Mona Lisa Craving Read online

  Amber turned to Halcyon. Asked him, “What can we do to protect her?”

  “Just be near her” was Halcyon’s answer. “And be willing to donate your blood should she need it. The demon part of her lies dormant until it is triggered by the presence of another demon. Then bloodlust, an almost overwhelming hunger at first, rises up within her. She will be able to control it more as time passes. In the beginning, however, it will be more prudent to simply slake her thirst instead of trying to fight it. A small drink of blood will regain her much of her control.”

  “She is in your presence now and has not evidenced the bloodlust you speak of,” Amber observed.

  “Because I have linked us mentally, giving her some of my control. I wished to reach the privacy of my quarters before I unleashed it.”

  “You can do so now,” Amber said. “I will gladly give her my blood.”

  “That is my role,” Dontaine said, stepping up to my side. “She asked us to come with her here so that she can explain this to you and drink from me.” He bent down to me, tilting his neck to the side. And with an abruptness that was like a curtain tearing away, Halcyon’s control was removed.

  Need crashed over me in a sudden deluge, and hunger, thirst, flared up inside me. My teeth morphed into sharp, piercing fangs and plunged into the white neck offered up before me. I drank him down mindlessly, reveling in the rich, piquant lifeblood flowing into me, gulping it down greedily at first, then more savoringly. Such bountiful flavor. Such abundant life. The taste was incomparable, and the need it filled beyond description. Dontaine moaned against me, clutching me to him, and I pressed my body against him willingly like a cat rolling sensually in catnip.

  Unthinking need receded, and awareness returned. Enough, I thought, and felt the blood slow and thicken beneath my tongue. Reluctantly, I pulled out of that rich vein I had so easily tapped, so easily piercing that soft, tender flesh.

  Perhaps it was because I was more familiar with it now that the thought of drinking blood no longer repulsed me. I hadn’t fought it this time, and control and thought had returned more quickly, easily.

  I stepped back from Dontaine and looked up at Amber, let him see my fangs, the blood coating them. Another deliberate thought, and I shrank them down, felt them become normal teeth once more.

  There was shock in Amber’s eyes, and I reacted without thought to it.

  “No, don’t turn away from me,” Amber said, pulling my stiff body back against his much larger one. “It was just the surprise of seeing it. Even after you had told me, it’s not the same as seeing it for the very first time.”

  “Let me go, Amber,” I said, my voice low, hard, closed down.

  “Never.” His arms tightened around me. “Don’t run away from me.”

  “I repulse you.”

  “No! It was just…different, new. Forgive me.”

  Another pair of arms came around us, glowing with soft light. Dontaine’s blond hair brushed feather-soft across my face as he drew up against me.

  “That was wonderful,” he murmured in a thick, dreamy voice, nuzzling behind my ear, positioning his neck a whisper away from my mouth. “Drink from me some more.”

  The unfeigned eager press of his body against mine was a soothing balm healing the cracks of my uncertainty. Pulling an unwilling smile from me.

  “You sound like a cat that has just lapped down cream, instead of being the one who was drunk down,” I observed.

  “What you made me feel was far better than any cream could ever taste.” Dontaine rubbed his face and body against me with a soft, sensuous purr. “Sweet blessed moon. That was almost as good as being inside you.”

  “You felt pleasure?” I asked.

  “Beyond your imagining.”

  “Did it hurt?”

  He drew back just enough so I could see his face. “Only when you first bit me. Then it disappeared and all I felt was this amazing pleasure rolling over me, filling me.”

  “It will get even better when she gains more finesse,” Halcyon promised.

  A delicious shudder ran through Dontaine’s body. “I can’t wait.” And the way he said it brought another smile to my lips.

  I patted Amber’s hand, letting him know that I was all right. “It’s okay,” I said softly. “It’s new to everybody. We’re all learning how this works.”

  He let his arms fall away. Instead of stepping away from him, I turned and wrapped my arms around Amber, burying my face against that broad chest that made me feel so safe. He was my anchor in this world, and I clung to him as such.

