10. Nic

Chapter 10

"What the actual fuck?" I turned to Jason as the four people in my garden watched us through the window. "Get Kyle on the phone now."

"He's already on the way."

I nodded. Jason usually had everything under control on my behalf. "What the fuck?" I said again. "I pay for these wards."

I'd paid extra to keep Leia safe, and it seemed the witch I'd handed the cash over to couldn't uphold her end of the bargain. I'd have her head for endangering my mate like this.

"I want the witch," I said.

"Already tried." Jason shrugged, his gaze also tracking émile and the witches he'd brought with him. They didn't seem to be doing anything threatening—just standing and exchanging the occasional word. "Can't get hold of her. She appears to have vanished."

"For fuck's sake." But it wasn't just a matter of reliability. After what Francois had done to Lettie, a disappearance didn't just mean someone had cut and run on an agreement. I cut a glance toward my sireling. "Foul play?"

Jason shrugged again. "I can investigate." He gestured toward the new arrivals. "Why do you think they're here?"

"For Leia." The certainty hit me like a gut punch. They could only be here for Leia—it was the only thing worth this kind of a risk.

They'd come for my mate.

"Bold move," Jason observed.

"Fucking stupid, more like," I replied. "It's another act of war, invading my home like this."

The fact émile hadn't used diplomatic channels to arrange a meeting spoke volumes. This wasn't a friendly moment. He was deliberately pushing boundaries. But… I skated my gaze over the witches he'd brought. Three, a powerful number. Some would say perfect.

But it indicated that émile was by no means near his full strength.

"He's here with a full complement of witches," I muttered. "Do we know anything about them?"

Kyle strode into the room. "I've reached out to Temple to find out what he can tell us." He kept his voice low. Then he glowered a little. "He should have already been in contact. Told us about the old king waking up."

"I guess Francois being on the run created a power vacuum. Maybe that's caused his early return somehow?" Jason folded his arms and eased into a more relaxed stance, but he only looked more menacing.

I considered Jason's words. They made sense. Francois leaving the New Orleans area could have yanked émile from his stasis. I'd never paid a great deal of attention to the old king before, most of my diplomatic duties having been directly with Francois as he ran New Orleans in his father's stead, but since we'd journeyed through émile's mausoleum to recover Leia, I'd made it my business to learn as much about him as possible.

And now it seemed I needed information from him, especially if he'd thrown himself straight into his son's ill-conceived war effort and kidnap attempts. Perhaps the old man even knew where Francois was. That wasn't beyond the pale.

I took a step forward. I'd only find out the information I needed to know one way. "Time to greet our guests?"

Jason took up a position behind me, alongside Kyle. We were also three. That fact wasn't lost on me.

And we exuded a power of our own.

I unlatched the French doors that led outside. There was no real security because the wards were supposed to be enough. Three witches and a vampire could have entered the library without issue, but for some reason, they'd waited for us outside.

"Good evening," I greeted them, although there was nothing good about their visit so far. "émile."

I nodded at the vampire king. There was power in knowing a man's name, and I wanted him to know I held it.

He nodded in return, and his face split in a garish smile—except he literally ripped his skin with the movement. Mere strands of flesh held his face together.

He looked like a walking corpse. His skin was desiccated and dry, yet something squelched wetly underneath when he made any movement, and moist red flesh gleamed wherever tears appeared. His cheekbones stood out like sharpened blades in his face, and the clothes he'd lain in stasis in hung from his emaciated frame.

What the hell had gone wrong since we'd seen him in his tomb? He hadn't looked this terrible.

"You're looking well." I spoke the words we all knew to be false, and laughter creaked from him.

"I will be well." He lifted his hand to his mouth and bit the juicy fruit he held.

But no, he wasn't holding fruit. The rich tang of coppery blood permeated the air around us, and red smeared his lips. He gnawed at the heart in his hand again, and my stomach turned at the sight of the organ, bulging between his fingers in his tight grip. It was a fresh one, barely stopped beating.

He ran his other hand through his hair, and broken strands sifted like fall leaves to litter the lawn below. The bald patch of skin he left behind shone in the pale moonlight.

He was a truly gruesome sight, like some kind of Frankenstein's monster created from sheer desperation.

"To what do we owe this unannounced visit?" I maintained my composure. It wouldn't pay to lose my cool now. Although… that didn't mean I couldn't probe a little. "Some would say it could be an act of war to intrude on another king's property via portal."

He laughed again, that same creaky sound. "Some would say," he agreed before taking another bite of his snack.

Some pink seemed to have returned to his yellow, paper-like skin, and his eyes were shrewd and knowing. Everything this man did was calculated, and he was even more coldblooded than Francois, if his reputation was correct. Not every king could hold their thrones through stasis as he did.

I waited a little while, not wanting to prompt him as to his reason for being here. Asking such a question a second time could make me look weak.

Kyle saved me the trouble of asking again. "What is your purpose here?" he barked out.

émile tutted. "Really. You shouldn't allow your staff to speak to your guests that way."

But his mouth slid into another sly smile, the hideous flesh rearranging itself a second time to form the gash of his amusement.

