uncle Radomir," Roff beamed. He'd come to like Flavio's vampire sibling very much, even if he was a bit different and a member of a very secret race. Flavio had explained about the Saa Thalarr shortly after Roff's turning, and introduced Radomir as a vampire brother.
"Roff," Radomir offered a smile.
"Radomir has come, in case the Queen needs help," Flavio explained.
"What will you do, Uncle Radomir?"
"Make sure they don't get out of hand. Some of these vampires may be very possessive." Radomir was fourteen hundred years old, didn't look more than twenty-five and was darkly handsome, with black eyes and dark hair. He offered a grin and a nod to Roff, who seemed baffled that anyone would force a female to stay with them—especially if the female had no love for the male involved.
"Here she is," Flavio tapped Roff's hand. Roff jerked his head toward the door. Lissa entered the Council chamber, Gavin on one side, a male he didn't recognize on the other. She was dressed tastefully in a green silk tunic and slacks.
"Is that her new mate?" Roff asked, nodding toward Winkler.
"He is a mate we thought was lost. He has now returned to the Queen."
"Was he lost, as I was lost to her?"
"No, child. Everyone thought him dead. You were wounded and turned vampire. Only your memories have vanished. You have always been here." Flavio smiled encouragingly at Roff.
"I cannot say how frustrating it is to not remember her from before. Or many others. And I do not understand why Giff weeps when she sees me."
"We will explain that in time. Meanwhile, we will work to get your memories back."
* * *
My skin tingled as I walked inside the Council chamber, although only Council members were inside, waiting. The mated vampires had been ushered into my library and would be brought to the Council chamber when their item was called on the agenda. Flanked by Winkler and Gavin (Winkler insisted, displacing Tony) I took my place on the high seat at the front.
"All members are present, my Queen." Garde, who'd arrived early to tick off names, nodded formally to me. Remember this meeting is being fed live to the Alliance, he cautioned mentally. We do not wish to alarm the Alliance if they see you turn to mist. Do you recall our security meeting, Avilepha? We've had to explain some of your actions as swift movement by a vampire. We have no desire to explain away other anomalies.
He was right—we'd had a security meeting shortly after we'd allowed Bryan's cameras inside the Council meetings—they not only fed images of the meetings to the local vampire population but to the Reth Alliance as a whole. Everybody was allowed to see vampires in action. The only meetings that weren't fed to the general population were executions, and it was better that nobody was allowed to see those. Only the Council and any involved parties invited by the Council viewed executions. Le-Ath Veronis was one of the few worlds belonging to the Alliance that executed certain offenders. The difference was that Le-Ath Veronis' justice was swift, as any vampire was more than aware.
I won't turn to mist or do anything else unbecoming, I promised Garde. He breathed an audible sigh of relief.
"What is the first item on the agenda?" I called out. Heathe, who'd come to do the agenda, made the announcement.
"The unlawful placement of compulsion against a mate," Heathe called out. Kyler would normally have made the announcement, but Flavio asked Kyler to stay home. I didn't blame him—the prospect of forcing a female vampire to stay with her mate upset her as much as it did me. Heathe volunteered to make announcements; Grant and Davan wanted no part of it, either.
Honestly, I'd have stayed in bed with Winkler if I could have. This wasn't going to be pretty, no matter how you looked at it. We were about to find out how many female vampires had unfair compulsion placed, just so a male could have a (potentially unwilling) trophy wife. "Bring in our guests," I said, working to keep the worried sigh from escaping. My uneasiness was growing, even with a Council full of vampires with me.
Twenty-seven vampires and their female mates were led inside the Chamber. Chairs had been set out for all of them, and I watched the women as they followed their male mates inside. All of them. All of them had some sort of compulsion placed. I didn't take time to sort through it—it could have been anything from you can't go shopping, to you will give me blowjobs until the end of time. It no longer mattered—all compulsion would be removed before they left the Council chamber.
If the women needed a place to stay afterward, I'd already made arrangements for them at a halfway house. The youngest female before me was more than four hundred years old, so it was possible they hadn't been outside or on their own in a very long time.
"My Queen, I wish to make a statement," one of the male vampires stepped forward. Yes, I probably should have seen it coming. I didn't. All twenty-seven males had claws out and all twenty-seven females had their throats cut before the war inside the Council chamber commenced.
Chapter 2
We were only able to save eleven of the twenty-seven females. We might have saved more if forty-three members of the Council hadn't joined the male vampires who'd just committed murder or attempted murder against their mates. Someday, somebody was going to have to explain this to me—why some men feel obligated to kill their wives if they refuse to stay in an unhealthy relationship. Somehow, these vampires had managed to get together with forty-three members of the Council, devise a plan and then make their murderous statements.