Mona Lisa Awakening

Chapter Five

The pronouncement stopped me short. My mother? I stopped yanking on Gryphon and swung back to stare at Mona Sera. Focusing my vision, I searched her face. Her eyes were cold and her lips were thin, cruel. But those cheekbones, the strong line of her jaw, that black hair…

Oh my God, there was a resemblance.

"Do not be ridiculous," Mona Sera said sharply, with what almost sounded like pain.

"Milady. She wears a silver cross against her skin and it does not weaken her," Sonia said. She was a gentle woman, with kind eyes and light brown hair the color of autumn leaves after they had fallen from the trees. "She is a Mixed Blood."

"She cannot be a Mixed Blood. She has our strength and speed, and she is a Queen," Mona Sera said. But she narrowed her eyes and looked with that extra sense beyond the five that humans possessed. "How interesting," she murmured. "When were you born?"

I arched my brow. "The day I was found in the orphanage was October 31, twenty-one years ago."

"Is that the date?" Mona Sera queried of Sonia. The other woman nodded.

My eyes narrowed. "You have to ask someone else when your daughter was born?"

"Why should I remember it?" was her arrogant reply.

"Bitch," was mine.

Gryphon squeezed my shoulder in warning as I processed the information that the cross I had cherished and worn against my heart all my life had not be given to me by my mother as I had thought. Mona Sera had not recognized the cross in any way.

With slow certainty I turned my eyes to the woman who must have given it to me, who must have named me. The woman who had remembered the day and year I had been born. Who had recognized that cross.

"Her palms," Sonia said quietly. "She should have the marks."

"Show us your palms, girl," Mona Sera commanded.

I curled my hands into fists, bristling against the order. Gryphon squeezed my shoulder gently, persuasively. But it was the quiet plea in Sonia's compassionate eyes that I could not resist.

Goddammit, why couldn't you have been my mother instead? I wailed inside as I uncurled my fists and held out my palms. Everyone gasped again. I was beginning to feel like a circus monkey, performing trick after trick.

"The Goddess's tears," Mona Sera said, looking at my pearly moles. "I remember thinking it such a waste on a Mixed Blood child."

I'd always wondered who my mother was. Looking at Mona Sera's proud icy face that reflected not one ounce of maternal warmth, I felt the truth of that old adage—Be careful what you wish for.

My eyes fell to Amber's quivering prostrate form and things shifted into better perspective.

Okay, so my mother was a sick, murdering bitch. At least she was sane.

I found myself locked in the dungeon for the rest of the day. A real honest-to-god dungeon. What else did one expect in the basement of a beautiful manor house masquerading as an ugly warehouse. The stone walls were damp and there was no light, but I didn't need any to see. If this was how she treated a daughter, I wondered how she treated an enemy.

The door was made out of silver, and no, that didn't stop me. The slow beating heart armed with my own knives behind the door did, however. That, and the fact that Mona Sera was taking and presenting me to the High Queens' Council the very next night. It was what Gryphon and I had wanted, after all.

I sank down onto the stone floor and felt the sun rise and worried about Gryphon. He had been taken away and I had forborne asking Mona Sera about him, instinctively knowing that any concern evidenced for him on my part would be seen as a weakness to be used and exploited by her. I wasn't a daughter to her. I was just an interesting tool, like a hammer she could swing, a novelty she could present to the court and claim credit for. None of it mattered, as long as she took us there.

I must have dozed. The sound of a key turning and door opening awakened me. The light from the stairwell fell on my guard's hair, showing its true color, a blond so light in color it appeared white at first glance, but upon closer look revealed that faint touch of yellow. His eyes were a striking green, not that brownish mix of green more commonly seen, but pure emerald green that made one think of the rich verdant jungles of the Amazon. He had the same cheerful smile that he had worn when he was about to rape me.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Beldar, at your service." He bowed with a courtly flourish, and held out a package to me, his eyes fixed politely on my face and not on my exposed cleavage, smart man, a cleavage that he himself had exposed, allowing all eyes to see. "My Queen invites you to break fast with her and bids you wear this gown."

