I stumbled out of the ranch house in a daze and started back to Mircea's home. A war mage was standing in the yard waiting to escort me. He followed me unobtrusively until Peter met me near the tree line.

"Thanks. I've got her now," he told the war mage. Peter didn't say a word as he walked near me, not letting me out of his sight until I was back in my suite. The walk had calmed me although I was still brooding over the depth of Pritkin's anger. I had pulled crazier stunts than that before and he didn't threaten to abandon me. What the hell was up with him? I showered quickly and stepped into my dressing room. Anna had selected a conservative skirt suit for me. I was dressing when I heard her enter the suite and bustle about.

"Good morning, Anna". She was just pouring my tea when I walked out into my sitting room.

"My Lady," she greeted me as she bobbed her head. "I requested a fresh breakfast for you and there is a delivery for you as well as the morning paper."

I read the note from Robert as I ate my breakfast. The Pythian Court Press Secretary had supplied a large envelope of photographs taken during the festivities, and Robert had thoughtfully supplied a nice selection of frames. I was free to keep them or give them away as mementos.

I skimmed through the photographs supplied by the Court photographer. I stopped and stared at the photo of myself and Mircea on the dance floor. He was holding me in his arms as I looked up at him. We were so close it looked like we were about to kiss. I remembered this instant in time…he had just whispered to me before he took the first steps of the dance. I pulled out a white china frame and inserted the photo. Since Mircea had kept a photo album of his girlfriend in his rooms at MAGIC, he could damn well keep a photo of me here at his court. It was still early morning so it was possible that Mircea had not gone to rest yet. I gently knocked on the door connecting our suites and tried the door when there was no answer. It opened for me readily and I stepped into Mircea's private suite. The décor was very different from his rooms at MAGIC. Here, his sitting room was all blues and greens with brown accents amid stone. The entire room had walls of smooth gray rock with an occasional glittering streak of quartz or chip of mica that would sparkle in firelight. The dark wood furniture looked sturdy and comfortable. The mantle over the fireplace appeared to have been carved straight out of the granite of the cliffside. I stopped short and stared in disbelief at the girl in the painting over the mantle. She was strikingly similar to the photos of the beautiful vampire girl with short, dark hair that I had seen in the photo album. Only this girl had long dark hair and was dressed in simple clothing from an era many lifetimes ago. Perhaps this was the same girl before she became a vampire, I mused. It was the only painting in the room. She must mean a great deal to Mircea, I thought with a pang of jealousy. I peered at the painting, something about it seemed familiar. It hovered at the edge of my thoughts, just out of grabbing distance…but it wouldn't come to me. I shook my head in exasperation and opened the door to his bedroom, nervously peeking in and wondering if I would find him in bed. If he was here, I didn't want him to think I was coming to his bedroom for sex. I let out the breath I was holding and relaxed. Mircea was not here. I quickly strode over to some granite shelves carved out of the cliffside and placed the framed photo among the knick knacks scattered there. I left quietly before he showed up. On my way out I glanced at the huge bed draped with dark blue silk sheets and a brown velvet comforter. So where was he sleeping today? I wondered as I felt an unexpected flush of jealousy heat my face.

Back again in my own suite, I selected a photo for Jeannie - me sitting on my throne and smiling warmly as Jeannie curtsied before me with Pritkin watching nearby on guard duty. I chose a glass frame with painted pink flowers for her photo. Next I hunted through the stack for a photo to give to Pritkin. He was so mad at me…I did not believe he would appreciate a photo with me in it, so I decided on one with him and Jeannie. The photographer had captured her standing slightly behind Pritkin and leaning against his leg as he stood chatting with someone outside the picture. She looked shyly at the camera, big brown eyes peeking out as she held onto Pritkin's leg. I selected a simple pewter frame for his photo. I found a photo with Rafe and myself and a nice walnut frame to go with it. There were several candid group shots that included both Marsden and Pritkin standing smartly in his uniform with some other war mages. I framed those as well. The rest I put away for later.

I grabbed the framed photo for Rafe and headed out to find him. With most of the guests gone, Mircea's home had quieted for the day.

"Where is the vampire Rafael?" I asked the master vampire on guard duty.

"In his chamber in the lower level," he told me after a moment debating whether or not to answer me.