  He pressed a kiss to the top of my head, then set me from him, crouching down so that we were face-to-face. “I would have you take blood from me next time. It would please me…as Dontaine is making so damn obvious,” he said with a slight smile.

  “Next time,” I promised, feeling my world settle once more back onto its axis.

  When all was tranquil once more, Halcyon presented me with a beautifully carved, small wooden box, inlaid with ivory and gold. “I brought you here not only to feed, but to give you this,” he said, putting it into my hands.

  It was a gift from my mate.

  “Oh, Halcyon.” I lifted stricken eyes to his. “I didn’t think to get you anything.”

  “You have given me the gift of yourself. All else is immaterial. Do not distress yourself. It is truly not so much a gift as my claim on you for others to see. Open it.”

  I did and gasped. Inside was an exquisite cameo necklace with Halcyon’s likeness. It was framed around the rim by scroll-like writing. At the bottom was engraved the image of a fierce dragon. But the most striking part of it was the bright, glittery metal of the necklace itself, something that would catch every Monère’s eye.

  “The chain is silver,” I said.

  “Yes, I had it made thus in your honor. For the only Monère Queen to whom silver is not a weakness but a strength.”

  The touch of silver against a Monère’s skin usually drained them of their power, made them only human strong. I was not only not weakened by it, but seemed to have an affinity for it, able to call any weapon made out of silver easily to my hand.

  “Even the demons know this about you,” Halcyon said.

  “What does this say?” I asked, tracing a finger over the characters carved around his likeness.

  “The character on the left means royal, the one on your right that you are touching means consort. The dragon denotes my lineage and is the crest of our family line.” His dark chocolate eyes met mine. “Will you wear this?”

  The picture of him, the words “royal consort,” and the dragon crest all denoted his claim and protection over me. But the silver it was set upon was a tribute to me, to my individual strength. It was a melding of us both, thoughtfully done.

  “Of course.” My fingers fumbled a little as I reached behind, unfastening the silver cross I wore. It had been the only thing found on me as an infant. Something left by my birth mother, I had thought, and had been my most cherished possession, something I wore always. Even after I found out it had been Sonia, the midwife, who had given it to me, who had loved me as my mother had not, I had still worn it as a familiar comfort. I took it off now, a symbol of my past, and fastened Halcyon’s cameo in its place.

  I smoothed my hand over the cameo, which I left prominently displayed, not hidden under my dress as my other necklace had been. Outside where everyone could see it and know who I was—the High Prince of Hell’s chosen consort.

  “You honor me, ena.” Halcyon breathed the last word out like a soft caress. I knew now that it meant wife. And flushed a little at the meaning of it, the acceptance of it. His light kiss was as gentle and tender as the endearment he had whispered.

  “Come,” he said, placing my hand once more on his arm. “Let us go attend to Council affairs.”

  TWENTY-THREE

  THE FIRST ITEM of business we attended to, as it turned out, was the public presentation of me before the other Council members. I entered the large dome
d chamber on Halcyon’s arm, and all eyes immediately zoomed in on the cameo necklace I wore. And on Halcyon’s protective hand placed at the small of my back as he led me up the tiered steps to my seat. A small collective stirring occurred when he sat, not in his usual place across the room, but in the armchair next to mine. A not-so-subtle political power statement, clearly allying himself with me.

  There were over thirty Council members present, filling the chamber almost to capacity. A dozen new Queens numbered among them, and I wondered at the turnout. Wondered if it was because of me. Whether the rumors of the new Mixed Blood Queen and her recent Court antics had drawn them here. Or if it was because of another event unbeknownst to me. The way they were all looking at me, I was laying bet on the former.

  The new Queens’ eyes were not all outright hostile like Mona Teresa’s was. I’d mentally dubbed Mona Teresa the Fire Queen for her flame-colored hair and spiteful nature. Nasty would best describe her and most of the Queens I’d met to date, for that matter, all except Mona Carlisse, the only Queen I counted as a friend. Sadly, she was not present.

