Unremarkable, p.5
Unremarkable, page 5
“Remembered that you just quit your job?”
“Yeah.”
“I can get you twenty hours. Is it enough?”
“Did I actually pay you until the end of the year?”
“Yeah.”
“Then yes, it’s enough as long as I don’t have to move.”
“Ask Ulric about your living situation.”
A shadow felt over her, and she looked up. “Why am I supposed to ask you about my living situation?”
He smiled. “You will be staying here with me.”
She stepped back, and he caught her when she would have fallen off the walkway.
She shivered when he pulled her against him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you will be staying here with me. I didn’t show you the guestroom, but I have one. Until we find an answer to this situation, you will behave, dress, and accompany me as my mistress.”
“Why?”
“I am the king.” He grinned. “I get what I want, and due to circumstances, I want you.”
She stared at him.
“This will also give you time to dedicate to the tomes and records.”
Ally froze. “That’s true.”
He chuckled and stroked her cheek. “You are tired.”
She looked at the reflective lenses and nodded.
“Come on. Sit with me and relax. Yalthea bought you the dress?”
“Yeah. She knows my regular wardrobe is jeans and tees.”
He sighed. “It is my preference, too.”
He walked her back to the table that had been cleaned of the plates and dishes. A laptop had been set up, and he sat in his chair and pulled her into his lap. “Rest and enjoy the silence. You can sleep, and you will be safe and protected.”
She swallowed. “I don’t think proximity will decrease our attachment.”
He kissed her softly and then pressed her head to his shoulder. “Probably not, but it is what I am after.”
Ally sighed and pulled out her phone, but he took it from her hand and put it face down on the table.
She listened for any sounds from his body, and there was nothing but his slow breathing. It was an even rhythm, and she eventually fell asleep with him tapping away at his keyboard.
She sat up and pushed the sheets down, then jerked them up again when she found naked skin where her underwear used to be.
She looked around for her clothes, and there was nothing. “Ulric!”
There were a handful of heartbeats, and he came in through the door, highlighting her tactical error. He walked slowly toward the bed.
“Um, where are my clothes?”
He crouched next to her and stroked the line of her neck to her shoulder. “Your friend Yalthea is choosing a wardrobe for you. She needed current sizes for comparison.”
She opened and closed her mouth. “Can she pick something now?”
He grinned. “No. She is focusing on the list of events I have to attend and selecting different clothing for each event. She seems to have a handle on appropriate style, plus she knows what you will and won’t wear with confidence, and some of these events are not for the faint of heart.”
His fingers were still moving over the exposed skin of her upper shoulders.
“What are you doing?”
“You are very soft, and you smell sweet.” His fingers gently moved the sheet down.
She slammed her arm over her chest. “Stop sniffing and get me some clothing, Ulric.”
He grinned. “You are missing the honorific, Ally.”
“I am not missing it. I am avoiding it. I am an unpowered mage, and you are a monster of rank. I am not going to tie myself to you through bonds of fealty.”
He laughed. “So, you know that at least. I had wondered at first, but now it makes sense. And we ended up tied in a far more fundamental way.”
She nodded and held onto the sheet. She blushed brighter. “Clothing. Please.”
He leaned in, and his sharply cut lips brushed hers. “Say my name.”
“Jackass.”
“I have been called that, but no. Try again.” He nuzzled her neck, and his teeth grazed her skin.
“Ulric.” It was a soft whine. She had an idea of what she was asking for but uneasy about getting it.
He chuckled. “You are coming along nicely. Now, let’s see if you can break the spell before self-control burns to ash.”
He kissed her again and then left her alone in his bedroom. Why did it have to be his bedroom?
Ally waited, and Yalthea bustled in with a big grin and her wings buzzing. “Ohmygods, Ally. You won’t believe the designers who are lined up in the living room and kitchen. What the hell did you fall into, Ally?”
“Um, I am not sure, but hell seems to be a part of it. What are you carrying?”
Yal laid out two outfits that were long, had skirts that would swing around her ankles and calves, and there were matching shoes. Ally had never matched shoes if she didn’t have a uniform guideline to follow.
Yalthea grinned. “He has already offered me the position of your dresser and makeup artist. It beats my regular wage, and I get to move into the building if I want.”
“Isn’t this a hotel?”
“Nope. It is an exclusive apartment with concierge service. The upper floors are divided into enormous apartments, and the ones below are smaller. The ones on the first floor are the same size as TJ’s apartment.”
“Wow. So, why two outfits?”
Yal smiled. “So that you have a choice.”
Ally got up on her heels and looked over the clothes. “The dark purple dress with the grey underwear.”
“I owe him five bucks. He said you would pick grey.” She chuckled. “Oh, and he picked out all the underwear himself, just to be creepy.”
Ally groaned. “Of course, he did.”
She got dressed quickly and put on the high-heeled sandals. “How do I look?”
“Sit down, and I will put on your makeup. You still look tired.”
