Chapter 29
“You took your tim—” Ajax cuts himself off as his eyes fall to my throat. He stalks up to me and Ivana as we enter the training room.
“Was there another attack?” he asks Ivana, but she shakes her head and gives him a look that he clearly understands.
“Celeste,” he curses under his breath.
I look between the two of them, and when neither of them says anything, I do.
“What about Celeste?”
Ivana slaps Ajax on the back with a smile before heading off to train with Piper. I put my hands on my hips and wait.
“Thanks for that,” he shouts in her direction before turning back to me. “Celeste is just a spoiled heir with nothing better to do with her time than attack humans.”
“I already know who she is; her father owns my bloodhouse, remember. I want to know what she is to Karius?”
He moves around me, falling into the stretches that we always do before we train. I watch him; he points to the space next to him, and I fall in beside him, stretching out.
“Spit it out, Ajax.”
“There’s not much to say, really. She and Karius had a thing once, and well, she…you know…wants it to continue, but you really don’t need to worry about that.”
Something tightens in my gut, and a flash of me killing her crosses my mind.
“I’m not worried,” I say. I stretch out my leg and find Ajax watching me with a knowing smile. “What? I’m not.”
He stands and holds his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say a word. If you want to pretend not to care, then that’s up to you.”
I stand up in frustration. “I don’t care. Karius can screw whoever he wants. It has absolutely nothing to do with me.”
Suddenly, I hear Piper laughing and turn to find her and Ivana exchanging amused glances.
“I don’t get what’s so funny.”
“You really believe what you’re saying, don’t you?” Piper asks, and I turn to her in surprise.
“I expect this from him, but you, Piper.”
She feigns innocence with a smile. “I’m just being honest.”
“We’re not judging, Red. I prefer Karius when he’s around you; he’s less uptight. Minus the time you tried to kill him, of course.”
“I’m going to kill you in a minute.”
“Whoa, let's save that energy for the impures.” He gives me a look, but I roll my eyes, earning me one of his biggest smiles. “We’re mixing it up today so you can take out all of that pent-up anger elsewhere.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I want to see how you handle fighting someone whose style you’re unfamiliar with.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Like who?”
“Me.”
I turn toward the sound of Kaia’s voice as she enters the training room, her face stony as usual.
“Are you trying to get me killed?” I whisper to him. “She hates me.”
“I’m a vampire, remember, I can hear you,” she says, pointing at her ear.
“Well, it’s the truth.”
“Yeah, but remember we’ve got a truce.” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm, and I remind myself that if I get out of this alive, I’m going to kill Ajax.
Ajax was right. Fighting Kaia made me realize every flaw I have.
Ajax is an incredible fighter, but Kaia is a warrior.
Every move I made, she predicted, and it wasn’t long before she had my fighting style down and was able to block every move.
I may not have been happy at first, but I learned a hell of a lot from fighting with her, not to mention she was the perfect distraction to keep my mind off Celeste and Karius.
I have no idea why I’m even letting it bother me. Karius and I are nothing but allies. If it weren’t for the bond, then I wouldn’t feel a thing. This is why I need to find a way to break it so that I can think clearly again.
“This has to be some kind of pattern, right?” Iza’s voice brings me back to the room as she points to a particular passage in a text that she dragged me out of training to show me.
Honestly, I was glad for the break, but I’m also starting to agree that everything does seem to be linked.
Iza doesn’t trust the library after what happened, so we are currently both sitting at the tiny desk in her room.
I shift some of the clutter aside to make space for the book as I slide it in front of me. My eyes flicker down the page to the paragraph she pointed out, and I read each word slowly, taking it all in.
One must wonder why the gods turned their backs on their own people. They went to great lengths to imprison the creature within the realm, yet did not stay around to witness the fruits of their labor. One would call it a truly curious thing indeed.
“I’ve read this before,” I tell her.
“Yes, but we didn’t have all the pieces then.”
“And now we do?”
“Nobody wants to admit this, but there were sightings of the impures during the war, fighting alongside the humans.”
I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. They attacked me.”
“Because you are bound to Karius, not because you are human. Every death in the last year has been that of a vampire at the hands of one of those creatures.”
“You think the impures and the humans are working together?”