I merely shrugged. "He works security. It's within his remit to ask the question."

For a moment, émile lost his self-satisfied expression, but then it reappeared, larger than before. "I've come to claim what belongs to the House of Ricard."

For a moment, I almost thought he might sweep a bow after his grand pronouncement.

"There is nothing here that belongs to House Ricard." I was very definite about that fact. "Nothing at all, émile."

"Oh, Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas." He shook his head as he sing-songed my name, his French accent as perfect as Francois's. Then he glanced over his shoulder at his witches, and they laughed as if on cue. "If I can't convince you peacefully, I'm afraid we may have to settle the debt you've accrued another way."

One of the witches took a step forward, his stance menacing as he moved his hands in front of him like he was molding a giant piece of clay or doing Tai-Chi. Kyle reached for his waistband. I had no idea what weapon he was carrying—possibly nothing—but émile didn't know that. His eyes flickered with something that could have been concern before they cleared and a smile that would have been genial in any other face appeared.

"I'm sure there's no need for weapons," he said as he spread his arms wide in the accepted nothing to hide pose. "We can settle this in a way that befits our statuses."

He looked at me, an eyebrow raised in challenge like I might deny my own position or dishonor it.

"I'll say it again. There is nothing here that belongs to House Ricard." I spoke like it was a proclamation, my strident tone traveling across the gardens.

"And again—" émile lingered over the word. "I'll beg to differ."

I watched him as he began to fidget, appearing to lose his patience. He scrubbed his hand over his head again, losing more hair in the process, but revealing a pinker scalp than before. Then he popped the last piece of the heart into his mouth and chewed before licking his fingers in quick, efficient strokes of his tongue.

"I really don't have time for this." He shook his head. "I've come here to collect Leia."

I laughed. "Don't be ludicrous. My mate doesn't belong to House Ricard."

But émile nodded his head smartly, the bones crackling. "She's Francois's true bride, Nicolas, not yours."

Jason and Kyle stepped closer behind me, ready for anything, it seemed.

Even the crickets stopped chirping for me to make my reply. "You are mistaken. It seems you missed much during this stasis."

I shook my head. The old man's mind was truly addled after all. It wasn't just rumor or conjecture. I was the only one who'd pierced Leia's skin. Even the memory of that first bite sent a ripple of lust through me.

There was no way she belonged to Francois. She was my true mate and my bride. I fed from her first and I took her virginity. There was only me, and she was wholly mine.

"Leia is mine," I ground out. "My true mate and my bride."

émile would understand what both of those things meant without me having to elaborate on how I'd made it so.

"I'm not about to let her go." I couldn't make my message clearer as both Jason and Kyle stepped ahead of me, their stances turning the atmosphere around us menacing.

Aimée and Leia were in the new safe room I'd had constructed as soon as I'd realized the danger Leia's status posed. They could probably remain there for many days in safety. There was enough food to satisfy Leia, and living off baggies of blood wouldn't bring any harm to Aimée.

"You have no choice." émile's laugh was more of a wet-sounding cackle this time. "Leia is Francois's bride, and I am here to stake his claim, seeing as my son couldn't even get this part right."

He seemed to be talking to himself for those last few words and a part of myself I didn't want to acknowledge felt pity for Francois. He'd been raised by this monster.

"How the fuck is Leia Francois's bride?" Jason tensed his jaw as though even asking the question was distasteful.

If émile laughed one more time, I'd… but he simply smiled. "Glad you asked. It's really very simple. When Leia was with Francois, she wasn't…conscious all the time." He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. "And during one of these moments when her awareness was impaired, Francois took a single drop of blood from her finger."

I shook my head. "Not fucking possible."

"Oh, Nicolas." émile tilted his head in a parody of sympathy. "Very fucking possible."

And I couldn't disprove it. Francois was crazy enough to feed himself a single drop of blood…

émile nodded like he was following my thoughts. "Very good, Nicolas. I see you're fitting the pieces together. The full picture shows that Leia is Francois's bride, and her power belongs to him." He broke off and shook his head sadly. "As I fear you may have witnessed, living without his true mate is driving my son quite mad."

Rage roared through me. What the fuck was émile talking about? I had Leia's power. I'd claimed her. I loved her. She was mine.

"She belongs only to me," I bellowed, and I leapt forward, my hands outstretched, my claws already replacing my fingernails. I'd sever émile's head at the neck. No one would ever take Leia from me. No one.

But a strong arm tightened around my waist, and another over my chest, until I was restrained by Kyle and Jason.

"Ignore him. He wants you pissed and irrational and doubting yourself." Jason's mouth was close to my ear, but I couldn't guarantee émile hadn't heard him.

He was pretty old, but I didn't know if his hearing was affected by the stasis or not.

"Let me go," I ground out. "I simply wanted to show our guests the way off my property."

Kyle chuckled darkly.

émile nodded thoughtfully. "Well, one way perhaps, but if you brought about my final death, Nicolas, you would unleash an attack of vengeance the likes of which you could only imagine in your nightmares. New Orleans would not stand by after such an attack by Baton Rouge."