“I am also getting nervous. When this is over, I am expecting a huge bill.”
“That dress you are wearing is rent for two years, and your shoes are worth six months rent, and that underwear is worth four months.”
“So, I am wearing three years of my life.”
“Yup. And there are centuries worth in the other room. Hold still.” Yal unfurled her kit from the bag over her shoulder, and she got to work. “He told me to keep it light, but you have to be next to him when they announce the winners of the parade.” Yal chuckled. “I have that outfit picked out, as well, but this one will manage in a pinch.”
The sleeves were slit and fluttery; the fabric felt like—and probably was—silk. It was like being wrapped in a butterfly.
Yal worked quickly and finished the makeup. “There. Lovely. I was ordered to go easy on the lip colour. Why was that?”
Ulric spoke from the doorway, “Because I don’t look good in pink.”
Yal curtsied and stepped away from Ally.
“That is lovely. You look good enough to eat.”
Her skin flamed.
“And the makeup looks good with crimson. Excellent job, Yalthea.”
He tilted her head up and kissed Ally until she sighed softly. She was leaning against his chest, and his hand was on her lower back when the kiss ended.
She glared at him. “Funny, Ulric.”
“I am finding it less and less amusing every time.” His hand wrapped around her neck.
Ally ran her index finger down his jaw, and she tapped his lips. “I am going to the library. You got me all dressed up for nothing.”
She eased away from him and froze when he said, “Based on the sway of your hips, definitely not for nothing.”
She stiffened her gait and stalked out of the bedroom, heading for the library. His voice had been far too admiring.
The door to the library opened for her, and she walked to the bookshelves, looking for the blood magic books. It took her ten minutes, but she finally found a few reference books on blood magic, and she started reading up on the thing that she had done to Ulric by offering her blood.
She found references to blood freely offered to be more powerful. She found references to binding a vampire with blood, and then, she found the most basic way of breaking the spell.
It was ridiculously simple. She just had to die.
Four tomes later, she was hungry, and the same answer came up over and over. If a mage engaged with blood magic, using their own blood, their death was the only thing to sever the bond.
She sat there and stared into space. Did she want to drag this on for decades until she died? Was it fair to leave Ulric as something he never intended to be?
Ally got up and put the book back, walking out of the library in shock, passing the designers and Yalthea, skirting around Thom, and walking onto the roof. In a distant corner, there was a cushioned couch that overlooked the roof and the skyline of the city.
She didn’t want to die, but Ulric was born to live for thousands of years. He had so much more life ahead of him, and being tied to her would shorten it.
Ally covered her face in her hands and let the tears come.
* * * *
Ulric got up from his desk and went to find her. She was in distress. There was a lot of pain coming through her side of the link.
He found her at sunset, sobbing in the corner of the deck. He lifted her and held her in his arms. “What is it?”
“I wanted an unremarkable life, but I wanted a life. To give you your freedom, that isn’t possible. Every time my heart beats, we are bound tighter. To stop the spell, you have to stop the blood coursing through my veins. I need to die, or you won’t be yourself again.”
He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead. “I am making money hand over fist. My staff is less nervous around me at the club, and your presence is garnering invitations to homes that have never been welcoming before. Rumours of my mistress are spreading in a wave. I will get used to this new self.”
“Can you get used to a shortened lifespan? Bound to me over decades, if I die, you die. If I go now, you will get a slight headache and revert to what you were before. You have thousands of years ahead of you; I just have to get out of your way.”
“How long do mages live?”
“Um, one hundred and twenty years in my family.”
“How old are you now?”
“Twenty-six.”
“So, nearly a century together, and then I turn you, and we remain together.”
“T-t-turn me? No one turns mages. You get a lich.”
“So, should I turn you earlier? While you are young and your ass still wobbles when you walk?”
Ally stared at him. “Don’t you want to go back to being normal again?”
“Not really. I have always been practical, and I am enjoying being powerful but well-liked. The promise of a new partner in my bed is also a tremendous inducement.”
She swallowed. “I would have thought you would have had your fill of that over the centuries.”
“Ah, a willing woman who has not come to me for financial gain is the most enticing thing.”
She pressed a hand to her head. “I am confused.”
“I know. I will wait until you come to me. The uncertainty will be fun.” He tapped her nose. “Don’t wait too long. My patience is not limitless.”
“I was always told that if a mage was caught bespelling someone in power, they would be sentenced to death.”
“Mages lie. A lot. You have a lot of power in a helpless body, so you would teach your children to avoid being tangled by the monster in question.”
Ally looked at him. “This feels like a tangle. Oh, who’s float won?”
He chuckled. “I will find out when you do. All I get to do is announce it. With that in mind, we need to get some dinner. The cocktails that they serve at Amerik’s place are intense, and I don’t need you swooning.”
“I don’t think I have ever swooned.”
“When we enter the pack territory tonight, keep close to me.” He pressed his lips to her temple. “There will be news agents and tabloids. You will need to know the name of the designer of your dress and shoes.”
