Chapter Text
“I’m going to Belfast now,” Arun told Rosalyn. He had jostled her to wake immediately after sunset. “Stay here. Don’t leave the burial mound. Don’t go outside. I’ll go to Maeve’s court and get what we need.”
“I’m hungry,” Rosalyn said, sleepy and disoriented.
Arun pulled out two large bags of blood from his leather briefcase. “Apologies. You’ll have to take these cold. I’ll be back before sunrise.”
Rosalyn bit into one of the bags and drank, ignoring the foul taste of plastic.
“Ros,” Arun said, his tone forceful. “Do. NOT. Leave. I’ll be back soon.”
~OOO~
Arun waited in a line of supplicants in Maeve’s court. Her secretary noted his name in her visitor’s book, hesitated, then shook off the thought that perhaps the man who had presented himself as Arun Tarquinii was that legendary man. Impossible, she assumed.
He waited on foot for several hours.
Finally, when he was called forward to the Queen, he knelt before Maeve.
“Queen of the Cattle Raiders, a woman I have called Sister more than I can remember,” he began. “I find myself on your doorstep begging your pardon.”
Maeve rose slightly on her throne. “Arun?!”
“I am not dead. I hid. A coward. But now I rise to ask for your support in reclaiming what is mine.” Arun stood then, to his full height, towering over everyone in the room.
Maeve rushed off her dias and grabbed the man, kissing him and holding him. “Arun!”
“Beloved. My sweet Maeve,” he said.
“Everyone out!” she ordered. The space emptied of vassals and servants and others in line.
The throne room was theirs. “Arun. My god!”
He took her hands. “I am here.”
“Maelcon is dead,” she told him, tears in her eyes.
Arun bowed his head. “My grief is endless for him. No one will know the Picts now.”
She hugged him again. “Thank you for coming. Thank you. I’m not sure there is anyone else who could have steeled my heart better against this loss.”
Arun caressed her, kissed her cheeks, held her.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“A safehouse for the moment. Far from court - I have no wish to explain myself to curious younglings or politicians. As far as you can manage. Maybe North Ulster or on the Ards Peninsula.”
She kissed him again. “Take your pick. I will have it done tonight.”
Arun knelt again and bowed his head, then he kissed the hem of her skirt. “You are a wonder, Queen Maeve. My bloodline shall never forget what you have done for us.”
“Do you have Amleth?” she asked, alarmed.
“Yes. And another child we did not know of. Sibyl’s daughter. We need safe shelter.”
Maeve let out a string of Gaelic curses in astonishment. “Go. Go now. There’s no time to waste.”
Arun bowed deeply. “I owe you a debt, Maeve. You will call me when you need it.”
Once again, she threw her arms around him and smothered him with kisses. “Thank god you have returned.”
~OOO~
The cozy bothy was delightful. It bore limewashed walls and overstuffed furniture. “Should we make a fire?” Rosalyn asked. Arun doubted whether they had any peat or wood at hand. He found some outside and managed to light the hearth.
“Godric is across the narrow sea doing the same thing with Amleth,” she said.
“Do you feel better in Ireland? Or is the pull to go to him just as strong?”
“Better,” Rosalyn said. “A little more distance helps.” She thought momentarily. “How much do we owe Maeve now?”
Arun laughed inwardly. “Not ‘us’. Me. I owe her a debt now. That’s fine.”
“You can count on me to help fulfill it. This is my fault.”
Arun shushed her.
A long silence passed between them as Rosalyn found the courage to speak her mind.
“Aruna. Do you think, perhaps, there was a secret oath or marriage between our makers?” Arun stared at her, and blinked. “Something that would compel Godric to do what he’s been doing? Saving all of you Tarquinii as though you were his progeny, and destroying the ones who betrayed you.”
Arun paused, very carefully in his reflections, and leaned forward. “I wouldn’t know.”
“I think he might have lied to me,” Rosalyn said. “I think he’s been lying to us for millennia.”
Arun frowned. “Our laws were different then. Much simpler. I cannot say. If there was a bond he acquired with Tarquin, it would have been before I was turned.”
“I see. Well. I will navigate this for you, don’t worry. The Tarquinii are a separate clan. If you like, perhaps we can protect you as a sept of our own, independent, but also with the force that Godric brings in the Americas. You are the patriarch, and deserve every respect as such.”
Arun looked down, then pulled off his shirt. He kissed his way down her body until he was settled between the cleft in her legs. Then he went to war. Drawing impassioned screams and pleasure from Rosalyn’s body in ways she had not encountered.
“Please,” she begged him when he resurfaced, chest bare against hers. Wanting them to become one.
