He doesn’t care if I negotiate any deals as long as we put in an appearance. And all the gods know I do not want him attending these things.
“Why not?”
He might get ideas about other ways I could serve the court.
She took another drink. “Business envoy? Don’t you love spreadsheets as much as I do?”
Hardly.Samson nodded at the familiar figure of Oleg, who was dancing with a woman wearing a bright yellow dress.This is her last event before the marriage her sire just approved.
Tatyana smiled. “Who is she marrying?”
Samson leaned forward.Her sire’s new shipping partner.
Her smile fell, and she set her champagne flute down.So not a love match?
Samson shrugged.Political marriages were the custom of vampires just as they were the custom of humans for millennia. Apparently they are coming back in vogue. I’m surprised Kezia hasn’t considered one given the Poshani’s unique situation. She’s not sentimental.
The Poshani were an independent vampire clan, but they had no permanent territory, which necessitated a constant negotiation of treaties and alliances.
“Interesting,” she murmured, watching the woman dancing with Oleg.
He was being his usual charming self, but there was nothing behind his eyes other than boredom from what she could see.
Samson snapped his fingers to get her attention.
She rolled her eyes.I told you I hate snapping.
I’m not him.
And that was the sticking point.
Samson might have been an old friend, but that didn’t mean he was indifferent to Tatyana. Once, he had suggested a political marriage of sorts between them, offering her protection in Arosh’s court.
And if Oleg hadn’t been stuck in her blood and her heart, she might have considered it. It was one of the reasons that she’d never told Samson that she and Oleg had married. Samson knew they had been involved, but he had no idea they still were or that they were blood mates.
I would be surprised if he didn’t marry.Samson nodded at Oleg.He has before. With a territory that big, it makes sense.
She picked up her champagne again and studiously kept her eyes off Oleg. “What does that even mean for vampires? Taking eternal vows seems a bit… human.”
A human indulgence she’d participated in not four years before with the man dancing a waltz with the woman in yellow.
Usually there is a contract. A set term for the marriage with some kind of…Samson hesitated for a moment.…kind of an extension clause if the alliance is performing to everyone’s satisfaction.
“I see.” She raised her eyebrows and lifted her champagne glass. “I salute the woman who wants to take on the knyaz of the Kievan Rus. She would have to be a patient woman indeed.”
If rumors are true, sheisvery patient.
There was a stab of ice in Tatyana’s chest, and the water in the room drew to her skin. “Rumors?”
Samson nodded.It might be just talk, but there are rumors that Oleg is already planning to take a wife.
“Hmm.” Rumors could come from everywhere or nowhere. Perhaps the rumors were that he was already married. Had the news trickled out somehow and then been twisted in the transmission? “So who is the very patient woman? Or man. I shouldn’t assume.” She forced herself to smile.
The music had switched as another dance started, and Samson nodded toward the dance floor.Her, of course. It makes sense. They’re both very powerful, and an alliance between them would mean control of nearly all the Black Sea. A smart move for both of them if you ask me.
Tatyana looked up to see Oleg spinning around the dance floor, wearing a smile.
Once again with the vampire queen of Georgia, Alina Machabeli, laughing in his arms.
