Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood 6)

Qhuinn stood and went to the mirror. "I like it."

"Good thing," V said dryly as he came over and smoothed some clear ointment over the ink.

"Can you do one other for me?"

V glanced over at Wrath, then shrugged. "Whatchu got?"

Qhuinn pointed to the back of his neck. "I want 'August eighteenth, 2008,' in the Old Language here. And don't make it small."

Today's date, John thought.

V nodded. "Okay. I can do that shit. Hafta be in black, though. That red is only for specials."

"Yeah. Good." Qhuinn went back to the bed and shuf fled around so he was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the mattress. Bending his head, he bared his nape. "And spell out the numbers, please."

"Gonna be big."

"Yup."

V laughed. "I like you, true. Now hold your chain up and let me get to work."

It went relatively quick, the whine of the ink gun fluctuating like a car engine, revving and settling, revving and settling. V added a nice artistic swirl underneath the design, then ran it all around, so the tattoo looked like a fancy plaque.

This time, John stood behind V and watched the whole thing. The three lines of text were gorgeous, and given how long Qhuinn's neck was and how short he kept his hair, they would always show.

John wanted one. But what would it be?

"You're solid," V said as he wiped the skin with the once-white cloth, which was now covered with smudges.

"Thank you," Qhuinn said as V smoothed on more of that ointment, the fresh ink vivid against his golden skin. "Thank you very much."

"You haven't seen it yet. For all you know, I could have inked 'jackass' back here."

"Nah. I never doubt you," Qhuinn said, grinning up at the Brother.

Vishous smiled a little, his hard face with its tattoos showing approval. "Yeah, well, you aren't a flincher. Flinchers get f**ked. The steady ones get the goods."

V clapped palms with the guy, then packed up and took off while Qhuinn went into the bathroom and used the hand mirror to see the work.

It's beautiful, John signed from behind him. Really beautiful.

"It's exactly what I wanted," Qhuinn murmured as he looked at the ink that covered the whole back of his neck.

When the two of them returned to the bedroom, Wrath put his hand in his back pocket, took out a set of car keys, and gave them to Qhuinn. "These are to the Mercedes. You go anywhere with him, you take that car until we can get you other wheels. The thing's bulletproof, and faster than anything else on the road."

"Can I still take him to ZeroSum?"

"He's not a prisoner."

John stamped his foot and signed, I'm also not a pu**y.

Wrath barked a laugh. "Never said you were. John, give him the passwords to all the doors and the tunnel and the gates."

"What about classes?" Qhuinn asked. "When they start up again, do I stay with John then, even though I'm kicked out?"

Wrath went over to the door and paused. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Future's kind of unclear. As f**king usual."

After the king left, John thought about Blay. The guy really should have been with them for all of this.

I'd like to go to ZeroSum, he signed.

"Why? 'Cause you think it's going to get Blay out?" Qhuinn went over to the briefcase and loaded the other gun, the clip sliding into place with a whisper and a click.

You need to tell me what's doing. Now.

Qhuinn put on the holster and plugged the weapons in under his armpits. He looked... powerful. Deadly. With his cropped dark hair and those piercings in his ear and that tat underneath his blue eye, if John hadn't known the guy, he would have sworn he was looking at a Brother.

What happened between you and Blay?

"I cut him loose, and I was cruel about it."

Good God... Why?

"I was on the way to jail for murder, remember? He'd have eaten himself alive worrying about me. It would have ruined his life. Better that he hate me than be lonely for the rest of his days."

No offense, but are you really that important to him?

Qhuinn's mismatched eyes drilled into John's. "Yes. I am. And don't ask any questions about that."

John knew a boundary when he saw it: Conversationally speaking, he'd just run into a concrete wall with barbed wire around it.

I still want to go to ZeroSum, and I still want to give him a chance to meet us out.

Qhuinn pulled a light jacket from his bag and seemed to gather himself as he put it on. When he turned back around, his characteristic smart-ass smile was back in place. "Your wish is my command, prince of mine."

Don't call me that.

As John headed for the exit, he texted Blay, hoping the guy would show eventually. Maybe if he was bugged enough he'd relent?

"So what should I call you?" Qhuinn said as he leaped ahead to open the door with a flourish. "Would you prefer 'my liege'?"

Give it a rest, would you.

"How about good ol'-fashioned 'master'?" When John just glared over his shoulder, Qhuinn shrugged. "Fine. I'll go with fathead then. But that's your damage, I gave you options."

Chapter Thirty-one

There were two things the glymera liked above all else: a good party and a good funeral.

With the slaughter of Lash's parents, they had both.

Phury sat in front of the computer in the training center's office, a headache directly behind his left eyeball. He felt like the wizard was taking an ice pick to his optic nerve.

Actually, it's a drill, mate, the wizard said.

Right, Phury thought. Of course it is.

Is that sarcasm? the wizard said. Ah, right. You'd planned to be a washed-up junkie and a disappointment to your brothers, and now that you've succeeded you're getting cheeky. You know, perhaps you should start a seminar for others. Phury, son of Ahgony's ten steps to success at being an utter, irredeemable failure.

Shall I get the ball rolling? Let's start with the basics: being born.

Phury planted his elbows on either side of the laptop and rubbed his temples, trying to stay grounded in the real world instead of the wizard's boneyard.

The computer screen in front of him glowed, and as he stared at it, he thought of all the shit that was coming into the Brotherhood's general e-mail box. The glymera just wasn't getting it. In the message he'd sent out to them, he'd reported on the attacks and urged the aristocracy to get out of Caldwell and take shelter in their safe houses. He'd been careful with the wording, trying not to incite panic, but evidently, he hadn't been dire enough.

Although you'd think the slaughter of their leahdyre and his shellan in their own home would be enough.

God, there had been so much death from the Lessening Society last night and tonight... and given the glymera's responses, there was going to be more. Soon.

Lash knew where every single aristocratic family lived in town, so there was a chance that a significant portion of the glymera was at risk for exposure. And the poor kid didn't have to give each of the addresses out under duress, either. If the lessers got into just a couple of those homes, they'd find clues to so many others - address books, party invitations, meeting schedules. Lash's leaks were going to be like an earthquake hitting a fault line, blowing the whole landscape apart.

But was the glymera going to be smart about the threat? No.

According to the e-mail he'd just gotten from the Princeps Council's treasurer, the idiots were not going to their safe houses. Instead, they had to mourn this "staggering loss of such a well-appointed male and female of worth" by throwing another party.

No doubt so that they could wage a power struggle for who would be the next leahdyre.

And in closing? The guy had tacked on a little ditty that the glymera's Council would be collecting on the debt owed to Lash's family as a result of Qhuinn's actions.

Well, weren't they givers. It wasn't like they wanted the cash for themselves to... say... fete a new leahdyre. Oh, hell, no. They were "safeguarding the important precedent of ensuring that bad deeds were punished."

Sure they were.

Thank God Qhuinn was free of them, although Wrath's appointment of the kid as John's ahstrux nohtrum was a shocker. Bold move, especially as it was retroactive. And just over what appeared to be a fight that Qhuinn had stopped in an inappropriate way? There had to be something more to what had happened in that shower, something that was being kept on the down-low. Otherwise, it made no sense.

The glymera was going to know Wrath was protecting Qhuinn, and the appointment was going to come back to bite the king at some point. Even so, Phury was glad that was the way it had all shaken out. John, Blay, and Qhuinn had been the cream of the trainee crop, and Lash... well, Lash had always been trouble.