Chapter Eleven
The dark-haired human servant stoked the fire to life, adding three logs to the oversized grate, nodded to Friedrich, then swiftly left the parlor and closed the door behind him.
“Do you trust him?” asked Nikolai with a nod to the door.
“Grant? Absolutely. He won’t say a word. Not even to the other servants.”
“Good.”
Nikolai glanced once more at Sienna on the sapphire-blue chaise, still not revived from their journey. Leaning over, he lifted the downy white blanket up over her shoulder. Homing in on her pulse, he found it beating strong and steady. He’d pushed her too far, too long. The vertigo had tipped her over the edge into unconsciousness.
But there was no way in hell he could’ve stopped to offer her a respite, not until he was double the distance vampires could track. He’d cracked the neck of one of the soldiers, nearly pulling his head off with the force. Unfortunately, he had to leave Volkov and the other hulking one still alive, though both injured enough to make them crawl away and lick their wounds before they could hunt them.
How had Volkov found them? Was he leading one of the queen’s scouting parties and coincidentally landed in the town the same night they were there to recruit? Highly improbable. Or did the queen’s elixir give him other gifts for hunting down prey? More powerful than he’d presumed.
Friedrich stepped up beside him, passing him one of two amber-filled glasses. Nikolai wasn’t a heavy drinker but he needed one tonight.
“Now then,” started Friedrich, cocking one leg as he lay his arm across the mantel. “Start from the beginning.”
Nikolai stepped away from Sienna, needing some physical distance to focus on anything else but her.
“The attack came after the rally with the recruits.”
“Did the Legionnaires see where the meeting was held?”
“No. I don’t think so. There were only three of them. Perhaps broken off from their main troop as we hadn’t seen any other uniforms in town, and we’d been there all day.”
“Probably a scouting party.” Friedrich swirled the liquor slowly in the glass. “So they found you by chance?”
“Perhaps.”
“It’s possible. The queen has scouting parties everywhere. My uncle has his own minions scouring Izeling here in the north.”
“So King Dominik has joined forces with his mother?”
It had not escaped any of them that Marius’s eldest brother and Friedrich’s uncle, King Dominik, ruled this northern kingdom of Izeling with an iron fist. And he was the queen’s firstborn and favorite son. Friedrich risked much to help them, traitors to the crown and allies with the Black Lily.
Friedrich chuckled darkly. “Of course he has, the brutal bastard. He’s just like my father.” Friedrich lifted his glass in a semi-salute with a sardonic slash of his mouth before he took a large swallow.
Nikolai needn’t wonder why the duke’s expression went glacial at the thought of his father. It wasn’t a love match between his parents. Princess Katerina, only daughter of the imperial couple King Grindal and Queen Morgrid, was betrothed at birth to the vainglorious Duke of Winter Hill. Marius had told Nikolai he’d never known his sister. By the time he was born, she’d been married off to the northern duke and was sequestered away like a shameful secret. Little did the royal family know that she would make a grand exit from this world, bringing her faithless husband with her. But what Katerina didn’t consider was the scars she’d leave behind on her son. There was no mistaking the haunted look in his eyes now. The wounds still bled, even after all this time when the royal family pretended his mother had never existed. Perhaps that is why the duke was so eager to betray the crown. If so, they had a formidable ally in the duke. Revenge was a cold bedfellow, but it cut with the sharpest blade of all.
“I imagine you killed them all,” said Friedrich as if he were discussing the price of grain or cattle.
“Only one.”
Friedrich arched one dark eyebrow. “Nikolai, the Merciful? Since when did that happen?”
Nikolai finally shrugged off his coat and tossed it over the back of a mahogany chair with black velvet cushions. “If I’d had the time and Sienna wasn’t with me, I would’ve finished the job. I managed to injure the other two.”
“I’m sure that you did.”
Nikolai knocked back the fiery liquor, swallowing the pleasant burn. “Sanguine furorem has made them strong. They must be feeding constantly to maintain such strength and speed. Volkov, the sergeant I spoke of, is a newly made vampire.”
“And yet he outmatched you?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” A surge of satisfaction thrilled through him when Nikolai remembered dislocating both Volkov’s shoulders and hearing his knee crunch before throwing him into a stone wall a block away.
“I had an opportunity to escape safely with Sienna. So I took it.” He glanced her way again. “I couldn’t risk one of them getting to her. Her safety was paramount.”
“I see.” Friedrich set his empty tumbler on the mantel and paced closer to the chaise where Sienna slept on her side, her auburn waves partially covering her face.
Instinctively, all of Nikolai’s muscles locked into place as Friedrich leaned over her. Nikolai’s fierce protectiveness of her was a primal urge, even when he knew the duke was a friend.
