Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(121)

“Robert.” Marini finally set me on my feet. He left the “t” off Robert. “This is Zoey. She is my companion. She speaks English. Please address her thusly.” Marini sat on the couch in the living room of the large apartment and pulled the boots off.

Robert gasped slightly. “What about Rose?”

Louis stood again and waved off the question as unimportant. “She’ll be sold or I’ll give her away. I don’t know. She no longer matters. Find her different quarters until I decide what to do with her.” He turned back to me. “I’ll meet with your Prince and we’ll find a way for us to move forward, companion. Would you like that?”

I nodded because the alternative was me moving forward without Dev.

The vampire leaned down and I forced myself to accept his kiss. “You’ll be allowed thirty minutes during the daytime to visit him tomorrow. A guard will come for you late in the afternoon. Once night falls, the three of us will discuss things. I look forward to teaching you about your new home, Zoey.”

He turned, done with me, and walked out the door. I was left with Robert, who didn’t like me much.

I stood there, not knowing what to do. I hadn’t even been properly introduced to this man and I wasn’t sure who he was. He seemed human and since he was a servant, he was probably a slave.

“I’m Zoey,” I said, putting my hand out because it seemed the polite thing to do.

He stared at my hand dismissively. “I know who you are. You’re Zoey Donovan. You will put my mistress out of her home.”

“Now, now, Robert,” I heard a familiar voice say. “This was never my home.”

Rose walked into the living area. I don’t know quite what I expected from Marini’s companion. I’d only met her twice and she seemed like such a young little mouse. She was dressed in a silky shirt and nice slacks. The clothes she wore aged her by twenty years but they were of good quality. I wondered briefly if Robert had selected her wardrobe. There were tears in her eyes as she walked up to me. I prayed she wasn’t going to beseech me not to take her lover. I would have no idea what to say.

“I am so, so sorry to see you here, Zoey,” Rose said in her proper British accent, quietly putting both her hands on my shoulders. “Please tell me they haven’t killed your Daniel.”

Rose’s compassion cut through me like a knife, and I was completely caught off guard. Of all the things I expected to find in this place, kindness was the last. I looked at that little mouse whose place I would have to take and I burst into tears.

“Robert,” Rose said quietly, “I think we could use a drink.”

I managed to talk Rose down to a nice cup of tea. Robert seemed more kindly toward me as he poured the Earl Grey and offered me sugar, milk, and a box of tissues. I found myself telling the two of them everything that had happened with Marini. I left out anything personal about Daniel. I still had a part to play. I spoke of Lee and Neil, and Rose listened while Robert fussed over her.

“Then Daniel managed to get away,” she said with what seemed like a relieved sigh.

I nodded, not wanting to give too much away. “I think so.”

“But the prince is with you,” Rose commented.

“Yes, he’s with Marini right now.” I took a small sip of tea and noted that it was getting very late. It was almost four. Even with my nocturnal lifestyle, I yawned. “I believe they’re discussing how my life is going to work now. It would have been nice to sit in on that conversation.”

Rose’s eyes went wide. “No, Zoey, that isn’t the way things work here. I’m afraid the vampires here are all very old.”

“They’re old fashioned,” Robert added. “They don’t think anything odd of a group of men planning a woman’s life. You should be prepared because tomorrow the master will tell you how your life will be. You must nod and do as he says.”

Rose agreed. “You should listen to Robert. He’s been in Louis’s service for many years. He knows how to survive. He has helped me all these years.”

“How long have you been here, Rose?”

She had to think about it for a moment. “I was fourteen when they took me. I was walking to the store for my mum. I believe I am now twenty years old.”

I was outraged for the young girl she had been. “He raped you when you were fourteen?”

Robert patted his charge’s back. “No, she was lucky in that regard. The master’s companion was getting older, but he was comfortable with her. He purchased Rose and she was allowed to be alone to mature until the previous companion died. Rose was seventeen when he married her.”

“That’s still horrible,” I muttered.

“Well, we don’t all get a vampire like Daniel,” Rose said softly.

I wanted to talk about him. I wanted to tell her how lucky I was and how special Danny really was, but somewhere Dev was alone in a room full of old vampires, playing the part we had agreed upon. He was alone and vulnerable and I couldn’t let him down because I was emotional.

“Daniel was like all the rest,” I forced myself to say because while Robert and Rose seemed very supportive, I couldn’t trust anyone down here except my husband.

Rose’s brows rose. “I can hardly think that. I knew him. He was already here when I was brought over from England. The rest treated me like I wasn’t even there but Daniel was kind. He gave me books to read. I always liked him very much.”