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marriage. Fireborn Law? Caimbeul? There's two princes of shadows, Kynyr and
Cooley. But it has to be Kynyr. Doesn't it?"
CHAPTER THREE
VAMPIRES AT THE GATES
Lord Hoon had promised his myn and himself that they would winter in Red Wolf.
He had forced them through the snowy passes of the Eiralyskali Mountains with
threats and exhortations, punishments and promises. The town of Anglecyn had
fallen in less than a day of fighting, and the Waejontori Army took possession
of it as their wintering ground.
He had made the Lawgiver House his headquarters with a keen sense of irony.
The law in Anglecyn was now his law: the law of conquest. The family of Thane
Selwyn Brawleigh had been captured, but the Thane himself and a small number
of his housecarles were missing.
Zinzi sat with her feet propped on the table and a goblet of red wine in her
hand. She divided her attention between the young lycan on his knees by the
hearth and Sergei Wraithsbane, both for different reasons. Zinzi despised
Sergei and distrusted him with good reason. Sergei was not only a Lemyari
vampire, but a battlemage of considerable ability, as well as a murderous
pedophile who left a wake of dead girls behind him everywhere he went.
The spellcorded lycan had his wrists bound behind him, while his ankles and
knees were roped together. His head had been tied to a small frame that kept
him on his knees with his throat temptingly exposed. Lacerations from the whip
and other implements of torture marred his back and chest. Lord Hoon's
favorite torturer had left his face alone at Zinzi's request. She liked his
face, and had asked Hoon to give him to her, but he had denied her request.
Sergei, a courier for Lord Hoon, was a short, ill-favored looking mon with
four rows of heavy frown lines etched into his forehead. His brow ridge jutted
over his small, deep-set eyes, and a thick nose, humped and hooked above his
thin sneering lips.
"I suspect he's mine, Sergei said smugly.
Zinzi drained her goblet, sat it on the table, and threw an obscene gesture at
Sergei. Sometimes she handled being around him well and other times she simply
wanted to get away from him as swiftly as possible. You lied about it being
your blood that night."
Sergei gave a snort of laughter. Since I've become bored with you ... yes. I
lied. I killed you. I didn't turn you. I don't make little girls, I eat them."
"Then whose blood was it?"
"Mine. Lord Hoon swept into the room. Had you ever asked, I would have told
you. It was my blood in a glass of wine that turned you."
Not even the scowl that he threw Sergei could rob Hoon's elegant face of its
innate sensuality.
"I have tasks for each of you. Tell me, Sergei, do you still take messages to
Malthus when you make your regular circuits?"
"Yes, but I haven't had any for him in months."
Zinzi tossed a glance of languid contempt at Sergei. Not since he nearly
killed Malthus seven-year-old niece. I think Sergei's afraid of Malthus."
Hoon quirked an eyebrow. Why was I not told of this?"
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"I promised Malthus I would tell you. However, I seem to have forgotten to."
Sergei shifted in his chair to look more fully at her. Ros lives?"
"All you managed to do was damage her leg. I suspect that's because you had to
spread them so far open to get your damned piece into her."
"Enough, Zinzi! Hoon snapped his fingers at her. Sergei, Malthus betrayed
me. He sent me the wrong child in place of Darmyk. Next time you have messages
for him; issue a small vengeance for me. I will see you well rewarded. Now,
you are dismissed. You will find the larder well stocked. You may have three
tidbits, but no more."
"Are there any special ones?"
"Yes. The thane's six year old daughter."
The bound lycan issued a string of curses followed by pleading when he heard
that. Not Shelley. Please not Shelley."
Hoon gestured for Sergei to wait and strolled over to the lycan. I am a mon
of my word. Tell me where your father is, and I will see that your sister
remains safe."
Lord Hoon's honor was as famed as his savagery. When he gave his word he kept
it; however, he was not above twisting it if he had left himself some wiggle
room in the phrasing. A thin smile lit Hoon's face as he gazed expectantly at
Thane Selwyn's sixteen-year-old heir, Ocvran.
"Wolffgard. The thanes are holding a witan. Claw is dead and the succession is
in doubt. A priest, who Jumps, fetched him four days ago."
Hoon laughed softly. He had known the directions that Zinzi and Sergei's
conversations usually went, and had counted on it to influence Selwyn's heir
in ways that direct threats and torture had not. I guess he is yours after
all, Zinzi. But first fetch Shelley from the larder so she can keep her
brother company."
* * * *
Shelley, a delicate little bitch, sloe-eyed and blonde, hugged Gilzean. The
two cubs sat wailing on the sofa in Zinzi's bedchamber, filling her ears with
their unwelcome noises. Zinzi had once more been relegated to the role of cub
sitter until Sergei left the area. She resented being stuck with them.
Children got on her nerves and hampered her lifestyle.
Malthus had sent Gilzean to Hoon, with the cub's mind altered into believing
that he was Darmyk. Hoon sensed the lie, broke Malthus coercions in Gilzean's
mind, and discovered that Malthus had double-crossed him for reasons that Hoon
had yet to be certain of. He now intended to punish Malthus for it. Zinzi
wanted to get on with the punishing, and be quit of the cubs.
Ocvran, Shelley's brother, lay nude in the middle of Zinzi's bed. She
straddled him, her fangs deep in his throat, feeding noisily. He trembled and
spasmed beneath her, whimpering. Shelley gave another piercing shriek, which
ruined Zinzi's mood further.
"That's enough! The Waejontori Princess Silkanna Mircala de Waejonan swept
into the room, her dark eyes flashing with righteous fury. I won't have you
doing it in front of the cubs."
Zinzi withdrew from Ocvran, and glared at her. Blood flowed freely from the
wound in his neck. When Zinzi first encountered her, she had liked Silkie.
Lord Hoon had sent Zinzi to investigate rumors of a newborn Lemyari vampire in
the Sharani occupied sections of Southern Waejontor. She returned with Silkie,
who had first appeared to be a confused eighteen-year-old newborn. Zinzi
learned later that Silkie had been in her mid forties when she drank a vial of
Hoon's blood laced with spells to restore her youth. Silkie had been a
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