"Thanks. How do I get there?"

He stared at me for a moment. "Humans don't go down there unless they are going for a feeding. It is not a good idea to go to the lower levels while the vampires sleep." I gave up and decided to find Rafe at sundown, instead.

I had a few hours yet before my Pythian duties started for the day. I decided to make a peace offering to Pritkin. I picked up the framed photos and shifted to Jeannie's room in Pritkin's house. I listened, expecting Pritkin to come storming up the stairs to yell at me. The place was silent…no one was home. I glanced around, noticing several changes since I had been here a few days ago. There were some dolls sitting propped on the bed, many more books, and a small desk. I placed the photo I brought for her on her bookcase, and then went down the hall to Pritkin's room. Stepping around the clothing strewn on the floor, I left the pewter-framed photo I had selected for him near some books stacked on a circular table in his room. I wandered downstairs as I looked for a suitable location for the last photo, finally placing the framed photo of Pritkin and Marsden on the mantle over the fireplace in the kitchen. With nothing left to do here, I shifted back to my suite in Mircea's home.

I found Peter and Epatha in my sitting room, waiting for me.

"My Lady, did you shift through time?" asked Peter.

"No. Why?"

"Your tracer did not register for the last ten minutes."

"I shifted to a heavily warded location, and I will do so again as needed," I warned, starting to get irritated. Had the Circle added a fourth tracer to me? Crap.

"My Lady, you must allow a Guard to accompany you."

"That is not necessary. The location is for training purposes and there is adequate protection. Mage Pritkin cleared it himself." They didn't need to know it was Pritkin's house.

"My Lady, please understand. If we do not know where you are, we must assume the worst. I was about to raise an alert. You could be dead. You could have been kidnapped and the tracers stripped. You could have been taken out of our realm, and we would not know where to find you," he explained patiently. Once again a war mage was making me feel like a child that had misbehaved.

"Surely I'm entitled to some privacy," I stated, anger painting my words.

"Your personal rooms in the Residence at the Court are warded with privacy spells. Mage Pritkin set the wards himself just a few days ago. I believe he was planning to tell you when you move to Court."

That had all sorts of implications, I thought. If these were the same wards he had on his house, I could shift from my room at Court to his house and no one would know I was gone. I could be away all night and none would be the wiser. Unless, of course, they came knocking at my door looking for me. I wondered if Pritkin had a plan for that possibility. For the first time this morning, I smiled. Pritkin had engineered a way for us to continue with 'bedsport'. Not for the first time, I considered asking him to be my Consort. I sighed. I had a lot of ground to make up with him before anything of that nature was possible. And the magical world was assuming I was involved with Mircea, especially after this morning's article in the 'Crystal Gazing' newspaper. The whole issue was devoted to my installation as Pythia, complete with photos and wild speculation. That photo of Mircea and myself on the dance floor, enlarged and cropped to just show us from the waist up, was a featured full page image in the rag. It appeared as though we were embracing. At least the article had not referred to me as 'Lady Basarab'.

"I will try to remember to tell my Guard before I shift. I don't want to be accompanied everywhere I go. Surely, Lady Phemonoe was not followed to this extent?"

"Yes, actually, as much as possible. She didn't like it, but she was safe during a very long reign."

I didn't have an answer to that, so I changed the subject and brought my laptop out to the sitting room to work with Epatha. Once again I logged in and clicked on the icon for the Chronicles. This time the link worked and we were in.

"The entries for the last thirty years are available via the online database, meaning you can search by multiple keywords and link to cross-referenced entries. The entries for earlier years are just scanned digital images that you may read, with the exception of some important visions that Lady Phemonoe wanted cross-referenced." She selected an entry to demonstrate. "This Chronicle entry is for a vision that Lady Phemonoe had about two years ago. As you can see, this vision is linked with an entry for the visit with the supplicant and to all supporting files." She highlighted several keywords. "The senior staff helps to interpret visions, and assigns keywords from a list. You may access previous visions based on keywords. This helps the staff identify trends and has been useful in understanding warnings contained within a vision in a timely manner." She then clicked on a red link and turned the screen towards me. "This entry is commentary made by Lady Phemonoe herself and is viewable only to the person logged in with your password. These red links are only for the eyes of the reigning Pythia and the Heir."