I took the package from him and opened it. It was a long dress. Black silk.

"Step outside and close the door while I change," I said.

"You wound me with your mistrust," Beldar replied. "Surely you don't hold our little skirmish against me. I was the one wounded."

I sniffed and didn't smell blood. "Your wound seems to have closed."

He flashed me a charming smile, arrogant devil. "We heal fast. Say you forgive me."

"When you return my knives."

"Not until we reach the court," returned Beldar regretfully. "By my Queen's command."

"The door," I said.

With a sigh, he closed it and I quickly changed. The dress fell about my feet in a full, rich swirl. A near-perfect fit at the waist but a bit loose at the chest, confirming my suspicion that the dress was Mona Sera's. Pity I hadn't inherited her full bosom. Not what I would have chosen to wear, but it was better than going around in a torn shirt with my breasts half hanging out.

"I'm done," I said, not bothering to speak loudly, knowing he would hear me.

The door swung open and Beldar's eyes widened in appreciation. He gestured up the stairs and inclined his head. "Ladies first."

"No, you first. I insist."

"Don't trust me at your back?"

"Nope. Not someone who would have raped me with a smile on his face."

"I would have thanked you afterward," he said winsomely, and I couldn't hold back a small smile. He might have been an opportunistic bastard but there was no denying he was a charming one.

He grinned back at me. "Very well."

I followed Beldar up the stairs and he led the way to the dining room. It was furnished with austere simplicity, with elegant black chairs set against neutral walls and natural wood floors. Everyone was already there, seated around a long formal table set with fine china, polished silverware, crystal candelabras, and gleaming candlelight. Mona Sera sat at the head of the table. Only the men were present. No other women. Nor were Gryphon or Amber present, I noted unhappily.

Beldar seated me at the foot of the table, a position of honor, perhaps, or maybe because it was the farthest seat away from Mona Sera. Far enough so that the irritating abrasive presence of another Queen was hardly felt. The presence of over twenty men in close proximity, on the other hand, was like a fresh punch to my senses. I didn't fight the awareness, just let it flow over me, grateful to be sitting down. The trick, I learned, was to absorb it, then tune it down like unwanted noise. The men closest to me held themselves stiffly and looked at me warily, and I wondered sardonically if it was because they were afraid of jumping me or afraid that I might jump them.

Mona Sera inclined her head, the gracious host. "I am so pleased you could join us, Mona Lisa." She'd had to ask my name last night. Nope, my cross had definitely not come from her.

"My pleasure," I said dryly, knowing she would have ensured I joined them whether I had desired it or not.

The food was brought out and I found out where the women were—serving us, silly me. From the corner of my eye, I watched Sonia serve Queen Mona Sera first. A quiet, subdued woman—all the women seemed quiet and subdued, for that matter—lay a plate before me. I glanced down. The steak was bloodier than I was used to but I forced myself to eat a few bites. A girl had to keep up her strength, especially in this crowd.

"We have a surprise treat for dessert," Mona Sera said, evil satisfaction lacing her voice. It had been surprisingly quiet and civilized up until then. I'd known it couldn't last.

The door opened and the smell hit me first: heated raw flesh. Gryphon stumbled in, supporting a barely conscious man. Both wore only pants, their tops naked. Gryphon's chest and face were reddened as if he'd gotten a light sunburn, but the other taller, bigger man was a mass of fiery, lobster-red flesh covered by not just blisters, but boils—huge half-dollar size boils that had broken open and oozed a pink-tinged exudate. His eyes were so swollen and puffed with fluid that he couldn't open his eyelids, and his lips were thickened and covered with open sores. His face was distorted beyond the point of recognition. Only the man's size and chestnut hair let me know that it was Amber I was seeing.

Gryphon guided Amber to kneel before Mona Sera. A thick peel of skin sloughed off from beneath Amber's arm and side as Gryphon removed his supporting arm and fell to his knees as well.

