Read Online Captured Sun by Shari Richardson - Free Book Online

else."
    I shook my head. Some days the metaphysical mess that was my life was simply overwhelming. I longed for a nice, normal life where I didn't have to worry about killer vampires, love-sick werecats or looming evil. But when I was truly honest with myself I had to admit that without the metaphysical weirdness, I wouldn't have Mathias in my life. For him, I would put up with the rest and thank the Divine for bringing it to me.

Chapter 5
    "Alfred, my love, why do you make me go to such lengths to see you?"
    "You need only call, my queen and I am at your side," Alfred bowed to the lovely red-haired woman who smiled cruelly in return.
    "We both know that to be a lie, my child," she said, flicking her eyes to Mathias. "This one pulls you harder than even I do."
    "He was yet young and needed me when you last called, my queen. I could not leave him to the tender mercies of the colonial vampires. They had already run him under ground."
    "But you ignored my call, Alfred. You hurt me deeply. So deeply I have come to this provincial cesspool to discover what has kept you away from my side."
    Serina walked slowly around Mathias, trailing a long finger along his jaw and down his chest. Mathias' jaw clenched, but he did not move. Only someone who knew him well would see how tightly he held to his control. "This one does have a certain appeal," she said. "I must give you that much credit. But what is it that draws you so strongly to him?"
    Alfred averted his eyes and said nothing. Serina lifted one lovely brow. "You will answer me," she said, her voice deepening and seeming to echo.
    Alfred's face contorted in agony. Serina made no move, but Alfred dropped to his knees and clutched his head. Mathias watched his father's pain for only a moment before speaking.
    "Tell her, father. Do not suffer for me."
    Alfred trembled, but dropped his hands. Whatever Serina had been doing, she had obviously stopped when Mathias had spoken.
    "Ah, a selfless vampire," Serina said, running her hands over Mathias' chest. "Surely that is a rarity, but still not rare enough to account for your lack of allegiance to me, Alfred."
    "It is his..." Alfred ground the words out between clenched teeth. "It is his ties to his humanity," he finished.
    Serina's smile was chilling. "Yes, I can feel the purity in his soul. But why would ties to cattle make his soul so pure and make his draw so strong for you?"
    "I do not know," Alfred spat. "If I did, do you believe I would not have sought ways to disengage him from his obsessions with humans?"
    "Hmmm," Serina mused. "I wonder how close his ties to you are, Alfred." Serina held Mathias' face between her palms an kissed him. It was a deep, passionate kiss that Mathias ended as gently and kindly as he could but had obviously tolerated rather than enjoyed. Alfred's face twisted with jealousy as he watched, but for whom?
    Serina glanced at Alfred, a cruel smile lifting the corner of her mouth before turning back to Mathias. "Do you not enjoy my kiss, young one?" she asked, tracing Mathias' lips with her fingernail.
    Mathias tensed, but did not pull away. "My heart is spoken for," he said.
    "Is it? And who has the audacity to speak for what I want?"
    Mathias refused to answer. Serina glanced over his shoulder to Alfred. "Is it you, my love?" she asked. "Have you found the joys of Achilles and Patroklos?"
    "It is not me, my queen." Bitterness depended Alfred's voice.
    "Alfred, no," Mathias cried. "Speak no more."
    Serina wrapped her hand around Mathias' throat. Mathias' eyes bulged when Serina squeezed his neck, but he did not move. "He is not yours to order about, boy," she whispered against his ear. "To whom does this one give himself, Alfred?"
    "A human," Alfred said.
    Serina jerked her head back from Mathias to gaze into his eyes. "A human? You befoul your nature with the love of cattle?"
    "We have very different ideas of what befouls our nature, Serina," Mathias said.
    "Who is it," she demanded.
    Mathias said nothing.