“I don’t know, but the last reported sighting of one of those creatures was just before the gods imprisoned whatever creature they did.”
I suck in a breath.
“You think the impure are looking for the creature that the gods imprisoned?”
“Not just looking but trying to free it. Look.” She points to another short passage, and my stomach drops.
For the gods to lock away any creature and disappear, one can only imagine that it is no less than a destroyer of worlds.
“I think that whatever happened a year ago made them believe that they stood a chance of freeing this thing again. If your theory about them being able to change into human form is correct, then I don’t think that they ever went away.”
“You think they’ve been in hiding this entire time?” I ask.
“Exactly. Waiting for the perfect opportunity to come out and unleash that monster on the world.”
The thought is horrifying. If this is true, then everything I’ve ever believed has to be questioned. Did the humans really start this war? Did we somehow help this monster, all to destroy the vampires?
I believe that this may in fact be the case, Athriel says.
But that would mean that…
The vampires were simply defending themselves in a war your ancestors started.
The thought is unsettling. I turn to Iza.
“If they are here in this court, then they believe that it is somewhere here or very close.”
She nods, and I see a fear in her eyes that sends a chill up my spine.
“And somehow Karius, this bond, and the vampires are all linked to it,” she says quietly as though she is afraid that saying it may make it real.
“But the question is, how?”
She looks up at me questioningly, and I feel we’re on the cusp of something—as if it’s staring us in the face but we just can’t see it. One thing I know: we need to get to it before the impures do.
And kill it, Athriel sneers.
We don’t know what we would be up against.
Then we must find out, Athriel says, and for once, I wholeheartedly agree with him.
“Adina?” Piper’s voice breaks through my onslaught of thoughts.
I look up to find her and the elderly seamstress watching me. How long have they been calling me?
Long enough. If you would stop tormenting yourself over things you cannot control, maybe you would have heard them yourself.
Be quiet.
Athriel’s been far grumpier since we came to the palace and quieter, too, which may actually be a good thing.
I will start singing temple hymns nonstop if you test me.
Don’t you dare, I warn.
A devious laugh fills my head, followed by the loud humming of an old hymn that we were forced to sing back at the orphanage.
Athriel.
Adina, he sings.
“Sorry,” I say, remembering that the two women are waiting for me. I’m pretty sure that this isn’t the first time that they have called me either.
“It’s ok, Lena was just asking what style of dress you like?”
I shake my head as if just remembering what I’m here for.
Piper picked me up early this morning and explained that she had been summoned by Karius to take me to get some new dresses.
Apparently, a lot of events are coming up, and since I’m the only pureblood he can currently drink from, I must attend them all.
I hate being around people as it is, so this is almost guaranteed to be a nightmare, though I can’t deny the fact that I love dressing up.
I just hate the fact that we’re always made to do it for the pleasure of vampires.
Especially now, when we should be out there searching for Willow and this creature.
“Something unique with embellishments of some kind. I like side slits and cutouts.” The seamstress nods as she scribbles her notes on a piece of parchment, only pausing to sweep the strands of wispy gray hair from her eyes as she does.
“Any particular colors?”
“I like bold ones like crimson, emerald, royal blue…those sorts.”
“They sound lovely,” Piper says from where she is currently walking around the room and stroking her fingers gently across some of the dresses that Lena has on display.
“Did you make all of these?” I ask.
“I did, yes.” A soft smile touches her lips as her blue eyes meet mine. Tori would have loved it here. She always got so excited any time we got a new set of dresses back at the bloodhouse. Gods, I miss her.
“Lena’s the most talented seamstress in the entire court.”
Lena tuts at Piper.
“Don’t mind her, she just likes to flatter me.
” She smiles at Piper with a fondness that is so rarely seen between vampire and human.
I'm so used to humans pretending to like vampires to stay alive or eyeing them with lust, but something in Lena's eyes feels so genuine that I almost can't drag my gaze away. Piper walks over to her.
“Flattery can still be the truth, though,” she tells her and rubs her hands on her shoulders.
Lena pauses to place a hand over one of Piper’s, and the two smile at each other sweetly, and the entire exchange makes me look away as though I’m intruding on a private moment.
“How long have you worked at the palace?” I finally ask.