Bound by the Vampire Queen by Joey W. Hill Read Free Book Online Page B

world thought Lady Lyssa was aloof, a woman hard to read. She was, but Jacob knew exactly what saying good-bye to their child cost her. The following night, he drew Mason and Jessica away while she took one last stroll with Kane in her arms. They went to a statuary garden on the northwest side of the estate. All the sculptures were creatures, and Kane had a typical toddler’s passion for animals. When Lyssa put him on a miniature horse, he was smiling up at her, waving his arms and holding a strand of her dark hair in either hand as if they were the horse’s reins. Jacob was close enough to see her, though he was also in her mind.
    He knew she wouldn’t mind him there for this. He’d said his good-bye to Kane as well, but Kane had a unique sense of the two of them, even when only one was present, and they’d take every moment they could with him before they had to go.
    “You be very good for Lord Mason and Jessica,” his lady murmured, stroking his back and balancing him so he wouldn’t topple off the horse. “They will teach you many wonderful things and take excellent care of you.”
    She hesitated then. When a wave of emotion surged forth, Jacob almost went to her. She battled it back down, not wanting Kane to sense it, of course, but Jacob knew her eyes were wet. She’d lived through a lot of things, including the loss of another child, centuries ago. She knew better than anyone that every day could be the last, that this journey might be one from which they wouldn’t return. It wasn’t a dramatic observation; just the way their lives were. Usually she shut herself down to handle such realities. However, staring into the face of the child that was one half of herself, who expected she’d always be there because that was the oblivious faith the young had, she lost a grip on those shields. Leaning down, she kissed his head, pressing her lips hard to his fine cap of hair, her own curtaining him as she gave him her touch, her scent.
    “Go to her,” Jacob said to Jess. “She'll want to leave him playing there, so he won’t see us go.” The girl nodded, moved down the slope. Jacob sensed Mason at his shoulder.
    “You know,” the older vampire said. “My relationship with Jessica is… complicated. Far beyond the rules of the Vampire Council—fuck all of them.”
    Jacob bared his fangs in a feral grin, appreciating Mason even as his eyes remained on his lady.
    “However,” Mason continued, “if prizes were going to be handed out for the most complex and hard-to-understand vampire-servant relationship, you and Lyssa would win that ribbon hands down. You know that.”
    “What? She has vampire blood, but she’s not technically a vampire anymore. And I used to be human, and should have a fledgling’s skills, but I have hers instead. What’s complicated about that?” Jacob shot him a wry look.
    “And she’s your fully marked servant.”
    “I fully marked her. She’s not my servant.”
    “Jacob.” Mason drew the younger man’s attention with the serious note. “You know how I feel about Lyssa. It would take far more than the loss of her vampire powers to make me view Lady Elyssa Ameratsu Yamato Wentworth as anything less than the dangerous force of nature she can be. I don’t mean any disrespect to her.”
    “I know.” Jacob shifted. “But it’s not merely sentiment, Mason. You’ve seen her come out of the forest in her Fae form, transition back to human, so to speak. And while I hope your gaze has not lingered too long before she puts on her robe, I’m sure you’ve noticed it. She doesn’t have a servant’s mark. But I still have mine.”
    All third-marked servants bore a skin mark, a spontaneous occurrence when the final serum was administered. Jacob, whose vampire transition should have eliminated his full -servant mark, still bore the silver fossil-like serpent imprint up the line of his spine. Some things were beyond the ken of man or vampire, but Mason knew that in everything he was