“Don’t mind if I do.” Lucca spoke with renegade humor now, giving Ariana a sexy wink as he picked up a handful of chocolate-dipped dates next. Ariana laughed and he chuckled, re-arranging his silken wrap as he sat on one corner of the table with his boot up on a chair. As everyone paused, Ariana noticed Lucca’s dark grey trousers were fitted close, his matching vest embroidered in a quilted pattern like a climbing vine. With a high military collar and a blouson shirt, his leather boots were tooled with the same vine-pattern; including the beautifully ornate silver-gold longknives in his boots, he looked like a Fae assassin straight out of the Regency era.
As Ariana watched him, Lucca lifted a sexy eyebrow at her again.
“So, Quinn, we should probably talk business quickly tonight, as I have little time before my father’s guards discover I’m not in my rooms.” Lucca spoke as he glanced to Quinn now, popping another date in his mouth.
“Of course.” Quinn spoke smoothly as he poured Lucca a glass of red wine from the open bottle on the table, then got a new glass for Ariana to replace the one she’d smacked across the room.
But as Quinn placed the wine in her hands, Ariana blinked – realizing she had suddenly lost time again, staring at Lucca in the same way she was losing time as she obsessed over Quinn. As she noted it, her power gave a swirl of silver-gold rainbows through the dining area.
Inhaling sharply, Lucca moved a hand through that shimmering darkness.
“Ariana! The Vampire side of your power has grown stronger since bonding Quinn.” Warning was in his gaze now as he looked to Quinn. “I can feel your power in hers, Quinn. Deeply.”
“I know.” Quinn spoke soberly as he gestured to the table and Lucca pulled out a real seat, plopping into it as Ariana took one also. Settling at the head of the table, Quinn sipped his wine as he glanced to them both. “We’ve given Ariana meditations and breathwork to calm her magic as her Vampire side opens, and tasks to control her obsessions, now that she’s bonded to me. But it’s not an exact science, Lucca, guiding a Dark Fae as her powers open.”
“More like definitely trial and error.” Ariana gave a wry smile as she nodded to her smashed wineglass still over by one fireplace.
“I wouldn’t know.” Lucca spoke darkly as he followed her gaze and frowned. Leaning his chair back as if he were about to put his boots up on the table, he checked himself and lowered it back to the floor, glancing back to her and Quinn. “Quinn and I never managed to turn ourselves Dark Fae, Ariana. Even long ago, information about how a strong Dark Fae’s power opens and what it could actually do were closely guarded secrets in their citadels. When they all burned after the War, thanks to my father’s zealousness, their libraries were lost, and most of their knowledge with it. Like the razing of the Library of Alexandria in the human world, it was a tragic loss for the Fae, countless annals and histories wiped out. Thus, we have very little information on the Dark Fae today, other than what a few ancient Fae Sages remember.”
“So nobody really knows how my power will strengthen as it opens?” Ariana asked, curious.
“I mean, there must be a few Fae Sages who could tell you more,” Lucca continued soberly as he glanced to Quinn. “The oldest ones are among the Winter Fae, lore-keepers with their excellent preservation magics and memories.”
“Do you think I could visit them and talk to them?” Ariana asked, cocking her head as she glanced at Quinn.
“Possibly.” Quinn nodded, though his gaze was warning. “But the Winter Fae and Summer Fae do not get along, Ariana, and Winter Fae do not like outsiders. They would put you through the ringer to get any information out of them. Not an easy process, made triply so by how renegade your power is right now, as they take magical mis-steps quite personally. But they used to be close with the Dark Fae, so there is a chance they would talk to you.”
“If Quinn would allow it.”
This last was said with a slightly darker tone, as a quick whirl of Lucca’s sun-bright power rushed through the room. Ariana understood the context; she was bound to the Dark Haven of Florence now, and to Quinn personally by his Master’s Kiss. Though Quinn treated Ariana like an equal, by Vampire law he was her Master and superior ruling body, ruled in turn by the Vampire Council of Rome. Watching Lucca, Ariana could suddenly feel a deep upset in him as his magic churned through the room.
As if Lucca despised that Vampire hierarchy not just for Ariana, but for Quinn also.
