Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page B

is just not done.”
    â€œAnd I say again, why not? Belle has insulted us. Not the other way around. Jean-Claude has negotiated in good faith. It’s Musette that’s been the bad little vampire. And if she comes with Belle’s blessing, then Belle is abusing her status. She thinks we’ll just take whatever she dishes out.”
    â€œDishes out?” he made it a question.
    â€œWhatever she does to us, she thinks we’ll just take it, just suck it up and take it without complaining.”
    â€œShe is right,” Asher said.
    I frowned at him, then turned, still frowning, back to the road. “Why? Why shouldn’t we treat any threat or insult the same?”
    He ran his hands through his thick hair, pulling it back from his face. The streetlights crisscrossed his face in light and shadow. We were stopped at another light with an SUV beside us so that their window was even with ours. The woman behind the wheel glanced at us, then did a double take. Her eyes went round, and Asher didn’t notice. I looked at her and she looked away, embarrassed at being caught staring. Americans are taught not to stare at anything that isn’t perfect. It’s like to look at it is to make it more real. Ignore it, it’ll go away.
    Asher never noticed as the light changed and we drove off. He was exposing his face to strangers, and not noticing the effect it was having. No matter how angry, no matter how sad, no matter how anything, he never forgot the scars. They dominated his thoughts, his actions, his life. For him to forget like this said more than anything how serious the situation was, and I still didn’t understand why.
    â€œI don’t understand, Asher. We defended ourselves when council members invaded our territory awhile back. We hurt them, did our best to kill them. Why is this different?”
    He let go of his hair and swung it back into place like a curtain. I don’t think he was any less upset, it was just habit. “Last time it was not Belle Morte.”
    â€œWhat difference does that make?”
    â€œ Mon Dieu , do you not understand what it means that Belle is the mother of our line?”
    â€œApparently I don’t, explain it to me. We’re going to the Circus of the Damned, right? It will take awhile to get there. You’ll have time.”
    â€œ Oui .” He stared out the window of the Jeep, as if looking for inspiration in the electric lights, the strip malls, and fast food restaurants.
    He finally turned to face me. “How do I explain to you what you have never understood? You have never had a king or queen, you are American and young, and you do not understand the duty owed a liege lord.”
    I shrugged. “I guess I don’t.”
    â€œThen how can you understand what it is we owe Belle Morte, and how it would be . . . treason to raise a hand against her.”
    I shook my head. “That’s a great theory, Asher, but I’ve dealt with enough vampire politics to know one thing. If we let her push us around, she’ll see it as a sign of weakness, and she’ll push and push until she sees how weak, or how strong we are.”
    â€œWe are not at war with Belle Morte,” he said.
    â€œNo, but if she thinks we are weak enough, that might be next. I’ve seen how you guys operate. The big vampire fish eat the little vampire fish. We can’t afford for Musette or Belle to think we’re little fish.”
    â€œAnita, don’t you understand, yet? We are little fish, compared to Belle Morte, we are very little fish indeed.”

5
    I HAD A hard time believing we were very little fish indeed. Maybe not big fish, but that wasn’t the same thing as being very little. But Asher was so obviously convinced of it that I didn’t argue.
    I did call on my cell phone and leave messages around town about Musette’s early arrival. Richard may have been pissed at me, but he was still the other