"Amber, you seem to be a little tired after your day in the sun, your punishment for disobeying me," Mona Sera with a chuckle. The laughter stopped abruptly with unnatural reptilian quickness. "But you, my dear Gryphon, seemed to have acquired nothing more than a light tan." She swung her narrowed eyes my way. "Let me guess, dear daughter. The sun's rays do not burn you."

"No more than it does most humans," I acknowledged.

"Dear, dear. You seem to have passed your gift to our sweet Gryphon," Mona Sera said. "And after only one night together. How interesting."

I was beginning to hate it when she said that. It meant that she was thinking, and nothing good could come of that.

"Fortunate for me that Gryphon was hardly damaged by the ordeal. I'd like him to be of some use to me at court," I responded coolly.

Mona Sera looked at me thoughtfully. "You speak as if Gryphon is yours."

I shrugged. "I thought you had thrown him away. I find myself having to take what I can find. Your damaged goods… unless you care to gift me with some of your healthy strong men. Like your lovely Beldar, perhaps."

I smiled at Beldar and he froze into stillness, the look in his eye not thanking me at all for drawing him into this. My pleasure, my eyes conveyed back to him.

Mona Sera bared her teeth in a chilly smile. "No, daughter, I think not, although it is true. You must have some protection at court."

"Then I must make do with your castoffs—Gryphon… and Amber."

"You would take Amber as well?" Mona Sera lifted a brow at my presumptuousness. "I doubt he will live in any case."

"Better for me if he does. An impressive statement, would it not be, to the High Council, to have him seen under your daughter's leash."

"An impressive statement, indeed. I like how your mind thinks."

Mona Sera smiled thinly but her eyes were cold. "But why should I be so generous?"

I leaned back in my chair. "It was my birthday last week. I'll take them as a birthday present."

Mona Sera looked at me for a long moment in utter silence. Then she threw her head back and laughed and laughed until tears of mirth flowed down her chiseled cheeks. And all the men laughed with her. Not because they found it funny but because they were afraid not to laugh.

"A birthday present!" Mona Sera wiped away her tears chuckling. "Very well. My gift to you." The laughter ceased abruptly. "Be ready. We leave in an hour."

We were down in the dungeon once again. Even with Gryphon's substantial helping hand, it had taken a monumental effort on Amber's part, using up the last reserves of his strength to make it down the stairs without falling.

"There's no place to lay him down," I said, wanting to help but unable to hold Amber in any place without sloughing off more of his burned skin.

"The ground," Gryphon grunted.

"It's dirty."

"We do not get infections."

I laughed humorlessly. "Just sun and silver poisoning." I spread my old pants and shirt on the floor and Gryphon gently lowered Amber down to the ground. The wounded giant let out a harsh groan of pain as his raw, ravaged back touched the floor.

"God," I breathed, looking at the horrible mess he was. "Can his body heal this?"

Gryphon looked at me and shook his head. He glanced at Beldar, who was supposed to be guarding us but instead hovered by the door. "Beldar, could you bring us some water, clean cloth, and some salve?"

Beldar hesitated, clearly torn over whether or not to leave us unattended. His gaze drew almost compulsively back to Amber. Or rather, to what used to be Amber. Nodding jerkily, his face wiped clean of humor, Beldar left, leaving me troubled.

In that brief unguarded moment, I had caught a glimpse of the man beneath Beldar's carefree façade and I realized that I had underestimated him. I would not do so again.

"What can we do?" I asked Gryphon.

"You passed your ability to withstand the sun's rays to me," Gryphon said. "Perhaps you can do so as well with him."

I looked at him blankly. "You want me to fuck him?"

Gryphon spread his hands. "As you see, males may gain power from joining with a Queen."

"Gryphon," I said carefully. "Even if I wanted to, I don't think he's in any condition right now for sex."

"I can think of nothing else that might save him, milady."

"Queens don't fuck all their men. Even I know that," I said harshly.

"You are correct," Gryphon said, his own voice edging with hardness. "But it is a Queen's duty and responsibility to care for her men in the same manner that those men care for and protect their Queen."

"Perhaps you should tell Mona Sera that instead of me."

