Page 12 of Crimson Oath (The Firebird and the Wolf #2)

“Yes.” Sibella spoke frankly. “I’m saving up for a big purchase.

The girls where I come from, they know if they want to make real money, a year or two in Arosh’s compound is very profitable.

” She sat next to Tatyana and shrugged. “Donate your blood. Get paid very well.” She looked around.

“And live in luxury in the mountains while you’re here.

” She winked at Tatyana. “Maybe have your pick of the best-looking immortals in the court, starting with the king himself.”

Tatyana smiled. “So Arosh isn’t an old man?”

Sibella offered her a coy smile. “The Fire King is a god. Rules are a little different for gods, aren’t they?”

Tatyana laughed a little bit. “You’re funny.”

“I’m Poshani. Our humor is our greatest defense.”

“Poshani?” She’d never heard the name. “Is that where you’re from?”

“You’ve never heard of Poshani?”

Tatyana shook her head.

“Ah, you are new.” Sibella sat back and spread her arm over the back of the small couch, a tiny queen in her domain. “Poshani are a clan. We travel, like Roma people, but we’re a little… different.”

“Because you know about vampires?”

“Because we have a lot of them ourselves,” Sibella said. “Our clan leaders are all vampires. We work with them, we elect them to their positions, and they take care of us.”

Tatyana had never heard of such a thing. “So you’ve known about vampires…”

“My whole life.” She shrugged. “My uncle is a wind vampire now. Well, my great-uncle. He’s one of the Hazar of the kamvasa now.”

Tatyana shook her head. “I do not know what any of that means.”

“The kamvasa is…” Sibella pursed her lips. “Well, it’s our caravan. It moves in the spring, all around Eastern Europe. Poland, Belarus, Russia, Romania, of course. While the weather is warm, we move.”

“That sounds fun.”

A giant road trip with your friends and family. If Tatyana had a family like that, she’d never want to leave it.

“It’s our way of life.” Sibella looked into the distance. “It’s going to be hard remaining here for two years, but it’s the quickest way to get my own caravan.”

“Your own caravan? I thought you said?—”

“My own rig, I mean.” Sibella leaned forward. “A bus? A little trailer? Something like that. I don’t want to live with my parents forever.”

Okay, that made sense to Tatyana.

“I’ve been there.” She reached out and offered Sibella her hand to shake. “And to support you, I am happy to be your paying customer. Thank you for your blood.”

“Very nice to do business with you.” Sibella cocked her neck to the side.

Tatyana held up a hand. “Amnis?”

“Please.” Sibella nodded. “But no altering my memories.”

“I can do that.” Tatyana put her hand on Sibella’s arm and let her amnis creep up her skin, soothing her and lulling her into a dreamy, relaxed state.

“You know…” Sibella’s voice was already drowsy. “I have immortal family, but I don’t think I’d ever want to have to drink blood.”

Tatyana couldn’t blame her.

The young woman continued, “But my uncle seems happy enough to be a Hazar.”

Tatyana talked to her to gauge her mental state. “You told me about the kamvasa, but what’s a Hazar?”

“They’re… the guards.” Sibella’s shoulders relaxed, and her head dropped to the side. “On the kamvasa for… the paying guests.”

Tatyana had been about to lower her mouth to Sibella’s neck, but she pulled back when she heard what the woman had said. “What do you mean, paying guests?”

“Sometimes…” Sibella shrugged. “It’s worth a lot of money to vampires to be able to disappear.”

“Disappear?”

“The Poshani hide them,” Sibella whispered.

“I won’t know where they are. The vampires don’t even know where they are because the darigan move the kamvasa in daylight.

” Sibella giggled a little bit. “No one can find you. What do they call it in the movies?” She smiled.

“A safe house, yes? It’s like a… moving safe house. But for vampires .”

A moving safe house.

For vampires?

Tatyana felt her heart pick up, and Sibella’s blood wasn’t the only thing exciting her now. She lowered her head to Sibella’s throat and slid her fangs into the human’s neck.