“Should I summon a human healer?”
“No,” snapped Nikolai. “She will be fine when she wakes.”
Friedrich’s gaze swiveled to him. “Careful, friend. I mean her no harm.”
Nikolai turned away and set his empty glass on a side table stacked with books. He sank into the wingback chair beside it with a sigh, the plush black leather squeaking as his weight settled. “I am her guardian for this mission. She is my charge.”
Friedrich ambled closer, hands in his pants pockets as he leaned against the mantel again. “I’d say she’s much more to you than that. Did you know you just growled at me?”
“What?” Nikolai hadn’t realized it at all.
Friedrich’s gaze drifted back to Sienna. “Though I can certainly see the appeal. Lovely creature. If I am allowed to say so.”
Nikolai ignored his jab. Friedrich was flirtatious and charming and bold. He couldn’t help himself. “She is…special.”
“Of that, I am sure. Marius told me.”
Unnerved that Marius should speak of her to Friedrich, he bristled at the thought. “What do you mean Marius told you? Told you what?”
Friedrich smiled, which held more pity than true warmth. “If you’ll relax and not rip my head off, I’ll tell you.”
Nikolai realized he’d gripped the arms of the leather chair, his fingers white-knuckled on the arms, his own claws itching to come out. His beast was riding him hard since the attack. Forcing himself to breathe evenly, he relaxed his shoulders and leaned back into the chair, waiting.
Wearing his usual cavalier expression, even though Nikolai had been poised to attack him a moment before, Friedrich launched ahead. “In recent correspondence, Marius told me you would be coming with Sienna, the lovely woman who lives alone in Silvane Forest.” He paused and took a seat in the chair opposite Nikolai, made of the same fine black leather as the one where he sat but smaller in size. “He explained your mission and asked if I would be a safe haven should you need it.”
Nikolai leaned forward again, this time out of curiosity to hear more not on an instinct to attack. Clasping his hands together with elbows on his knees, he said, “Yes. He told me you offered your home before I left Cutters Cove. We appreciate the risk you take with King Dominik so near.”
Friedrich gave a nod and an easy smile. “If truth be known, I hate my Uncle Dominik. I’ve always hated him. Arrogant, ruthless bastard that he is. And from what Marius has told me, the crown has abandoned its own laws for selfish gain. I would never be a party to that.”
“Good to hear. We need all the allies we can get,” said Nikolai, still wondering if Friedrich’s help had more to do with avenging his mother’s life and her death. But he’d never broach such a personal topic. He turned back to what had started the conversation. “You didn’t tell me what Marius said of Sienna.”
Smiling as if he had a secret, Friedrich said, “He told me she was unique. That she was a friend of the enchanted Silvane Forest and all the creatures there. He said she carried some of its magic inside her.”
Nikolai knew this to be true from the moment he met her months before. Her beauty had punched him in the gut, but the aura of magic that haloed her every step had lured him like a lost wolf to its den, seeking the comfort of home. Her healing touch, her giving heart, her comforting smile, her alluring beauty all spoke of potent magic, kept locked up tight just beneath her skin. But they also spoke of the essence of Sienna. She was beautiful in every way.
“It is true,” said Nikolai. “Do you know that there are four hart wolves who protect her as if she were their own?”
“Hart wolves?” asked Friedrich in disbelief. “Those wild beasts have befriended a girl?”
Nikolai shook his head on a laugh, softening his posture and the rigid tension in his back. “I was shocked myself to see it. I’d never heard of any befriending a human. Arabelle told me that the white female she calls Duchess and her two brothers were saved as pups by Sienna’s grandmother. Hunters had killed their mother.”
“And what of the fourth?”
“That would be the she-wolf’s mate. A fierce black male. He steers clear of me. One of the brothers is a mean-looking brute, too. He keeps a keen eye on me as well.”
Friedrich leaned back and crossed an ankle over his opposite knee. “I can’t believe they haven’t torn you to pieces. They hate vampires. Or so the legends say.”
“Oh, they hate us, there is no doubt of that. Too many vampires have hunted their kind for sport. But they trust Sienna. And, as I am her friend, they keep their distance and let me be.”
Friedrich stared across the room toward the chaise. “You’re her friend, are you? Nothing more than that?”
Nikolai wasn’t the kind of man who shared his pleasures with others. He was never the sort of soldier to brag of his conquests at balls and parties. And Sienna was neither a simple pleasure nor a casual conquest. She was far, far more. And he would have everyone know it.
“She is quite a bit more,” confirmed Nikolai, a surge of fresh fury pumping through his veins. “And I will defend her to the death if I must.”