She sighed. “I am wearing all local?”
“You are.”
“Good but complicated.”
He hugged her. “You can manage it. Now, Thom is making dinner. Do you like roast beef? I eat a lot of red meat, so you had better get used to it.”
Ally chuckled and patted his chest. “That seems more like it. More the bossy vampire king I was expecting.”
He got to his feet and carried her toward the doorway. “You had better get used to it. Once you are comfortable with me, I am going to become the hard-ass everyone has warned you about.”
She swallowed. “Only Jinson warned me about you, and it was just to keep my mouth shut and head down.”
“How did he take you living with his son?”
“If he knows, he never commented, and TJ is good about protecting his friends.”
“TJ has a crush on you.”
“Crush is the term. He hugged me once, and I needed medical attention. He was a little too intense.” She sighed. “That was a friend-to-friend hug on my birthday. We decided that it would be better for everyone if we were just to remain friends. He agreed, and that was that.”
Ulric set her down on a dining room chair. “That is never that.”
Thom saw her and smiled as he served her salad, and Ulric filled her glass with something.
When he sat and ate toast points and pate, she ate her salad and drank pineapple juice. Dinner was good, the beef was tender, and the dessert was cheesecake. The conversation was polite and revolved around the festival.
He knocked twice on the table, and Yalthea appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. “Ready when she is.”
Ulric said, “Go off with your friend, Ally. She knows what is needed tonight.”
Ally got up, and he caught her hand, pulling her to him for a kiss. He took his time, and her breathing picked up, flushing bright when he said, “Your cheesecake tastes better than mine.”
“You are terrible,” she muttered.
He grinned. “I am only just getting started.” He patted her silk-covered backside. “Go and get changed.”
She quirked her lips. “Please, tell me you are wearing that.”
He grinned. “Go, wren. I will be right behind you.”
She walked to Yalthea, and her friend’s gaze was glittering in amusement. Ally warned her to keep her mouth shut, but Yalthea giggled all the way to the guestroom, where Ally’s new wardrobe was arranged on the walls in precise orders with tags with the intended destination on each hangar. Ally blinked when she saw her boxes stacked neatly in the corner. “My stuff is here.”
Yalthea nodded. “It is. I am tasked with sorting it and getting your uniform back to the courier company.”
Ally sighed. “Right. What is for tonight?”
“Classic all black. More silk. Don’t get wet.”
“Funny.”
“Serious. This stuff goes lightly transparent and sticks to everything.”
“Noted. Is this weird?”
Yalthea turned with the dress in her arms. “I am being paid to be there for my friend. A friend who has been there for me for years. This is fun.”
“Let me know when it stops being fun. I will make sure you are free and clear.”
Yalthea grinned. “I appreciate that. For now, strip. You can wear the grey under this, but charcoal would be better.”
“Charcoal it is. Wait. would nude work?”
“Definitely, but it will make you look like you are naked. Are you braced for that?”
“Yup. I don’t want any weird shadows or outlines on me at this event.”
“Righto. Nude, it is. Back in a moment.”
The colour was a true match, she looked like a doll, and when the dress went on, the fluttering panels of black silk were perfect. Nothing under the dress wrecked the line or the colour. The shoes went on, and her makeup was touched up and set for the evening.
She got a tiny purse that barely fit her phone, with a lipstick and enough money to get her home from anywhere in the city.
Once it was all in place, she went to the kitchen for a glass of water, and Thom stared at her. “Miss Ally, you look... different.”
She frowned. “Bad? Good? Slutty? I need some more information.”
He chuckled. “Good. Very good. It is like all the other women he has had until now have been practice, and you are the real thing.”
She set her water glass down.
Ulric asked, “Are you ready? The car is waiting.”
She turned and nodded. “Ready.”
He had been fussing with his cuff, and he paused to look at her, then froze. “Yalthea is getting a raise.”
“She will enjoy that.”
He took her hand, kissed her inner wrist, and nodded to Thom. They left his apartment via the elevator and descended. She looked at him and frowned. “Are you okay? You seem tense.”
He looked at her, and his eyes were crimson. “Stay by my side all night. Don’t let them separate us.”
She swallowed. “Why?”
He quirked his lips. “If one of them touches you, I am going to start objecting, and when I object, people die.”
The elevator doors opened. Her breath left her on an “Oh.”
His hand pressed to her thinly clad back, and she fluttered across the marbled lobby at his side. She was carefully tucked into the car, he joined her, and off they went.
Time to party.
Chapter Six
The driver opened the door, and Ulric stepped out, turned, and extended his hand. Ally debated hiding in the car, but the red eyes were obvious when he bent and looked in, so she moved and slid her fingers against his. His hand tightened around hers, and she was steadily drawn out of the car until she was standing in the circle of his arm, and he was heading for the doors of the enormous house that had a few barks and howls inside. Werewolves.
