The Relic (Cradle of Darkness 2)

“There are portraits of her from when she was younger. I will have one brought to you before sunrise.” I could hear the smile in his voice. “You’ll see much more of yourself, all the softness. She hides it now with her paint and sharp tongue, because she believed her humanity a weakness. But you are very much a part of her. As Jade grows in confidence as a queen, she will let go of the idea of being only part of herself and embrace the whole.”

Watching me, Jade unconsciously touched elegant fingertips to a ruby encrusted contraption circling her throat. It was similar to mine in the sense that it covered from jaw to collarbone, but far less delicate than the collar around my neck.

Even from a distance, I could tell it made her uncomfortable. That it must chafe and be difficult to move in. Edges of it even appeared sharp, a constant scratch against delicate skin.

Leaning farther into my personal demon’s warm embrace, I whispered, “You said her throat would be bare.”

I felt him smell my hair, nuzzling into me intimately no matter who darted startled looks in our direction. Positively sentimental, he cooed, “Isn’t it romantic? Malcom won’t let her take it off, though it clings and annoys. He wants his love to know he’s always there and she’s always his.”

I didn’t like that one bit.

“She fights it, believes she hates it. But she’s lying to herself. That girl needs the reminder as much as she needs his rule. Jade might be Queen of the Americas, but he is her custodian. And I swear to you, all life on the planet is safer for it. Your daughter is a right bitch when she’s in a temper.”

Hissing under my breath, I dared break the spell of observation and cut a glance back to the man who insulted my daughter. “Don’t say that about her!”

Vladislov chuckled. “She has your fire too. I doubt you realize how fierce you can be. Not one in a billion would dare speak to me as you do. Not even Darius had the balls. That makes you better than him.”

I had never been fierce a day in my life. Women were intended to be meek. Which led to the oddest feeling that I had just been insulted.

Which, of course he knew. He even laughed. “You pretend to be meek, because that is what you believed was expected of you. But you’ve ripped out more than one throat in your lifetime—you just have to be pushed far enough to snap. You fought your tormentor for your baby. And you’re here, in the midst of the most powerful of our kind, staring down a woman who dislikes your presence… because you are her mother and you have every right to do so.”

I began to tune out Vladislov’s latest soliloquy just as I would tune out my patrons when I walked from table to table offering cigarettes. In that moment, it didn’t matter what he thought. All that mattered was my girl.

Who had caught herself touching the collar and pulled her hand away as if mildly embarrassed. Until a man with hair as bright as hers was dark approached and took her in his arms.

“Malcom. You can say his name.”

She glowed, leaned into him, forgot about me entirely.

“Jade is an absolute fool for that boy.”

Malcom. That boy. Very normal terms for the veritable angel who had beaten me against a brick wall all those years ago, breaking my jaw as he ripped out my fangs. I could still hear him laughing as I wept, that memory more real to me than the horror I imagined Jade’s birth to be.

“Shhhh, don’t tremble, Pearl.” Warmth stroked over my arms, a deep male voice offering comfort. “He is forbidden from so much as glancing in your direction. And rightly concerned that I might change my mind about his continued existence.”

My Jade so clearly adored him that should Vladislov dare to harm a pale hair on Malcom’s head, I’d be very upset.

Vladislov didn’t even try to conceal his irritation. “I know, which is what makes this so unfair to me. How am I supposed to relax when I really want to do unspeakable things but can’t because it will upset you? Pity me.”

“You’re being ridiculous.” And oddly cute with the whining. Whining that worked its magic and left me smirking instead of afraid.

Like an eager puppy, Vladislov curled around me. “I promise to behave if you’ll give me one kiss.”

One kiss, quickly given before he might try to distract me further or delve his hands back into my dress.

Even with the complete lunacy of the situation, it was as if a spark snapped when our mouths met. Chaste yet lingering. When it ended, Vladislov looked down at me, eyes glowing, a soft smile on his lip. “Now, shush. It’s beginning.”