Out of the tent, striding into the sun-seared world where she could not hold him without turning herself to ash. She'd never even asked him his name. Three days later, she knew he was dead.
Chapter One
Present Day L yssa opened her eyes, not surprised to find them wet with tears as she surfaced from her memory of the knight. Though she had held Thomas in high regard, she wasn't sure she could allow herself to believe as the monk did, that the man who was her current human servant, Jacob, had been part of her over-one- thousand-year-old life span almost from the beginning. But the way Jacob made her feel, so much like that knight, certainly made her wonder . . . Regardless, whether the knight had carried Jacob's soul or not, her subconscious welcomed the memories as a way to spend more time with Jacob without revealing her growing need for his com- pany. If she'd been a different type of woman, she would have seized on them as reassurance that the recent decision she had made--to give Jacob the third mark, essentially a death sentence--was pre- destined. Jacob himself had tried to comfort her, reminding her he'd insisted she do it. But Lady Elyssa Amaterasu Yamato Went- worth, the last vampire queen of the Far East Clan, did not capitu- late to the will of a human. The responsibility was all hers. Besides which, reassurance and tender comfort weren't what she sought as she moved restlessly in the solitude of her wide bed in the dwindling hours before dusk.
She lifted her hand. Though it was very faint, she still had a mark from the day it was burned, reaching out of the tent to hold her knight. Just as the impression of Jacob's bite on her throat from the recent blood exchange of the third mark still remained, when the punctures should have disappeared within less than a day. The images of the past and present mixed in her mind. Last night, after she'd marked him, Jacob had bathed her in the Jacuzzi tub. She'd used her fingertips to collect the water from his eyes so he could open them. Just the way she'd collected the water from the knight's eyes so he could raise his pale, auburn-tipped lashes. Like Jacob's lashes. Jacob had asked her several times now what made her change her mind about giving him the third mark. She hadn't told him about Thomas's posthumous letter. I know the prejudices of your world, certainly. You know I do. But hear me as I tell you that Jacob is the other part of your soul . . . He will not survive being parted from you again. Let him make his own choice, before you try to make it for him . . . If Thomas had been right, Jacob had followed her through time, through her life. Fought to become her full servant, despite what that meant now. She ached for a way to deserve the devotion Jacob gave her, de- spite how harshly she often treated him. She couldn't change who she was, but he didn't seem to want her to do so. His alpha nature resisted her dominance even as he was aroused by it. Just thinking of that made a response tighten in her vitals. He was approaching his thirtieth birthday. Several weeks ago, she'd proceeded to make arrangements for a special gift. She hadn't really examined why she was going to the trouble for a servant she'd had for such a short time. But he'd made many things so much easier for her already, and a wise queen was always generous. Now, the sig- nificance of what she'd chosen, something she'd initially considered a jest based on the nickname she'd given him--Sir Vagabond-- nearly made her want to call it off. But she wouldn't. For one thing, she had more pressing concerns. She had to go get him out of jail.
Chapter Two
A s soon as he was certain Lyssa had retired for the day, Jacob headed out with a list of errands. When he was done, he dropped the Mercedes off at the garage for a transmission repair beyond his skill to do and got a lift downtown from the mechanic. On the way, he called Mr. Ingram. The limo driver Lyssa had hired to periodi- cally drive her around while she was staying at her Atlanta home agreed to swing by the stores to pick up the items he'd purchased and then pick up Jacob in a couple of hours. She was indifferent to how domestic tasks were performed unless they were done inefficiently. God have mercy on him if that were the case, for her tongue certainly wouldn't. He had to suppress a smile. His Mistress, so aware of everything else, yet so unaware of her royal hauteur. Also unaware--at least for the moment--about this particu- lar self-imposed last errand. Tomorrow the vampire scientist Lord Brian and his servant Debra would be leaving Atlanta for Tuscaloosa. They'd been waiting for a shipment, the carefully preserved cadaver of the Russian vampire Brian hoped would lead them to myriad developments regarding the only disease known to affect their species. The Delilah virus. While Lyssa could certainly find out what he was about to do if she looked in the right corner of his mind or asked the right question, Jacob was practicing the useful skill of not focusing on things he didn't want her to know so they didn't catch her eye when she was taking a stroll through his head.
And to hell with it if she found out. He'd rather ask forgiveness instead of permission on this one. His lady had the virus, though the two of them were the only ones who knew it. By carry ing the third mark, he'd willingly accepted the fact that the end of her life would be the end of his. The mark linked their physical flesh irrevocably. Some felt it even linked them spiritually, such that whatever the vampire's destiny in the afterlife, the servant followed. That was the way he wanted it to be, because she wasn't go- ing anywhere without him. Her desire to protect those in her Region and the society she'd helped build was now her primary concern, and he'd sworn to make it his as well. He just didn't mention he was going to have two first priorities, one of them being to see if there was a way to save her life. Jacob purchased coffee and a couple of donuts to compensate for his late night with his Mistress while waiting outside Debra and Brian's hotel. He didn't have long to wait. Debra headed out around nine o'clock and walked seven blocks to the library, carry ing a stack of books. Jacob followed at a distance, wanting to approach her when she was inside the building. He found her curled up in a comfortable chair in a secluded cor- ner. While an open scientific journal and notebook with scribbled calculations were open on her lap like a security blanket spread across her legs, he was bemused to see she was reading a romance novel. As he took a seat in the chair across from hers, pulling it close enough for a discreet conversation, she closed the paperback, eyeing him warily. From the color in her cheeks, he was sure she was remembering the dinner party where they'd recently met. Servants provided sex- ual entertainment for their vampire Masters and Mistresses at such gatherings, so at one point he'd had his hand deep inside of Debra, her pussy clutching his fingers as she screamed out her climax. While Brian, her Master, suckled the taut points of her breasts, Jacob's Mis- tress had watched it all, drawing in the energy like blood.