Vanity's Brood - Lisa Smedman [120]
Out of the corner of his eye, Arvin caught a flash of silver from the Zelia who had moved slightly behind him. She was manifesting a power!
Despite knowing that he was already a heartbeat too late, he plunged into his mu ladhara and started to draw energy intoThe cork popped from the bottle, startling him. As it drifted over the shoulder of the Zelia whose eyes had flashed, Arvin realized what power she'd just manifested-a simple far hand to pull the cork. She would have been suspecting treachery from her seed- contact poison on the neck of the bottle, perhaps.
"Drink," she said.
The first Zelia stared up at him, the tips of the fangs showing as she smiled. One hand continued to stroke his chest. Behind her, Gonthril rocked back and forth in a futile effort to free himself, moaning softly.
Arvin lifted the bottle in a toast first to one Zelia, then the other. "To the sweet taste of victory," he said. He drank deeply. The wine was indeed a fine vintage, better than any he'd drunk before, but all he tasted was the hassaael's perfumey flavor, which prickled his nose. That, and a faintly bitter undertone that was his own blood.
He licked his lips with a forked tongue. He glanced between the two Zelias, as if uncertain which to pass the bottle to first. He still couldn't be certain which was the real Zelia and which was merely a duplicate. The one giving the orders might be the original-or she might just be playing a clever game. For all he knew, both women were duplicates.
He hoped not. Two Zelias were enough to deal with.
The one stroking his chest took the bottle. A cabinet opened, and three delicate crystal glasses floated through the air toward her. She poured the wine into them, set the bottle down, and passed one glass to
Arvin, the other two to the second Zelia-then took all of Arvin's self control not to flinch away from her and still more effort to return the kiss. Their forked tongues entwined briefly, then she pulled away. She glanced at the first Zelia, nodded, then took one glass and raised it in a toast. The other Zelia returned it but didn't drink the wine herself until the first had swallowed hers.
That decided it. The Zelia standing slightly behind Arvin had to be the original. The one that had met him at the door was taking the chances, tasting his mouth to see if he'd really consumed the wine, then drinking it herself.
The second Zelia clinked her glass against Arvin's then drank. Arvin resisted the urge to smile as he sipped from his own glass. His guess had been right: the Dmetrio-seed hadn't known what hassaael was, and neither did Zelia.
Lowering her glass, the second Zelia stared with a smile on her lips for several moments at Arvin-then coiled an arm around his neck and drew him close.
"You said you have both halves?" she breathed, her breath heavy with the scent of the potion.
Arvin smiled. "Yes." He nodded down at Gonthril. "Your plan worked beautifully."
"Where are they?"
"In a safe place." He raised his glass to his lips and started to drinkThe arm around his neck tightened, preventing him from swallowing. Zelia's green eyes blazed. "You weren't thinking about trying to keep it for yourself," she hissed. "Were you?"
The grip eased enough for Arvin to swallow the wine that was in his mouth. "The thought never even entered my mind," he answered.
"Liar," she spat. She gave him a steely look. "You know what happens to seeds who defy me. You'll deliver them, as promised, and we'll reap our reward." Then she smiled "Before we deal with that, let's have a little fun."
That surprised Arvin. He'd expected her to demand that he hand over the Circled Serpent immediately.
That was, in part, why he'd tricked her into drinking the hassaael-so that he could persuade her to wait. His deception was going even better than he'd hoped, and that worried him. There was something he was missing-but what?
The second Zelia had dropped to her knees. Feeling her fingers on the laces of his breeches, Arvin stiffened, then forced his body to relax. He looked down and