Sunny - Mona Lisa Craving

“They threatened you.”

“Because I literally washed up in their laps. Who could blame them? If they’ve harmed no one, we will offer them no harm in turn. Besides, I doubt they’re still there.”

Nolan concurred with me. “They will have left the area by now.”

“I should have been aware of them,” Dontaine said, revealing the core of his frustration. What really ate at him.

“Do you perform regular sweeps of your outer area?” Nolan asked.

Dontaine eyed the bigger man with arrogance. “Every fortnight.”

“If you like, I’ll be happy to come along with you on your next patrol. Show you what to look for.”

Pride warred with need for a moment. Practicability won out. “Your assistance would be most welcome,” Dontaine said stiffly.

As good a lead as any for what I had to say next. Keeping my fingers crossed, I told them how Nolan had supported himself operating his self-defense school, and that I had asked him to set one up locally. “He will not just run the place, but own it, keeping all the profit as before, except for a twenty percent portion. Ten percent of that will go toward High Court’s per annum tithe.”

This didn’t just surprise everyone, it shocked them. They looked at me as if I had suddenly sprouted two heads.

“Why would you do this, Mona Lisa?” It was Amber who asked. Amber who ruled the western Mississippi part of my territory for me. He seemed truly curious, wanting to know my reasoning.

“Because Nolan and his family have managed to support themselves for over twenty years this way. Why should I strip them of this hard-earned independence and expect them to go back to being wholly dependent on me for everything they eat and drink and wear? What does it hurt me to let them continue on as they have, and share a little in their profit?”

“You wish them to remain separate from our community?” Chami, my chameleon, asked. He was six feet tall, with a lean, wiry build like a greyhound. With his almost boyish slenderness and curly brown hair, one could be fooled into thinking that he was just an average guard and not very powerful, at that. But that would have been a sore miscalculation. He was a chameleon, old both in years and experience, able to blend in with his environment, become invisible. And even more deadly, he was able to mute his presence so that he could creep up silently on his target, unseen, unfelt, until he killed you. The perfect assassin. At the moment, though, with his violet eyes as puzzled as the rest of his fellow guards, he looked little older than Nolan’s twenty-year-old sons.

“No, Chami. They will be full members of our community, sharing in the benefits and responsibilities.”

“What particular responsibilities, milady?” Tomas asked, his voice once more flowing with that easy Southern twang. With his wheat-colored hair and light brown eyes, he was the plainest looking among my men. Sweet, honest, loyal Tomas. Plain only in looks, not in his presence, which reflected his long span of years and accumulated power. All the guards here in this room, my most trusted men, were older in years, strong in power. The type usually discarded by their Queens. Or killed by them.

Instead of answering Tomas’s question, I asked one of my own. “Do any of you besides Amber know Nolan?”

“I know of him,” Chami answered. “He is reputed to be a great warrior, a most gifted fighter.”

“I saw him fight once long ago. They say none can best him with a sword,” said Aquila, speaking in his usual precise and clipped manner. Everything about Aquila was neat and tidy, including his thin mustache and Vandyke beard. His gentlemanly appearance was odd only if you knew what he’d been before. Not just an outlaw rogue, but a rogue bandit serving under the infamous Sandoor. The confusion cleared up, though, once you knew what Aquila had been prior to becoming an outcast rogue—not only a warrior, but a man of business, a profession much more suited to his precise and tidy nature. Aquila and my brother, Thaddeus, had overseen all my business affairs in my absence. Were still continuing to do so, actually.

“I’ve seen them fight, also,” I said. Had in fact briefly fought Quentin, though I thought it prudent not to bring that up just now. “And I’m impressed. Nolan has graciously offered his help in training our men. Dontaine, the guards’ training falls under your province, right?”

Dontaine nodded.

“I’ll leave it to you then to see how best to use them.”

“Them? His sons also?” Something flickered in Dontaine’s eyes, and I wondered for a moment if he might be jealous or threatened by Quentin and Dante. Or rather more specifically, by Dante.

“I misspoke. Just Nolan. Quentin and Dante will be—” I still didn’t know quite how to say it. “—seeking positions with other Queens at the next Service Fair.”

Something eased in Dontaine and I knew then that he had felt threatened by my intimacy with Dante, and wanted to laugh…or maybe cry. If Dontaine knew how much I feared Dante—instinctively, unreasonably, something I’d been able to hide thus far—he would not have wasted any time at all worrying.

“Do the men have practice tonight?” I asked.

“We train every night.” Something I would have known had I been paying any attention, which I obviously hadn’t.

“Fine. His sons can join the other guards in practice, and you can assess Nolan’s skill and see how best you would like to work with him. If you do not wish to involve Nolan in the men’s training, I will abide by your decision, Dontaine. Hannah’s healing talent alone is more than enough contribution to our people.” That was a fact no one could dispute.

Dontaine inclined his head, pleased that I was leaving the final decision in his hands, and seemingly reassured by it.

“I will be happy to accept the assistance of one of whom everyone, including my Queen, speaks so highly,” Dontaine said, confirming that any reticence he had felt resided with the young virile sons, not the married father. “Will you come watch practice tonight?” he asked me. “The men and I would be pleased to see you there.”

There was only a brief pause before I nodded. Curiosity to see how Nolan and his sons fared against my guards won out over my instinctive need to avoid Dante.

TRAINING, I FOUNDout, took place in the twilight hours just before dawn, after the men had finished their patrols and other duties.

Amber had to leave before then, and return to the small slice of my territory that he ruled on my behalf. He’d left there abruptly when he had learned of my disappearance.

“I will return and make sure that Nolan does not bring you more profit with his single twenty percent than I do with all of my businesses that you have entrusted me with,” Amber said with a tiny smile.

My giant had made a joke, I realized, and felt tears prick my eyes.

“Why do you cry?” Amber asked, lifting my face gently to his.

“Because you’re leaving.”

“Do you wish me to stay?”

Yes, stay with me always. “No, go back to your people.”

“They are your people, Mona Lisa, as am I. You do not have to wait for me to return here. You could come down and acquaint yourself with the businesses and people in that part of your territory.”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t go back to that place. Not yet.” It was where Gryphon had been killed and bad memories still lingered there for me. To turn our thoughts away from that, I brought up what I had been considering for quite some time now.

“I will be petitioning the Queen Mother to make the Mississippi portion of my territory officially yours, Amber. Your rule, separate from mine.”