Page 8 of Crimson Oath (The Firebird and the Wolf #2)

“Of course you are welcome. That blue is an excellent color on you.” Cora glanced at her, then back to the mirror. “There is a rack behind the door. You may hang it there.”

Tatyana turned and saw at least a dozen dresses in identical garment bags. “Thank you for the loan.”

“Of course, of course.” Cora carefully pitched her voice to be breezy, but Tatyana immediately sensed a thread of tension in her tone. “Since you are here, I need to speak to you about Lidi, Aisha, and Natia.”

Tatyana frowned and turned after she’d hung up the dress. “What about them?”

“You’re paying all of them for their blood.” Cora didn’t look away from the mirror. “And only them?”

“Kato told me a human should only give blood once every three months.” Tatyana was confused. “And that I need to feed from a living donor at least once a month.” She could pay for blood-wine and donated blood, but Tatyana had to admit that she felt stronger after feeding from live donors.

“Yes, of course you should buy blood from those willing to give it,” Cora said. “This is obvious.”

“So have Natia, Aisha, or Lidi complained? If I’ve done something wrong, I apologize. I don’t want to use the excuse that I am young, but some of the etiquette here?—”

“No, it’s not that.” Cora waved a hand at her.

“I do not understand what you’re trying to say.” Tatyana thought she’d perfected the balance of lulling humans into a relaxed and pleasant state without awakening their lust.

That had been a surprising and revelatory lesson the first few times Kato had overseen her feeding from a live donor. Multiple lessons were learned.

Cora continued, “According to the girls, you’re far more considerate than the men who visit the court.”

Were all humans this frustrating? Or had she simply become more impatient with doublespeak? “I continue to not understand the problem. ”

Cora finally turned from the mirror, a slight frown resting between her eyes. “Are you doing it for economy? I know you are young. Is buying bagged blood less money than paying the girls?”

“No. It is more expensive.”

Cora’s eyes went wide. “So why are you feeding from only three of my girls?”

“Isn’t it slightly…” How could she explain? Paying for blood felt a little like paying for sex. “Isn’t it exploitive?”

“Why would you say that? We don’t force them to give their blood.

” Cora appeared to be offended. “Most of these girls have no money. None. You are a nice vampire. You have money. They don’t need a pleasant ear or a polite smile from you.

They need money if they’re going to make some kind of life other than this. ”

Tatyana was starting to see what Cora was getting at.

Arosh paid for everything his women might need, but he didn’t give them a salary. Their life could be fully provided for, but it would only ever be what he gave them.

For some of the women, it was all they wanted. Safety. Pleasure. Companionship.

But any money or gifts they received from vampires they entertained was theirs alone.

If they found a patron or a lover among his guests, the Fire King wished them well and sent them on their way.

The majority of the younger women left when they’d saved enough money to have a different life and could start fresh in a new place.

Tatyana hadn’t put together that by only feeding from the same three women, the rest of the harem might be offended.

“It would be one thing if you had a romantic relationship with one or all of the girls, but they say…” Cora shrugged. “You don’t appreciate women that way.”

“I do appreciate them,” she said, “but not sexually. I wish I could like women more than men,” she muttered. “It seems simpler.”

“Eh.” Cora shrugged. “Relationships are drama no matter who they are with. You’re a young vampire; you’ll branch out.” Then she pointed at Tatyana directly. “But while you’re here and have money, you pay my girls. You have everything, and they have nothing. You pay in gold, yes?”

Samson had helped her change some of her gold bars to gold coins.

“Yes, I have gold.”

“Good. Then stop paying Arosh’s men to fetch you bagged blood when there are women who need the money right here.

” She pointed toward the courtyard outside her house.

“You’re a vampire now. You’re not going to be their friend.

You’re not going to be their sister. But you can be their patron.

You can help them survive. Do you understand me now? ”

Tatyana nodded. It was another lesson. Another revelation.