  I was willing to reserve judgment on the other Queens arrayed here. And by the cool reserve in their eyes, they seemed inclined to do the same with me. There were more healers, denoted by their maroon garments, filling out the assemblage, along with a couple more white-robed ladies. All women but for three men: Halcyon, Amber, and Lord Thorane. Amber was new, granted a seat on the Council by his new status as Warrior Lord, one of only two that existed. Lord Thorane, the Council speaker, was the other. Had Gryphon still been alive, he would have sat here among us also.

  It was an open session, meaning that guards and other spectators stood back along the walls, watching the proceedings. The Council members were arrayed in rings around a central clearing, the area where the petitioners stood and presented their cases.

  Lord Thorane opened the session, and sure enough, I was the first matter of business called. It was actually Halcyon’s name that was pronounced, but since I was the matter he was presenting before everyone, he drew me to my feet and walked me down the steps into the center.

  Of everyone present, it was the Queen Mother who dominated over us all. Not just in status but in palpable strength. Hers was a presence I had always felt. But for some reason, I felt her even sharper now. Her power and age tasted acute to my senses, not at all mellow like you would imagine it might be from someone as advanced in years as she was. Unlike everyone else present, the Queen Mother was obviously old. Wrinkles marred her face, testament to the passage of time and her enduring presence through it.

  Halcyon bowed and I curtsied before her. Not as graceful as he, but then again, I hadn’t had over six hundred years to perfect the gesture like he had.

  “Queen Mother. Honored Queens. Ladies and gentlemen of the Court,” Halcyon said, addressing the others. “It gives me great pleasure to present my chosen mate before you, my royal consort, Queen Mona Lisa.”

  Nothing more than that. They were simple words stirring a complex reaction that rippled around the room. The distress caused by the announcement was obvious, but no one dared voice anything out loud in front of the High Prince of Hell. Couldn’t blame them. Never knew when you were suddenly going to find yourself in his realm.

  The Queen Mother acknowledged his announcement. “Prince Halcyon, this Monère High Court is pleased for you and your mate, Queen Mona Lisa, High Lady of Hell.” I started a little at that unexpected title. “We wish you joy and happiness,” she said, bestowing the words like a blessing. I bowed my head, accepting it as such, touched by it. Happiness and joy. They were two things that seemed so ephemeral in my life, like precious liquid I could only cup in my hand for a few brief moments before it trickled through my fingers, lost.

  “Thank you, Queen Mother, members of the Council.” I inclined my head to the others. No curtseying, you are above them now in rank, Halcyon had told me. Taking my hand, Halcyon led us off the floor, back to our seats.

  When the next order of business came up—my petition to have the west Mississippi portion of my land set up as a separate and independent territory, with Warrior Lord Amber recognized as the official ruler there—it passed with not one single opposition.

  Halcyon’s amusement whispered in my mind. Why are you so surprised?

  I didn’t expect it to be that easy. Not even Mona Teresa opposed it. I think I like being your mate. Everyone is being much nicer to me.

  Halcyon’s mental laughter rolled richly through my mind.

  And so they should. But it is in their own interests to agree with your proposal. It is only your land being offered up, not theirs. They do not have to give up any of their own territory. Why should they not agree? Likewise, they would see separating a powerful Warrior Lord from your side as to their benefit.

  A part of me was saddened by the accuracy of Halcyon’s words. My intent had been to elevate Amber, to align him beside me. But in doing so, I had separated him from me. Put physical distance between us.

  Do not be so sad, Hell-cat, Halcyon murmured as he tasted the melancholy lacing my thoughts. Amber knows and appreciates what you have done for him. You have not lost him any more than you have lost me simply because I cannot walk beside you every day or be with you every night. You are our home. We shall always return to you.

  His words and the honest emotions behind them—feelings that he could not hide from me when we were linked this way—comforted me. I was blessed despite myself.