Gryphon sighed, a weary sound from deep within his soul. "As I have stated before, Mona Sera ranks among one of our worst Queens."

"Always nice to hear that about one's mother."

Gryphon pressed a comforting hand to my shoulder. I brought his hand to my cheek and went into his arms, seeking comfort in his embrace. "Thank God you're alive. I'm sorry, so sorry. It's my fault we were caught."

He shushed me. "I should have realized the pull the moon, the ceremony, would have over you."

"How could you when I'd never felt it before, not that strongly." I sniffed and pushed away from him. "Mona Sera claims she does not have the cure for silver poisoning." In truth, she had told me that there was no no cure.

He dredged up a smile. "It was a poor hope to begin with."

"But we're going to the High Court. We'll ask the other Queens there. Seek out healers."

Gryphon smiled, raised my hand to his lips and placed a tender kiss there. "My heart," he murmured. "But if I am to die, all the more reason to try to save Amber. Though his spirit has been damaged by his years under Mona Sera's rule, he is still a great warrior and will serve you well if you can but save him."

I gazed at him with stricken eyes. "How can you want me to sleep with him?"

"Only a small part of you is human," Gryphon said gently. "The greater part of you is of the moon. We are not like humans. It is natural for Queens to be drawn to more than one man, to take many of them as lovers, as is it natural for men to desire to join with a Queen. It is a survival instinct deeply inbred to increase the chances of a fertile union."

"It might not even help," I said. "He's already burned."

"But it cannot hurt him," Gryphon returned with infallible logic. "And I sense a strong healing power hidden deep inside you. Perchance you may pass that to him. If you truly wish to claim him as you said, then be his Queen. Be our Queen."

I gazed down at Amber. His swollen eyes were closed so he could not see us. I didn't even know if he could talk. But he could still hear us.

"Do you wish this, Amber?" I asked.

Amber lay there unmoving for so long that I thought for a fleeting moment he had lost consciousness. Then his breath wheezed out of his swollen passages and his cracked, blistered lips moved, straining to speak. But his tongue was so thickened and his mouth was so dry, only a garbled sound emerged. He swallowed painfully and tried again. Once more, mutilated sound came out, not words.

"I can't understand you, Amber," I said. "Just nod or shake your head."

Amber's tense mouth and neck relaxed. He nodded.

I took a deep breath and bent down to him, the decision made. I would try to save him. He was under my care now. I just hadn't known what it would mean when I'd bargained for him.

Gryphon carefully removed Amber's pants. Untouched by the sun, Amber's skin below the waist was a smooth, marble white, unblemished. His long shaft was soft, too wracked by pain to be aroused.

I couldn't do it. It seemed wrong to touch him like this while he was in agony.

"Close your eyes," Gryphon whispered, kissing my lids closed. "Just touch him like this." He guided my hand to Amber's thigh. With my eyes shut, I did my best to block out the smell and just concentrate on the pleasure of touching him. He was hairier than Gryphon, with long cinnamon hair dusting his thighs and legs. They were silkier than they looked. I smoothed my hand down his leg and felt the tingle of desire strengthen and spark between us.

"Your skin is so soft," I murmured in surprise and appreciation, flowing with the natural attraction, bringing my other hand up to stroke around the bones of Amber's knee and down the hard swell of his calf, to trace the graceful lines of tendons and muscles. I rubbed my cheek against his hairy shin and caught the faint scent of his skin.

"You smell of musk. Like fur." And I liked it. The smell called to something within me. I kissed my way up a few inches then nuzzled him behind his knee, licking him in that soft, vulnerable spot. His leg twitched in my grasp.

"You taste of salt and sweat," I said, and did not protest when Gryphon unzipped my gown, lifted it off me, unhooked my bra, and slid my underwear down. I slid my body around that strong leg, rubbed my breasts against him and felt his hair tickle my sensitive nipples. I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into his sinewy thigh, stroking the firm muscles with my tongue, making my way up in leisurely manner, stopping here and there to take a mouthful of that brawny flesh, to test its suppleness between my teeth, to lave and lick him until I reached the hollow of his groin. I opened my eyes then, careful to look at just his lower body.