Her blood was sweet and hot, sliding down Tatyana’s throat like nectar. She put her arm around Sibella’s back and drew her close, supporting her body as the young woman went limp in her arms.

Tatyana was going to drink fully that night.

And then Sibella was going to tell her more.

Kato was waiting for Tatyana in Arosh’s main hall when she finished feeding. The Fire King was seeing guests and holding court that night, settling disputes from vampires under his aegis, welcoming guests, and accepting gifts and tribute that poured in from Siberia to Central Asia.

“Good evening.” She sat next to Kato and glanced to his right. “No Alexander tonight?”

“He’s sleeping.” Kato put his arm across the back of Tatyana’s chair. “Arosh was looking for you earlier.”

“Oh?”

“Samson told him that you’d gone into the city again,” Kato murmured. “He wasn’t pleased, but he didn’t say anything to Samson.”

Because she was one of Samson’s favorites, and Tatyana was beginning to feel like her being friends with Samson was more of a liability for the wind vampire than a gift.

Two vampires stood in front of Arosh in the middle of the room, both with their heads bowed respectfully, as Arosh heard their dispute about a small river valley they both claimed in Chagan Basin.

“I’m looking at options right now.” Tatyana kept her voice as low as her mentor’s. “I might have an idea.”

“Keep in mind, I am your teacher,” Kato said. “I am willing to extend my connections.”

“In Greece?” Tatyana had always wanted to see the Greek Islands.

“Not Greece. I have extended clan in the Americas,” Kato said. “But if you are interested in Greece, I have a ceremonial seat in the court of Alitea. That is an option.”

Alitea was a hidden island in the Mediterranean and a very old seat of power for ancient immortals. “Alitea sounds?—”

“Of course, if you want to go to Alitea, you’ll be under Saba’s aegis.”

Tatyana remembered the ancient vampire who made even Oleg afraid.

No, thank you.

“I think there may be an option closer to home,” she whispered. “Do you know about the kamvasa?”

Kato was silent for a long time. “I know about it. I have never been a guest.”

She felt Arosh’s eyes on her when two representatives who looked like businessmen walked forward and spoke quietly to him.

Disputes were heard publicly, but they looked more like representatives from another court. They turned their heads and glanced in her direction.

“They’re from Alina’s court in Tbilisi,” Kato murmured. “Oleg recently visited Alina to discuss common interests. And possibly you.”

“How do you know? ”

“Because I spend time here instead of jetting off with wind vampires and playing on my computer.”

“I am not playing—” Tatyana swallowed her words when a vampire in front of them whipped his head around and looked straight at her.

“There is reality, and there is perception of reality.” Kato spoke in his teaching voice. “Tell me which is more important for you in this moment.”

“Perception of reality,” she murmured.

“Exactly.” Kato glanced at her from the corner of his eye, all the while facing Arosh’s seat of power with his arm stretched across the back of the settee, framing Tatyana with visible protection.

“You know what you are doing. I know what you are doing. But Arosh does not see you spending time in court, making alliances, or learning about the immortal world.”

The vampires from Alina’s court slunk away. Was slunk a word? They seemed to ooze away from Arosh until they were standing straight again, bowing toward him before they turned, both of them looking at Tatyana with pointed glares.

“Kato’s favorite,” Arosh called, “come to speak with me.”

“He’s going to try to interview you in front of the court, but don’t let him,” Kato said. “Request a private audience. Call on his mercy. He’ll give it to you if you say it’s for a matter of the heart.”

“A matter of the…” Tatyana stood and stepped quickly toward the center of the room.

The Fire King did not like to be kept waiting.

Before Arosh could speak, Kato’s words were tumbling out of her mouth. “Merciful Lord Arosh, if I could speak with you privately about a matter of the heart.”

For fuck’s sake, that could not work. She sounded like a fawning, sentimental fool who had a crush on her schoolmaster.

But while a “matter of the heart” might have made her blush as a human, Arosh seemed to consider it thoughtfully.

“Of course, my dear.” His voice instantly softened. “Please follow me.” He motioned her to the private chamber behind his throne, and Tatyana followed him in a slight daze.

It had worked?

