“Stuff and nonsense!” Emily sat up. “He
was
your husband and you aren’t wearing garters. For that matter—” She paused as strong warm fingers moved under the mound of covers to wrap around one bare leg. “Neither am I. Ana, I need to speak privately with Val. Will you leave us if I promise to find some more nice graveyard dirt?”
“I don’t know that I shall ever leave. I am feeling cross.” Ana put her foot on the lump beneath the covers, and attempted to give it a good shove. “Burning acorns and mistletoe and oak to keep me away. That should be against the rules.”
“I’m not sure there
are
rules for things such as this,” said Emily. “If there are, I don’t want to know them, because I suspect it’s far better to make them up as one goes along. Now shoo.”
Ana folded her arms beneath her shapely bosom. “I won’t.”
“You will, else you make
me
cross.” Emily attempted to look stern, no easy undertaking in light of what those strong, warm fingers were doing to her leg. “If I can banish demons, I can surely get rid of one pesky ghost.”
Ana thrust out her lower lip. Emily raised her hand and began to chant. “Air, Fire, Water, Earth—”
“Oh, very well!” Ana disappeared.
The lump beneath the covers stirred. “Did you really get rid of her?”
“Temporarily.”
Val sat up
,
caught her hand, and raised it to his lips. “Miss Dinwiddie, you are remarkable.”
“No, I rather think you are, after last night. I had no idea… Well, I may have had a little, because Lady Alberta explained certain things. How Lady Alberta knows what she does,
I
don’t want to know, but she was almost prescient in predicting the effect of the negligee.” Emily glanced at that item, whose remnants lay in a frothy puddle on the floor. Val pulled her back down beside him on the bed.
She peered uncertainly into his face.
You won’t send me away?
Why would I do that?
Some idiotic nobility of character?
Vampires aren’t noble. Didn’t your literature tell you that?
Emily wondered who wrote those silly books. Val had been so concerned that she’d turn away from him after seeing his other form. She might have been annoyed with him for so misjudging her, were she not in such a splendid mood.
“It wasn’t so much a matter of misjudging you,” said Val. “As the inescapable fact that I am
vampir.”
“So? I’m freckled. It is much the same.”
“
What
did you just say?”
He was going to be difficult. Emily exhaled. “You are
vampir,
I have freckles. It’s what makes us different. I, for one, don’t believe that being different is necessarily a bad thing.”
“Your logic astonishes me. It is also beside the point.” Val rolled her over on top of him. “I won’t do it, Emily. I won’t make you like I am.” A pause, then he said casually, “You mean to leave soon?”
Emily rested her head on his shoulder. “That depends. Vampire you may be, but you’re
my
vampire, and I’m not going anywhere without you.”
Val smoothed his hand down her slender spine. Perhaps the events of the past few days had scrambled his brain. With his own excellent ears, had he not heard Emily invite Lady Alberta to return with her to England? As well as demand to take Jamie? “You can’t mean to abandon the Dinwiddie Society.”
“I’ve no intention of abandoning anything or anyone.” Emily’s voice was muffled by his chest. “I suspect there may be some other items of interest to you in our vaults.”
Val pulled her upright so he might see her face. “Not another amulet.”
Emily didn’t meet his gaze. “We could spend part of the year in England, and the rest anywhere you like. I haven’t forgotten that you promised to show me your dungeons.” She paused. He remained silent. “
Must
you make me say it? Very well. I need you, Val.”
“No, you don’t. Not really.” Val couldn’t help but feel a little sad.
Emily pinched him. “Impossible creature! Maybe I don’t need you to manage the Society, but I
do
need you. Prodigiously pushing as it may be of me to say so, I think you need me, too. How dare you smirk at me like that
?”
Val wasn’t smirking, not really, just looking very fond. Since Emily was also feeling fond, some time elapsed before the conversation resumed, at which point Emily was lying half on and half off the bed.
She straightened herself. “I dislike to point this out, but if you don’t bring me over — what
do
you call it? — you will stay all ripe and juicy while I shrivel up like an old prune.”
Emily sounded sublimely unconcerned. Val wasn’t deceived a bit. “It is most unlikely that you’ll shrivel. You have Cezar’s healing blood.”
“What does that mean?”
“We will have to wait and see.”
Emily was exceedingly tired of being told she must wait. However, Val had said ‘we.’
He had also reminded himself that he wished to count Emily’s freckles. Val had just reached two hundred when they were interrupted by a knock on the door.
Emily grabbed for the sheet. Val said, “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Emily looked down at her naked self.
“Now?”
“Enter!” He tucked the sheet up under her chin.
Jamie stepped into the room, gaped, clapped his hands over his eyes. “Crivvens! I shouldna be seein’ this.”
Emily squirmed about until she sat upright with the sheet clutched tightly to her bosom. “It’s all right, Jamie. Ravensclaw is coming back to England with us, so you might as well get used to such shocking sights.”
