Freya snorted. “I wonder what for.”
“He said he gave Neona a watch.” Tashi looked around the room.
Neona motioned to her clothes piled on Freya’s bed. “In the pouch.”
Tashi and Freddie jumped at her clothes and searched through them.
“I found it!” Freddie pulled the watch out. “Good heavens! It’s beautiful!”
Tashi touched it reverently. “The cat sparkles.”
“There’s a cat?” Freya ran to look. “I love cats!” She took the watch from her sister. “I wish a man would give me presents like this.”
“There are presents for us, remember?” Freddie sat on the edge of her bed. “At our father’s cabin.”
“This is so exciting!” Freya admired the watch, then grinned at Neona. “You’re so lucky!”
Neona sighed. How could it be lucky to fall in love with a vampire? She hated to admit it, but that was what he had to be. It explained his fangs and his ability to move quickly. The red glowing eyes must have been real. Was that a sign of hunger? When she spent the night with him, would he see her as his bride? Or would she be the wedding feast?
Tashi sat on the bed next to Freddie. “Maybe we should accept Neona’s man. After all, he’s Dohna’s son. And he wants to help us defeat Lord Liao.”
Freya set the watch down on the bedside table. “I wonder if he has any friends. It’s so hard to find suitable men around here.”
Tashi shrugged. “I found one.”
Freddie grinned. “We thought you had.”
Tashi nodded. “I only get to see him once a month.” Her shoulders slumped. “I’m tired of keeping it secret. And I’m so tired of going all the way to the village to see him. I wish I could live there. Or he could live here.”
Freddie winced. “The queen would never allow it.”
Tashi sighed. “I know.”
As Neona dragged a comb through her long, wet hair, she wondered if it was time for some changes in their world. Why did Tashi have to endure such a sad situation? Minerva had been miserable, too. So miserable she’d lost the will to live.
Neona bit her lip, knowing her thoughts were verging on mutiny. “If you love him, you should go live with him. What can the queen do to you? Kick you out? That would be exactly what you want.”
The other women gasped.
“But our sacred duty,” Freya whispered.
“It would continue. As long as the rest of us are here.” Neona gave Tashi a sympathetic look. “I don’t want you to be miserable.”
Tashi’s eyes glimmered with tears. “I thought about running away with him. After all, I had two sisters who could look after my mother and grandmother. But I never expected to lose them in battle. Grandmother, too. My mother is in so much pain. How can I leave her now?”
Neona nodded. It was almost three weeks now since the battle, but the emotional wounds were still raw for those who had survived.
Freya sniffed. “I wish that battle had never happened. How could we lose five of us?”
“I know!” Freddie jumped to her feet. “We’ve never lost anyone before. We’ve always been victorious!”
Tashi grimaced. “I’ve fought more battles than I can remember. We never had any trouble defeating the enemy.”
“We never fought a vampire before,” Freya muttered.
“True. We always fought mortal men.” Tashi shuddered. “That damned vampire.”
Freddie clenched her fists. “I hate vampires!”
Neona winced. How could she ever tell the other women that Zoltan was undead? Her mother was already looking for a reason to kill him. “Maybe some vampires are good. Like that Russell guy. He saved the queen’s life.”
Tashi tilted her head, considering. “I didn’t know what to make of him. It seems strange for a vampire to be good.”
Freya nodded. “It’s like calling the sky green or the grass blue.”
“But he did save my mother’s life,” Neona insisted. “And he promised to kill Lord Liao for us.”
Freddie shrugged. “If you can believe a promise from a vampire.”
With a sigh, Neona resumed her task of combing her hair. “It’s not just Lord Liao who’s the problem. His soldiers were different. Stronger and faster than any mortal men I’ve ever seen.”
Freddie nodded. “That’s true. There was something bizarre about them.”
Freya waved a hand in dismissal. “Let’s not talk about the battle anymore. We should be celebrating! Neona’s found a gorgeous man, and soon we’ll have a new baby girl!”
How could she spend the night with a vampire? With trembling hands, Neona struggled to get the comb through a tangle in her hair.
Tashi gave her a worried look. “I hope you don’t fall in love with him. You know what will happen once you’re pregnant . . .”
The comb slipped from Neona’s hand, dropping with a splash into the bathwater. She couldn’t bear to see Zoltan die. Even if he did have fangs. But there was an easy way to avoid his execution. If she never bedded him, she couldn’t get pregnant. The thought of bedding him was too frightening anyway. She’d seen how he reacted in a moment of intense pain. What if the same thing happened in a moment of intense pleasure? Would his fangs shoot out and rip into her neck?
“Let’s not think about the future,” Freya insisted. “It’s Neona’s first night with her mate. We need to make it perfect!”
Freddie returned to the trunk at the foot of her bed. “I think she should wear this.” She pulled out a white gown embroidered with pink flowers.
Tashi gasped. “I remember that! It was Calliope’s. She wore it to the ceremony she had with Frederic.”
Freddie lay the white gown on her bed. “Mother told us about it. Father refused to bed her until they exchanged vows.” She turned to Neona, her golden brown eyes bright with excitement. “We would be honored if you wore it.”
“Oh, yes!” Freya clasped her hands together. “Say you will, Neona. Our mother was so fond of you.”
Neona’s eyes filled with tears. She’d loved Calliope, too. As the two healers, they’d learned a great deal from each other. “I will.”
“Yes!” Freya jumped. “You’ll look like a real bride!”
Freddie grinned. “You must be so excited!”
Neona’s nerves tensed. Soon she would have to see Zoltan, and she didn’t know what to do or say to him.
Tashi picked up the watch. “We have fifteen minutes left.”
Panic ignited in Neona’s chest. Human or monster? How could she spend the night with him? At some point, he would get hungry, and she’d be the only one there. “Do you have any wine?”
With a laugh, Freddie grabbed a pitcher of rice wine. “Let’s have a drink!”
Freya found four earthenware cups and filled them all. “To Neona and her wedding night!”
Zoltan teleported to Neona’s house with three minutes to spare. One of the chests was mostly empty, Minerva’s he assumed. He stashed his duffel bag and small ice chest in there. Then he paced about the room, growing increasingly nervous. Would Neona accept him? He recalled the look of horror on her face when his fangs had popped out.
He needed to convince her he was safe. He glanced down at the new clothes he was wearing. In anticipation of proposing marriage, he’d dressed well, but now he realized the new clothes might frighten her. It would be better to look the same way he had when she’d last seen him. Shirtless with jeans.
With vampire speed, he pulled off his suit, tie, and dress shoes. He grabbed a pair of jeans from the duffel bag and put them on. Then he tossed the new clothes into the chest, making sure to retrieve the small black box from his coat pocket.
He opened the box to study the rings. Was he out of his mind to want to marry someone he’d met only five nights ago? No, he corrected that. They’d first met in 1241 when Neona had saved his life. He had no memory of it, but she remembered him. She’d dreamed of him. And it was her arrow in Russell’s quiver that had led him here. It was his quest for the truth that had brought him here.
The truth was he loved her. He’d waited almost eight hundred years for her. Why should he wait another blasted night? He’d suspected from the beginning that their fates were connected. He knew it now for sure.