"This is incredible!"

"Now that you see how we will use your input, you understand why there are forms to fill out. You have the option of filling out the forms online and saving a tree," she grinned as she showed me how to pull up a vision form, edit and submit. "The completed online form is automatically emailed to the senior staff for analysis, and they in turn enter their views online as well." She puffed out her breath in exasperation. "They don't always agree. As Pythia, you make the final determination with which the supplicant is informed." Now I knew how I could relay my vision about the attack on the Court. There was a knock at the door and Anna escorted Robert into the sitting room.

"My Lady, if Epatha is finished with her briefing, I would like to go over the schedule of appointments with you. There is a backlog since there was a delay in getting you installed." Epatha closed the open links and turned the laptop to Robert. He navigated to the Appointments icon and brought up the schedule.

"The Circle may at any time request that you shift in time and perform an action to preserve the timeline. Otherwise, you have three appointments scheduled in the next three days. To prepare, please read the initial summaries submitted by the Appointment Coordinator staff." He showed me the links to the summaries. "These will help you formulate questions when you talk to the supplicant, and when you ask your power for a vision."

Now that I could understand. Previously, I had precisely asked my power about Pritkin, and I had received a vision that I could interpret.

"Your first task today as Pythia is to have lunch with your senior staff before they fly back to the Court. Luncheon is being set up at the ranch house," he informed me crisply. "Your Guard will escort you," he told me sternly. Peter had told him about my earlier truancy.

My afternoon was spent lunching with my staff, all of whom were quietly assessing me during the meal; and reviewing files on the Court website for the upcoming appointments. The first appointment was tomorrow afternoon.

Sundown snuck up on me. I turned off the laptop and picked up the framed photo for Rafe. This time the guard escorted me to a lower level in Mircea's home and on to Rafe's chamber.

"Mia Stella!" he greeted me as he wiped his paint smeared fingers on a rag. I gave him a hug and handed him the photo. He was admiring it while I peered around his chamber, my eyes settling on the painting he was working on. There was something about his current work in progress that tugged at me…nibbling at the edge of my thoughts. It wouldn't come to me, just like this morning.

"You painted her!" I realized with perfect clarity. Rafe had painted the picture in Mircea's room. I had watched him paint often enough when I was a child to recognize his style.

"What? Who?" he asked, confused.

"Who is the woman in the painting in Mircea's private sitting room?"

"That is my wife," said a calm voice behind me. I turned so quickly I almost fell. Mircea grabbed my arm and steadied me.

"She's a vampire…," I sputtered. "How can you have more than one wife by vampire law?" I asked idiotically, nothing more eloquent coming to mind after that shock.

"She is not a vampire. She has been dead…truly dead…for centuries," he replied softly. "And I thought you did not recognize the vampire claim I have on you. Have you changed your mind Lady Basarab?" he asked with a glimmer in his eye.

"What? No! Don't call me that!" My lips pinched into a thin grim line. "And your girlfriend looks just like her," I said bitterly.

Mircea wrinkled his perfect brow. "What girlfriend?" he asked, appearing genuinely puzzled as he gently steered me back upstairs. "Let us take this discussion elsewhere. I have arranged for dinner on our balcony tonight." He walked into my suite with me and indicated the french doors, which were now open to the evening. I doffed my suit jacket and left it in the sitting room and followed him out the doors. There was a table for two outside on the stone terrace, with crisp white linen and sparkling glassware set on the table next to a vase of fresh flowers. Tiny magelights winked in the greenery growing in large stone planters placed around the terrace. The fresh evergreen scent of the evening mountain air breezed through the terrace. There was a second set of french doors, presumably to his own suite. He pulled my chair out for me and bent low as he kissed my scar, awakening warmth below my belly. He then took his own seat as a vampire brought in wine and lifted the cover from my plate. A hamburger and fries looked back at me. The waiter poured the wine and left, closing the french doors behind him.

"The kitchen staff told me you enjoyed a meal such as this. Or would you prefer something else?"

"No…this is fine," I told him as I picked up the burger. I ate while Mircea sipped his wine, deep in thought as he surveyed the gathering night beyond the terrace. I waited for him to ask me about the 'girlfriend' accusation. I did not have the courage to broach that subject again just yet.