“Not unless Godric approves. I like this idea, us being a sept to your clan. But Godric must agree first. And then you and I must agree with Godric what you and and I can be. I am not someone who steals wives.”
~OOO~
The boat had hardly hit the soil coastline when Rosalyn jumped forward. She ran. “Godric!” she cried.
He was waiting for her in the sea oats and long grass. He caught her and pulled her to the ground, then made love to her passionately and fed her his blood the moment she was in his arms.
“You absolute idiot!” she told him afterwards. “Do you know what leaving me with Arun has done to me? What being here with Amleth has done?”
Godric drew back and pulled her up off the ground. He pulled a wool shawl around her, thinking it might help. “Tell me,” he said gravely.
“You tell us, Bloodmaster!”
Arun was waiting in the shadows. He had seen everything.
“Arun. Forgive me. Welcome.” Godric walked the somber unused path back to his cottage. Rosalyn and Arun followed. “Your brother is this way.”
~OOO~
Amleth burst off his chair to greet Rosalyn. “My love, my darling! Dear gods this is my greatest pleasure!!” He held her far too tightly. Squeezed with an ancient’s overpowering embrace.
Rosalyn pushed him back. “We made it. I am here.”
Amleth would not let go. Only until Arun let the moonlight fall on his figure on the doorstep did he relent.
Arun held his arms out and Amleth crashed into him. The elder immediately bit into him, tasting his needs and his lies and his loyalty. Arun licked the wound closed and stood back.
“Godric,” Arun said, far too ominously for the little cottage. “I will accept being clan chieftain as a sept under your house. Tell them.”
Godric turned. “It is so. Arun Tarquinii is clan chief, and he is also under my protection.”
This is where it got far more complicated.
“Godric?” Rosalyn said. “I want him. I want Amleth too. They are mine.”
Godric paused, “Then have them.”
“What does that make me?”
Godric let out a crooked smile. “Far worse an enemy than I ever have been to anyone. I accept, Queen Róisín, Laird’s Wife of the North, Daughter of the Senusret. You are still mine, entirely. I do not relinquish my maker’s claim on you for one second, nor our bonded marriage. Do with them what you will.”
She pulled Godric aside, then tried to find the small bedroom behind the chimney at the back of the bothy where they might speak privately. The cottage was sparse.
“Godric. Please talk with me normally.”
He touched her as a husband, appreciating her curves and beauty. “I already have, wife. You have chosen a path with your authority and power and you decided to bring my dearest friends on it in your own way. I will not obstruct you.”
“I still need your approval. I am a newborn.”
Godric kissed her deeply, making her knees weak. “You have my approval, and more. I am in awe of what you are doing.”
“Even if it means our marriage bed is more complicated?”
Godric touched her cheek and kissed her again. “I have already had to claim Amleth in a way I never wished to in order to give him peace. He’s mine. You take Arun. Eric will come along in time, don’t worry about him.”
“You won’t freak out?” she asked.
“No. I will watch, and I will enjoy it immensely.”
~OOO~
Rosalyn pulled Arun down toward her. He spread her lace robe, then she spread her legs. “Ghodiji, please tell me this is sanctioned,” he asked.
From the shadows, Godric agreed. “Don’t keep her waiting.”
Arun plunged his long thick member into her and Rosalyn made an unholy sound of delight.
It was exactly as Arun suspected. His vampire cock latched on to her womb entrance and suddenly they were caught in a blood bonding. The pleasure was exquisite.
He felt so guilty. “I’m sorry, Godric. I’m sorry. This is what my blood demands.” Blood sweat gathered around his temples, he was so anxious.
Godric laughed at him. “She is more than me. Give her her destiny.” Arun thrusted.
Arun pulled Rosalyn upright into his lap and gave her a dozen screams in pleasure.
“Now. About our clan alliance,” Arun said. She was panting and sweaty.
Rosalyn did not hesitate. “I already told you my terms. You chose to bind it in blood between us.”
Arun nodded. He pulled away from her. “Then you are also the Queen of the Tarquinii. I admire Eric and Godric’s vision for North America and I will hold with it. You are expected to advise me on my clan’s matters.”
Rosalyn touched his face and kissed him. “I hope this means I am also yours.”
Arun melted and split her again with his hardness. “I love you.” He stirred in her, and she on him.
It was absurd the mess of desire they left on the sheets.
~OOO~
When Eric arrived on the island with Maty, the look of confusion and contempt on his face was priceless. He saw Amleth, claimed and marked beyond reason by Godric, and his bonded blood sister, who had mated with the patriarch of another clan. “Somebody better get me a drink,” Eric said. “Now.” Rosalyn brought him a warmed glass and Eric sat in Amleth’s preferred chair.
