Elizaveta closed the door behind them. “You may speak freely in here. Only Suizei has penetrated my fourth layer of wards. The poor thing still has three to go. I intend to allow him one more before I reorient the runes.”

  Vero collapsed onto a settee and said nothing.

  “You must be hungry, sweet one. My maidservant Natalia should be here with food for you soon. You were excellent, I couldn’t have asked for a better ally. Katya, go draw a bath for us. Then go fetch my medicine kit and a clean chemise for Vero.”

  A pale maidservant bowed and left.

  Vero’s head was pounding, and she struggled to stay upright. Elizaveta held her up and pulled off her soiled dress.

  “There we are, sweet one. You’ve done just perfectly. You can rest now, at least for a time.”

  Elizaveta assisted her into a bathing chamber with a large central basin, filled with water. The temperature was controlled by adding boiling water from a cauldron over a roaring fireplace. Elizaveta removed her own clothes, and the maid arrived with clean garments for them. They helped Vero into the water.

  Vero held up her uninjured hand when Elizaveta took the doctor’s bag. “Perhaps you had best give that to me.”

  “I’m not an animal, Vero. How are you planning on giving yourself stitches with one hand?”

  Vero hesitated a moment, then offered her open wrist. If Elizaveta wished her dead, she would be dead. Whether she trusted her or not, it was important for Elizaveta to believe Vero trusted her. She took a draught of poppy milk.

  Elizaveta held the arm before her. Her hand was cold against Vero’s skin. Elizaveta ran her tongue down Vero’s wrist. It was just as rough and dry as the Black Palatine.

  When she licked away the excess blood, she washed the wound with antiseptic. Her stitches were even, and she wrapped the arm tightly in the bandages. When she was finished, she recited a prayer to Mother Luna over the work.

  Elizaveta caressed Vero’s cheek. “There we are. That wasn’t so terrible, was it?”

  “We ran things rather close, didn’t we?”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.”

  It felt wonderfully warm in the water. Vero started to feel drowsy as the heat slowly thawed her frozen bones.

  The other maid arrived with thick stew in a trencher. There was no guarantee that this food would be any more or less palatable than that at dinner, but she was too exhausted for further suspicion. She greedily ate it all and asked for seconds.

  The broth was deliciously rich and salty. The meat tasted of bear to her, and was very tender. Subduing her hunger pangs helped to clear her head, but she still felt exhausted. The effects of digestion only made her more tired.

  They left the bath and the maids redressed them in sleeping shifts.

  Elizaveta put her arms around Vero’s waist and whispered into her ear, “It’s nearly dawn, I need to sleep for the day.”

  Vero decided to transition from defense to offense with a hope that the vampyre would not notice the change. She spun to face her, and returned the embrace. “I don’t want to be apart from you.”

  The vampyre’s flesh still felt warm from the heat of the bath, but it was already beginning to fade. Elizaveta looked at her oddly. “What is this curious game you’re playing, sweet one?”

  “Why don’t you look into my mind, if you wish to know?” She met Elizaveta’s gaze without flinching.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Because I promised you that I would not.”

  “Then it seems you have no choice except to play it with me, if you wish to learn more.”

  Elizaveta led her into the grand bedroom with an intrigued expression. They slipped into the bed together, before sliding back into one another’s embrace.

  Vero nestled her head against the vampyre’s breast, her heart was completely still. She felt Elizaveta’s fingers brushing through her hair.

  “Does it trouble you?” Vero asked.

  “Does what trouble me?” Elizaveta replied.

  “The coldness. The stillness- of death.”

  “It did once. A long time ago. As the centuries pass you cease to think of it. Now I hardly remember any other way of being.”

  “I’m sorry for you.”

  “That may be the first thing you’ve said to me this evening that I’ve really believed completely.”

  “I would only ever tell you the truth.”

  “Luna’s own, isn’t that right?”

  “Don’t ruin this moment for us.” Vero silenced the vampyre with a kiss.

  Elizaveta’s lips were cold, and her tongue was dry. Vero suppressed her sense of disgust.

