The man standing in the doorway had hard eyes. Dark and close together, beneath a brooding brow. They flicked from him to Alice. Back to him. To the window. To him. The studious attention of someone aware of his surroundings at all time. His nose was just small enough to not be considered bulbous, yet was large enough to detract from the rest of his face. Especially with those thin lips and nonexistent chin.
He was probably a little shorter than Bast, but the way the black shirt stretched across his shoulders suggested some time monitoring his physique. A gray blazer and black slacks rounded out his ensemble. He stood deceptively relaxed, but Bast recognized the tensed muscles of someone ready to move. Most of all, it was the bulge beneath the blazer that caught and held Bast’s attention as he stood, blocking the man’s sight from Alice.
“What do you want with me, executioner?” Bast asked quietly.
The man couldn’t be anyone else. The scent of vampire was all over him, overpowered by the stinging assault of ash wood. The only type of wood that could mortally wound a vampire. The tool of the executioner’s trade.
“You’ve been summoned before the Council. Will you please come with me?”
Chapter Twenty-Six
An executioner? Here? This world of Sebastian’s got crazier by the minute.
“I can’t leave her. I won’t,” Sebastian replied.
The man peered past Sebastian, who’d turned just a fraction. Just enough to let him glimpse her in bed. Alice didn’t like the way he dismissed her with perusal that couldn’t have taken more than two seconds. “You were summoned. No one else.”
“She’s my intended. My mate. I won’t leave without her.”
The man did a second perusal. “Has it been sanctioned?”
Gotta love the way they talked about her as if she didn’t exist. Except with the guy’s lifeless tone and the way her pulse raced, she had a feeling this was one for the boys.
“I’ve not made the request yet.”
The executioner’s left eye narrowed a fraction. Had she not been staring at him, she might have missed it. “I understand your dilemma, but I’m afraid I don’t face the problem you do. I’ve been directed to bring you with me. I won’t stop you from bringing your intended, if you want her to serve witness to what transpires—”
“She’s sick.”
The executioner continued, ignoring the interruption as if it never happened. “—when you stand before the Council. As for what they plan for you, it’s none of my business. Only know that it’s possible you will not walk away from judgment. If you bring your intended, you potentially subject her to being witness to your end.”
“I won’t allow her to leave that bed.”
“Then she won’t be coming with you. Wise choice.” He tilted a hand toward the door in invitation to precede him.
“I don’t think you understand. If she doesn’t leave, I don’t leave.” Sebastian stood deceptively still, but Alice knew better. There would be at least one gun beneath his blazer. Maybe a stake or two tucked behind his back. “I’ll stand before the Council, but on my terms. Not theirs.”
From behind, Alice watched two long tendrils of smoke drift away from both sides of Sebastian’s face.
So not good. Not good at all.
The executioner slid his hand beneath his own blazer, not even making an attempt at being subtle. A vein in his forehead throbbed forcefully, as if about to burst through the thin veil of skin covering it. “My name is Anteaus Stavrou. You may have heard of me?”
A jerk of the head from Sebastian.
“My dog isn’t in this fight. I am only a messenger. However, if you test me, dragon—yeah, I’ve been told what you can do—then I will use lethal force as expected of me.”
Alice had heard enough. “That won’t be necessary Mr. Stavrou. Sebastian’s going with you and he won’t put up any resistance. His loyalty to the Council far exceeds any loyalty he has to me.”
The look Sebastian turned on her could’ve straightened every curly hair on her body. His jaw went rigid, but he managed to squeeze out, “Not. Happening.”