"Lissa has news for you, Honored One," Merrill said, first thing. One of Wlodek's eyebrows rose slightly. "Tell him about the misters," Merrill urged as I sat down in one of the chairs. Gavin hadn't said anything, so I didn't say anything to him. Did he know about Kifirin? Had somebody told him? I was worried, suddenly. Gavin, like Wlodek, had something in his hand that he was toying with but I couldn't see what it was.
"I learned from a vampire on Refizan that the misters and mindspeakers have Elemaiyan blood," I began, watching Wlodek's face. "He told me that the ones who go bad all have Dark Elemaiyan blood. The others have Bright Elemaiyan blood. Saxom's misters all had Dark Elemaiyan blood. I got a good scent off both and I can smell the Elemaiya, now, both Bright and Dark."
"You're sure about this?" Wlodek sounded only half-interested. I wondered then what else was occupying his mind.
"Yeah. After I got the scent, I knew right away that Henri and Gervais, as well as Robert and Albert, all have Bright Elemaiyan blood."
"So, if someone were to walk up to you—a human—you would be able to tell if they had this blood?" Uh-oh. I'd trapped myself and probably some poor, mostly-human schmucks out there.
"Ye-es," I'd gone cautious suddenly and Wlodek knew it.
"We will discuss this later," Wlodek sighed. "There are other, more important things that we must speak of tonight." Someday, maybe I'd learn to read the signs—the ones that say the cliff with the big drop-off is only a step or two away and now's the time to turn tail and run just as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Nope—I have to fall over the cliff. Head right toward the bottom, in fact, because I never see it coming.
"Lissa, you are not a Queen," Wlodek said, first thing. "You are susceptible to compulsion, although your other talents are formidable." The creeping hand of fear was reaching toward my heart, ready to grasp it and squeeze. I wasn't frightened yet, however—far from it, in fact. So far, Wlodek was only repeating what I already knew. Or what they already knew, or thought they knew.
"We have learned that Xenides is actively searching for you, wishing to capture you and put those talents to use for his own twisted purposes."
Okay, as news went, that wasn't so good. But if I ever caught up with Xenides, it was going to be a battle royal, let me tell you. I wouldn't give up until one of us was dead.
"We cannot allow Xenides to get his hands on you, Lissa. The fate of the world could hang in the balance if he does. He could use you in terrible ways, moro mou. That I will not countenance. While you were away, the Council and I decided to move your marriage to Gavin forward and it was performed in absentia. Your marriage has been duly recorded in the Council's records."
Stunned might have been a good word. I couldn't move or breathe for a few moments; all I could do was stare at Wlodek, gasping like a fish, I'm sure.
"But what does marriage have to do with Xenides or anything else?" I almost couldn't get the words out, I was so shocked. They'd done this behind my back. Couldn't they have waited until I returned, at least, and let me argue my side before just hauling off and doing this, without my knowledge or consent?
"The Council," Wlodek hesitated for a second or two, "will look the other way if a spouse lays compulsion on his mate or companion, if it is in the mate's or companion's best interests."
That was the bomb and as bombs go, it was quite effective, shattering everything around me. Splintering it, in fact. They were going to allow Gavin to hold me under his thumb. He was going to dictate everything I did from that point forward. There would never be freedom for me. Ever. Of any kind. Gavin, and more than likely Wlodek, would decide if I went anywhere. Did anything. I'd be told where to eat, how to dress, when to blink. That last thought was the one that brought my anger to the fore. And it was blazing hot, let me tell you.
Chapter 13
I whirled on Gavin first. "What happened to that promise you made—that all my decisions would be my own where you were concerned?" I was nearly shouting at him.
"Lissa, the circumstances have changed!" Wlodek was getting in on this, now. Well, he was about to get it, too.
"You scheming old warlock!" I spun around and shouted at him. Yes, I called the Head of the Vampire Council a name and yelled at him; that had probably not happened in, well, forever. But then the evidence had been in front of him all along, he'd just been too stupid to ask the right questions. "Do you think for even one minute that the f**king vampire that showed up at the hotel in New Mexico didn't try to place compulsion? Do you?" I was breathing with difficulty and shivering at the same time. "Because he most certainly did," I yelled. "And you know what? It didn't work. Merrill's compulsion before that didn't work either. I could have misted right out of that holding cell where I was kept afterward at any time—only I didn't, because I just figured you guys would hunt me down and have me killed. Yeah, that's right, I was afraid. I figured that you'd just have your pet Assassin over there kill me while I slept if I stepped out of line, I was so afraid of you." I flung my arm toward Gavin. "Well, this time you've gone past that. I'm tired of being afraid. Take your best shot, Wlodek. Place compulsion. Feel free. Because I assure you it will not work and when I mist out of here, if you see me again you can kiss my ass!"
I got up out of the chair in a blur and headed straight for the door. "Lissa!" Wlodek shouted, the compulsion thundering in his voice, "Come back this instant!"
"That shit doesn't work on me anymore," I gritted, whirling to face him as I slowly turned to mist. "But keep trying—maybe you'll have a breakthrough." I turned completely to mist and shot out of there so fast it was blinding, almost.
* * *
Gavin slid to the floor of Wlodek's study, his head buried in his hands. Merrill still sat in the same chair he'd chosen when he first came in. Wlodek was up and pacing, muttering profanity in Greek.
"Well, Wlodek, you had a little Queen all along," Merrill ventured to say. He'd understood the Greek, all right—Wlodek was cursing himself. Lissa had been right—if any of them had thought to ask—but they hadn't. She'd told them she'd gotten away from the vampire in New Mexico. It only made sense he would try to place compulsion right away. Merrill hadn't realized that his hadn't worked. Griffin had said Lissa was special but Merrill had never questioned that statement. He should have. They'd all frightened her. Gavin had been right in that respect; they were all males and Lissa had grown up afraid of males in authority. Her stepfather had seen to that. They all knew now that he hadn't been Lissa's real father, just as he'd claimed. He'd gone to extremes as a result, punishing Lissa and her mother over that fact.