Page 119 of Kiss of Light

“That is usually how our mating system works.”

“But…” Tala swallowed. “What if he’s in love with someone else? Someone who isn’t Vetali?”

“Sometimes love isn’t enough.” Vassago chose his words delicately. “If my son is to continue our lineage, he will need a compatible partner. Our fertility ritual uses powerful magic, that is true. But the results are only guaranteed between Vetali.”

“Maybe Lemar doesn’t want children.”

“Maybe. But it would be a tragedy, wouldn’t it, if that decision were taken out of his hands? I imagine, in time, he would come to regret it. Maybe even blame the person who had taken his choice away.” His words slid home as smoothly as a blade between her ribs. “Someone who truly loved him would help him realise that.”

“I… I see.”

She was shaken, her voice faint.

“And if I no longer needed to worry about my son’s future, I could turn my attention to other matters. Such as the fate of Nush’aldaam.”

“Nush’aldaam?”

“Yes. I would be inclined to support Lord Shadeed’s claim to the throne,ifI wasn’t preoccupied with concerns about my son. Do you understand?”

She understood. Vassago was offering a deal. Leave Lemar alone, and Palissandra would back Shade for the throne.

And maybe she would have refused, except everything he’d said about regret and recrimination mirrored her own fears.

Tala nodded mutely and Vassago turned away, satisfied.

“Let us join the party, my dear. This way.”

He glided down the hallway, realising belatedly that Tala wasn’t following.

When he glanced round, she’d gone.

Fifty

Lemar had shaken about a thousand hands by the time his father joined him in the Grand Hall.

“Nothing’s changed,” he told Vassago. “Same old faces. Can’t believe half of them aren’t dead yet.”

“Some of them aren’t far off,” his father remarked. “Old Lord Achlys over there is one of the true elders. He claims to have met Socrates.”

“Yes, and he keeps repeating the story to anyone who listens. By my count, he’s a hundred years too young.”

“Let him have his claim to fame, it’s harmless. And may I ask how you’re feeling about being home?”

“I’ve missed it. I see you kept my room the same.”

“Did I?” Vassago shrugged vaguely. “I just instructed the servants to keep it clean. I never thought you’d be back.”

Lemar looked at the crowds gathered in the Grand Hall. Vetali from all over Palissandra had attended the ball, despite the short notice. A quartet played in one corner and the room was filled with the haunting swell of violin and cello.

Servants were carrying trays of glasses filled with ruby liquid. Lemar knew it would be the fresh stuff, not the synthetic replica which had been developed after decades of trial and error. He wasn’t interested in either. Not after tasting Tala.

His father took a glass and sipped delicately. As an older vampire, he could drink blood without black veins snaking across his face but his eyes still blackened as the iron hit his stomach.

“Exquisite,” he said. “Are you not drinking?”

“I fed recently.”

“Ah.”

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