Immortals After Dark 12 - Lothaire

chest. “Is that why you didn’t ask him to use it? Because you feared my reprisal?”
    “True, I didn’t want you to cut off his hand. But I also held back for another reason.” At Hag’s questioning expression, Ellie said, “I’m Lothaire’s Bride, aren’t I?”
    She abruptly turned to arrange a towel on the rack. “Why do you ask me this again?”
    Ellie pulled on her shirt. “There was a moment in the fray when he seemed . . . dumbstruck as he looked at me.”
    The last twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster for Ellie. Last night, she’d accepted her end. Now, something had changed.
    How could Ellie believe Lothaire would condemn her after his obvious worry, his panic?
    “It doesn’t matter whether you are or not, Elizabeth. He needs Saroya to claim the Horde crown.”
    “Because he’s illegitimate.”
    Hag hesitantly nodded.
    “Why can’t he just use the ring to get it? Lothaire told me it could do just about anything.”
    “You can only use it so many times before your wishes begin to go awry. Besides, without Saroya by his side, there would be countless rebellions.”
    “I don’t understand. Saroya has no powers.”
    “The Horde will only accept a royal vampire heir, or one married to a royal. . . .”
    “Or a former vampire goddess.”
    “Exactly. And since he plans to use the Horde to take over the Daci, Saroya equals two crowns.”
    Ellie equaled nothing.
    Doesn’t matter if I’m his Bride. He’d have to want her more than he did those thrones.
    When Ellie finished dressing, Hag said, “Again, you can’t tell Thad anything that might get in the way of Lothaire’s plans.”
    “I’ve got it. But hey, you don’t tell the kid that I was in prison for murder, okay?”
    Hag nodded in agreement, and they returned to the kitchen.
    At once, Thad stood up from his seat at the counter. What a gentleman.
    He was dressed in worn jeans that highlighted his powerful legs and a plain black T-shirt that stretched over his well-developed pecs.
    The kid was built like a linebacker.
    “You got your color back, Ellie. You’ll be right as rain by the time
Mr. Lothaire returns.”
    As Hag continued her work on the new potion base, Ellie took a seat beside him.
    “Tell me how you and my bro met,” Thad said, his eyes excited.
    Up close, she could see they were hazel with vivid blue flecks. “Um, Hag brought us together,” Ellie answered vaguely.
    He frowned at the word Hag .
    “I mean, Balery used her foresight and all.”
    “Those oracles”—he smiled over at the fey—“always helping folks out.”
    Bite your tongue, Ellie. “So you . . . you can’t truly be friends with Lothaire?”
    “I am, ma’am,” he replied proudly, his chest bowing. “I’m fairly sure I’m his only friend.”
    Why did that make her heart clench? She hated Lothaire more than ever after last night. Didn’t she?
    Surely she did. Yet something else was stirring inside her. Ellie didn’t dare name it because that would confirm she was a fool.
    I’m nobody’s fool, least of all Lothaire’s.
    He might have changed the way he looked at her, but she was still fresh from sobbing about her upcoming execution. Not to mention this morning’s trip— “Wait, did you call me ma’am ? I’m not much older than you are. You look like you’re twenty.”
    “Just turned seventeen.” In a matter-of-fact tone, he said, “Everybody thinks I’m older ’cause I’m so tall and built.”
    Hag muttered, “That you are.” After clearing her throat, she asked,“How did you meet Lothaire? We find you an unlikely acquaintance for him.”
    “He and I were both captured by these human soldiers, then imprisoned on this island to be tortured and experimented on and everything.”
    “Oh, my God, that’s awful!” Ellie said, briefly clutching his brawny arm. “Why would they do those things to you?”
    “They’re called the Order. They consider immortals miscreats —miscreations. Abominations and all. They plan to exterminate every last one of us.”
    “How did you get taken?”
    “It’s the damnedest thing. I’d just gone to pick up a girl to take to the movies, worried about nothing more than Eagle Scouts, my curfew—and maybe stealing a kiss from my date.” He winked at Ellie, and she felt like fanning herself. “Next thing I know, I’m waking up in a holding tank with all these creatures. That’s when I flipped out.”
    “It must have been terrifying.”
    “Well, it wasn’t a June picnic,