“In these times, peace is tremulous. Allies are key. Power is key.” His gaze slipped down to me. “I called her. It had no effect.”
The murmuring began in earnest.
“She has resisted the call,” Ethan continued, raising his voice over the vampires. “She has resisted the glamour. She has strength, my friends, and will be an asset to our House. For she is ours. She is a Cadogan vampire.”
For the third time, the goose bumps rose.
He looked back at me and nodded slightly, and I sank to my knees before him. Then he took a step forward and gazed down at me. His eyes fairly glowed, bright green glass beneath the fringe of long, blond lashes.
This was it. The time to pledge myself, or not, in service to these vampires.
To Cadogan.
To Ethan.
“Merit, Initiate of Cadogan House, in the presence of your brothers and sisters, do you pledge fealty and allegiance to Cadogan House, to its honor, to its Lord? Do you pledge to be true and faithful to Cadogan House and to its members to the exclusion of all others, without deception? Do you pledge to uphold the liberty of your brothers and sisters?”
I kept my eyes on his and with a single word, accepted an eternity of obligation. “Yes.”
“Merit, Initiate of Cadogan House, do you pledge to serve the House and its Lord without hesitation, and to never, by word or deed, seek to harm the House, its members, or its Lord? Will you help to hold and defend her against any creature, living or dead, and make this promise, gladly and without dread, and keep it for as long as you shall live?”
I opened my mouth to answer, but he stopped me with an arched brow. “Immortality makes for long life, Merit, and for an eternal promise. Think carefully before you answer.”
“I will,” I answered without hesitation, having already made the decision that I was, for better or worse, a Cadogan vampire.
Ethan nodded. “So be it. Daughter of Joshua, beloved of Charles”—I smiled at the mention of my grandfather’s name—“you offer your faith and fidelity, and we accept you into our grace and favor.”
He took the last medal from Malik, leaned closer, and clasped it around my neck. His hand, I thought, lingered for a moment before he stepped back, but before I had a chance to wonder at what that meant, his voice boomed through the ballroom.
“Merit, Cadogan Initiate, I anoint you . . . Sentinel of this House.”
The crowd gasped. Ethan looked down at me, waited for my reaction.
My fingers instinctively touching the flat of the pendant, I gave him a reaction immediately—lifting wide eyes to his and staring, mouth open, at the revelation. I was shocked, partly that I actually knew what a “Sentinel” was, and partly that he’d made me one.
Like I’d explained to Mallory, the position of Sentinel, like much of the House, was feudal in origin, and wasn’t used much in modern Houses. Where the House’s Guard Captain, in this case Luc, stood as head of the House’s small army of guards, the Sentinel was responsible for guarding the House as an entity. As Sentinel, I’d be responsible for the structure itself, and most important, for the House as a symbol.
As Mallory put it, I’d be defending the brand. And I’d be honor-bound to serve the House, any lingering distrust for Ethan completely beside the point.
In effect, he was ensuring my loyalty to Cadogan in the shrewdest way possible—by giving me the duty of defending it.
It was brilliant. A strategy worthy of applause. An Ethan-worthy strategy, for all that he prided himself on political maneuvering.
Still on my knees, I stared up at him. “Well played.”
He smiled beneath hooded eyes, offered me a hand. I took it and pulled myself up.
“Yet again,” he said, his eyes alight, “we see your potential to wreak havoc.”
“It wasn’t my intent to wreak havoc. I can’t help it if I’m . . . abnormal.”
Ethan smiled. “Not abnormal,” he said. “Unique. And I believe we’ll adjust to this development.”
He was being unusually ungrumpy, and I wondered if by taking the oaths I’d crossed some important threshold for holding Ethan’s trust. Maybe now that I was officially a Cadogan vamp—subject to the Master’s rules and the Canon’s detailed scheme of discipline and sanctions—he could afford to trust me.
But Ethan kept his eyes on me, his gaze darting back and forth across my face. He still seemed to be searching for something, waiting for something, so I knew, even if we’d made progress, that we weren’t quite done.