“Did the summit end with satisfactory results?” Godric asked.
Eric glared at him. “Of course. Sebek achieved everything we sought. We’re so up to our necks in debt to him I’m not sure we’ll ever be free.”
Godric made a dismissive motion. “Let Rosalyn deal with it. She’s who they want.”
Eric cut his gaze at her as she sat on the arm of Godric’s chair, “What the fuck, Ros.”
”Why are you such an angry pissant? I’ve just helped save us from Roman, regain your best friends, and set up a new governance system for our kind. What more would you like?”
Eric averted his gaze. Neither Maty or Amleth or Arun had a place to sit in the little room. They hung about awkwardly. Rosalyn went straight to him and got in his face.
”Erickr?”
He flicked his gaze up at her, annoyed to be called by his real name. “Nothing has changed, between you and I. We’ve stalled on our affair - duties, war, maybe a desire to drag it out. So you tell me: what the fuck.”
Eric reached up to cup her cheek. “Fair enough. I find myself surprised, that is all.”
Arun approached him and squatted, making himself small in front of the blond. “I take nothing from you, brother. I ask only that we share as brothers do, in what Godric has given us.”
Eric relented and pulled Arun to him in a bear hug. “I cannot believe we had to live two hundred years without you.” He was trying to not cry, but doing a terrible job of it. Blood tears fell into Arun’s dark hair like garnets.
~OOO~
Godric’s cottage did not have space for all of them in the sleeping alcoves in the light-tight basement. Rosalyn took up with Godric, and Eric with Amleth. They had to put out a blanket on the floor for Arun and Maty. The house was never meant to contain more than two or three vampires.
“Where’s Pam?” Rosalyn asked, after rising.
”Somebody has to run Area Nine,” Eric growled. “Your courtesan is with Isabelle in New Orleans. She awaits your instructions.”
Rosalyn uttered a swear. “We need to decide where we are going to live. All of us.”
Eric leaned against the wall. “I am not leaving Shreveport.”
”Godric?” she prompted.
Godric nodded. “There may not be a piece of real estate that is appropriate for us all. Task Niobe with this, Ros, that is her job. It will upset the American monarchs - so many ancients under one roof - but there is little we can do about that. I prefer to stay in Shreveport beside Eric.”
”Okee dokee,” Rosalyn said. She got on the phone directly.
Arun sat down beside Eric. “I’ve never been to the New World.”
Eric huffed a laugh. “It will be good to you, I’m sure.”
“Will you make us work in your club?” Arun was thinking of Maty and how to best protect her should they find themselves in Eric’s territory.
“I think we can find a decent arrangement. Louisiana’s a total shithole, Arun. But you know why I’m holding it.”
Arun nodded, understanding how the sea rise would change everything.
Eric clapped Arun over the shoulders. “It would be my greatest honor to have you and Maty under my roof.”
”And Godric and Rosalyn. It is complicated, I know.”
Eric hardened his features. “Isabelle serves at Godric’s mercy in the American Vampire Capitol. We have California and New York in our pockets, ready to do whatever Godric demands. We own North America, Arun. I don’t think you need to worry about whether I’ll make your niece swing on a stripper pole.”
“And if I wanted to?” Arun joked.
“Well I’m sure the clientele would appreciate it,” Eric laughed.
~OOO~
It was strange being back in Eric’s Shreveport house. Rosalyn shared the basement bedroom with Eric and Godric as they had done before, but it was clear Eric felt neglected. They both tried to please him. Finally, Godric ordered Rosalyn to leave the room.
“You had better be ready,” Godric warned Eric. “You do not get to pout when we are all here in support of you.”
Eric lowered his head. “Maker. Do you still…” He couldn’t finish the thought. Did he love him?
Godric had him on his knees crying out to his Norse gods within seconds. “This is what you wanted, yes?” Godric confirmed.
“Yes,” Eric whimpered. “More.” His prostate was pummeled into so many orgasms Eric lost count.
“No more noise from you, then,” Godric declared. “You love your family, you do your job. I am always here for you, and I love you more desperately than the night I first saw you.”
Eric wept in Godric’s arms. “You know me so completely. I don’t understand Rosalyn. She is -”
“She is more evolved than us, Eric. And she will save our kind with her ideas. Be good to her. Be whatever you want to be with her. But trust her.”
~OOO~
Pamela had Rosalyn cinched into a black silk corset and her shoulders covered in a raven feather cape. She put her on Eric’s throne in front of the club to lord over the evening. The number of humans Chow had to kick off her was ridiculous. Eric joined her eventually, kissing her hand and taking the throne beside her. “This is absolute shit,” she told him.