  High Court adjourned several hours later and the real festivities began. Tents were erected on the sprawling lawn, and trade counselors were inundated with service people seeking new positions in other courts. Men, women, a few families, warriors, and trades-men. The greatest number at this fair, however, was the assemblage of young boys. Eighteen-year-old virgins were gathered like a flock of colorful peacocks at the largest central tent, arrayed in their best finery with hair neatly combed, nails buffed, and shoes polished. They looked like high school boys going out on their prom night. Only the dates they took home tonight would be the Queens who had selected them. And it would not be just a kiss that was taken but their virginity.

  “My goodness, why are there so many boys here?” I felt their eager attention hone in on me, a Queen, as I walked by on Halcyon’s arm, the Demon Prince on one side of me, Amber, my giant Warrior Lord, on the other.

  “It is the first gathering after winter solstice,” Amber explained. “Most of the boys who are of age seek their Virgin Claiming during this first session of the new year. It’s considered good luck to enter your manhood during this time. Summer solstice is another popular time. I see my two boys near the center there.”

  “My two are at the end,” I said softly, finding them easily in the crowd. Quentin and Dante. Their clothes were less gaudily bright than the others. They were dressed in simple attire that enhanced their more developed physiques.

  They stood out in other ways. They were older, for one, a striking and obvious difference. The other boys stood on the cusp of manhood, eager and young. Quentin and Dante had taken the step over that line already, denoted by their calm assurance, their more noticeable reserve. Men in maturity of mind and spirit. No longer boys.

  They were also far more beautiful in my eyes. The simplicity of their clothes drew attention to the lean, masculine beauty of their faces, to the greater breadth of their shoulders, their more muscular arms and chests. And any Queen who had witnessed the fight between Oswald and Dante knew firsthand what a superb warrior Dante was, so different from the other young lads here. His wounds had been healed by Hannah, probably as soon as she’d been able to lay hands on him, and he seemed none the worse for wear from his earlier challenge.

  Quentin served as a bridge, standing between his brother and the other virgin boys. Dante stood at the end, positioned halfway between that tent and the next one, which housed older warriors seeking positions, a more desperate lot. They were quieter, more somber men, less than a handful. It was in this group th
at Dante technically belonged, because he was not a virgin. Not anymore. Yet neither did he really belong with the older men.

  Dante’s apartness seemed to have intrigued the Queens. He had not one but five of them looking him over, perusing him with interest. But even surrounded by Queens, his gaze unerringly found mine.

  Instead of looking ecstatic as he should have been at so much interest, he looked…desolate. He answered their questions politely and allowed them to look him over like a stud they were considering buying. He didn’t preen as the other young lads did, he simply endured it, tolerating it with a dispassion that bordered on frank disinterest.

  “I will leave you to attend to your matters here,” Halcyon murmured. “There are matters I wish to discuss with the other Council members before the next meeting.” It was a considerate gesture on his part. He had made public his claim on me, and now was allowing us separate time to each attend to our own affairs. Maybe he even thought I wished to choose one of the boys for myself and didn’t wish me to feel constrained by his presence. Drawing my hand up, he kissed the back of it. Then he was gone, gracefully winding his way through the crowd, leaving me in Amber’s care.

  “Dante and Quentin seem to be quite popular,” I observed, eyeing the two Queens who were circling Quentin; he had his admirers as well. “I can understand Quentin, but why the interest in Dante when he is no longer a virgin?”

  “But who did he lose his virginity to?” Amber asked. “You. Very few unclaimed males have that distinction. And with his lightly tanned skin, they cannot help but wonder if he has acquired some of your gifts, such as your rare gift of walking under the sun without burning. Can he do that now?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered in a muted voice. “My best guess is probably not. Dontaine gained nothing from lying with me. My gifts don’t seem to transfer so easily anymore.” Not since I had taken the demon essence into me. Perhaps it was better that way. It would have been a disaster if I had been able to pass the demon taint as easily as I had passed on my other abilities before.