She wasn’t in a dormitory of potential friends; she was a water vampire who needed blood. These women could provide it, but this was a transaction, not a friendship.

Cora turned back to the mirror. “If you need some ideas for girls who would suit you, let me know what you’re looking for. That’s what I do, Miss Vorona.”

“Perhaps you should give me a list of girls who need some income,” Tatyana said. “You know them better than I do.”

“Excellent. I will have a list sent to you within the hour, but Karolina would be a good one tonight.”

Tatyana could tell from Cora’s tone of voice that it had been exactly the response she wanted from her.

Know your place, vampire.

You’re useful to us, just as we are to you.

They were not here to be Tatyana’s friends.

Oleg brushed strands of her hair back from her forehead. “She has to be practical. It’s not about you; it’s about taking care of her people.”

“Like you take care of your people?”

“Yes.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into his body. “I’ll take care of you. Did I not satisfy you enough tonight?”

His skin was warm and heated when it touched her. She could feel his amnis brushing against hers. Familiar, wanting. Even though there was nothing between them, their energy still pulled them closer.

He bent his head to her neck and licked along her collarbone before he trailed his fangs along the sensitive skin of her neck.

Soft lips nibbled under her ear, and she smiled when his beard tickled her skin.

“You took care of me very well.” She put her arms around his shoulders and tried to pull him closer. “Very, very well.”

Closer.

He reached down and ran his fingers along her thigh, drawing it up and over his leg, opening her body to the length of him that lay hard between them.

“Tatyana,” he whispered. “Why did you run?”

“You would be my whole world.” She closed her eyes and reveled in the pleasure he pulled from her body. “We both know how it would be.”

“Yes. Because you are mine.” He kissed across her jaw until his lips hovered over hers. “You belong to me only. Not to anyone else. Only to me.”

She met his eyes, dark storm grey like the clouds before it snowed. Burning cold into her very soul. He sucked the breath from her lungs when he looked at her that way. “Why do I dream about you?”

“Because you know that you’re mine.” His lips landed on hers, and she closed her eyes.

You know that you’re mine .

You know that you belong to me.

Tatyana blinked awake, her body flush with unsatisfied yearning for the vampire who consumed the few moments of dreaming that eternity granted her.

Was it him? Did he have some magical power to send these constant dreams to her? Why were the few moments in time when she could dream about her human life consumed by the very being who’d caused her to lose it?

Her emotions swung between fury and grief.

She’d never wanted this. She didn’t want to be a vampire.

She’d wanted to be an accountant. She wanted to have a boring office job in a medium-sized city, meet some nice man she could tolerate and have a few children.

Take summer holidays on the farm where she’d spent her childhood.

Watch her babies grow up. Help them with their schoolwork.

Take them to dance class or tennis practice.

Tatyana felt hot, blood-tinged tears track from the corners of her eyes.

But she couldn’t even have that. After years of taking care of her mother and working for others, she was deprived of even a hint of normal life.

She would never see the sun again. She would never know what it meant to be a mother. She would never wade in the sunshine along the shallow water of the Black Sea or sit on a dock and fish while she watched the sunrise.

The most mundane human activities now felt like precious pearls that had been ripped from her neck and scattered on the ground while other, more powerful feet stomped on her simple dreams.

Stop. Tatyana heard her mother’s voice in her mind. Just stop it. No more of this morbid talk. You could have died, and you didn’t. You should be grateful.

To be a vampire?

Yes, she should be grateful. Would she rather be dead?

She didn’t want that. It might be coming for her, but she would fight it.

Because now she had fangs.

Some nights Tatyana felt like she was living on borrowed time, and in those moments—like those desperate, breath-catching moments when she’d been standing in the middle of Arosh’s guests—she realized that she was nobody in this world.

Then again, she’d been a nobody as a human. At least now she had gold, fangs, and could only be killed by fire or a sword to the neck.

And that…

That was not nothing.