“When Lord Stephen is brought to justice, my life will end, my lady. My sanity does not seem of great importance during that temporary period. If I cannot help you, it’s best to remove me from the equation.” The cape’s warmth helped her straighten further, though she kept her eyes downcast.
“I have a different alternative in mind,” Lyssa said, after a weighted pause. “You met Evan. Do you remember?”
Alanna struggled with the change of subject. “No, my lady.”
“When Lord Brian was testing the blocking serum, he and his servant helped calm you. He’s an artist. His servant, Niall, is Scottish.”
She almost forgot herself and lifted her head. Instead, she tightened her fingers around one another. Just an inconsequential bit of memory, suddenly so significant to her. A piece of reality Stephen hadn’t been able to twist into a nightmare.
“Though your mind is blocked, your importance to him is such that Stephen might use other methods to find you. So we will use the rabbit to flush the wolf a different way. One that poses less risk to you, but perhaps not so much less that it insults your InhServ protocol.”
She didn’t know what to make of that remark. Sarcasm? Sympathy? Straight fact? Fortunately, Lady Lyssa wasn’t requesting a response.
“Evan is a made vampire, one with no political standing. Part of the fabric of our society rather than an outstanding marker upon it.” Rather than condescension, Lyssa’s tone suggested amused irony. “He has an incurable case of wanderlust but, as luck will have it, the next few months he plans to be in the southern region of the United States, which is where I will be moving Council headquarters once I conclude matters here. You are being put in his care until the situation with Stephen alters. Evan will second-mark you, for Brian believes Evan’s strength and age, less than Stephen’s, will make that possible without damage. Evan agreed to Lord Daegan taking his blood as a sire so that he can communicate with him as needed, a conduit to your mind and location.”
No vampire allowed another vampire to take their blood, not if they could prevent it. It was done by overlords and Region Masters to ensure the loyalties of the vampires within their territories, or by vampires forcibly imposing dominance on weaker ones. What little she knew of Evan didn’t seem to fit that assessment, but it didn’t matter. The decision was out of her hands.
She hadn’t imagined serving another vampire. No one of political stature would want her again, and an InhServ was too integrated into the upper echelon to be used anywhere else. Lady Lyssa uttering Lord Daegan’s name in her presence was a prime example. Only the Council members and their servants—and of course Lord Stephen had been on the Council—knew Daegan was the Council assassin, dispatching vampires who broke the laws of their volatile world. She’d been in his presence rarely herself, but he exuded exactly what he was. The top predator in a world of predators, perhaps only surpassed by Lady Lyssa herself, and Alanna wouldn’t be putting money on the winner of that combat.
In short, Alanna knew as much about vampire politics and etiquette as the queen. But it was a moot point. When Stephen was apprehended, he would be executed. As soon as a vampire died, blocker or no, his fully marked servant died with him.
Was the burden of dealing with her, putting him in Stephen’s path, a punishment for Evan? A debt he owed to the Council?
“Niall will arrive Friday to escort you to him. Until you receive any further direction from the Council, you serve Evan as a servant should. Obey him as you would obey me, in all things.”
“Yes, my lady.” The command of any vampire was law, as long as that command didn’t conflict with orders from the servant’s Master or Mistress. Even their will could be overridden if the command was issued by a higher-ranking vampire, though the servant could expect punishment for it by her vampire later. Stephen had done so severely, once or twice, when she’d obeyed the directive of a Council member who outranked him. He hadn’t expected her to disobey the Council member, any more than she’d been surprised to endure his ire and abused ego over it. Being the outlet for his anger was part of her responsibilities.
Pushing away any tension she had over serving a vampire again, she accepted her charge. She was to treat Evan as her Master, even though he would withhold the vital third mark that would bind her irrevocably to him, and she would be bait for Stephen, her true Master. It made her tired and sad.