“Stock room always needs attention if you prefer.”
“Fucking Sheriff.”
“I’m your bloodmate, wife.” The look Eric cast her made her melt.
She held out a hand, and the club patrons cheered and partied even harder. “Forgive me.”
“Ros, I doubt there’s anything you could do to me that I wouldn’t forgive. Save hurt Maker.”
“Where is he?”
“In my office doing my shitty paperwork.”
“So we - what - just sit here all night to be leered at?”
“Basically.”
“Can we dance?”
“You want a dance with me?”
“Yes, love, if you’d have me.”
Eric inclined his head at the room. “They will go nuts, you know.”
Rosalyn jumped off the stage and pulled Eric with her. The DJ put on a Trentmoller remix, dark and seductive, and Eric and Rosalyn destroyed the dance floor together.
“You’re a very good dancer,” she said, once they had retaken the chairs on the stage. His black racer t-shirt and leather pants had not inhibited his moves.
“Likewise,” Eric said. “We need to discuss what is next.”
Rosalyn turned. “Between us?”
Eric smiled. “I mean the formal state visit you’re expected to have in Egypt.”
Rosalyn threw her head back and let out a litany of obscenities. “You know, life was not this hard as a human.”
“I know, lover. But as a human you didn’t have even a fraction of the responsibilities you now bear. You’ve got two vampire clans who are relying on you, and the most ancient ones in our world wanting you to be…I’m not sure. An heiress, I think, or their agent in North America.”
“Neith wants another Queen.”
“I fear that’s the case, yes.”
“Godric will not allow it. ‘We take no position higher than Sheriff’,” she repeated, the lesson etched in her memory.
“I suspect she probably wants to nominate you to rule over the Americas. Sebek made it clear the Old World ancients understand my long term plan. But Neith wants a woman in charge, not me.”
Rosalyn reached over and put a hand on his arm. “I can’t do this by myself. I need you, Eric. At my side. You’re the only reason I’ve even made it this far. You’ve done everything to get me here.”
“Thank you.” Eric nodded, smiling. “So your visit…”
Rosalyn stood and tramped down the staff hall, her bottom half feeling quite exposed given all that Pamela had given her were black stockings and stacked heels.
Godric was at Eric’s desk. He did not do a very good job of hiding his enjoyment of seeing her decked out in Pamela’s club wear. He set down his pen.
“Eric says we need to plan this visit to Egypt.”
“We do.”
“Well?” She flopped on Eric’s office couch.
"I’ll need to talk with Sebek about who Queen Neith expects in our party. I’d prefer if it was just you and I, but I imagine they might want more of us in attendance.”
“And wearing the cloth she gifted us, no doubt.”
“Exactly.” Godric genuflected. “Ask Pamela and Niobe to collaborate on the wardrobe for us. I’ll call Sebek.”
~OOO~
It was nearly Yuletide when Godric’s family got off the plane in Cairo. From there, a long limo ride to Luxor. This was the town otherwise known as Thebes, where Queen Neith ruled supreme. The statues carved at the entrance and the towering painted pillars were overwhelming. “Daughter!” Sebek called out, rushing in his caftan down the steps past the sentries.
He embraced Rosalyn, then Godric, and gave Eric and Pamela a most polite bow. “Come. Egypt welcomes you.”
The palace was vast, huge soaring spaces of stone. Sebek led them through it, almost rushing. This was apparently the Vizier when he was excited.
Rosalyn did her best to keep the Egyptian linen pinned around her in a sash from falling off. Both her and Godric wore Neith’s gift to them, fashioned in a Celtic way to honor Godric’s own traditions.
Iset ambushed them right before they entered the throne room. “Sister!” she said. Then she ran a hand down the blue lapis dyed fabric over her shoulder. “Gorgeous.” Iset kissed her and smiled. “Mother will be most pleased.”
Sebek brought them into Neith’s chamber. Godric pushed her forward before himself, and made Eric and Pamela fall in line behind him. The throne room was lavish and large, and the ceiling painted blue with gold stars. Neith sat on a solid gold chair.
“Queen Neith, your majesty, I present Rosalyn Murray and her clan,” Sebek said.
Neith crooked a finger at Rosalyn. The ancient was the oldest thing she had ever encountered. Rosalyn went to the throne and fell to her knees. “Your highness.”
Neith laughed happily and reached down and pulled Rosalyn upright. “You may call me Neith, or Mother, or any other endearment you like.”
It was hard being so close to someone so ancient. “You have graced us with your benevolence, my Queen. I am here at your request, ready to answer your call.”
