Taken by a Vampire (Vampire Queen) - By Joey W. Hill Page 0,218

required? While it shamed her that the queen thought she required that to be an effective InhServ, she wouldn’t reject the gift. She had all she could to do to get past her amazement about the offer in enough time to accept it.

She was swamped with the significance of the next words she would speak. If she did nothing else in her life worth note, this was the task she wanted to look back upon and know she did it well. Straightening, she swept her gaze over all of them in a respectful, peripheral way, so they knew she intended to respond.

Ten vampires. Lady Carola and Lady Helga. Lords Belizar, Walton, Welles and Stewart. Lord Uthe, Evan’s sire, on Lyssa’s right. She’d always found him intimidating, but she was glad he’d saved Evan’s life and would forever have a high regard toward him because of it. Behind him, in the shadows, she saw the Fae liaison was here, Lord Keldwyn. She didn’t know him well, for he came and went like a ghost. Almost as elusive as Lord Daegan, his preferred spot in Council chambers was always in shadows, but usually somewhere between Lady Lyssa and Lord Uthe.

Lord Mason and Lady Daniela sat together at the end as the newest Council members. Though Lord Mason’s age made his stature worthy of a seat closer to the queen, he preferred the end. He stated it was for his long legs, since he was as big as Niall, but she’d seen how he watched the other Council members, particularly Belizar. He was in the best position to anticipate an attack against the queen and thwart it. Lady Daniela had come from Western Australia. Since her betrayal of Stephen, Alanna hadn’t attended Council meetings, but during her recuperation, before she left Berlin to join Evan and Niall, she’d run into Lady Danny’s servant, Devlin, a few times while out in the garden.

The bushman had a casual, easy way about him that she’d found complementary to his Mistress. Lady Daniela wasn’t a diplomat. She was straightforward and unflinching. Alanna suspected the two of them brought an unusual yet effective addition to the Council’s traditional formality. She’d also sensed some of the same type of bond between the two of them as she felt between Jacob and Lyssa. In fact, thinking about it now, Lord Mason, like Lady Lyssa, was quite open about his bond with his servant, Jessica. The queen had capably changed the Council dynamic, such that 30 percent of their number acknowledged their servants’ value in a historically unprecedented way.

Which was likely why she was sitting here now, being given this opportunity. She cleared her throat, refusing to whisper for this.

“When I informed the Council of Lord Stephen’s betrayal, it went against everything I was trained for, as well as everything I believed a servant should be.” Her voice cracked, running out of breath. She made herself slow down. “Submission is a beautiful thing in a servant, a desired thing. Surrender is a gift, a treasure, and the Master who has received that receives the highest level of service a servant can give, which was all I ever truly wanted to do when I became an InhServ.”

She met Jacob’s eyes. The truth of it flamed in his blue eyes. It gave her the courage to continue.

“I do not regret my actions.” There, she’d said it. “I deserve no credit for my betrayal of my former Master. I did not act as a servant, but as a sister, grieving the loss of her brother.”

Niall shifted. In her peripheral vision, she saw Evan press his lips together, a tacit rejection of that statement. “However, what I say now is a conscious, deliberate decision, an honor to my current Master that I hope will not be held against him. Evan took my training to a level the InhServ program, as exceptional as it is, couldn’t, because what I discovered in his service cannot be produced by training.”

Dizziness overcame her then, making her lock onto those chair arms again before she pitched herself to the floor. No. Hold on. Hold on. I’m not done. Panic that Lyssa might think she was through and end the audience made it worse. Niall’s hand was on her shoulder, his thumb stroking her collarbone. The queen spoke.

“Alanna, I am well aware you would never waste this Council’s time. We will not rush your answer, so don’t distress yourself on that matter. Take a breath or two. Jacob, bring her some