  The vampyress responded to the kiss for a moment, before withdrawing. “I think you forget that I’ve looked into your mind once before. I already know the tactics you use to make others underestimate you. It’s very clever. Men are always slow to realize when a woman poses a threat to them.”

  “Some women make that same mistake.”

  “Yes, I know the eyes you look at women with.”

  “I think that you must look with those same eyes. Or am I only here to warm the bed?” Vero tried to offer another kiss.

  Elizaveta stopped her. “Why are you doing this?”

  “What a curious question to ask. You’ve saved my life and proposed an alliance. Now that I wish to acquiesce to you, you suspect me.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I find you beautiful. I only wish to give you what you want. If you prevent me, it’s your own loss.”

  Elizaveta laughed, then shook her head. “It’s too easy. If this were an earnest submission you would have resisted longer. I think you’re trying to manipulate me. Although I assure you that there is no need. We have the same goals.”

  “I hadn’t seen you but a moment while running for my life when you peered into my mind. If you wanted to know my true feeling for you, it would be simple for you to enter my mind now and see them.” Vero looked deep into the vampyre’s smoldering amber eyes.

  “I swore to you that I would not. How could I ever earn your trust if I were to so flagrantly break my word to you?”

  “Then you must trust me in return.”

  “What about Theodora?”

  Vero refused to show weakness, her hunt required nothing less. “She’s Virgil’s wife. And far away from here. I want someone for myself.”

  “You know that only one of us may hold the spear.”

  “I always loved helping Mama with the spinning; I have no fear of holding the distaff.” Vero tried to kiss her once more, but Elizaveta still held her at a distance.

  “You must think I’m a very great fool to fall for this ploy. The dead are not such slaves to their biology as the living. Your usual tricks won’t work on me.”

  “You won’t send me away, will you?” Vero let the fear tremble into her voice.

  “No, I-” Elizaveta allowed her closer, and Vero rested her head against the vampyre’s cold chest once more. “-I won’t. But please cease playing these games.”

  Vero did not smile, although she knew that she had won this particular battle. “I’m not playing… I’m alone. Unarmed. Afraid. You’re the only one who can protect me… I need you.”

  “Vero…”

  “I’ll give you everything you want.” Vero kissed her again, and Elizaveta could not hold her back any longer. Vero felt cold hands begin to explore the length of her body.

  It needed something more. Vero realized she needed one of those foolish questions she loathed to hear from a woman. The experience would not be quite right without it. “You’ll be kind to me, won’t you? My love?”

  “So long as you stay sweet to me.” Elizaveta mimicked the lower register Vero spoke at as Virgil.

  Vero realized the vampyre’s fingers were working a familiar pattern down her back. “What are-?”

  Elizaveta had finally found a way to regain the initiative, and smiled. “You liked it when Jean used to touch you just so, didn’t you?”

  “…Yes…”

  Watch what you say, slayer.

  “Will you promise to love me just as much as you loved him?”

  Vero did not believe she had enough control to tell that lie convincingly. “I can’t do that.”

  “That’s the second thing you’ve said that I’m certain is the truth.”

  Vero believed she had evaded the trap. “You may not be a slave to your biology, but I am. Will you make love to me now?”

  “As you wish, my Lady.”

  The vampyre’s flesh was warming again from their shared heat. Vero pressed her face to Elizaveta's chest. “Don’t stop, my love. Please.”

  “You like this?”

  “If you won’t read my mind, read my body.”

  “I can understand why your masters call you ‘flytrap’.”

  “Don’t be cruel to me. I can’t bear it.”

  “Your humors are sanguine,” Elizaveta told her, with a husky whisper in her ear. “Warm and wet. You do belong to me, don’t you?” Elizaveta asked.

  Vero opened her eyes and looked up at her. She nodded, but did not draw away from Elizaveta.

  “You’re a good girl, sweet one. Such a pretty little thing.”

  Yes, you think that, mused Vero.

  The best way to convince someone of something is to make it true.

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