"Ah. You're happy to see me," I murmured. "And very, very big, like the rest of you." I took him into my mouth, my hair spilling over him like a flowing silk curtain. I had to stretch my mouth open to its widest so I could take him in. It was an unusual sensation, having him within my mouth, and not an unpleasant one. I swirled my tongue over the ridged head, and felt his thighs tense beneath me as I licked the sensitive rim around his cap.

"So thick." A tiny pearl of pre-come fluid oozed responsively out like a sweet tear. I put my mouth back over his tip and lapped him there and sucked hard. Drawing out every last bit of the fluid, I swallowed and rumbled my appreciation. "You taste even better than a lollipop. Salty and sweet." The scent of our arousal lay heavy in the air as I nuzzled him.

Closing my eyes, I straddled him, guided him to me, and felt his thick shaft probe my entrance. But he didn't go in. I groaned with pleasure and frustration. Circling against him, lubricating him with my moisture while pleasing myself, I sank down onto him once more.

"Oh, God," I breathed. "You're so big." I took him in, centimeter by delicious centimeter, feeling his broad head stretch me more and more. And he was still only a couple of inches within me. I lifted up, felt his cry of protest and drove myself back down onto him, deeper, I groaned with the luxurious reel of him within me and circled my hips, taking him increment by tiny, torturous increment more into me. Then lifted up and sank down again and again, until he glided more smoothly, more easily within me.

"I want all of you." I panted, lifting up and thrusting down with more force. Still, it was not enough.

His hands suddenly gripped my hips, holding me down, as he speared up into me, making me cry out. He withdrew and plunged again, and light shimmered beyond my closed lids and I knew we were glowing. I felt the wave of power grow and grow with each stroke that I met and matched with my own rhythm and force. He tilted me abruptly forward so that his shaft rubbed against my wet, swollen clitoris and thrust into me with a strength that made me gasp, burying himself to the hilt. And I thought desperately, Heal. . Heal… as the wave broke and my climax burst within me.

Amber withdrew and drove within me two more times. Then he cried out and grew rigid, spurting deep within me, filling me with his warm essence.

"Your hands are hot," growled a deep voice.

It took me a moment to realize that it was Amber who had spoken and register the significance of it. I opened my eyes and found my hands resting on his chest and saw with shock and wonder that his flesh was whole. Amazingly whole. Free of boils and sores. All that lingered from his ordeal was darkened skin like Gryphon's, faintly reddened. His lips were no longer swollen and his blue eyes had changed to startling amber flames, like his name. They blazed up at me with golden crystal clarity.

The world suddenly reversed and I found myself on my back, Amber looming above me, his brawny arms braced on either side of my head. I gasped as he moved, as I felt him lengthen and harden within me in the space of one slow heartbeat. He moved again, the slightest caress, growing even bigger and moan slid out of me and my lids fluttered shut. But some other sound, some movement made me open them again.

Beldar stood framed in the doorway, his avid gaze fixed upon us, his arms piled high with sheets, a large bowl balancing on top, a jar dangling forgotten from one hand.

I stiffened with a cry of distress and pushed against Amber's chest, scarlet with mortification and embarrassment.

The look Amber shot Beldar had the slighter man turning abruptly away and averting his gaze.

I clamped my lips tightly shut, suppressing another moan as Amber slid out of me and rolled to his side, shielding me from view with his larger body.

The touch of his large hand against my face stilled my mad scrambling.

"Thank you." Simple words, but his eyes… Amber's blank shield of control was down, revealing emotions that were almost overwhelming in their intensity.

"You're welcome," I whispered, distressed by what I had glimpsed.

This had been a one-time deal as far as I was concerned. I had to let him know that, but the words blocked in my throat, unable to come out with him looking at me like that.

Gryphon brought the gown to me and I gratefully pulled it over me. Amber stood up with a total disregard for his nakedness, with a casualness that I envied. I kept my eyes carefully averted from that part of him still wet with our mixed essence, that part that bobbed and swayed with his movements, and made my way determinedly to the door.

