Cara Mia - Book One of the Immortyl Revolution (21 page)

The dark prince materialized before me, dragging me toward a dark pool in center of a garden. He grabbed my head, pushing it down under. I flailed, drowning.

Suddenly, I was pulled out into the arms of another. “
You’ll never take, what she won’t give, you fool! She’ll die first.”
Brovik’s voice blended with the fair demon’s, thundering through the mist, “Mia, drink! Now! Do you hear me? Drink or you’ll die!’

My mouth was forced open.

I regained consciousness to find Brovik standing over me, my mouth fastened to his bleeding wrist, and Ethan, looking miserable.

A wave of revulsion swept over me. “Monster!”

Brovik chided him, “Who’s the barbarian now? Are you proud of your handiwork?

A strangled sob came from Ethan, “What have I done?” He threw himself protectively over me. “I’ll see you rot in hell, Brovik!”

I pushed Ethan away. “I hate you!”

Ethan clambered to his feet, grabbing Brovik by the shoulders. “You did this!”

“You did this, not me,” Brovik said, extracting himself from Ethan’s grasp.

“You can’t bear for me to have something of my own!”

“She’s no more yours, than you are mine!”

Ethan stared at him dazed. “What did you promise her?”

Brovik stared Ethan down. “She sees visions in the blood, did you know? Imagine what she’s seen inside you?” He turned away and left us all alone.

I gathered my robe around me. “Don’t ever touch me again!”

Ethan stood heaving. “I told you he could bend minds like stalks of wheat, but you couldn’t resist him… ”

“Can
you
?”

“Everything about him is a lie.”

“You’re ridiculous, clinging to your past. Go back to Virginia and haunt your stupid house, you malevolent ghost!”

“You’re a mere child. You know nothing. You will see, Mia. In time, you will see.”

Convinced he was no longer the center of my universe, Ethan retreated ever farther into shadow, while Brovik welcomed me into both his arms and bed on a regular basis. It took a great deal of persuasion on Brovik’s part to place me there, but Ethan eventually succumbed. Who could resist Brovik? It was folly, and I a mere pawn in the game between them, but I didn’t care.

On the final night of our visit, as we three lay bathed in the glow of the aurora one long night, I questioned Brovik about Kurt. He opened a drawer and showed me a picture from an old newspaper clipping, twelve year-old Kurt, whose impossibly large eyes looked even larger.

“Ethan and I had seen this brilliant, young musician’s concert, not imagining one day our paths would cross. Kurt struggled so valiantly to live… I couldn’t turn away.” Ethan scowled as Brovik looked on the clipping fondly. “Such beauty must be cherished and protected.”

“Why don’t you call him home?”

“Put that thought out of your head,” Ethan growled. “I won’t stay under the same roof.”

“He speaks.” Brovik took the clipping and replacing it in the drawer he had taken it from.

Ethan lay back with his eyes closed. “Filling her head with tales of your imaginary Viking exploits is one thing, but spinning romantic fancies about your paramour is another.”

“You always profess to be free of pointless standards of morality.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Has the boy usurped your place? Have I taken away anything of yours because of him?”

Ethan didn’t answer.

“Kurt works hard. He’s not a mere plaything. He’s sharp, loyal, and does what’s asked of him without complaint. And I don’t need to tell you what joy his music brings.”

“I don’t have to listen to this.”

“Get used to the idea, I rely on him absolutely.”

“She’s formed an unhealthy fancy for him.”

“This miserable life should have some consolation,” I muttered.

“Don’t even think of consoling yourself with him,” Ethan snapped.

“If I did, no power on earth could stop me.”

Brovik laughed. “Your Bird of Prey has proven no parrot.”

“You encourage her disobedience.”

“You want so much to be enlightened, but you don’t allow her to think for herself. If she fancies my beautiful boy, what harm is there?”

“I’d kill her first.”

“Your ideas are as archaic as Kalidasa’s. You chose her for her intelligence, but you can’t stand that she has her own ideas. Why are we doing this work if not to free them?”

“I ask myself that question constantly.”

“It is inevitable. The old ones will fall from power. Our children will walk in the sun.”

Rooting through the drawer, Brovik came up with a wide, elaborately decorated, gold bracelet. “Ah, here it is. I knew I still had it. Come Mia, a gift for you. A craftsman in Constantinople fashioned it for me, centuries ago.” He clasped it about my upper arm. The woman it had been made for was somewhat broader of limb and it hung loosely. “We’ll have it cut to fit you.”

