Saba said, “Inaya, daughter of Lagides, regent of Libya and the upper Nile, we thank you for your welcome.” She looked around at the bowed vampires around her. “Your people honor us with their greeting.” Then Saba strode forward to the black-clad man. “No bow from you, old friend?”

The voice that spoke from the shadows said, “When have you ever needed a bow to be queen?”

Saba laughed and Inaya joined her. Their hostess clapped her hands and the musicians started again.

“We feast!” she called out. Then Inaya’s dark eyes turned to Makeda as human servants burst through side doors and flooded from the corners of the room.

“She is such a bitch!” Makeda hissed as Lucien locked the door behind Kato. They were in a small room off the main hall where Lucien had taken Makeda after the entrance of the human servants. Makeda had stopped breathing as soon as she smelled them. Kato and Lucien had rushed her into the isolated room. Inaya had even come in a few moments later with a feigned apology that left Lucien fuming and Kato unamused.

Makeda, through it all, remained utterly silent and completely stoic. She didn’t breathe. She didn’t speak. She barely even blinked. Inaya might have been a four-hundred-year-old vampire, but she was also the same as every childhood tormenter Makeda had ever faced. She was looking for a reaction, and Makeda refused to give it to her.

It was only after Kato had left with Inaya that Makeda let her temper fly.

“Bitch,” she said again. “Petty, shit-starting—”

“She can probably hear you outside,” Lucien said.

“I don’t care. Bitch.”

Lucien bit back a smile and pulled Makeda onto his lap, falling into a low couch in the corner of the room. He propped his chin on her shoulder and said, “You handled that extremely well.”

“She’s a bitch.”

“She wanted to amuse herself. If you’d bitten one of the humans, it would have been a faux pas. As it is, you didn’t, which only makes Saba and Kato look more impressive. Everyone in her court knows you’re practically a newborn. The fact that you maintained control—even if you had to leave the room—only makes you look good and Inaya look petty.”

“Because she’s a petty bitch.”

“She’s actually quite amusing, but she has an odd sense of humor.” He nuzzled her neck. “This worked out rather well for me. I get you on my lap, smelling delicious and looking polished as a jewel. I don’t have to sit through the protocol. And I can just meet everyone for the private dinner later to negotiate business.”

“Private dinner?”

He waved a hand toward the door. “This is all for show. Half the vampires out there know next to nothing about politics. They are favored children or visiting business acquaintances invited to share the spectacle of a royal visit. The real business will happen afterward.”

“Do I need to be there for it?”

“Yes. Otherwise, you will look like the petty one.”

Makeda fought back the urge to grumble and focused on the pleasant feeling of Lucien’s arms wrapped around her. She carefully took deep breaths of the human-tinged air, forcing herself to become desensitized to the draw of it. Lucien didn’t try to interrupt or ask what she was doing.

Within half an hour, her fangs had retracted, her heart had calmed, and she sat quietly on Lucien’s lap, breathing in the laced air and feeling nothing more than hunger pangs she could ignore with enough focus.

“You’re amazing,” he murmured.

“No, just stubborn.”

“You don’t forget lessons.”

Makeda thought of the childhood tears, the culture shock, and the isolation. “Not even if I try.”

He kissed her neck. “I’m so glad you’re here with me,” he whispered. “Thank you.”

Her heart turned dangerously soft.

He can hurt you! A frightened voice whispered in the darkness of her mind. Lucien’s soft wounds would be more violent than the twisted metal that had taken her life.

She turned her head and put her lips against the bruise on his neck, grounding herself in his taste and scent.

Yes, he could hurt her. But she could hurt him too.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Lucien found Makeda and Inaya sitting in Saba’s courtyard. Makeda was staring silently at Inaya with that maddeningly blank look she’d often worn when Lucien first knew her.

Inaya was clearly fascinated. “You’re very beautiful.” She leaned toward Makeda. “Can I kiss you? I would give you such pleasure, young one. What would you like to try? Another woman? Two men? Come visit my harem and take your pleasure where you will.”

Makeda blinked but said nothing as she sipped the fragrant tea that had been served with honeyed almonds and dried fruit after the dinner.

Lucien sat next to Makeda, keeping his hands to himself as he stared at Inaya. “Hello, Inaya.”

“She’s covered in your scent,” Inaya purred. “A stunning woman, Lucien.”

“She’s also quite capable of hearing you.”

Inaya raised her eyebrows. “And? If she wants to speak, she’ll speak.”

“Why the stunt at dinner?”

“I was bored.” Inaya looked back to Makeda. Lucien could hardly blame her. With her hair twisted back from her sculpted face and her curls spread out in a wild crown of gold, brown, and black coils, Makeda was resplendent. Her impassive expression and silence only made her more regal. They were waiting for Saba, Ziri, and Kato to confer privately before they joined the others for tea and sweets.