Page 160 of Vampire's Choice
“I’ve been an exceptional overlord,” Kaela said. “You know this.”
“It’s what we have believed.” Carola tapped the folder under her hand. “This member of your territory has many complaints. Perhaps you’ve just been clever at concealing the things you’re not doing well.”
“A resentful and ambitious vampire.” Kaela’s voice dripped with disbelief. “That’s who you consider a valid witness?”
Lord Belizar drummed his large fingers on the table. “A valid point. Lady Carola, our kind will take advantage of opportunities to undermine and rise higher in our ranks. A vampire can manipulate voice recordings as easily as any human. Have you had the tape verified?”
“No,” Carola admitted. “I had not thought of it, Lord Belizar.”
“Understandable.” Lord Walton spoke. “We older vampires have a tendency to forget the technological tools at our fingertips.” At Carola’s searing look, he lifted a hand and added, “I’m not insulting you, my lady. Merely pointing out what I know to be true of many of us at this table, including our absent queen.”
“It took an act of God for Lord Mason to agree to use a cell phone,” Helga said, “and he still views them with great suspicion.”
Kaela’s expression remained blank during the hatefully wry exchange. Ruth swallowed the ache in her throat, remembering her father’s aversion to technology. And how she and Adan liked to tease him about it.
“You are correct.” Lord Belizar spoke to Kaela. “We do not generally take the word of vampires of lower rank over the word of our overlords, unless far more compelling proof than this is presented. So…does this tape lie? Has this vampire manipulated the information to defame you?”
He'd just given her a chance to refute the relationship. Deny Garron was her Master. At the least, she could ask that the tape be tested, which would buy her time. Time for the matter to be settled when Lord Mason, Lady Lyssa and Lady Danny were present, all of whom were known to have closer relationships with their servants “than comfortable.”
But none of them were submissive to those servants.
Ruth’s gaze slid between Garron and Kaela. As Kaela’s stoic mask started to slip, Ruth remembered the tired despair in her gaze in the study.
It wears you down. It wears us both down.
Ruth knew what her answer would be, even as she willed Kaela not to say it. Just as she was sure Garron was doing furiously in her mind, every muscle of his big body rigid.
But Kaela was done with lying.
She met Lord Belizar’s gaze. “I submit to Garron for my personal needs. When I was human, I was submissive to my husband, and cherished him as my Master. As I cherish Garron now.”
Her gaze slid to Lord Walton, and the edge to her voice was unmistakable. “It is no birth defect, my lord. Garron serves me as a vampire’s servant, credibly, extraordinarily. He also serves me, the woman, as my Master.”
Dismay gripped several faces, but the Council did not appear moved beyond that. Lord Welles addressed the Council as if Kaela had offered only one word.
Guilty.
“There are two choices in such cases. We can give Lady Kaela the option of dying with her servant, or require that she be put under the direct supervision of a Region Master who can recondition her to serve a useful purpose in our society.”
“Which she has done up until now,” Lord Walton noted. “On that point at least, I am inclined to doubt the vampire who maligns her. She has been an excellent overlord.”
“Reconditioning is prolonged torture and blood hunger to reset the mind,” Lady Helga said. “Don’t dress it up, Lord Welles.”
Lord Welles’s brown eyes sparked at the challenge. He was as tall as Belizar, though not as broad. He wore an Armani suit, the dress shirt open at the throat, the silky tips of his ash brown hair brushing his collar. Since the rest of the Council was in what humans would call business casual, he must have joined the Council from another engagement. “The two choices are laid out, Lady Helga. You can choose the former if you don’t have the stomach for the latter.”
Helga tapped a finger bearing a ruby ring on the table. “I might rip yours out first. You can apologize to me as you’re pushing your intestines back in. It would ruin that expensive suit.”
Lady Carola waved a dismissive hand. “Stop this. His words were poorly chosen, but the situation can’t stand, Helga. It’s against everything that a vampire is.”
“How am I different?”
Every head swung toward Ruth as she erupted from her seat. Anwyn caught the tea before it could tumble off the table.
Challenging the Council would have scared her shitless, if not for what had happened tonight, hundreds of miles from here. This was senseless. It was all senseless. She wasn’t steady enough, level-headed enough to do what she was doing, but she couldn’t let it stand, what Kaela was thinking about her. Or what Council was considering.
Anwyn’s hand was on her wrist, a warning squeeze. Lord Belizar shot Ruth a ball-breaking look. “Lady Ruth, heed Anwyn and take your seat. You have no leave to speak unless you are communicating matters related to the rescue party. But in answer, you gave your marks—albeit without seeking proper permission—to a being far stronger than yourself. Much as Lord Uthe…” He cleared his throat. “Much as we have acknowledged there is a component of that in Lord Uthe’s relationship with the Fae Lord Keldwyn.”
“Speak truly,” Lord Stewart put in. “Would you countenance bowing to a being weaker than yourself? A human?” He cast a pitying look at Kaela, then an unfriendly one toward Garron. “I know your father. Your brother. It would be against your nature.”