“There will be time to discuss Ariana’s situation later,” Quinn spoke calmly now as he sipped his wine and lifted an eyebrow at Lucca. “Right this moment, we need to be discussing your father, Lucca. But I sense you are both hungry; Ariana from forgetting to eat today and Lucca from being starved by his father’s heinousness. Please. Let us enjoy this meal. And we shall talk as we go.”
Ariana had completely forgotten about food until Quinn flashed his beautiful dark eyes at her from the table’s head. As if his gaze held a subtle command now, he lifted an eyebrow and reached out, taking up Ariana’s plate and beginning to fill it. As she watched, something inside her felt pleased to have dinner with both Quinn and Lucca. As Quinn chose the best bites for her, then did the same for Lucca as Lucca watched him with an amused expression, Quinn finally took up his own plate and gave himself a bit of crostini, tortellini, and a few fresh figs.
“So, Lucca.” Quinn spoke as everyone began to eat. “The summons we received from the Palace today only mentioned that your father wishes to meet with Ariana and I totalk terms.I assume that means parlaying, and I take it as a moderately good sign that he is even willing to consider talking rather than simply sending an army after Ariana and starting a new Vampire-Fae war over her. Am I correct?”
As Quinn brought a ripe fig to his lips, biting into it, Ariana shivered. Quinn wasn’t trying to be sensual, it was just that everything he did held his own innate sexuality; Ariana suddenly longed to be that fig as she got lost in her Vampiric obsessions yet again. Power flooded her, sending her reeling. As she gripped the table, Quinn glanced at her with knowing eyes and sent a cool wash of his magic through their bond to steady her.
Watching their exchange alertly, Lucca cocked his head, his ash-blond brows frowning. “You are correct, Quinn. My father King Archivolio Bellari wishes to meet with you both and talk about Ariana’s future amongst the Fae… and under what circumstances that may be allowed.”
“But—” Blinking, Ariana felt her fascination with Quinn subside as she recalled their political machinations – and her father’s dire warning about the Summer Fae King. “King Bellari wants to talk about me having a life among the Summer Fae? Why? He was just trying to kill me three weeks ago.”
“It seems my father has had… a change of heart concerning your situation, Ariana.” Lucca spoke quietly now, though there was a warning in his eyes as he sipped his wine. “And a change of heart is something he doesnotdo.”
“Which means he has an agenda with this meeting, and a plan in mind concerning Ariana.” Quinn spoke back alertly. “Not to mention throwing myself and my Vampires a conundrum, offering us an audience with himonlytomorrow, right as we are already in chaos preparing for the Meeting of the Havens in a few days’ time. Which I’m sure is not a coincidence.”
“It’s not.” Lucca smiled wryly as he took up a bite of pasta. “You know my father, Quinn. Just like your father Aurelio once was, Archivolio does nothing without excessive motive and wicked manipulation.”
“More alike than they knew.” Quinn spoke quietly now as his gaze went faraway. Sipping his wine, he returned. “So what is your father’s agenda for meeting with us tomorrow, Lucca? What does he want from either Ariana, or myself?”
“Power, of course.” Lucca chuckled direly now as he glanced to Ariana, his blue eyes darkening. “Like you and I, Quinn, my father can’t resist trying to sequester a creature of power to his side when he finds one. And though he considered Ariana a threat at first, he apparently saw something different that night in the ravine when she unleashed her magic on his Darkwatch. He saw how convincing she can be, and how her budding power can open up the truth in people. It’s a power he wants on his side now. Don’t get me wrong, he will still try to destroy her if she doesn’t agree to help him. But my father has a problem of the Summer Fae’s waning trust in him after losing a massive war, centuries of pogroms against the Forbidden Lineages, isolationist policies, and a rising schism between the haves and have nots in our society. A problem he wants Ariana to help him solve, now that he’s seen what she can do. And a problem he wants me to go get her for, to prove myself and get back in his good graces.”
“Go getmefor?” Ariana blinked, raising her eyebrows. “What the hell does that mean?”
Taking a deep swig of wine, Lucca set it down with precision now as he pinned Ariana with his deep blue gaze. “My father wants you on his side, Ariana, so he can control his Summer Fae with your magic. And he wants me to seduce you, to get you there.”
