Velvet Shadows (The Crimson Court #2)

Chapter 29

NATE

Ifly to my chambers and throw myself onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. My thoughts tear between my longing for Sera and how things have been left between us, to the fact she is still living when she was born under a blood moon, and the fact that Benjamin is in Bath and has pledged himself to House Vossler.

I know I need to find him. If Benjamin is to face my brother in the arena, then we should at least understand why he is back before Rafe rips him to pieces. And I have a strong suspicion that if I go to the Vossler’s estate, I will not find Caroline alone in the drawing room; she will be surrounded by her merry band of mongrels, including my cousin.

I fly there, leaving Rafe to undoubtedly pace around his own chambers and plan the many ways in which he might crush Benjamin’s skull, and find the gates to the estate open.

When I reach the front door, I do not wait for the dismal butler to invite me in.

“Lord Nathaniel.” Caroline smiles at me.

The drawing room is full, just as I suspected. Her great army of brothers stand around the edges of the room and between them are the dozen other nobles who pledged for House Vossler tonight. As I look closer, there are others too — the drawn faces and dark eyes of gutterfangs. And in the middle of them all, stooped over a long table with settees and sofas pushed away to make room for it, is Benjamin.

“You were a fool to come back here.” I look my cousin up and down, ignoring Caroline and addressing him directly. Just hours ago he was dressed in reasonable attire, but with them no doubt blood-stained thanks to my brother, he is now in travelling clothes — a casual shirt and coat, scuffed boots.

“Miss Vossler, might I have a moment alone with my cousin?” Benjamin asks.

Caroline nods. “We were just about to go to the dining hall. Perhaps you will join us when you are finished?”

She looks at me, not unkindly or with anything other than her usual straightforwardness, but I throw a scowl at her. I was honest with her and she kept a great number of secrets from me.

Once we are alone, Benjamin straightens up and gestures to a chair. I do not take it. “It is good to see you, cousin.”

“I cannot say the same for you. Did you let the gutterfangs dress you?”

“I had little in the way of clothes after your brother chased me from the estate, then ripped into me tonight. I have taken what I can find.”

“You were lucky Rafe chased you from Nighthaven rather than condemning you to its dust,” I snarl.

“I do not blame Rafe for his anger. It is justified.” He moves along the table, stacking the paperwork sprawled across it into rough piles.

“How long have you been in Bath?” I nod to the map he is folding away.

“As long as you. It was no secret I was here, but I have never been of much interest to anyone until tonight. And now, of course, there seems to be a great deal of speculation.” He half smiles, then looks up at me, his hands flat on the wood.

“Why did you come back? You know Rafe will not rest until you are destroyed. He will do whatever it takes to end you in the Tournament.”

“I know. And I welcome his fury. I hate myself for what happened to Miss Ridgefield. I was a monster that night.” His head hangs down for a moment before he looks back into my eyes. “Grief is my only excuse. But I intend to make things right.”

“By joining the Vosslers?” I scoff. “What are you hoping to achieve by pledging allegiance to them? If you wanted to sever ties from this family, you achieved that the moment you killed Camilla. This latest blow was unnecessary.”

“There is nothing of our family left, Nate. You must see that now.” He shakes his head. “Let us face facts. I have never been useful to Valeria. I have barely been tolerated, let alone accepted with any warmth or sincerity. I have never belonged.” As he looks at me, there is no sadness in his eyes. It’s been swept away, replaced by something else. “And you forget this path is nothing new. I was going to marry Gregor. I would have been under the Vossler banner tonight, no matter what.”

I study his face. “Juliette?—”

“Died because she knew too much.”

“You were there?”

“Yes. As I told you, I was not hiding.”

“You were mentioned during proceedings… you did not speak up?—”

“It is easier to listen and observe, cousin.” Benjamin moves around to the other side of the table and leans back against it. “Valeria has played us all for fools for a long time. Wasn’t it easy for you to believe the lies she filled Juliette’s head with? That I was duped into marriage? I can understand it — who would ever truly love me if there was not some scheme involved; something else at play?”

“Vampires do not love, Benjamin. It is nothing to do with?—”

“You can tell yourself that, of course. But it is untrue. I loved Gregor. He loved me. And he was killed because of it.”

I rub my hand over my face, feeling the exhaustion deep in my bones. “Why are you telling me this? Why ask me to come here at all? I was of a mind to give Rafe this address and let him be the one to visit you.”

“But you did not because we are two sides of the same coin. You are an excellent vampire, who is welcomed without question. I am a terrible one who has spent his entire immortal existence clamouring for acceptance.” He lets out a deep breath. “But no more.”

“Then speak plainly.” My frustration grows in my chest. “Why come here? I have called upon Caroline night after night and she barely mentioned your name. I have told her things in confidence that I now feel a fool for sharing.”

“Caroline needed to make sure that you could be trusted. She did not wish to take my word alone for it, considering our shared grandmother.” Benjamin smiles. “Caroline was impressed with you. She believes you can help us. There is nothing to fear from her when we are working toward the same aim.”

