Chapter 30
Between training and my time with Iza, I haven’t seen Finn since we brought him back to the palace, and I decide that today I finally need to face him.
I may still be angry about Tori, but the fact is that he may be the only person I know who can save Willow, so whatever our differences are, I need to put them aside.
“I can take it from here,” I tell the guard, who has been hot on my trail since I left another annoying meeting with the nobles. They are stationed everywhere now, following me no matter where I go in the palace. I understand the need for them, but it is extremely annoying.
My fist taps against the old, beaten door, and I hear Finn shout a muffled ‘come in’ from the other side.
I push the door open, closing it quickly behind me to let the guard know that I do not wish for him to follow.
In all honesty, he is probably happy for the break, but also fearful that if anything happens, then he has Karius to answer to.
Things have been tense since the day I stormed into his study.
I’ve been sleeping in his room every night, but he always arrives after I’ve fallen asleep and is gone by the time I wake up.
Not that it stops him from making himself known by pulling me into his chest every time that he does slip into bed.
I don’t even fight it anymore. It’s become a kind of strange comfort that keeps the nightmares of Julian away.
“You here to punch me again?” Finn asks as he messes with some vials, pouring one liquid into another.
“That depends. Are you going to try to blind me?”
He pauses what he’s doing to turn and look at me. He’s wearing his usual overalls with a cloth thrown over his shoulder as always. He pushes a few loose curls out of his face. They’ve grown since I last saw him, and they’re now tied into a messy bun atop his head.
“You can’t say you didn’t deserve it after bringing two royal guards to my door. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“I told you, I wouldn’t have done it if I weren’t desperate.”
He moves closer, lowering his voice as he does.
“You have no idea who I work for.”
“Who, Julian?”
His eyes widen.
“How the hell do you know that?”
I lift myself to sit on the wooden counter, my eyes flickering around the space. It’s strange to see all his stuff in this huge room, but it’s set up well with three long benches to allow him to mix his concoctions.
“There’s a lot I know, but what interests me most is how you ended up working for a guy like that?”
He shakes his head.
“None of that matters. I’m dead the next time he sees me, anyway.”
“Not if I see him first,” I mumble the words more to myself than to him.
He laughs at that like I’ve lost my mind. But the mere thought of Julian makes my blood bubble.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with. You just put me right in the middle of a war between the vampires and whatever the fuck Julian is.”
“War?” It’s the same thing Eamon said when he was in Karius’s study.
He shifts uncomfortably, as if he just realized that he slipped up. I slide from the counter and walk right up to where he is, taking a stand in front of him.
“What do you mean by war?”
“Nothing, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“If you know something, Finn, then you need to tell me.”
He laughs at this.
“Yeah, because you’re just so trustworthy, aren’t you? Look what happened the last time I trusted you with one of my secrets. I ended up a prisoner in a palace.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re not a prisoner.”
“No? Ok, I’ll just walk right out of this door and leave now, then.”
I run to block his way, and he holds his hands up in the air.
“As I said, prisoner.”
“Look, I have secured your immunity; all you have to do is figure out how to create this magical cure, and then you can leave. Vampires use their venom all the time to heal humans.”
“You think it’s that simple? Those are external wounds.
It’s not the same when you’re dealing with sickness inside the body.
Humans can’t digest raw venom—it would be lethal.
Do you have any idea how long it took me to figure out how to create the stuff I’ve been giving to you?
Shit, Adina, you may be beautiful, but you are truly a fool if you think that there’s any way that I’m walking out of this place alive. ”
“Karius promis—”
“Karius?” He scoffs. “You’re on a first-name basis with the prince now? Gods, let me guess, you fucked him already? Was it really that good that you sold out your own kind for a bunch of bloodsuckers?”
I race over to him, gripping his apron in my fist.
“Watch it. You have no idea what I’ve been through.”
“And I don’t care. I never asked to get dragged into your shit, did I?”
“He has my sister!” The words slip out before I can stop them, and Finn’s face twists in confusion.
“Who?”
I step away from him, creating some space.
“Julian. He took her.”
