Page 186 of Vampire's Choice
“Hippiestock? Did that come from Gideon?”
“Belizar. He surprised me. I figured his knowledge of history stopped at the Bolshevik revolution. He also surprised me when he backed you on the servant proposal.”
“He’s not immune to change. He just dislikes it intensely.” She smiled. “But he’s come to see what problems excessive certainty can cause. Stagnation, suppression of ideas that help us grow, adapt. Survive.”
Her expression darkened. “I think he realized I wasn’t proposing we become softer and gentler with this new law. Just the opposite. We protect our people, what the God and Goddess made us. Kaela has been loyal to me and our kind, and has fought for our people. I was prepared to defend her and Garron with far harsher means, if they’d pushed me to it. Belizar knows I would do the same for him, and for most of the Council members, when it is warranted.”
“On that note…” Jacob dipped his head toward Gideon and Daegan again. “Daegan wants confirmation that you meant it. Exterminating the Trads. Gideon said it would overload his to-do list. He might need to hire additional ninjas.”
Lyssa sighed. “I can say I’m still undecided, but that’s because I couldn’t kill Grollner more than once. You already know the answer, as does Daegan. I would not condemn an entire people to death for the acts of a group.” She flashed fangs at her servant. “But I had no problem letting Grollner die with that certainty in his heart.”
“There’s the female I know and love.”
He kissed her hand, and she curved her sharp nails against his cheek, a biting caress. They leaned together, looking at the surf together in silence.
“Love is the only rule between us. Isn’t that from a song, or a book. Or both?”
“Thomas told me once that the messages that surface time and again in books, music, all sorts of creative expression, came from the universe first. They can’t be stamped out. And when we hear those truths, understand and act upon them, I think the universe smiles. It likely needs those smiles as much as we do.”
“Yeah. Maybe more.” His blue eyes darkened. “We know loss. But this one has hit particularly fucking hard.”
“Yes.” Lyssa’s expression became that of a concerned mother. One hurting for her child. “Kane thinks him being here, being a target as our son, resulted in this.”
“Adan will help him.” Jacob held her closer, brushing his lips against her dark hair. “He’ll tell him what his father would have said. That Mal wouldn’t have changed a thing. Evil doesn’t need an excuse, and you can’t stop living because it might use an opportunity.”
“Yes.” They walked together along the beach, and he held her hand. Here, where they’d often been able to be informal, she didn’t mind that. He was glad. Jacob watched her bare feet move through the water, and nudged her a little to the left so she didn’t step on a jagged-edged shell.
Lyssa looked up at him. Her jade eyes had gone just as sharp and painful. “It hurts me deeply, to know they are not here, Jacob.”
“I know.” She didn’t let her pain show to many, the cost of it to her soul. He closed his arms around her again, held her. Let their hearts beat together. “Ruth will help us mend the tear. She doesn’t openly acknowledge it, because she’s doing her own grieving, but it’s already there. She’s her father’s daughter. That whole tour thing, after the service.”
A smile touched his voice. “Hanska says she’s already secured commitments that will increase her quarterly donation projections by nine percent.”
“She’s her mother’s daughter as well.” Lyssa drew back. She was composed again, but he was still in her head, staying close. She embraced that intimacy, leaning against him as they walked onward. “I’m glad she has Merc now.”
“Yeah. Didn’t see that one coming.”
The angel incubus had stood behind Ruth during the service. Catriona had stood by Adan’s side. A united force that said as well as words the siblings would have formidable support going forward.
“We rarely do.” Lyssa took both of his hands, the straps of her shoes over their fingers. She pedaled backwards, giving him a mischievous look that was almost girlish. And beautiful to him. “I was thinking about how Fates bring us together. About our first night together, when I met you at the Eldar. Your presumption that you would be my new servant. Your blue eyes and handsome body. Your earnestness.”
As they circled one another, an informal dance in the current, she drew close enough to run her hands down his back, caressing his hips and buttocks. The girl disappeared, replaced by the siren. His temptress. Jacob cinched an arm around her waist.
“I was pretty sure you were going to kill me. Or at least maim me.”
“It crossed my mind. But then… Something in you spoke to me, like the truth in those stories and songs. I felt it, knew something meant for us to walk forward together, at least for a little while. And then a little while became much longer.”
“Forever, my lady. All eternity.” He took down her hair, letting it tumble into his hands. “That’s what I promised you. You promised me the same.”
Her lips curved. “I did no such thing. Only for as long as you remain tolerable.”
“I will always endeavor to please my lady.”
She lifted onto her toes to bring her mouth to his. His arms were already tightening to help, the kiss taking them out over the waves, into the sky, and letting them feel the heat of a sun she might never see, but could feel within him.
Perhaps in the end, Lyssa thought, that was what the right servant was. The light and the heat that replaced the sun for a vampire, nourished and helped them see what darkness might keep from them.
She decided to hold that thought to herself. It was always best for a vampire to keep a servant humble, after all. Especially one she knew was the center of her universe.