Page 136 of House of Lilith

Still, there’s the look flickering before my eyes, forcing me back into wondering why I’m so troubled by it.

With bitterness in my mouth, I decide to snap out of it and proceed to do what I came here to do in the first place.

“Vasilisa,” I call out as I fold my legs under myself, sit up straighter and fix my eyes on the portrait.

And as always, Lady X disappears and Vasilisa appears, right in front of me, with the habitual smirk on her face.

“Yes, little great-great-granddaughter?” she drawls sweetly as she comes to lean next to the painting, her arms folded and one knee bent, the boot on the wall. “Come on, let’s see what you’ve got for me today.”

And here we go again, I think with a sigh. Firstmyquestions, which she won’t answer, thenherquestions, which I won’t answer. And round and round we go in this delightful little dance.

But what am I supposed to do?Notcome ask my great-great-grandmother the former Queen questions about her, what happened in the mysterious war she seems to have participated in, and how she ended up disappearing from history books and residing in a portrait?

“What was your maiden name?” I ask, running out of good questions to ask her.

“None of your business,” come the same four words as always, coupled with the smirk.

It’s not that she doesn’t want me to ask, I think for the millionth time. It’s obvious she likes the attention. She just doesn’t want to give the answers.

“Who was your Master of Ceremony?” I ask.

“None of your business.”

“Why won’t you talk to me about any of it?” I demand, but flatly. I’m still dying to know, it’s just that the novelty has worn off. “Why won’t you give me any answers?”

“None of your business.”

And she steps away from the wall, coming into a low crouch in front of me. “My turn,” she says, flashing her fangs. Deliberately.

But I’m no longer scared of her. “Fine,” I say.

“Any news?”

She’s referring to the Archon, of course. It’s the only question I always do give the answer to, just because it’s not leverage that’s in question, it’s a potential danger I need to keep an eye on.

“No,” I say, “and honestly, I’ve done all the background checks that I could. The woman’s as clean as a whistle. And there seems to be nothing suspicious going on.”

“Good,” she says and, to my surprise, she sits on the floor opposite me, mirroring my position. “So?”

Now, the question here is, “How did my dynasty come to this? Was it the Unveiling that was to blame?”

And usually, I refuse to tell her anything. But right now, looking into those cold, strange eyes as she just keeps sitting on the floor with me, I feel this need to give hersomething.

“I have a feeling you won’t like the answer.”

“Spit it out.”

“Well, no,” I start, seeing a flash of surprise in her eyes. I take a second to look for the right words. “It’s not true. We didn’t lose control of the land because of the Unveiling. After the initial hiccups, for a while, things actually went pretty smoothly.”

She quirks an eyebrow.

“When they learned what we really are,” I explain, “the Scions feared us more than ever, but the family actually did make sure the vampires across the land respected the Treaty, so they eventually accepted us as superior to them and they just let us do our thing.”

“Until?” she demands.

“Until great-grandfather Nikolay, I guess.”

“What did he do?”

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