“Of course I will go with you.” She wanted to ask him why. It was no secret that Gwala loved being at sea, both during the night and much of the day, and that he wanted to be there alone. A part of her briefly wondered if she’d done something that offended him. She quickly rejected the thought. She knew him well enough to know that if she’d done something wrong, the consequence would be violent and public.
“Thank you, my dear. Tonight is a special night.”
Fifteen
SONIA LIU
The warmnight breeze lifted Sonia’s long black hair, the speed of the yacht causing it to whip about her face. Lifting her arms, she reached back, twisting it into a loose knot at the base of her neck.
She felt Gwala’s gaze on her, and she turned her attention from the lights along the coast. “I cannot imagine an instance in which your beauty is lessened. Your hair is beyond compare.”
Message received. Shoving away her spike of anger before it could be seen, she loosened the knot, her hair once again free to thrash about as the boat cut through the waves. As soon as she destroyed her nemesis, she would chop her hair off before she met the sun. Maybe tie it with a scarlet ribbon and leave it on Gwala’s throne as a parting gift.
The Vampire King had already turned his gaze to the water, seeming to search beneath the ocean’s surface. “In all my years, I have seen humankind concoct many things that have made an unending life ever more glorious. I believe the best thing they have done has been their invention of boats.” He let a girlish chuckle escape. “Of course, even in my human life, there were boats, but when you compare them with this”—he looked over, spreading his arms, encompassing the breadth of the yacht—“they hardly deserve to be called the same thing.”
Sonia didn’t reply—no reason to. If Gwala needed her to speak, he would make it clear. Right now, it was his own voice he needed to hear proclaiming his greatness.
“This piece of art was designed by Fincantieri. Even with all the power my new warlock possesses, it is nothing compared to the magic that humans wielded to create this beauty.” His eyes traveled along the seamless curves of the ship.
The stainless-steel boat was beautiful but looked more like a narrow spacecraft than it did a ship.
They continued to fly through the water, going back and forth between traveling farther out to sea, then coming in closer to the coast once more. All the while, Gwala scanned the ocean, rarely looking up at the coastline or the sky.
He finally looked away from the water, his face moist with spray. “I’ve decided something.” Another twittering chortle. “In honesty, I decided the moment I saw you. You know how it is. Time is meaningless to a vampire. I suppose I should have told you that night, but I wanted the choice to be yours. Give you time to know what it means for me to make such a request. I did not mean to wait this long, but as I said, time has no meaning anyway.” Something from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he jerked his head back down, scanning the water.
Sonia thought she knew what he was going to demand. She was surprised she hadn’t thought of it until now. It made sense. He’d all but claimed her that first night, and he was constantly confusing her with Menos’s memory. A memory that lingered over thousands of years. A memory that perhaps seemed like only yesterday to Gwala. The sensation of time hadn’t changed yet for Sonia, save for the shift of only being in the moonlight. She tried to conjure some sort of feeling. Surely even vampires felt some emotion when something so momentous happened. She felt nothing. Maybe something was wrong with her. Maybe her sire had done something wrong.
Gwala’s brow was furrowed when he looked back at her. He was definitely searching for something in the water and not finding it. “My dear Sonia, you are to be my queen. I have reigned in solitude too long. You have reminded me what companionship feels like.”
He reached out, his young fingers gathering her hair from the wind and stroking it. As his hand lowered down its length, he watched in fascination as the breeze caught the strands and began to thrash them around Sonia’s face. “So different from Menos, yet there is so much of her in you. I believe she has returned to me in a different form.” His gaze wondered off into the distance, unfocused over Sonia’s shoulder, lost in a world so many centuries ago.
His hands continued to stroke her hair and face as he considered the past. Queen. Exactly what she’d expected. And like she’d known, it was no more of a request than when the redheaded vampire had savaged her. Different method, same result. Her life, her body wasn’t her own.
Queen. Sonia actually had to refrain from letting her lips curve into a smile. This time, it was on her terms. She would allow Gwala to choose the events of her life, whether they be making her queen, mating her, or feeding from her. For now. This was her choice. She had no delusions that she was more powerful than Gwala or that she could kill him, but this was her choice. There would be a day, when the time was right, when events lined up, that she would have her freedom. Freedom to kill her sire, freedom to leave Gwala and his impotent adoration. She would play her part until it suited her, no more. For a second time she had to curb the grin from forming. Apparently she could feel something.
“Have I told you that Menos was the reason I am king?” His eyes refocused on her suddenly.
Sonia started to shake her head and reply, but it wasn’t needed. It still wasn’t her voice Gwala needed to hear.
“She was the first vampire I told. The first vampire I changed.” His proud expression told her he was ready for her adoration.
Sonia tried, she really did. Maybe she truly had been made wrong. The closest thing she could come up with was curiosity. “Menos was the first human you changed into a vampire?”
He made a face. “Of course not. In all my years, I have yet to see a human that I felt the desire to give immortality. I dare say, even if I had seen you or Menos as a human, I would not have seen the qualities that I admire in you as a vampire.” He shrugged, sluffing off their shortcomings. He drew his face closer to hers, eyes narrowed. “No, not changed from human to vampire. The true change.”
Sonia hesitated, uncertain if she should question or just wait.
“Can it be? Is it really possible that my brilliant Sonia has not figured out the secret? Even more shocking, unaware that there is a secret to uncover?”
For a moment, Sonia thought she was on dangerous ground, that he’d found a flaw. She braced to throw herself overboard. She would not die on his terms. Before she made any motion she would regret, Sonia realized there was pleasure in his expression. Of course, he was enjoying feeling superior.
“Have you not been aware that the Royals walk in the light, where the rest of the lowly vampires hide from the power of sun?”
“Yes, master, I have noticed there are two breeds of vampire.” She barely kept the sarcasm out of her voice. Like she could have missed that tiny difference, especially since she was stuck in the night. Regardless, it was always best to stroke Gwala’s ego whenever possible. “I have known that I am not equal to the more evolved vampires, such as yourself.”
He smiled and nodded approvingly. “Is that what you’ve attributed the difference to? That we’ve evolved into two separate species? Evolution. Interesting theory. You are as intelligent as you are beautiful.”
That wasn’t exactly what she’d meant. Evolved, yes. Two separate species, no. Sonia had assumed the sensitivity to sun lessened over the centuries until it held no more danger. “Yes, my king. We were not all created with your superior genetics.” At first, Sonia had been afraid such obvious flattery would backfire, but it always seemed to be accepted greedily.
