Part 9 (1/2)
”The Renaissance is officially over, Mother, in case you haven't noticed. All society talks about is opera and the latest castrati.
No one cares about original thinking.”
His mother shook her head, exasperated. She picked up a parchment from her desk, but she only pretended to read it. She chewed her lip. Finally she looked up at him. ”You know what you need?” Her tone was too casual for his liking.
”I have no idea.” That at least was true.
”A woman.”
He chuffed a bitter laugh. ”I have plenty of women.”
”That's not what I mean and you know it.”
He looked away. ”I won't get entangled with a human woman just to watch her age and die, Mother. Your own experience is a lesson to me.”
Her eyes registered her hurt. He hadn't meant to hurt her. But he wouldn't let her push him either. She took a breath and answered. She had always been courageous. ”I loved your father well. The pain was worth it.”
”You didn't take another lover for two hundred years after he died.”
”I have had many lovers since.”
He simply raised his brows.
She colored, ”Very well. Not the same. But I keep looking. You never look at all.”
He shrugged. ”I decide quickly.”
She frowned at him. ”In one day?”
He rose, restless. ”How am I to impose what I am on any human woman? Aside from the pain of watching her age, how do you tell her you are something she considers a monster?”
”Then one of our own kind.”
”With only one to a city allowed? Short visits with permission. I've done that, Lord knows.” He'd done it with Elyta, to disastrous effect. She was still angry that he'd left her. Not that her heart had been engaged. Elyta didn't have a heart. She was just used to being the one to leave. He wouldn't repeat that particular mistake. ”It smacks of shopping at the Kasbah. 'May I stay in your city for a week to sample the goods?' And if by chance I did meet a female, and if by greater chance we suited, we could not live together. What life is that?”
”You always were one to obey the Elders' Rules.” She sighed.
”I come by it honestly. You did not make Father vampire because it is against the Rules.” He saw the pain in her eyes. Did she regret her choice? ”I would call that honor, by the way.” He tried to tell her she had done the right thing. He saw she didn't believe that anymore. ”The Rules are the only thing between us and chaos. Look what happened when Asharti made a vampire army. It was almost the end of everything.”
She looked away. She wouldn't be comforted even after a thousand years. ”And anyway, I'm dry inside, just dust. I've nothing to give.”
Her eyes softened. She smiled. That smile had always warmed him, inspired him. He wished it would do so now. He wanted to feel enthusiasm again, as she did. ”You're wrong, cara mia,” she whispered. ”You have so much to give.”
He couldn't smile in return. ”You're my mother. Of course you think that.”
She toyed with a quill on the desk. ”Elyta Zaroff was here yesterday. She said she came to see you. I was glad of that at first.”
His mother tapped the quill's feather to her chin.
”Elyta was here? Why didn't you tell me immediately?” Elyta had guessed he would come to his mother. How glad he was he had taken a devious route.
”Because then your attention would have been only for the problem she creates for you and I would not have been able to have my useless conversation about your future.”
He ignored her barb. ”What did you tell her?”
”The truth, of course, since I possess a cursed sense of honor. I said I hadn't seen you in two years. She seemed quite perturbed. Said I should give you a message when you arrived.”
”And?”
His mother shrugged and looked away. ”That it was a long way to Mirso.”
Gian let his breath whoosh out. There it was. Elyta was probably somewhere near even now. She would dog him to Mirso as he tried to take the stone to Rubius and the Elders for safekeeping. She was stronger than he, and she had threatened to bring other vampires. What was she planning? He glanced to the night outside the balcony. ”Were there others with her?”
His mother looked a little shocked that Elyta might have gathered vampires to her cause. Now that was against the Rules. ”Not to my knowledge.”
”Do you know where she's staying?” He'd better confront Elyta and be done with it. If there were others he'd need his mother's help. He'd brought trouble to her door. That thought produced a surge of guilt. But where else could he have gone once Kate was involved?”She isn't in Firenze. I revoked her welcome. I... I didn't like her tone.”
”And you think Elyta would respect your wishes?”
”I think she fears me.” His mother stood and drew up her diminutive frame. ”I am old, Gian. I've seen the pyramids built and the Tower of Babel. I am strong. She will not dare attack me. Which is why I am going with you to Mirso with the stone.”
”Out of the question.”
”You defy me?”
”You should be used to it by now.”
”But not in this matter, cara mia. You need me.” She touched his sleeve.
That was true, though not in the manner his mother intended. And with Elyta out of the city, they had a little time. He could not leave Firenze without providing for Kate. She not only needed money, but also his mother's protection from Elyta Zaroff. Elyta would make sure Kate didn't have the stone. At the least she'd send one of her minions to torture Kate and kill her. The journey to the Carpathian Mountains with Elyta stalking him would wait a day or two to be sure Kate was protected. He would get the stone to Mirso somehow. Maybe he would take it by sea from Ravenna through the Strait of Bosporus, into the Black Sea, landing at Varna, and from there into the Carpathians, Elyta would never expect that.
When he got back, if he got back, Kate would be gone. The dust inside him rose again, threatening to choke him.
Maybe he would stay at Mirso Monastery. He'd take the Vow and lock himself into a narrow existence of chanting and abstinence. Maybe, if he were lucky, his spirit would find peace. It was not a course of action his mother would condone.
So she need not know. Not now. ”There is one thing you can help me with.” He cleared his throat. Suddenly this was difficult.
”Well... the stone is in the possession of a young woman.” He saw his mother's wary look. ”She is asking... twenty thousand British pounds for it. And since I had to come away from Rome, I was unable to complete the transaction.”
His mother went still. That didn't mean she wasn't thinking.
”She's here, isn't she?”
There was never any hiding from his mother. ”She's sleeping in the Blue Room. I couldn't leave her in Rome. Elyta tried to kill her. I thought you could give her countenance, and... protection until she can get back to England.” He saw his mother's expression soften. ”It isn't what you think,” he hastened to add. He began to pace the carpet. ”She's an orphan of no birth, a trickster and a sham who bilks a gullible aristocracy for her living. She's hardened and cynical. Thinks the worst of everyone and... and she's disfigured by a scar.” He must prepare his mother for Kate's appearance. He didn't want Kate hurt by his mother's pity. She obviously didn't tolerate pity. And he hoped to G.o.d that his mother never tried to compel Kate by using the power of her Companion. The fact that she couldn't might truly shock his mother.
”In short, not your type at all.”
He stopped pacing and sighed, grateful for her understanding. ”Exactly.”
”And you want to pay the little mercenary off?”