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When M le Princess Jessalyn D’Aubigne had drunk her fil of Da - it was Damon’s turn He forced himself to reht of his ironwood knife But Daaht her, she scarcely felt the knife’s sting at her throat
Dah, had his mouth on the dark red blood that wel ed out iic for Bonnie to pouring out the star bal ’s liquid at the four corners of the Gate to em of a castle had been for this For this moment, when his human palate could savor the nectar that was vampire blood
And it washeavenly!
This was only the second time in his life that he’d tasted it as a hulish - had been the first, of course And how she could have crept off after that and gone, wearing just her short muslin shift, to the wide-eyed, inexperienced little boy as his brother, he would never understand
His disquiet was spreading to Jessalyn That mustn’t happen She had to stay calm and tranquil as he took as much as he could of her blood It wouldn’t hurt her at al , and ithis consciousness away froan, very careful y, very delicately, to infiltrate her et to the nub of it Whoever had wrenched this delicate, fragile-boned girl from the human world and had endowed her with a vampire’s nature hadn’t done her any favors It wasn’t that she had any moral objections to va it She would have ood huntress in the wild But in this castle? With these servants? It was like having a hundred snooty waiters and two hundred condescending soive an order
This room, for instance She had wanted some color in it - just a splash of violet here, a little mauve there - natural y, she realized, a vampire princess’s bedchamber had to be mostly black But when she’d timidly mentioned the subject of colors to one of the parlor irl had sniffed and looked down her nostrils at Jessalyn as if she’d asked for an elephant to be instal ed just beside her bed The princess had not had the courage to bring up the matter with the housekeeper, but within a week three baskets ful of black-and-off-black throw pil ows had arrived There was her "color"And in the future would her highness be so good as to consult her housekeeper before querying the staff as to her household whims?
She actually said that about ht as she arched her neck back and ran sharp fingernails through Daood I’ood I’m a vampire princess, and I can look the part, but I can’t play it
You’re every bit a princess, your highness, Damon soothed
You just need someone to enforce your orders Someone who has no doubts about your superiority Are your servants slaves?
No, they’re all free
Well, that makes it a little trickier, but you can always yell louder at them Damon felt swol en with vampire blood Two more days of this and he would be, if not his old self, then at least almost his old self: a ful vampire, free to walk about the city as he liked And with the Power and status of a vah to balance out the horrors he’d gone through in the last couple of days At least, he could tel himself that and try to believe it
"Listen,"he said abruptly, letting go of Jessalyn’s slight body, the better to look her in the eye "Your glorious highness, let me do one favor for you before I die of love or you haveyou ’color’ - and then let rumble about it"
Jessalyn wasn’t used to this kind of sudden decision, but couldn’t help but be carried along with Daain
When he final y left the bijoux palace, Damon went out the front door He had with hieh for the purpose he had in mind He was quite certain that the next ti portico
He stopped at a dozen shops and spent until his last coin was gone He’dhis errands, but the market was in the opposite direction from the inn where he’d left her, and in the end there just wasn’t time
He didn’t worry much as he walked back to the bijoux castle
Bonnie, soft and fragile as she seemed, had a wiry core that he was sure would keep her inside the room for three days
She could take it Daed on the little castle’s gate until a surly guard opened it
"What do you want?"the guard spat
Bonnie was bored out of her mind It had only been a day since Damon had left her - a day she could only count by the nuht to her, since the enormous red sun stood forever on the horizon and the blood-red light never varied unless it was raining
Bonnie wished it was raining She wished it was snowing, or that there would be a fire or a hurricane or a siven one of the star bal s a try, and found it a ridiculous soap opera that she couldn’t understand in the least
She wished, now, that she had never tried to stop Da here She wished that he had pried her off before they had both fal en into the hole She wished that she had grabbed Meredith’s hand and just let go of Damon
And this was only the first day
Dauard "What do I want? Only what I already have An open gate"He didn’t go inside, however
He asked what M le Princess was doing and heard that she was at a luncheon On a donor
Perfect Soon there caate, which Dauards clearly didn’t like hiether the disappearance of what turned out to be their captain of guard and the intrusion of this strange hu about hi world
They obeyed him
Soon after that there came another quiet knock and then another, and another and so on until twelve rant brown paper had quietly fol owed Damon up the stairs and into M le Princess’s black bedcha and stuffy post-luncheonsome of her financial advisors, who both seeed in their twenties TheirAnd, natural y, they were dressed in ful -sleeved, wide-legged black except for a fril at their throats, white inside by gaslight, scarlet outside by the eternal blood-red sun
The princess had just seen them bow out of her presence when she inquired, rather irritably, where the human Damon was Several servants with one with a dozenhumansup to her bedchamber
Jessalyn alliding motion that she kneas expected of proper female vampires She reached the Gothic doors, and heard the hushed sounds of indignant spite as her ladies-in-waiting al whispered together But before the princess could even ask as going on, she was engulfed in a great ave of scent Not the luscious and life-sustaining scent of blood, but sohter, sweeter, and at the moment, while her bloodlust was sated, even headier andShe pushed open the double doors She took a step into her bedchamber and then stopped in astonishment
The cathedral-like black room was ful of flowers There were banks of lilies, vases ful of roses, tulips in every color and shade, and riots of daffodils and narcissus, while fragrant honeysuckle and freesia lay in bowers
The flower peddlers had converted the glooanza The wiser and hted of M le Princess’s retainers were actively helping thee, ornate urns
Da Jessalyn enter the room, ione when I woke!"the princess said crossly, and Dahness But since I a these flowers for you Are the colors and scents satisfactory?"