“Then remember you only serve them for a century. After that you return to my court—and my city.”
Frederick swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Show him out, Anton.” He tossed the invitation down and stared at the were-bear rug Kristina wiggled her toes against. “You two may retire for the day.”
Less than a minute later the two were gone. The card stock invitation announced a special show for one week only—featuring Kristina as the lead dancer—and his presence was requested. He didn’t recognize the handwriting, but he expected this was their answer to his five-million-dollar offer.
Picking up the phone, he dialed Malcolm’s number and the man answered on the first ring. “Malcolm, my apologies for calling so late in the morning. But I need to speak to your bride…”
He heard a murmuring and rustle of sheets and then a soft, breathless feminine voice said a tentative hello.
“Can you tell me what happens…exactly…when the curse activates during the daylight hours?”
“I can try.” The woman sighed. “I don’t know if it’s the same for everyone.”
“I understand this may be difficult.” He owed Malcolm’s bride that much respect, but he needed the answer. He needed to understand.
“It’s not painful. It’s cold and it’s lonely. You are you one moment and then you are in a gray place—alone —no sense of time or place or even self. It’s not sleeping, and I never dreamed. But I know one of the others did…”
“Kristina?” The daylight slumber of vampires was sometimes dreamless, but only in the first few years for the turned. Those born—like he and Malcolm—always dreamed.
“No. Her name is Cerveau. She dreams. A great deal, but she never told us what happened in the dreams. I used to tease her that she made it up, but maybe she didn’t.”
“And when you wake? What do you feel then?”
“I—it’s like being turned back on. The rush to the senses can be a little overwhelming at first. But you don’t really feel the passage of time. It’s more like you step from that one moment you were in when you went to sleep to the next, when you are awake.”
“And no pain?” As little comfort as the idea brought him, he wanted her to feel no pain.
“No physical pain. Of course, when you do it in front of someone you love, it hurts you to hurt them.”
The sadness in Kristina’s gaze, the faintest glimmer of horror and tears in her eyes as the polished white sheen took over her body and froze her features.
She still loved him.
Relief flooded through his soul. She may not remember him. She may be trapped in that limbo. But she still cared…
“I don’t know how this can help you.” Malcolm’s bride sighed. He appreciated the candor and the sympathy.
“Tell me, do you know why she was cursed?”
“No.” The answer disappointed.
“Is it likely the stage manager will tell me if I ask her?” He carefully avoided using the woman’s name. Malcolm indicated his bride and Heidi seemed friendly.
“Only if she really wants to but—” Her hesitation to complete the thought warned him of her concern. Her nails drummed against a wooden surface. “What Heidi knows, Minion almost certainly does and she and Kiki are really close. Minion also adores shiny objects, toys and chocolate…”
“Sir, I know you want to help Kiki, but please don’t hurt Minion. She’s crazy and unpredictable and completely without a malicious bone in her body. I can try to send Kiki a text, Minion always reads her phone, but that might alert Heidi, and I don’t know what they would do.”
“No, thank you, you’ve told me quite a bit.” He soothed. “And I appreciate it. I will not hurt the little demon. You have my word.”
But the potential to trade one hostage for another…
That he could do.
Chapter Four
Awareness swarmed over Kiki in a rush, and she stepped forward with a jerk, startled to find herself not in her own cell, but Heidi’s office. Coldness climbed through her limbs, an icy sensation pumping through her blood with every beat of her sluggish heart. Heidi sat behind the desk, a single manila folder in front of her and an unreadable expression on her face. Grasping the back of a guest chair, Kiki leaned her weight on it.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” No sense in beating around the bush. She had been caught outside the theatre when the curse kicked in…
“More than a little.” Heidi tapped the manila folder in front of her. “This is your contract.”
The chill in her blood dropped to arctic levels. Digging her fingers into the fabric of the chair, she kept herself upright. “I was trying to get back in…”
Unmollified, Heidi shrugged. “You snuck out.”
Guilt poked her. “Yes. But it wasn’t for why you might think…”
“You wanted to party and you were bored?” The stage manager challenged her blandly.
“Okay, so maybe it is why you think. We’re not tied to the theatre when we’re off for the night. We are allowed to go out…” She sighed.
“You are allowed, of course, but—for your personal protection and security—you notify us. You let Stan accompany you.”
“I was fine.” Kiki straightened, fighting the weakness invading her limbs. “I had
“You went up to a private suite with three men you’ve never met, propositioning all three, I might add, and raced the sunrise to get back to the theatre.”
“It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. Pandora did it. Roseatre did it. Hell, you sent both of them off to do it.” She ticked the names off on her fingers.
“And I knew where they were, who they were with and Stan was prepared to defend them as necessary.” Heidi’s disappointment slapped at her. “Do you not see the danger you were in?”
“Richard would never hurt me.” Her faith in that statement surprised her. She didn’t have to think about it. Even when they’d tussled and she struck him, he’d never hurt her—and something unfamiliar unfurled within her. He wouldn’t ever hurt her. She didn’t know why she knew that, but instinct seemed solid. Richard would never hurt her. If anything, his touch seemed to awaken something dormant within her.
Instead of attacking her belief or dismissing it, Heidi leaned back in the chair. “How do you know that?”
“I…” The words seemed to dance right on the edge of her tongue, but darted away before she could give them voice. “I…I don’t know.” If she closed her eyes, she could conjure an image of him. His smile, the dark velvet of his midnight gaze, the muscles straining in his jaw as pleasure took him. He wouldn’t hurt her.
Ever.
“I guess I don’t know why.” Disquiet deflated the balloon of faith, and she walked around the chair to sit down. “I’m sorry, Heidi.” Contrition washed in to fill the empty space in her soul.
“Kiki, do you know who Richard is?”
The layers of meaning beneath the question dragged the dancer from her internal musings. “He’s a vampire.”
“I asked who, not what.” The stage manager’s voice warmed, thawing out her disapproval.
“No. Just a guy in a bar.”