“Damn it, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
My eyes lift to meet his, and I can see the genuineness of his words.
“It’s who the concoctions were for. She’s ill. It was the only thing keeping it at bay and stopping the vamps from finding out that she was sick. They would have killed her otherwise.”
Understanding crosses his face. A long moment of silence passes between us, and I wonder what he’s thinking until he finally speaks.
“He came to me around a year ago, said that he knew what I could do, and that if I didn’t help him and his people, he would out me to the vampires.
I thought I could outsmart him, but then he showed me what he was.
Gave me this scar in the process.” He points to the one running through his eyebrow.
“He’s a monster, Adina. The vampires don’t stand a chance. ”
I shake my head. “They do if you can make this work. Whatever he is—whatever his followers are—if you can create a cure, then we stand a chance. Don’t you want to be on the right side of history?”
He blows out a breath and lifts his hands to the back of his head.
“The sired are working with him too; this isn’t as straightforward as you think.”
“You created whatever is allowing Amabel to hide the fact that she’s a vampire.” It’s not a question.
“It’s called a glamor, kind of like the one I gave you that night at the apothecary, except it can hide what a person truly is.”
“The sired cannot go against the nobles, trust me.”
He laughs at this.
“You mean the blood vow?” My eyes widen at his words.
“Yeah, I know a lot more than you think. I also know that Julian was working on a way of severing that connection. He may have already figured it out. This is big, Adina, and for once, we humans are not involved. This isn’t our war, so I say we just stay out of it, let the monsters kill each other. ”
My stomach churns at his words because somehow I have come to care for some of the vampires, too, though I’m not about to admit that to him.
“I can’t do that,” I whisper.
“Then you’re a fool.”
“And so are you if you think we won’t get caught in the crossfires, that Julian won’t use us even worse than the vampires have.
Sitting back and pretending something isn’t happening doesn’t make it go away.
At some point, the fight comes to you, and you have to stand up and face it.
Or you could get there first. I know which side of history I want to be on, and it’s not working for a monster like Julian. ”
He considers my words for a long while.
“Why did he take your sister?” he asks.
“He wanted me to kill the prince.”
His eyes widen. “Clearly, you didn’t.”
“I tried.”
A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips.
“Of course you did.” He closes his eyes for a brief second. “Fine, I’ll try, but if I die, then it’s all your fault.”
I smile at him. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.”
“Ah, there she is.” I pause at Karius’s casual tone as I step into the small drawing room that the guard just advised me he had requested I attend.
Another stupid event. My back stiffens as I notice the two guests accompanying him.
Vaughn and Vincent Vancova. My eyes scan the room, but there is no one else present other than the two guards who stand like statues in the two corners of the room.
Why the hell am I the only pureblood here?
I don’t like this, Athriel says.
Neither do I.
“Come, Pet.” Karius beckons me over, and anger courses through me at the use of the nickname. It’s the second time that he has used the term, and I feel like taking my dagger to his throat for it.
He gives me a warning glare that has me moving forward. I have no idea what he’s up to, but there is a seriousness that I feel tugging at me that tells me that now is not the time to argue.
I step forward reluctantly, unsure of the purpose behind this.
Usually, I’m only required at large events where other purebloods are also in attendance.
These smaller private meetings have always been reserved for vampires only, and I can only assume that it is when they discuss things that they do not wish for us to be privy to.
I stop beside Karius as he sits lazily back in his chair, his posture relaxed and easy. He’s never like this. I eye the amber liquid he is swilling around in his glass and wonder if he has perhaps had one too many.
“Sit,” he orders, pointing to his lap. My back is to the two Vancova vampires, so my eyes narrow in question. “It was a simple command, human. You are competent in Kalish, are you not?”
A pause passes between us, and I swallow, too angry to do anything else.
“I am,” I say before I sit on his lap.
He slips a hand around my waist, pressing my back right up against his chest. He releases an irritating laugh that I have never heard from him, and I stiffen. His hand is splayed out flat across my stomach, but his thumb sweeps up and down against the exposed flesh that my dress lets out.