Beldar backed away at my approach as if I were dangerous. It brought a twisted smile to my lips that seemed to make him even more nervous. Good.

"I need to shower," I announced. "We all do."

Some other males ended up escorting Gryphon and Amber to their rooms, their shocked gazes swinging from Amber back to me, while Beldar remained at my side, careful to keep at least five feet of distance between us, which was fine by me. All I cared about was getting my shower. That, and feeding my men. It seemed I had two of them now.

"Amber and Gryphon need to eat," I pronounced when I was done showering. The room I had used was simply furnished, in sharp contrast to the opulence of the main floor, the pink towels that I dried myself with the only feminine touches of beauty in the stark room.

"The kitchen is down the hall to the left." Beldar indicated that I proceed ahead of him.

"What, don't trust me at your back?" I sneered, walking toward him, feeling perverse, cruel satisfaction as he backed away. "Afraid I'll jump you… or that you'll jump me?"

Beldar grinned, his hands spread placatingly wide. "Exquisite though you may be…"

I snorted.

"… I have no desire to fry in the sun or die in some other painful manner."

And I had no real desire to get into any more trouble. Things were going our way. I didn't want to screw things up. Really, I didn't. I stopped crowding him and walked to the kitchen, where Sonia and two other women were washing dishes and doing what women all over the world do in kitchens. To my relief, there was no irritating abrasiveness or attractive rush in their presence, just a comforting recognition of like to like.

"Mona Lisa." The warmth in Sonia's eyes made my heart tighten painfully.

"Amber and Gryphon didn't eat," I said more bluntly than I would have liked because I felt awkward in her presence.

"Amber is well enough to eat?" Sonia asked, surprise and relief evident in her eyes.

I nodded.

"I had some food set aside for them, just in case. Where are they?" Sonia asked.

"In their rooms," Beldar replied. "Cleaning up and packing for the trip."

"Lily, Roselyn," Sonia said to the other women. "Could you please fetch the two of them down to the dining table?"

The women left silently. Sonia took out two plates of food that had been warming in the oven and brought them into the next room. I followed her with Beldar a silent shadow behind me. There were no marks or bruises evident upon Sonia. Either they were hidden beneath her clothes or they had already healed.

"You don't resent Amber?" I asked, confused. Amber had raped her, hadn't he? I knew him intimately now, knew how much damage he could inflict with his incredible size.

"How can I?" Sadness laced her words as she placed the plates of food down upon the table. "He was victim as much as I. And he was as gentle as he could be."

There was so much I needed to ask her, to say to her. But Beldar's presence burned like a restraining brand. He was Mona Sera's eyes and ears, and I could only look at Sonia in uncomfortable silence.

She felt no such constraint. She took my hands into her smaller ones and squeezed feelingly. "Oh, Mona Lisa. I am so glad you are well."

"I…" Sliding my hands from hers, I lay my hand over my hidden cross. "Thank you."

Sonia smiled. "You are most welcome," she said softly with understanding.

The male escorts delivered Gryphon and Amber into the dining room, then left, casting me wary, speculative glances that had me gritting my teeth.

"Oh, my," Sonia said, looking at the healed Amber with amazement. Her gaze dropped down to his hands, then flew back up again. His eyes met hers briefly, awkwardly, acknowledging her politely then looking away, busying himself with the task of eating. Gryphon likewise started in on his dinner, his appetite good though he looked a little tired. We were all probably tired, for that matter.

"You are a healer and quite powerful for one so young," Sonia said with quiet awe.

"I don't know that I healed Amber, per se," I admitted. "He may have just acquired my tolerance of the sun. Do you have a healer here I can speak to?"

"No, which is why we all thought Amber would surely perish."

"Is that why everyone looks so surprised?" I asked.

"That and the extent of his recovery." Sonia paused and I had a feeling that she had left something unsaid. "There are few healers who could do what you did. There are some at High Court where we are going. I am sure they will be as eager to converse with you as you with them."