Page 91 of Dawn Caravan
Thanks for the info?“Which has what to do with the goblet?”
“I don’t know.” He narrowed his eyes. “But she is an excellent lover. Perhaps she means to entrap me.”
“That’s…”Too much information? Unlikely?Unfortunately, more than one vampire considered sex just another weapon in the immortal arsenal. And most of them were very good at it.
Tenzin was good at it.
“I think” —Ben cleared his throat— “that if she had the goblet and wanted to use it in some kind of bargain, she would’ve made her hand a bit easier to read.”
“Perhaps,” Radu said. “You suspect René DuPont. Why?”
Ben wanted to swallow his exclamation from the day before. “I only know he’s a skilled thief. But he also takes contracts for others. If René took the goblet, I suspect he’s already sold it or handed it over to a buyer and the goblet is probably long gone.”
A flicker of anger burned in Radu’s eyes. “It is far more than a goblet.”
“To you,” Ben said, “yes. But to another, it’s a priceless artifact.” He saw the object of their conversation lounging on a cushion near the bonfire with a slim, dark-haired woman Ben recognized. “Your sister Kezia.”
Radu glanced at René and Kezia. “What about her?”
“She’s clearly friendly with René. Could her loyalties—?”
“Not even a sliver of a chance.” Radu was clearly confident. “She would never betray the Poshani.”
“I see.” Nevertheless, Ben watched Kezia and René, watched them flirting and playing coy with each other, watched them whisper and laugh.
After a minute’s scrutiny, René glanced up and saw Ben watching him.
“Vecchio!” The French thief broke into a wide smile. “Fancy meeting you here.” He leapt to his feet. “And all grown up too.”
René sauntered over to Ben and Radu’s table.
“Hello, René.” Ben desperately wanted René to have stolen the goblet, but he had a feeling that Tenzin was right this time. René DuPont had the look of a man without a care in the world. He didn’t even appear to be scheming.
It made his face look all wrong somehow.
“I see you recovered from that time Tenzin threw you off a building,” Ben said.
“And I see you’ve shed that irritating mortality, yet kept the samelackof humor.” René cocked his head. “Such a disappointment.”
“Must be the title of your sex tape,” Ben muttered.
All the vampires looked confused, but a familiar laugh cackled from the trees.
René lifted an eyebrow. “If Vecchio is here, he must be following Tenzin.” He slipped an arm around Kezia’s waist. “You know Tenzin, don’t you,chérie?”
Kezia said, “Of course I do.”
“The boy follows her like a faithful puppy. It’s quite adorable.”
“Hey, René,” Ben said.
“Yes, Vecchio?”
“Remember the times I beat you—twice—when I was still human and you were a vampire?”
René’s lip curled just slightly. “You have different memories than I do.”
“Clearly. The funny thing is” —he addressed himself to Kezia— “René always seemed to be a step behind me, even when I was mortal. Can you imagine how far behind he’ll be now that I’m a vampire?”