Ethan took it. “Absolutely not, this is priceless, an artifact of an ancient age!”

Brovik pooh-poohed him, “It’s nothing, a bauble with one purpose, to compliment a woman’s beauty.”

Ethan examined the beautiful spiral design. “Don’t spoil it. We
must
preserve beauty by all means.”

Brovik took it and clasped it again on my upper arm. “I care nothing for the past, except of a form of entertainment for young listeners. The bloodthirsty berserker legend has its use.”

The bracelet slipped down my arm. I pushed it up. “Don’t disappoint me. You burn and pillage my imagination.”

“We were simply voyagers in search of new lands, not mindless killers that Christian monks and Arab traders painted us to be.”

Ethan sneered. “He’s left out the most interesting part of his legend. He killed his maker with his own hands. Staked her before dawn and cut her throat— but she cursed him that he’d die at a woman’s hand.”

I was flabbergasted. “Your maker was a
woman
?”

“Ethan, I’m surprised at you. You profess to be a man of science, surely you don’t believe in such folderol?”

“The question is, do you?”

All at once Brovik became still. He looked to Ethan, then to me. He started to laugh, softly at first, building to a crescendo. “Is this why you have made your
Bird of Prey,
to frighten me with the specter of Sanjavani?”

“You’ve taken no women, unless you count the boy.”

“I couldn’t leave such a heart to stop beating! Kurt’s the best I’ve
ever
made, and there were a dozen before you! He’s contributed more to this house in a decade, than you’ve done in a century.”

This remark wounded Ethan deeply. He rose from the bed. “Do without my contribution then!”

“Go then, maybe Gaius will take you in. See if you fare as well under him.”

Ethan turned slowly pale and trembling. “You just have to pound the stake in a little at a time, don’t you?”

“Don’t be foolish.” Brovik laid a gentle hand on Ethan’s shoulder. “There’s work for you, a chance to show your mettle. It will be lucrative if you succeed.”

Ethan threw him off. “What work?”

“Take Mia to the Wolf’s palazzo.”

“Bringing her here for you to dally with is one thing, but I won’t subject her to them!”

“Gaius has made several offers. It’s our chance Ethan.”

“And you know what Dirk will do to her.”

“She’s smart enough to handle that buffoon. Why else did you train her?” Ethan didn’t answer. Brovik took a long look at him. “I’ll speak to Gaius— say you’ve tired of her, and want to be rid of her. Take her in a week’s time, when he invests Dirk with his portion. Mia will maneuver to be alone with him, won’t you my dear?”

Ethan glared at me. “What did you bribe her with?”

Blood rushed to my face against my will.

“She’ll do this out of love, which is more than I can say for you.”

Ethan winced. “Is this what you want Mia, to be his pawn?”

“If it can help our cause… ”

“Funny, until recently, you found this cause to be hopeless.”

“I’ve seen the light.”

“I’m sure you have. How much Brovik?”

“Ten thousand.”

“For my
property
to be savaged?”

“Fifteen. Demand compensation from Gaius as well.”

“This is dangerous work. Twenty.”

“Very well, build another wing onto your house.”

Ethan smiled, turning to me. “Perhaps Gaius will outbid you. It may be to my advantage to sell her.”

Brovik shook his head. “You bluff badly.”

I was pissed now. “I’m not your property!”

“Oh yes, you are. I’ve invested a lot in you, but rest assured my dear, you’re worth more in the long haul. I’m sure Brovik has more work for us.”

They just looked at one another, so much baggage there, each maneuvering to get his way. I looked at them both, sick and apprehensive, wondering just how much I’d be called upon to do in pursuit of the cause, before I had what
I
wanted most.

Two weeks later, a boat picked up Ethan from our dock to take us to Capri. Brovik had given me a blood red satin gown for the occasion, and I wore the rubies Ethan had given me our first year together. Ethan, in evening clothes, leaned against the rail, thinking of all the nice things his twenty thousand would buy, no doubt.

Sunset bled over the horizon, scarlet and purple, reflected in the bay’s smooth mirror. I looked north. What Kurt was doing? The boat pulled up to Gaius’s dock and we were helped ashore, and up a steep stairway, by burly male slaves, Ethan referred to as
dogs
.