“What?”
“I want your allegiance.”
I frowned, not understanding. “You have it. I just swore an oath. Two of them. Two oaths to protect you and yours against all things living and dead. I don’t even know how that second part works, and I signed up for it anyway.”
He shook his head. “The Houses will hear about your strength—they’ll learn about your speed and agility. They’ll learn you can withstand glamour.” He lifted brows, and I realized he was asking for confirmation. I nodded.
“Others, when they learn of your origins, will test your loyalty, question whether you’re . . . biddable. There will be doubts as to your willingness to accede to my authority.” His gaze intensified, his irises now a deeper green—like cold, dark seawater. “I want the other Houses to know that you’re mine.”
I heard the strained note of possessiveness in his voice, but knew it wasn’t personal—it had nothing to do with me, but reflected his concern that another House might lure me away. And Ethan wasn’t interested in sharing his new toy. Whatever his physical attraction to me, I was a weapon, an instrument, a secret tool to be garnered in defense of his House. In defense of his vampires.
But he’d given me a weapon of my own. While I was a Cadogan vamp, subject to his dictates—and while I had no immediate plans to buck his authority—I was Sentinel for Cadogan House, not Ethan Sullivan. My plans for protecting the House would supersede his individual plans for me. Ironically, while he thought to reel me in further, he’d actually given me the keys to my independence.
“While it might be fun for you to show me off,” I told him, “it’s better for Cadogan if my strengths aren’t paraded in front of the other Houses. It’s better to keep them in the dark and for you to let me do my job. I’ll attract less suspicion if they don’t know how strong I am, especially if they don’t know I have some immunity to glamour. The surprise will work to our advantage.” My tone didn’t allow for disagreement, just offered a strategy that I knew he’d see was right.
As I waited for an answer, as he considered what I’d said, I offered, “Unless you only wanted me to be a figurehead—and not actually employ my skills to secure the House.”
Ethan shook his head, frowning as he did it. “No. You’ll stand Sentinel. But they’ll still question your loyalty. Word of our, let’s call them, conflicts has spread.”
“Then my word that all is well in Cadogan House, that I’m, let’s say, committed to your service won’t have much effect. They’ll respect deeds, Ethan, not words.”
I saw the glint of appreciation in his eyes. “Fair enough.” His gaze slid to the crowd behind me, and I realized they’d been watching the entire dialogue. Our positions weren’t exactly inconspicuous, standing as we were in the front of the room, scores of still-attentive vampires watching.
“Let’s continue this discussion tomorrow, Sentinel.”
Noting that I’d now lost my first name as well to my new title, I nodded my acquiescence. At the motion of his hand, I took my place as the twelfth addition to Cadogan House, standing directly in front of Amber. I could feel her glaring behind me, but kept my gaze open and blank and on the vampires in front of us. Their suspicious stares weren’t any better, but at least they regarded me with a little less overt, Ethan-induced jealousy.
Ethan turned to the crowd. “Friends, having heard the oaths of our twelve new members, we face the dawn as a House made larger, made stronger, made more secure against its enemies. I bid you welcome your new brothers and sisters with open arms.”
A male vamp in the crowd called out, “Open arms are great! Just don’t forget to lock your bedroom doors!”
Ethan chuckled along with the crowd. “And on that irreverent note, I call this Commendation closed and bid you good night. Dismissed.”
The crowd offered a simultaneous “Thank you, Liege,” and the lines of vampires began to relax and cluster into smaller groups. The women to my left squealed happily, and began embracing one another, probably thrilled they’d finally been admitted to the House. I didn’t feel comfortable joining in the celebration—for better or worse, I wasn’t one of them—and instead glanced back at Ethan. He was back in the pirate-inspecting-his-crew pose, and I wondered if he felt that same sense of separateness—being both a member of Cadogan but, by virtue of being its Master, not really one of them.
I moved back to him, confident that I’d taken his measure, but needing to reassure myself about something.
“Ethan?”