I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes. Something was wrong with this whole picture. émile was too cocky and self-assured, too definite that his version of events was the only version of events. Had he even seen Francois? When?

But I focused and regained control, retracting my claws and opening my eyes. "There will be no attack today." I stopped short of offering an apology—I'd never apologize for defending Leia. "But I cannot promise the same the next time someone comes uninvited and unannounced onto my property and threatens my mate."

I held émile's gaze. What the hell was I missing here? No way was Leia the mate of Francois, that was for sure.

I had that first blood. There was no denying the power boost I'd felt, or the way just her proximity affected me. Even thoughts of her sent a rush of awareness through me, like I could sense her with me always.

She was mine.

No one could deny or argue that. Not with all I felt for her and all she made me feel.

"She's mine, émile. Nothing you say or think will ever change that."

émile gestured to the male witch who'd made the Tai-Chi moves before. "Take us home."

The witch immediately opened a portal, and it blazed brighter than the first one. When he saw me glance at it, he smirked, and his display of power was obvious.

I needed better wards. I needed to find a better fucking witch.

The witches fell into formation around émile, the one who'd cast the portal in the front, and the other two following behind. In the tradition of anyone playing to their audience, émile stopped just before he entered the portal, and turned, his eyes with a slight red glow. "Let me just warn you, Nicolas. If you don't hand Leia over, there will be an army of New Orleans vampires unleashed on Baton Rouge, and it won't be Francois leading them this time."

Then he turned to the witches behind him and glanced between the two of them. He licked his lips and punched out his fist, smashing straight through the ribcage of the smaller witch.

Her body stiffened for a moment before émile withdrew her heart. It beat a couple of times in his hand before he slashed through the artery with the tip of a claw.

Then he glanced at me one last time and bit into the heart as he walked through the portal, leaving the body of his witch on my lawn.

Fucking émile.

"I'll deal with the witch." Jason strode toward the body and picked it up.

Her jaw hung slack, her eyes still round with shock.

"Witches must be easier to come by in New Orleans," he said, as he arranged her in his arms, careful to give her some degree of dignity, even knowing who she was and why she'd been here.

"What's the plan?" Kyle moved closer to me, and I almost laughed. He was my strategy man.

"What do you think is best?"

He shrugged. "How much are you going to tell Leia?"

I drew the corners of my lips down as I thought about it. "As little as possible. Nothing, if I can help it."

It felt like I'd only just gotten her back. News like this could set her right back into being the same person who returned with us from the safehouse, and the thought of her quiet rage again made my chest ache.

"She's only just returning to normal after watching Francois kill Jean. How do you think she'd react if she knew émile was coming for her now?" I almost spat his name. Both Francois and émile were sick fucks.

Kyle nodded, his gaze on the far distance as he thought things through. "We've still got options, though."

"Your contact?" I hadn't liked that jumped-up little shit when I met him, but I couldn't deny the help he'd given us when I needed to recover Leia from Francois. We couldn't have done it without him.

Kyle nodded. "Yeah. Temple. Want me to get word to him about this latest? See what he can find out?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I think that's the best place to start." I kicked a foot over the blades of grass. "Just…just fuck, you know?"

He nodded again. "And this way we'll find out if the old king really is assembling a fresh army."

I glanced toward the house, my mind seeing beyond the walls to the location of the safe room. If I could, I'd leave Leia in there, where I knew nothing could touch her or hurt her. But that wasn't practical. I needed to guard her the best way I could, and that started with gathering intel on émile and his activities. Maybe we'd also find out where Francois had escaped to.

"Okay, Kyle. We need Temple again. I'll pay whatever price he demands."

Kyle nodded again, his eyes thoughtful as he continued to focus on the middle distance. "I think it might be steep this time, Nic."

"Anything for Leia."

"And…" He blew out a breath and looked at me. "I'd like to go to New Orleans and see what's going on for myself."

I studied him for a moment. "You don't trust Temple?"

Kyle scrunched his nose before he met my gaze. "I do, but I don't trust anyone like I trust myself. When I see the situation, I'll know how to reach to it. I'll be able to give you my firsthand opinion rather than interpreting someone else's data."

I shook my head. "I don't know. I might need you here."

He cut me a glance, as close to scathing as he ever got. "Really, Nic?"

I sighed. "I don't like it. They know you in New Orleans. They know your face. They'll know what you're doing as soon as you arrive." I couldn't risk Kyle's life, too.

"I'm not used to standing on the sidelines. I need to get in there. I need to lead from the front for you. I can keep Leia safe, if you'll let me. I'll hook up with Temple, and he'll help me stay undercover."

For fuck's sake. I couldn't argue with that kind of logic. I'd do anything for Leia, anything at all, and Kyle knew that. He'd invoked her name on purpose, but it didn't make his words any less true.

"All right." I clasped his shoulder. "All right. We'll do things your way. You can go gather your intel and we won't tell Leia anything right away."

As Jason rejoined us, we turned to head back into the house. Things were starting to change. First Sebastian's betrayal and upcoming exile, and now Kyle's request to do his own reconnaissance.

For the first time in a very long time, I had no idea what the future would look like.