“Which is what?”

“Unmasking the Court. You have helped already by the information you have shared with Caroline.”

I shake my head. “I am not trying to overthrow a regime, Benjamin. I want justice for my sister, nothing more.”

“And your family.” Benjamin holds my gaze. “We cannot turn a blind eye to their crimes any longer. I believe that Rafe?—”

“Rafe wants your head on a stick, cousin.”

“For now, yes. But I believe he will no longer wish to kill me once he learns the truth. The truth you yourself brought to Caroline with talk of the luna child.”

I still, my eyes narrowing. “You’re wrong. I have told Rafe my suspicions, but they do not detract from the rage he feels towards you. You cannot blame your wildness on the Court. You alone killed Camilla.”

“I could say the same to you about your children, Nate.”

I fly at him, slamming my fist into his throat. “Don’t you dare.”

Benjamin puts his hand on mine, waiting for me to release him. “We have to take responsibility for our actions. But the Court has also caused a great deal of suffering that could have been otherwise prevented.”

I push him back into the wall and let him go. “You think the Court were behind Gregor, too?”

“I think we have to assume so, if they have the hunters in their pockets.”

I turn away from him, pacing the length of the room whilst Benjamin stays still, watching me.

“The Vosslers have a great deal of support. You have seen it with your own eyes under the banners and here tonight. They will earn a place at court and get to the heart of matters.”

I scoff. “Who amongst their competitors are strong enough to place highly? Yes, they have garnered some support, but it is not enough to displace an existing matriarch.”

“I think they stand a good chance. But if not, it is enough to at least distract them.” Benjamin smirks, then lets it fall. “Cousin, I trust you with this only because I see the same glimmers in you that have lurked in me. I was never like my siblings. You are more like yours, but you are still not part of this world. Not truly. You are not so cruel as the rest.”

“Try telling that to the hunters who I decimated on the road to Bath.”

“Survival instinct. Your life was at risk. And that of Miss Sterling.” He holds my gaze for a moment before he shakes his head.

“What exactly are you planning?”

“Come to a meeting and you will see.”

“A meeting?”

“Of like-minded vampires.”

“Benjamin, if this is you inciting the nobility to rebellion, I feel you will be sorely disappointed.”

Another smirk. “There is much you do not know, Nate. So much I did not know until I met Gregor and my eyes were opened. Come to a meeting,” he says again. “You will see just how much discontent there is. You cannot surely expect our family to take pledges and for the rest of the nobility to just roll over and accept it? They are furious. And there are far more families not on the Court than there are on it. Change is afoot.”

A chill shivers down my spine.

I should welcome change. None of this is my world — the balls and the scandal and the gossip. My siblings and I were farmers, peasants, street rats. We were no different from the majority of the gutterfangs.

But I have never had charity in my heart. My aims have always been entirely my own. I have not sought to overthrow a regime or seek balance in our society. I have been fixed on one goal. And I cannot be distracted from it.

“You think you know me, cousin, but you are wrong. I have no concern for the greater good. I am as selfish a vampire as they come.” I turn towards the door, rage rising in my bones. I am missing Sera, finding the distance too much considering how we left things tonight, and now Benjamin attempts to recruit me for some secret uprising when his actions alone have caused a permanent rift in our family.

“I know it is the narrative you feed yourself, Nate. You forget that we have shared a house for decades and I have seen how you move through the world. If you thought of no one but yourself, you wouldn’t care what is happening to the gutterfangs. You wouldn’t have looked for answers about Juliette’s death. But you have. You do care.”

“I care because if the Court would kill the gutterfangs then there is no end to?—”

“Sam is here.” Benjamin interrupts me so quietly I almost don’t hear him. “Sampson Brooks. Your friend.”

My jaw clenches. “I don’t know what he has told you, but I have done nothing to help him. He has come to me with warnings and complaints and I have tried to protect our family from the fallout of his revelations as best I can.” My upper lip curls into a snarl.

“We are not kind or compassionate creatures, Nate. I know that. And I am not trying to change things that are now in our very bones. It is futile. We will always be driven to feed and to fight; to be ruthless. But at the very least, we should care about all vampires. And I believe you feel the same. It is why I have offered Sam a position with you.”

“You have done what?”

“His nest has been decimated. There are none alive but him. He has nowhere to go. And you are now short of a carriage driver.”

“I was betrayed by one gutterfang — you think I would make the same mistake again?” My temper flares, my fangs shooting from my gums.

“Sam will not betray you. He wants answers as much as we do.” Benjamin heads back towards the makeshift desk, scribbling on a piece of parchment. “The meeting will be held at this address tomorrow night. Come. And bring Rafe, too.”

“You seriously think?—”

“Rafe is furious with me, I know. But he will be more furious when he learns what is really at play here. He’ll see that I am not the enemy. And you will see it too.”