"Thank you for the photograph," he murmured. "Were you perhaps expecting to find me in my rooms when you brought it?" His casual tone belied the intent watchfulness of his eyes.

"Where did you sleep? You weren't there," I evaded.

"You just missed me. My night's work lasted until midmorning, but I did eventually go to my rooms for my rest."

I peered at him. "You do look rested."

"That is due in part to the fact that the Consul has left for New York, so my time is my own until I leave as well. And you did not answer my question, Dulceata."

I took a sip of wine. "No, I had no expectations. I just wanted you to have a photo of me, since you had a whole album of photos of your girlfriend in your room at MAGIC but none of me. You've known me since I was ten, Mircea, and you had no photos of me." There. I had laid it all out for him...and my voice didn't even tremble.

His brow creased again as he thought for a few minutes. "I lost an album of photos of Dorina recently, presumably in the collapse." I waited, glaring at him expectantly. "I assure you…she is not my girlfriend." He sipped his wine. What did I have to do…pull it out of him like teeth from a stubborn tiger?

"Dorina is my daughter…the child I fathered long ago with the woman in the painting," he finally continued, sadness flickering in his eyes.

"D-daughter?" I finally stammered when I could form a coherent thought after that bombshell. "Did you turn her?"

"No. She was not turned."

"Those photos were taken over a period of a hundred years or so yet she doesn't age," I pointed out.

"She is what we call a dhampir, half human and half vampire. She was conceived after I became a vampire, but before I knew what had happened to me."

"Why didn't you tell me you have a daughter? You told me Radu was all the family you had left," I whispered over the lump in my throat. He had lied to me.

"Things are…fragile…with my daughter. We are most often estranged and in the past she has tried to kill me. I want to keep you safe, Dulceata, and Dorina is something of a loose cannon. Introducing you to Dorina would not have been wise…or safe. And she does not live locally. She lives in New York."

"You could have told me about her without introducing us," I protested. "Does she know about me? That you have claimed me?"

"No."

I swallowed hard. "Now I wonder what else you have kept from me."

He rose smoothly to his feet and stalked to the guard rail, standing silently as he looked out at the starlit night. I pushed my plate away…I had lost my appetite. He wasn't the only one keeping secrets. I had not told him about 'bedsport' with Pritkin and I never would. I breathed deeply a few times and rubbed my eyes. Since I was keeping my own secrets from him, I realized I had no right to demand complete honesty from him, either. Admitting my own faults to myself, I moved next to him and put my hand on his back.

"I'm sorry, Mircea. I'm not your wife and I don't have the right to demand to know your secrets," I told him quietly. He looked down at me in surprise. "And you do not have a right to know mine," I added tightly.

"And the mage…does he know your secrets?" he asked levelly and then went absolutely still…the vampire equivalent to holding his breath.

"No," I said simply. I had not told Pritkin about the vision I had ending in his death, and I had kept far more trivial things from him as well…like how his uniform tunic had been charmed. Everything else Pritkin seemed to figure out by himself, or had simply asked me.

"I am glad to hear that," he murmured, and pulled me into a deep, urgent kiss. The scar on my neck pulsed with pleasure, and sent instant tendrils out to every sensitive part of my body. I shivered as I gave in to the urge to run my fingers through his hair, unclipping his clasp and wrapping that soft silky hair around my fingers. His hands found their way inside my blouse, softly stroking his fingers along my spine and leaving a tingling trail in their wake. He broke off the kiss and moved to my neck, running the tips of his fangs along my scar. I felt a burst of pleasure that spread through my body, heightening the already throbbing parts into fire. I heard someone mewling with pleasure and it wasn't Mircea. He eased open my blouse, allowing my feverish skin to cool in the soft evening breeze of mountain air. He blew soft puffs of breath on my chest, then licked a trail down my neck onto my breast, leaving behind a sensation of silky ribbons against my skin. He pulled the hard nub of my nipple into his mouth, nudging aside the delicate lace of my bra. I was kneading his shoulders, unconsciously pulling him closer. Wet heat leaked between my thighs and I felt the hard length of him through his trousers as he pressed me to him. He gave my nipple a gentle tug, and then pulled his head up to capture my eyes with a feral gaze.

"Dulceata?" he whispered, his unvoiced question shining in his eyes.