Page 286 of Night's Fall
“Yes, we are,” he said much more firmly.
Then he kissed me before he called to the lights to go out, pulled the covers over us and tangled us up in bed.
Proof.
I couldn’t sleep without him, because last night,Ididn’t.
But in the dark in his arms, within seconds, even after our most recent deep conversation, after we murmured goodnight to each other,Iwas out like the lights.
Chapter43
Fireworks
One could say, over the last month,I’dlearned a good deal about what my life would be asNight’sFall’snext queen.
And most of that was awesome.
But some of it wasn’t all that great.
And the worst of it,Ifound that next evening, was having to stand in a receiving line.
Okay, meeting the royalty of the realms from all the other continents who’d flown in for this fête, after seeing them in pics and on tapes for decades,I’lladmit,Iwas starstruck.
And sinceIwas a homebody and didn’t get out that much at night,I’dnever had the opportunity to hobnob with many vampires, but everybody knew, they were the glam of theglam.
Done up for theMasque, they took your breath away.
All the rest?
Good gods, it was horrible.
Standing there, in heels, wearing a heavy gown, a perfect smile pinned to your face, having people bob and bow and blather and slaver.Thespeculative looks.Theconstant attention.
Totally the worst.
Fortunately, there were staff to keep the line moving along so we could get through as many guests as the hour we were to stand in that receiving line would allow before we joined the rest in theMasque.Therefore, it wasn’t likeIwas forced into seven hundred conversations.
It still sucked.
What didn’t suck was that we wore our masks through it, considering there was a big ta-do later when everyone would be taking them off, which meantIhad a modicum of protection against the attention.
What sucked a whole lot less wasAleksei’smask.
He wore a black, silver and purple dragon mask that had a long, proud nose that covered his own as well as part of his mouth, horns shot up from the top and curled spikes came out of the sides.
I didn’t care how kinky it made me,Iwanted him to fuck me while wearing that mask.
Seriously.
This was such a good thought, it got me through the first fifteen minutes of the receiving line.
The rest was mostly torture, but outside the glitzy vampires and toney royalty, there were a few bright spots.
The first was the parade of all the masks and gowns others wore, some of them slinky, some of them inspired, some of them miracles of construction, all of them fanciful.
This was due not only to an extreme level of one-up-beingship, but also the many photographers who would broadcast each to every corner of the planet.They’dbeen given access to the proceedings, their flashes constant outside thePalaceand along the receiving line, as the trail of crafts cruised down to let the noblebeings, aristocrats, diplomats, dignitaries, businessbeings and celebrities onto the silver-dusted black carpet that looked like a welcome of stars.
The second wasMadamGarwahcoming through the line.I’dmissed spending time with her, of course.Butalso, she was wearing this swan getup with a mask that had a swan neck and head that rose three feet above her own.Itwas outlandish, and not altogether attractive, but it was attention-getting and so very her.