Red veins spread over the black marble, Renaissance
palazzo
, like blood-filled capillaries. Well-dressed vampires strolled through verdant gardens, all Gaius’s blood.

I asked Ethan how he could keep such an establishment without suspicion.

He shrugged. “Anyone this rich can buy all the anonymity he wants.”

Heads turned. I clung to Ethan’s arm, ignoring speculative murmurs. What appeared to be a teenaged girl approached, her green eyes complimented by the emeralds she wore. Her nubile curves were outlined in green silk. Shining auburn hair cascaded down her bared back.

Ethan’s face warmed.
“Lisette, enchantee
.”

A slender white hand reached out for him to kiss. She surprised me by embracing me and kissing my cheeks. “
Quelle charmante!
We wondered when Ethan would share his treasure.”

A surprising wave of desire rose up over me as she caressed my cheek. You’d have to be made of stone not to want her.

“Where is Gaius?” Ethan asked.

She tilted her head. “In the gallery. He has some new picture he wants to show you. Go. I’ll take good care of Mia.” She took my arm. “Come meet Guilietta. She’s
terrible,
cherie
, I warn you.”

We strolled across the garden arm and arm, Lisette chattering and fussing over my gown and jewelry. I half heard what she was saying. As we took our turn about, murmurs of derision rose.

I took stock of Gaius’s
alphas
and their households
.
The alphas were all cut from the same cloth, and I didn’t think much of the tailor. Their women flitted about the gardens, gilded butterflies in fine materials of every color, glittering with jewels on their breasts, hair, fingers and ears, laughter tinkling like broken crystal on the wind. Most ranged from pubescence to my mortal age in appearance, a few were little girls, their blithe faces belying the horror underlying this masquerade.

Their masters were mostly on the tall side. Even in times when such height was rare they managed to find the tallest, strongest males to add to the ranks. But in the shadows hovered males with the shape of boys, with eyes that had seen too much. Hatred burned in those glittering orbs, rage at being trapped forever in this state. I knew only Diego’s Arturo, a dark-haired, doe-eyed, teenaged-formed beauty, who served glasses of warmed blood from a silver tray.

Lisette led me up to the terrace where a cool blonde held court with a circle of male admirers. Guilietta was easily the tallest woman there, willowy, with a smooth cornet of silvery blonde held high on a long neck— Grace Kelly with a really bad attitude. Violet eyes fell on me. “Who is this?”

“Ethan’s Mia.”

She gave me the once over, a hard little smile tightening luscious lips. “Not so much to look at, is she?”

I could have raked my nails over that perfect white face, but diplomacy was the word, so I bit my tongue. But oh, if I ever get the chance…

Lisette laughed. “Our lord differs with your opinion.”

The men laughed, but Guilietta was nonplused. “After three hundred years in his favor, she’s no threat to me. Lisette flatters herself because she’s managed to keep her head longer than the rest.”

“I think she’s delicious.” Lisette surprised me by wrapping her arms around me and kissing me on the mouth as the men gawked.

Gaius came up the steps, just as Lisette drew away, leaving me breathless. The alphas scattered, as their lord bent to kiss my hand. “My Little Pomegranate Blossom. Gulietta? Where are your manners? Kiss your new sister.”

“
This American bitch brings nothing but trouble! Mark my words.” She glided away, midnight blue skirts rustling behind.

Gaius watched her departure, chuckling. “So passionate. I never know whether she’ll pull a dagger.” He drew Lisette to him. “You aren’t the jealous type, are you Kitten?” Gaius’s hands caressed her bare shoulders. “You two must become better acquainted. Our amusements are so much more exquisite. Kitten, go tell Dirk I wish to speak with him.”

She gave me a come-hither look as she slipped away. Gaius offered his arm, leading me to a vantage point overlooking the bay. “Tiberius lived on this island once. Far from the oppressive elements of Rome— free to seek his pleasures.”

The emperor’s pleasures included sexually abusing kids. He called them his “minnows”, and when he tired of them he’d throw them off the cliff behind his palace.

Gaius turned my right hand palm up, tracing veins in my wrist with his fingers. “The same blood made us Mia; your mortal clan goes back to Etruscan times. Dirk has served me well. To avoid trouble with Ethan, I sent him away, but he did as I bid, on the promise I would obtain you for him. However, you won’t be merely an ornament for his bedchamber. I have particular need of your skills.”