Sweep of the Blade (Innkeeper Chronicles #4) - Ilona Andrews Page 0,30

the other tachi mirrored her movement, as if they had choreographed it.

“Tell me all about it,” Dil’ki said.

Maud opened her mouth and saw Seveline walking toward her, two male vampires in tow.

“Enemy?” Dil’ki guessed.

“I don’t know yet,” Maud said. She realized she had pushed her chair back from the table slightly, on pure muscle memory. When an enemy is approaching, it paid to make sure getting up didn’t cost you a precious fraction of a second. “I think she might be.”

As one, the tachi went light gray.

“There you are!” Seveline grinned at her. “I was wondering where they hid you.”

No proper address. An insult. It would’ve been fine if they were friends in private, but they were neither friends nor alone.

Maud plastered a smile on her face. “Lady Seveline.”

“I expected to have to search, but at this table? Really?”

Another insult. She really was enjoying herself.

“And I see they forgot to bring you meat. Do they honestly think you are an herbivore? Are humans herbivores, Lady Maud? I only ask because of your small teeth.”

A third insult. The dark-haired vampire at Seveline’s right flashed a quick smile. Couldn’t help himself.

A tachi on her right leaned to her and murmured in Akit. “Would you like me to kill her? I can do it quietly tonight. They’ll never figure it out.”

Oh crap. The last thing she needed was to cause an interstellar incident.

Seveline narrowed her eyebrows slightly. Ten to one, Seveline’s implant didn’t recognize Akit. It was an internal tachi language. But if Maud replied in English, it would translate her reply. Maud cleared her throat.

“Khia teki-teki, re to kha. Kerchi sia chee.” No, thank you. She’s a source of information.

Argh, she’d mangled it. There were sounds human mouths just couldn’t make.

The tachi clicked their mandibles again, in approval.

“That was very, very good,” Dil’ki said in Akit. “Good try.”

“Is something the matter?” Seveline asked.

“Not at all,” Maud smiled. “Is there something I can help you with?”

“As a matter of fact, there is.” Seveline smiled. “These lords with me were wondering if there was some unique aspect to human lovemaking that particularly appeals to vampires. I thought you would be a perfect person to ask, since you have used it to such great effect.”

Quarter of a second to get up, another quarter to jump up on the table, half a second to ram her fork into Seveline’s neck, piercing the windpipe. She would look so pretty with a bloody fork sticking out of her neck.

Maud smiled and stopped. A sentinel stood at the doorway of the feast hall. A small figure in a blue tunic with a silver sash stood next to him. The beginning of a huge black eye turned Helen’s right cheek bright red.

“Please excuse me.” She jumped up and hurried through the tables to her daughter.

Helen looked up at her, her face pinched. She was trying not to cry.

“What happened?” Maud asked.

The sentinel, an older male vampire, smiled at her. “Personal challenges are forbidden in the nursery. Lady Helen was warned about the consequences of her actions, yet she chose to continue as did her challenged.”

“He called me a liar,” Helen squeezed through her teeth.

Fear crushed Maud. Somehow, she made her lips move. “Is the other boy alive?”

“Yes.” The older vampire smiled brighter. “His broken arm will serve as a fine reminder of today’s events. Unfortunately, Lady Helen must leave us now. She is to report tomorrow to the nursery to atone for her failure in judgement. Should I take her to her quarters?”

“No,” Maud said. “I’ll do it.”

“But your dinner, Lady Maud?”

“I have had my fill.”

Maud took her daughter by the hand and walked down the hallway, away from the feast hall.

The long hallway of House Krahr’s citadel lay deserted. Behind Maud, the noise of the feast hall was dying down, receding with every step. Helen walked next to her, her face sullen.

“What happened?” Maud asked softly.

“They asked me where I came from, and I told them about how I made my room and Aunt Dina said she would get me fishes. This boy said that houses can’t move if you think at them. He said I was lying.”

Of course he did. “Then what happened?”

“Then I got mad.” Helen bit her lip with her fangs. “And I said take it back. And he said I was stupid and a liar. And then he wagged his finger at me.”

“He did what?”

Helen stuck out her hand with her index finger extended and waved it around, drawing an upside-down U in the air,