Page 29 of Grave Throbbing
Tell me why you bit Harley and I will end this farce of a trial.She was inside his head again, digging through his recent memories, back to the night he'd smelled Harley on the wind and led him to Fanglory.
"I bit Harley because I needed to taste him again. I bit him in New York and left him on a street corner at dawn. I wanted him to know my bite didn't always bring fear. I can give him pleasure without the fear." He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "It's not enough to overcome what I did then, and I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for it. I want to spend more time with him, if he'll have me." Thanks to the fresh blood Key had drunk, beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
"Interesting." Empress Marcella shifted her gaze to Harley. She then turned to Key and said the words he'd never wanted to hear. "Bite him again. Show me you can control it."
"I promised him I wouldn't, not without his consent."
Before Empress Marcella could open her mouth to rebuke him, Harley said, "I give it."
"You know what she's asking," Key said. "In front of all of them."
Harley nodded. "I'd still give it, if it means I can take you home at the end of the day."
Empress Marcella grinned. "Perfect. Let's take a five-minute recess, and then we can begin."
They were the longest five minutes of Key's life. He watched as Harley traded places with the empress and took the stand beside the new head councilor.
"I call this court to order," Empress Marcella said when the five minutes were up. "Ciarán, you may bite him."
Key rose from his seat. Every step was agony as he neared the tall box from which Harley peered down at him. He climbed the stairs to the witness platform as though he were on his way to the hangman's noose.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered as he kneeled by Harley's side and brought his hand to his lips.
"That's enough." The empress's voice boomed off the walls in the small room.
Key hopped to his feet and turned to stare at her.
She put her hands together in a slow clap and raised her hands for the rest of the courtroom to clap, too.
"Ciarán O'Shea is acquitted of all charges."
Key slumped forward in relief with his head in Harley's lap.
"What charges, exactly?" Greed asked. "You never said."
Key's head snapped back up at his sister's challenging tone.
Empress Marcella motioned for him and Harley to return to their seats with a smile that displayed her fangs.
In a heartbeat, Key sank back into the uncomfortable slatted chair beside Greed. Instead of sitting across the aisle, Harley stood behind him with both hands on his shoulders.
"I was unable to find suitable answers in Ciarán's memory as to whether he could bewitch a vampire with his bite. He has bitten me, after all. Perhaps he could still control me after all this time." She snorted. "I admit, I was intrigued enough to come to Boston, which seemed highly out of character. I questioned my own autonomy on the matter."
Oh, fuck. Key had made Empress Marcella think he could beguile her into acting on his behalf. If only he could, but that hadn't been his experience.
"I know that now, thanks to your overwhelming anxiety for Harley."This time, she didn't show as much fang and looked more human when she smiled.
She resumed her speech to the rest of the council. "I had to know if he could keep me from those memories by force, or perhaps they didn't exist. It seems they didn't exist. Ciarán's bite is a formidable weapon when we need to subdue other vampires, but it only works in the moment. There are no lasting effects."
"Correct," Key felt compelled to add, thanks to Empress Marcella's overwhelming force in his head. "I am unable to influence another vampire beyond the initial effects of the bite."
"And Greed?" Harley asked.
"Margaret's bite is unlike Ciarán's, as I mentioned. She is also free to go."
"It's a good thing they're on our side," Head Councilor Newton said. She swept a gavel off the judge's bench and banged it twice. "Court dismissed."
Chapter 13