Friedrich laughed. “Yes. I can see that is quite certain.”
As if she knew they spoke of her, a soft sigh drew their attention to the chaise. Sienna pushed up into a sitting position, one palm pressed to her forehead. Nikolai shot over to steady her as she wobbled in place.
“Easy,” he said softly, seated beside her, taking her hand in his with an arm around her waist.
“Where am I?” she asked, voice raspy. “How long have I been out?”
Her sleepy gaze found Friedrich standing before the chaise.
“You are in my home at Winter Hill.”
“Does your head hurt?” asked Nikolai.
“Only a little.”
“Let me get you some water.” Friedrich strode over to the sideboard and poured a glass of water, then brought it back. “Here.”
She cupped the glass and drank half of it down. Her hair had fallen loose from its braid during the mad dash across the country. The auburn waves around her face caught the firelight, shining like flames in the dark parlor. Her tousled hair and sleep-addled expression made her appear delicate and vulnerable, gripping an iron vise around his protective nature.
No. It wasn’t just his nature. It was her, and he knew it. Everything about her called to him alone, demanding that he grab hold with both hands and never let go. Commanding him to understand one thing above all else. Sienna was his. Just as she owned him, body and soul. Her blood still sang a sweet serenade through his body, calling him to set the world on fire should anyone dare to harm her. There would be no respite for Volkov and his wayward comment toward her. Nikolai would shut his fucking mouth for good the next time he saw him.
“Can I get you something to eat?” asked Friedrich, casting a frown toward Nikolai.
The duke could probably hear Nikolai’s pulse race at the thought of revenge. Nikolai had to get control of himself before he spontaneously combusted. Thankfully, Sienna was human and could detect no change in him. She cupped the glass with both hands in her lap, gazing up at them.
“No. I definitely can’t eat after that journey.”
“I apologize,” said Nikolai on a deep exhale to gather some control. “I know it wasn’t pleasant for you, but I needed to get us as far away as possible. So they couldn’t track us.”
“That royal sergeant,” she started. “Volkov. Do you think he was looking for us specifically? Or do you think it coincidence?”
“Good question,” said Friedrich. “Please allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Duke Friedrich Volya of Winter Hill.” He offered a hand for her to shake with a warning look and arch of the brow at Nikolai to keep calm.
Rolling his eyes, Nikolai fell into an easy state. “This is Marius’s kin. And our ally, as you know from Arabelle’s correspondence.”
She shook his hand. “Thank you for the sanctuary.” Her gaze quickly turned to Nikolai. “Do you think we’re truly safe? I’ve heard vampires can track for far distances.”
Smiling, content now that she was awake and seemed well, Nikolai replied, “They can. But these are newly made vampires. I can sense it in their unnaturally swift heartrate. They don’t have the honed skills of an older vampire.”
“Like you,” she said, warming his heart to the core in the affectionate glance she gave him.
“Yes.” He suddenly wished Friedrich would vanish into thin air so he could lay her back on the chaise and mess her lovely hair up a bit more.
Friedrich cleared his throat, breaking the sudden trance between her and Nikolai. “So what is the plan? You had two more stops for recruiting, did you not?”
“Three, actually,” answered Sienna. “According to my letter from Arabelle.”
“Yes, but we won’t be going. We’ll be heading to Cutters Cove on the next tide.”
“No, we will not.” Sienna was fully alert now, the fiery spark back in her eyes.
Nikolai stared at her in wonder, his words sounding more stern than he intended. “Sweetheart, we cannot continue on. It’s too dangerous. We don’t know how Volkov found us and whether he doesn’t have scouts in every town from here all the way back to the Glass Tower.”
“It doesn’t matter if he does. Surely, we’ll need to be more careful, but I won’t quit the mission now.”
“You could’ve been killed.”
“And so could you,” she said with a shrug. “It makes no difference. If anything, it only reinforces the need for recruits now more than ever.”
“We’re going to Cutters Cove,” he said with finality.
“No. We are not. We are completing the mission.”
Her back was a rigid line, her chin set at the most stubborn angle. He wanted to kiss her senseless in order to soften her resolve. He could do it. Easily. Especially if he used his elixir. But then he would remove that blaze of passion from her hypnotic green eyes. The woman dulled his wits and his own common sense.
“Well,” said Friedrich as if a decision had been made when they were most certainly at an impasse. “How about you both get some sleep and we’ll discuss it in the morning? You can stay in the suite next door. No servants but Grant are allowed in this part of the castle. It was a pleasure to finally meet you, my lady.” With a swift bow, he ducked out of the room, leaving them alone.
Sienna followed his exit, her brow raised in astonishment. “Castle?”