Ivana's eyes widened. "Taking blood straight from her skin! I would no more sink my fangs into a human than into any other animal. Shall I bring you swine to pierce?"
They were staring each other down, their expressions telling, but Lothaire couldn't decipher exactly what they were saying.
Finally, Ivana spoke. "Stefanovich, you know there are consequences, especially for one like you. . . ."
"My kind revere the Thirst," Stefanovich said, "revere bloodtaking."
"Then you revere madness, because that is surely what will follow."
Ignoring Ivana's warning, he punctured the woman's wrist, making her moan.
"You are revolting!" Ivana blocked Lothaire's view, but he was fascinated by this sight, peeking around her skirts. Why had she taught him never to pierce another?
Once he'd finished feeding, Stefanovich released the mortal's arm, then kissed her full on the mouth, eliciting a yell of outrage from Ivana. "That you drink from their skin is foul enough, but to mate with their bodies? Have you no shame?"
He broke away from the kiss. "None." He licked his lips, and the mortal giggled, twirling Stefanovich's hair around her finger.
" 'Tis too contemptible to be borne-I will no longer!"
"And what will you do about it?"
"I will leave this savage place forever," she declared. "Now, slaughter your new pet, or I shall return to Dacia."
"Be wary of ultimatums, Ivana. You will not relish the outcome. Especially since you cannot find your homeland."
Ivana had explained to Lothaire why the kingdom of Dacia had remained secret for so long. The mysterious Daci traveled in a cloaking mist. If one abandoned the mist, the Dacian could never trace home on his own, and his memories of its location would fade.
With her first sight of Stefanovich, Ivana had lost her heart, following him back to Helvita, leaving behind her own mist, her family, her future throne.
"I will find it," she averred now. "If it kills me, I shall deliver Lothaire to the Realm of Blood and Mist, a land where civilized immortals rule."
"Civilized?" Stefanovich laughed, and the courtiers followed suit. "Those fiends are more brutal than I!"
"Ignorant male! You have no idea of what you speak! You can't comprehend our ways-I know this, for I tried to teach you."
"Teach me?" He slammed his meaty fist on the table. "Your arrogance will be your ruin, Ivana! Always you believe you are better than I!"
"Because-I-am!"
At that, the courtiers went silent.
Between gritted teeth, Stefanovich commanded, "Take back your careless words, or at sunset I'll throw you and your bastard out into the cold."
Lothaire swallowed, thinking of the fire in his room, his beloved puzzles atop his desk, his toys scattered over warm fur rugs on the floor. Life at Helvita could be miserable, but 'twas the only life he'd ever known.
Apologize, Mother, he silently willed her.
Instead, she squared her shoulders. "Choose, Stefanovich. The fetid human or me."
"Beg my pardon and seek amends with my new mistress."
"Beg?" Ivana scoffed. "Never. I am a princess of the Daci!"
"And I am a king!"
"Leave Ivana be, Brother," Fyodor murmured. "This grows tedious."
"She must learn her place." To Ivana, he ordered, "Beseech Olya's forgiveness!"