The Vampire's Crimson Kiss (Editing)

Chapter 33/When you sleep with wolves, you're a feast for fleas

I sat in my rooms on my bed in the black keep. Having removed my dust-worn riding clothes, I had changed into my nightshirt. The vampires had this odd habit of dressing for bed.

The door creaked open,Mary returned with a washing bowl. I was overcome to have reached the point where Sadismann had broken his promise to the King. This was also tinged with regret; it was such a bad idea and some guilt over Lady Valeria's attack. I was a bad girl. I sat on my bed, folded up my chin on my knees, my arms embracing my legs.

Mary's voice, light yet laden with unspoken understanding, pierced the silence. 

"So how was your encounter with Lord Sadismann?" said Mary, pretended noting had happened that night. 

The revelation, bizarre yet endearing, elicited a reluctant smile from my lips, despite the gravity of our conversation

I met her gaze, a flicker of amusement touching my lips despite the gravity of our situation. "I don't know what you mean, and even if I did know what you mean, I don't know how you know what you mean," I replied, attempting to match her levity, though my heart was heavy.

"I clean your clothes, milady, and I was in his personal stock. You think I don't know the smell and taste of him?"

I looked at her. "You lick my clothes? I'm like a salt lick for my servants, how disgusting." 

"How do you think the Cub and I get them so clean?" Mary said jokingly.

I looked away. "I'm sorry, I can't carry on. I know you're trying to raise my spirits. Any news of Lady Valencia?"

Mary continued to pick things up and straighten things away. "Well, the good news is that Lady Velencia has apparently been  rescued by a party of long coats led by the Duke himself. She's in some safe house until sunset."

I looked at my knees. "And the bad news?"

"Well, she might have decided to break the rule of abstinence."

I felt so guilty. He had done this whole hunt for me. I had spent ages wondering if he really wanted me. Out of the keep, he had shown his true colors. How bad was it that he was afraid of spies even in his own bedroom? Now what should have been a moment of showing true feelings had been stained with the death of the innocent. 

"I can hardly say I could blame her," I said.

"Rightly so, but she bled a number of the Defiance in the process. Kirack and his party got the bloodlust and managed to leave a carpet of blood through the city looking for her. Like she couldn't protect herself," said Mary, handing something to Cub.

"That's terrible," I said. People had died out there, but all I felt was how much I had missed the only opportunity with him. "How many died?"

"Wolfheads, long coats, or familiars? No, but you mean the number of commonalty, don't you? No one knows for sure. A few score perhaps more. No one will go out to count before nightfall, and the locals will take bodies away."

"A few score? That's terrible," I said, the ultimate blood party.

"No, what's terrible is that you were seen on the jetty waiting to get back. Silver neck they call you, you know that?"

I nodded my head.

"Well, you were covered in fox blood and particularly impatient to get back to the keep. So the city   might get the idea that it was a flesh hunt, and you were blooded in it. They might even think that Lady Velencia is you and you've killed many of the commonalty, even Defiance."

"I would never do anything like that. I was the one that made sure it was animal only," I said. This was terrible.

"I know, princess," Mary continued, bringing me a cup of leaf brew. "Drink this; it helps with shock. He made the rule of abstinence to favor you. Now the blood lord who knows ,how many immortals to punish. The coven views punishing immortals for consuming human flesh like punishing you for breathing. Fortunately, Harkman is a supporter of the High Priestess's faction, the Grey Guard. the Duke would be counseled to use this as an excuse to stake his sorry ass, blood god forgive me for saying ill of my masters."

"So I'm seen as the Princess of midnight, held as bad as the coven, but worse because I'm still mortal," I said. My dad used to say, "Sleep with wolves and wake up with fleas." I was a feast for them.

"I guess you know how I feel. But I think you're feeling as guilty about this as I am," said Victoria.

"Well, it could have been better managed," admitted Mary. "All this because the Duke wanted to send a message to your father that you were alive and well-treated. He hoped there would be spies watching the parade."

"Will he take you from me?"

"He's more adept at court politics, plots, and counter-plots. He's good in a crisis, but don't hold anything he says in passing as iron-bound after sober reflection."

"Oh, Mered," I said. "I've just noticed I don't have my Matercrine. I must have left it in the building I was in."

"Urad, it has his sign on it," Mary said, rushing over. "If anyone finds it, they will see your stiletto marks and his footmarks in the dust, the blood of the fox, the Matercrine, and know what happened. The Matercrine will be the perfect evidence for your father of bond break. If it fell into the wrong hands, he would have to declare the deal over."

"Damn, look, it's probably sitting around there," I said.

"You're right; I'll send a message to Aarin. He's loyal to the master. He can ask his wolfheads and knows Bodkin Street well enough to look."

Mary felt short at the news and sent Cub off with a message for Aarin.

She came back. "Hey, how about cheering you up? A change of clothes, a tighter corset, new shoes, some wine, a few drops of Venom, you can make a night of it. What do you think? But keep the oxblood color; I like it. It's a good color on you."

I was weak. I was a bad girl. Hell yeah.