Well, shit. What was her matter of the heart?

She had to think up a sad story and quickly.

Arosh sat on a low couch near a brass brazier with glowing coals and patted the seat next to him. “Come and sit with me.”

Tatyana sat in a slight panic.

“I can see that you are nervous to speak with me,” Arosh said. “But you may speak freely and depend on my confidence.”

“Thank you, Lord Arosh.” She stumbled, biding for time. “I’m sure this matter is… Well, I know how busy you are. How important the company gathered tonight must be.”

Arosh loved flattery. It was as good as food to him.

“You are a guest of my house.” The fire vampire put a hand on her back, his touch warm and comforting. “You must depend on my graces as your host. I can see you are conflicted, but why?”

“Because my… feelings.” Oh, she was terrible at this. He was going to know she was lying the minute she opened her mouth. “I know you want me to return to Oleg, but I’m afraid of him!”

Okay, that was the truth.

Arosh’s hand on her back paused. “Is this because Oleg was your lover and now you have feelings for my son Samson?”

Tatyana blinked. “I do have feelings for Samson.” Her voice was quiet. “But… my heart isn’t free from Oleg’s influence.”

It was the truth. The absolute truth.

Damn.

“Your mind is still very human,” Arosh said. “I have seen this before with newborn vampires. And though you are over a year immortal now, you are an infant in immortal life.”

“Yes, Lord Arosh.” He was right. She was still stumbling and bumbling most of the time.

“When it comes to matters of the heart, you still think like a human. Perhaps you believe you will have a singular, great love in this life.” He smiled indulgently.

“But that is rare for our kind. You will love many through the centuries, with many types of love. Leave room in your heart for many loves.”

“Thank you.” She turned to him, surprised by the understanding in his voice. “That is very wise.”

Arosh smiled kindly. “Would you like to have sex with me now?”

And there it was. “No, but… thank you.”

“I am only offering because it would give you great physical pleasure.” He patted her shoulder. “I do not have an interest in your heart.”

“And I appreciate your offer, but Samson is very dear to me.”

And vampire morals were flexible, but maybe not that flexible.

Arosh smiled. “Samson has the purest heart of any vampire I have ever known.”

“I agree,” Tatyana said. “But my heart isn’t pure. It’s twisted with worry for my mother and fear of how I am going to find my place in this world. Fear that I won’t be strong or smart enough to protect her. Fear that simply by being a vampire, I might be putting her in danger.”

“I hear that fear in your voice, but you also impress me, Tatyana Vorona.” Arosh leaned back.

“I admire your loyalty to your family—even though they’re human—and I believe you have the potential to be a force in our world.

I thought you would enjoy spending time in my court, but you seem to want to spend time with humans more than vampires. ”

“I appreciate my time in the court, and I will be loyal to Kato for the rest of my life.” It was the absolute truth. “But I am also conscious of finding my place in the wider immortal world as you suggested.”

He raised one dark eyebrow and pierced her with his hawklike gaze. “By spending time in human bars and clubs?”

Tatyana felt surer now. This she could explain. “By sending messages through my computer to those I know. My own allies, if you will. I hide in bars and clubs to use their resources.”

Arosh frowned. “I am listening and learning. ”

Surprisingly progressive of him. “I come from a generation that doesn’t send letters or use phones. We use our computers the same way you would send a messenger to a court.”

“I see more clearly now.” Arosh nodded thoughtfully. “I will tell you, Alina is not pleased that you dart in and out of her territory. She worries that it sends the wrong message to an ally that she must work closely with.”

“Oleg.”

Arosh nodded.

“I don’t want to attract his attention either, which is why I am looking at keeping a low profile, at least for another few months.”

“Not here?”

“Everyone knows that Oleg’s bookkeeper is in Arosh’s court,” Tatyana said. “How can I keep a low profile here?”

“And not in Alina’s territory?”

Tatyana shook her head. “I don’t want to put you or Alina in that position.”

Arosh leaned back. “Then where would you keep a low profile?”

“I don’t want to tell you exactly,” Tatyana said, “but it might be right under Oleg’s nose.”