Will drink Leo’s blood.
No.
Will—
No!
Beast fell silent and I knew she was playing with me like a cat with a new toy, batting me around, biting me a little, and batting me some more, watching me ricochet into the corners.
Beast chuffed with amusement as Leo pulled his thumb from between Ed’s lips.
Leo said, “Tonight I officially appoint Edmund Hartley as my clan heir and as heir to my position as Master of the City of New Orleans and her territories.”
The magic blasted out. Pain like forge-heated razors. I gasped, stood, and grabbed the boys, one beneath each arm.
The pain fell away. The room chilled so fast the sweat on my skin felt like ice water. Alex sucked in a breath and started coughing. Eli shoved me away, his chin dropping with irritation as he peeled my arm and hand off him. Former Army Ranger didn’t need saving, not now, not ever. Right. I dropped Alex too. We all sat. We were okay.
But...dang.
Leo pulled Ed close and guided him around the big desk, to the back, toward a chair on the end. Leo flipped a small brass nameplate up. It saidHEIR OF NEW ORLEANSand, below that, Ed’s name. Edmund looked drunk. Great. A blood-drunk primo. Just what I needed. Not. Ed walked behind the dais and fell into his chair, sticking his thumb into the air. It was still bleeding, just a bit, a single drop that spiraled down his thumb, despite the fact that vamp saliva clotted blood quickly.
Leo, back around front, said, “Katherine and Alesha Fonteneau. The Master of the City requires your presence.” This was said without a rise in magic. And without a hint of a smile.
The sisters, looking more alike now that they were well fed and healed of their injuries, came to the dais. The two blond women dropped deep curtsies, long silk dresses shushing in the still-as-undeath air.
Leo pulled a sword that sounded as if the blade were taking a breath in the silence. “Katherine and Alesha Fonteneau. You have dishonored your vows,” he said. “You have worked with our enemies, those who came from Europe to harm us, to conquer our territory, first by stealth and witch magic, by the raising of revenants, and now by the Sangre Duello. Katie, you did not trust us to save you or your sister, Madam Spy. You aided our enemies instead. You have endangered us all. How do you plead?”
I looked at the drain in the floor. I tried to catch Bruiser’s eyes, but he was staring at the place where the edge of the blade rested on Katie’s shoulder, at her neck. Katie. Leo’s lover. Leo’s friend.
“I plead guilty, my master and my friend,” Katie said. “I did not trust that you would find a way to fulfill your vows to the city, defeat your enemies, and still save Alesha. I was a fool.”
“Yes,” Leo said, his face human in his hurt. “Are you disloyal, my Katherine?”
“Never, Leo, my love, my best friend, my master.”
“Do you trust me now, Katie?”
“I trust you with my undeath. With my heart.” She leaned into the blade and a sliver of blood appeared at her neck where her shoulder sloped. She was cutting herself on Leo’s sword. My entire body tensed and I prepared to leap to protect the bare necks of... of two who were technically Leo’s enemies. His friends and lovers. But enemies. Who had shared a bath with him only recently. Right. But. Indecision raked me with claws. Before I could decide to act, Katie continued, “With my blood. With my true-death should you demand it. I ask only that you protect my sister when you take my head, Leo, my love.”
And danged if Leo, the Master of the City of New Orleans and most of the Southeastern United States, the baddest of the big, bad fanged uglies, didn’t have a palepink tear gliding down his face. “Will you come to me with your fears and with your heart?” Leo asked her.
“Always. I will never fail you again. I will trust you. I will fight with you. I follow your orders without fear.”
Leo lifted the sword and placed it on the ebony table, where it settled with a rattle of steel on wood. He held out his hand. “I will drink of you and you of me. We will know one another blood-to-blood, heart-to-heart, before these, our friends.” Katie placed her hand in his and stood; with the little knife, Leo stabbed down. Then he stabbed his own thumb and, as he took her thumb into his mouth, she took his. Katie groaned as if they were alone in bed. Her head went back and her knees went weak. Leo caught her and held her close. Katie’s back arched...
Justewww. It was a little too much sex and blood for me. I looked away and kicked Alex to look away too. He ignored me. Katie moaned again.Ick.
When the public mutual licking and moaning was finally over with, Leo said, “Katherine Fonteneau, you are heart of my heart.”
“And soul of my soul,” Katie whispered to him.
“But I cannot allow you to remain with me.”
“No,” she whispered. “Leo, my love, no!”
Leo took a breath that sounded thick and painful. “You are banished from my clan home, you and your sister Alesha.” Katie, who had been mostly standing during the blood reading, fell to her knees, one arm outstretched as if pleading, her hand still in Leo’s. Her face blanched; her mouth hung open. She sobbed silently.
I could smell her horror and her fear. I had read about banishment. Being banished meant being taken to a wilderness and set free, far from the nearest human. Not that there was such a place in this day and age.
