Page 158 of Vampire's Choice
A bitter pill, but there was a lot of bitter to choke on right now. He would be in contact as soon as he could. She kept reaching out for Adan as well. Nothing. Damn Guardian business.
She needed her twin, but a separate part of her dreaded taking away his ignorant bliss. She wanted him to have that gift as long as possible, before he learned the foundation of their world had dissolved like a sandcastle before water.
Her numbness was a precarious glue. Sitting upright in the chair seemed almost more than she could do.
Pull it together. She gave herself that savage instruction, even as the vulnerable part of her cried for Merc, for her brother, for dawn, so the sun could knock her unconscious. She hoped she wouldn’t dream, though it was probably a futile wish.
Jessica sat to her right, Anwyn on her left. Ruth wished the three of them had been told to sit outside chambers unless they received information from their mind links. She didn’t want to hear the Council handling business as if life was supposed to go on the way it always did.
Anwyn was so close her shoulder almost brushed Ruth’s, a show of support. She didn’t want it. She wanted Merc. She wanted Adan.
She wanted her mother and father.
A tiny whimper caught in her throat, and her fists clenched. When Anwyn looked her way, Ruth snapped her spine straight, and gave her a nod. She was okay.
She was going to be fucking okay if it killed her.
“It is a difficult day, but before we received the news of the kidnapping, we had a full agenda,” Lord Belizar was saying brusquely. “As Lady Lyssa noted, Lady Danny will be here shortly, but we have a majority of Council present. We can handle many things to lighten the load. There may be far more difficult challenges ahead.”
Like the queen dealing with the loss of her son. Or Lord Mason his daughter. Ruth gripped the mug of tea, and her stomach heaved. She set it back down on the small round table between her and Jessica.
“Lady Carola,” Lord Belizar said. “You have the first agenda item.”
“Yes. It is a straightforward matter. Conveniently, Lady Kaela was already en route to this location, and arrived a short time ago.”
Stewart frowned. “She was questioned extensively by phone. Why did Lady Lyssa request a personal audience?”
“She didn’t,” Lady Helga put in. “Lady Kaela’s loyalty to our queen inspired her to come and offer her in-person support, if she needed another powerful ally at her back.”
“Commendable,” Lord Walton noted.
“Yes. But unfortunately bearing little support for the agenda item to be addressed.” Lady Carola motioned to her servant, Wilhelm, standing at the door. “Have Lady Kaela and her servant brought before us.”
The words jerked Ruth out of her numbness. When the Council chamber doors opened a few moments later, her stomach, already in a precarious state, bucked painfully.
Kaela wasn’t escorted in as a dignified overlord bringing business before Council. She was hauled in, by the four vampires who served as honor guard when Council was in session. Guarding the door, or doing work like this.
Bringing a vampire prisoner before them.
Kaela’s clothes were torn and bloody, hair snarled, makeup smeared from sweat and tears. The blood and the pallor of her skin said she’d sustained injuries, though she was strong enough they were no longer apparent, except from the location of the bloodstains.
The odd angle of Garron’s right arm told Ruth it was broken. When he was shoved to his knees, the way he guarded his right hand, catching himself with the left, told her the fingers and wrist were also out of commission. The rattle of his breath said his ribs were damaged.
A third mark could heal from most things, just like a vampire, if they had each other’s blood. He'd not been allowed to draw blood from his Mistress, or her from him.
If their battered state was an indication, the four guards hadn’t had an easy time of it, either. Their wary stance toward Kaela said they were braced for more of the same. Kaela’s attention had turned to Garron, though, as she tried to get him to stay down. He was having none of it. With great difficulty, he rose and positioned himself behind her and to her left. As a servant would in such circumstances.
“You continue to pretend.” Carola’s voice dripped with contempt. “As if your deceit is to be admired.”
“Why are they in this condition, Borgas?” Lady Helga demanded.
Borgas had long dark hair and a mix of Asian and Anglo facial features. His eyes were frost blue. “They resisted when we brought the order to confine them to quarters,” he said. “They didn’t respond well to the charge.”
“They didn’t respond well to it,” Kaela snapped. “They attacked my servant.”
“You were quick to defend him, weren’t you, my lady?” he responded, the title marinated in venom.
“Enough.” Lady Carola’s expression locked on the guard. “We will address your misconduct later. While your disgust is justified, you are required to act with restraint, until you are ordered otherwise.”