Beside her, Val stiffened. Emily nudged him with her elbow.
Aren’t you?
He looked down into her determined little face and gave up the struggle.
It would seem I am. You are my ailalta, Emily.
She was his
ailalta
? Emily flung her arms around Val’s neck. Jamie slipped away to the kitchen, there to inform the rest of the household, who had gathered to enjoy Mrs. MacCamish’s oatmeal bannocks, that Ravensclaw and Miss Emily were as comfortable together as an auld pair of slippers, and furthermore it was his considered opinion that Miss Emily was no longer unkenand.
The sound of a clearing throat came from the doorway, reminding Emily, barely in the nick of time, that she and Val were not alone. She snatched up her sheet, which during the exchange of adorations had become considerably disarranged.
Val watched her fondly. The die was cast. His fate was sealed.
I will accompany you to the edges of the earth,
he told her
. And beyond.
Edges of the earth?
Flower petals are involved.
Emily’s toes curled. She was very curious to learn more about those flower petals. But first—
She turned her attention to the man and woman who had entered the bedroom, and had waited patiently through this silent exchange. He was compact and muscular, with light brown hair and high cheekbones and strange yellow eyes. She was plump and black-haired with a triangular face and a pouting mouth. Neither seemed at all surprised to find Emily in Ravensclaw’s bed.
Val murmured, “Allow me to present my friends, Vasile Dragomir, also known as Drogo, and his wife, Michaela. Drogo and Machka were additional victims of Lisbet’s malice. With her departure, they were freed.” Drogo made an elegant bow. Machka yawned.
Forgetful of the sheet, Emily sat bolt upright. “Shapeshifters! Why didn’t anyone say? Will you please tell me what it’s
like
to be a shapeshifter? There are any number of things I would like to know!”
Drogo sat down on the edge of the bed. “Ask away, Miss Dinwiddie. We are in your debt.”
Machka leaned against his shoulder. “So we are. No more fleas.”
Already deep in questions, Emily reached for Val’s hand.
Ravensclaw?
Um?
I love you, too.
…
And so, a short time later, after various negotiations were concluded, and mysterious documents signed, Miss Emily Dinwiddie and Count Revay-Czobar wed in a simple ceremony performed by Cezar Korzha, who was among other things a Dacian priest. The ceremonies were enlivened by the bridegroom’s previous wife, who in honor of the occasion performed a dance of veils that was no less astonishing for her semitransparent state.
Young Jamie served as ring bearer, and filched not a single thing.
Zizi, Bela, and Lilian attended, in great good spirits, for it had long been obvious to them that Miss Emily was the master’s
ailalta,
and they were pleased that he finally had realized it himself. Drogo and Machka were also present, the latter becoming so moved by the occasion that she rubbed herself all over the former in a manner startlingly reminiscent of a cat in heat. Mrs. MacCamish prepared a special nuptial feast, in honor of which Lady Alberta left off her stays. Andrei Torok stood guard at the door.
It fell to Isidore to propose the wedding toast.
Nimic peste putinta la dragoste se-ntelege.
Love will find its way.
Ailalta—other
baiat—boy
Breasla-guild, brotherhood
Buna seara—Good evening
camarad—comrade
catea—bitch
Consiliu—council
Damnatiune!—Damnation!
Dudevite dracului!—Go to the devil!
Fraternitae—fraternity
Iubita-lover, sweetheart
La dracu!—Damn!
Dragul meu—my dear
Locotenent—lieutenant
Mea amant—my lover
neispravit—do-nothing, scamp
nelegiuit—evildoer
nefinistat—unfinished
pisica—cat, wild cat
prosti—fool
provocare—provocation, challenge
pusti—boy, lad
Roscat—redhead
Stapan—master
Strigoii—undead
Tâmpia—fool
Tradator—traitor
Vampir—vampire
Vraja—charm, talisman
zana—fairy
Zau!—really!
Vampire, Bespelled
The Purloined Heart
The Tyburn Waltz
A Respectable Female
Quin
Point Non Plus
An Extraordinary Flirtation
Lover's Knot
Love Match
Cupid's Dart
Lady Sherry and the Highwayman
French Leave
Our Tabby
Sweet Vixen
An Eligible Connection
Strange Bedfellows
Lady Sweetbriar
A Notorious Lady
Fair Fatality
The Misses Millikin
Jessabelle
Lady Bliss
A Banbury Tale
Lady in the Straw
Lord Fairchild's Daughter
El Dorado
Outlaw Love
Caprice
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictionally.
Copyright ©2005 by Gail Burch
Cover illustration ©bliznetsov/istockphoto.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
First publication September 2005 by Kensington Publishing Corp
Vintage Ink Press publication August 2014: ISBN: 978-0-9889799-4-9
Belgrave House/Regency Reads 9/2014: ISBN
9781610848633