“I thank you for coming, dear child.” She nodded at Godric. “And you, Blue One, thank you for gifting our kind with her.”
Before Rosalyn could squeak in a question about what the actual hell they were doing there and what Neith wanted from her, she called on the festivities to begin. It wasn’t dissimilar from Sebek’s pleasure palace, except on a much larger scale. Dancers and musicians and so much blood being passed around it was dizzying. And Rosalyn at the center of it all, sat beside Sebek and Neith, their most honoured guest. She could hardly keep track of where her maker and family were in it.
“I always like that one,” Neith said, gesturing at one of the dancers.
“Shall I have him sent to you later, your majesty?” Sebek answered.
She shrugged. “Why not.”
“Tis done,” Sebek replied. He turned to Rosalyn. “How is our friend Niobe?”
Rosalyn forgot herself and put a hand on his sleeve. “She’s very well, Vizier. Very happy in her new situation. You may always visit.”
The thought drew a chuckle from him. “You still owe me a new housekeeper.”
Rosalyn managed not to swear out loud. “In the works, my lord.”
Sebek reached over and kissed her knuckles. “No rush.” The look he gave her was devastatingly seductive. Rosalyn was starting to feel like a pie everyone was trying to get a cut of.
~OOO~
In their accommodations in the palace - extraordinary rooms with lavish decor - Rosalyn and Eric and Godric all smooshed together in the same bed. Eric drank from her thigh while Godric took from her neck, and under Eric’s hand she came several times. “You know I won’t take you here,” he reminded her.
“Well where the hell do we have to be that we can finally seal this deal?”
Eric laughed at her.
She turned to Godric, his bare skin feeling like home, his mouth like a harbor of love. “I have no idea how to get Sebek a new housekeeper in Cyprus.”
“Get Niobe to contact her school and send Sebek someone she knows and trusts.” Godric replied.
”Is Pam okay?” Rosalyn asked Eric.
Eric laughed again. “Oh Pamela is just fine. Enjoying this palace’s delights.”
~OOO~
Sebek had his own special receiving rooms. Rosalyn approached the Vizier’s throne room alone, utterly terrified. He was sitting on his dias reading something, and Rosalyn scraped in, curtsied, and asked if she could approach.
Sebek tossed the book aside. “Of course!”
Rosalyn felt like a worm in his presence. She knelt at his chair and kissed the edge of his caftan as he had once done to her. “My guardian,” she addressed him.
”Rosalyn!” he laughed. “You are family. No need to be so formal.”
She had to laugh at herself too. “Maybe it’s just this palace. It inspires respect.”
He pulled her up and led her into a side chamber off the throne room that was more comfortable. “I want to thank you for Niobe. She has been an incredible help to me as we figure out our plan in North America.”
Sebek gave a secret smile. “I am not surprised.”
”You can imagine how I’m struggling to find you the right replacement in your household.”
Sebek waved at the air. “As I said, take your time. You have other pressing matters.”
She reached across the table to him. “Can you please share with me what your Queen expects of me? I’m at a loss.”
Sebek took one of his rings from his fingers and slipped it on her middle finger. A piece of jade and gold. “You, daughter, must do exactly as your blood brother is doing, exactly as your maker has done, but in their stead. Neith wants her daughter Senusret to control the Americas.”
“Shit,” Rosalyn swore. “I don’t know the first thing about ruling, and I have zero idea what is going on with South America. She wants the whole hemisphere?”
Sebek nodded. Rosalyn had several more foul words. “You do know I was just a human a few months ago.”
Sebek found this hilarious. “A rebel. A revolutionary. Our visionary.”
“Please guide me through this, Guardian.”
Sebek nodded. “Of course. I am at your service.”
The amount of tears that wanted to pour from Rosalyn understanding the task were preposterous. She got up and kissed Sebek’s cheek, thanked him for the beautiful ring, and left.
~OOO~
“We need to get out of here,” she told her maker.
Godric straightened. “We have not been excused from court.”
“Well, what the hell do I have to do to get us that!”
Godric patted the cushion beside him. “What happened.”
She told him. Neith wanted more from her than was humanly or supernationally possible. Godric let out a small breath. “We can manage this. I have a few friends in Brazil and Argentina and a few contacts in Canada. If this is her will, my love, you will rise to the occasion, and you have your family at your side to accomplish it.”
“God dammit!”
He touched the ring on her middle finger. “Sebek’s?”
”Yes,” she said, feeling embarrassed.
”You understand the honor he has given you?”
”Absolutely. It’s just the weight, Godric. My god. The weight of all of this.”
”I’m right here. I will help.”
”Get us home, please. Get us out of here.”