Chapter 7 Labyrinth of Shadows
Seri
When Luke came into the study and set down a bowl of water and a larger one of food, Brumous turned his blue eyes to me and waited until I nodded, then cautiously crept over, took a sniff, and began to eat.
“Thank you,” I murmured for him.
“You look like you could use a good meal, too, Miss Bell.” Luke raised an eyebrow at me, and I felt my face heat up. “I can get you something.”
“I appreciate it, but we’ll be stopping for lunch after this.”
“So. Basic Vampire Reproduction 101.” The king braced his elbows on his knees as his queen and youngest son drifted off to dreamland in the recliner next to him.
“A male vampire averages one dhampir for every five children. Maybe one in twenty will be a blood-sucker. The rest are human, and most badly deformed, dying within hours of birth.”
“Oh!” I sucked in a sharp breath. That sounded like terrible odds. “I didn’t know female vampires could get pregnant.”
“They can’t,” Luke answered. “At least, not yet. Something about an undead heart stopping the production of certain hormones. Their scientists have made a lot of progress with it in the last thirty years, but to date, no female vamp has birthed her own baby.”
“They use surrogates sometimes,” King Julian explained. “In King Lucian’s case, his beloved was a human, and their firstborn son was a vampire. Beat the odds there, as did his next three children, all dhampirs with separate mothers. The other two are human and unaware of the supernatural world.”
Separate mothers? I thought. He cheated on his beloved? I didn’t think that was possible.
“King Lucian acknowledges the dhampirs as his sons, but by their laws, bastards can’t inherit. They grew up in the vampire court and are called princes, but the Cimmerians became monster hunters, not politicians.”
“Either job can’t be much different than surviving childhood with the leeches,” Luke smirked.
“Do dhampirs have magic?” I asked next.
“Not from their vamp side. Dhamps are a lot like shifters, in a way. Superhuman speed, agility, and strength as well as heightened senses and accelerated healing.”
“I heard King Lucian keeps the Cimmerians locked away when foreign dignitaries visit,” Luke cheerfully told me. “Once, a messenger interrupted them during a sparring match. He was found with his head twisted clean off. An accident, they claimed.”
A shudder ran down my spine, and I rolled my lips inside my mouth for a second.
“Do they drink blood?” It was one of the top things I’d been worrying about since the moment ‘vampire’ left Arabesque’s lips.
“They can, but they don’t need to,” Gisela answered. “Its only use for them is to restore themselves if they’ve been mortally wounded. A dhampir’s fangs are weapons, not straws.”
I smiled, just a little, at that.
“I heard the middle Cimmerian brother has to be stopped from sinking his teeth into pretty little things when they pass by,” Luke offered, making my eyes go wide.
“As for the eldest, they say he was born dead, but his mother’s magic forced his soul back into his body.
He doesn’t feel pain like the rest of us.
Or emotions. And the youngest once tore out a sphinx’s heart with his bare hands! ”
“Babe. Stop with the gossip,” Gisela scolded him.
“Gossip is usually rooted in some fact,” he countered. “Dhampirs are born too strong, too cruel, too wild to be controlled. They’re more vicious than they need to be—”
“And you think King Lucian will send one of them to be my husband?” I interrupted just because my heart was going to burst out of my chest any moment now.
“It’s a possibility,” King Julian acknowledged. “I know he won’t send his eldest, Prince Sebastian, or any of the Turned. There are six in your age range, but they’re all too new, too dangerous to let loose in public.”
“Turned?” I blinked. “I can make a guess, but to be sure, please explain.”
“Make them a blood-sucker. It’s a complicated and slow process and doesn’t always work. Even King Lucian, who is probably the third or fourth most powerful leech in North America right now, only manages to successfully Turn three or four each year.”
“Men and women who have served him in exchange for the honor of being Turned,” Gisela added as she pried her little potato bug off of my injured arm to cuddle him in hers.
I let out a slow breath of relief as the fiery burn faded to a dull throb. I felt the gash seeping now, not surprising after so long of Callum’s pudgy weight bearing down on it, and I hoped it wouldn’t show through my shirt sleeve.
“No, Mommy! Pretty baby!” Callum pouted, stretching his arms out toward Josslyn.
“You’ll have your own baby any day now, son,” Luke chuckled. “Ela, if you need a nap, too, I’ll watch them so you can lie down.”
“I was just thinking of dropping them off at the day care and passing out on any nearby soft surface,” she admitted with tired eyes.
“Luke, how about you take the boys to my grandfather?” The king glanced at his sleeping queen. “He’s been asking to see them all morning. Then send one of the guards to fetch Baby Josslyn’s things from Miss Bell’s car.”
“Sure. Ela, I’ll take you back home, then drop these monsters off with Alfred.” Luke grinned as he scooped up a boy in either arm, earning screeches of, “Daddy!” and “Unca Wook!”
“Sorry about that,” King Julian murmured after they all departed, leaving us in a silence broken only by the queen’s gentle snores and the soft little puffs of Prince Valerian in his bassinet next to her.
“Not a problem. Babies have a way of changing everything, don’t they?” I gave him a shy smile.
“Indeed.”
“Can I ask another question about dhampirs?”
“Of course.” His tone turned professional again.
“Do they live forever like vampires?”
“No. Normal human lifespan.” When I nodded, he sat back in his chair and studied me. “As for the Cimmerian brothers—”
“Don’t scare the girl, Julian,” Queen Lilah murmured quietly as she opened her eyes. “She’s in a bad situation and needs help, not more uncertainty and fear.”
“Darling, she needs to know what she could be walking into,” he drawled, his voice smooth as silk, but with an edge that made me sit a little straighter. “The whole supernatural world knows of the Cimmerians and, if they are the sons Lucian sends, she deserves a warning.”
“What, um.” I cleared my throat and instinctively reached for Brumous, who gladly huddled against my legs. “What are they like?”
“I’m not going to fill your ears with rumors like Luke did.
” The king’s smile was a sharp, humorless thing that made my stomach twist. “The truth is, they have been hunting monsters since they were thirteen years old. Can you imagine that? Three boys sent to slay beasts on their own. No back-up. No royal bodyguards. And they returned every single time, no matter what they were sent to slay. Do you know what that means?”
“They’ve become expert hunters?” I ventured.
“Experts at surviving. And at relying on each other and only each other. I know these men and, while they have many good qualities, marriage, especially to someone in your situation, might be more than either you or they can handle right now. I respect them, but what lives inside them is harsh and hungry.”
His words chilled me to the core. These Cimmerians weren’t just princes. They weren’t just dhampirs, either, or warriors. They were monsters that hunted monsters.
And one of them might be my husband.
The thought made dread pool in my gut.
Please, I prayed silently, let it be someone else from King Lucian’s court. Anyone but a Cimmerian!
“If you find yourself in a bind with whichever son you get, don’t hesitate to reach out.” In King Julian’s face, I saw both warning and sympathy. “We’ll do what we can to help you.”
The promise was a lifeline, offered with a sincerity that softened the edges of my fear. I nodded with a grateful smile.
“Even if there’s nothing you can do, I’m grateful for the offer.”
“As you said, your mother was part of the Royal pack, which means you are, too. That gives me some leverage.”
“But I’m not a shifter,” I admitted. “I don’t have a wolf spirit.”
“That doesn’t matter. You’re still under my protection.”
As I thought about that, Queen Lilah sat up and grinned, looking wide awake now.
“Another thing you don’t have to worry about is Josslyn. I thought of the perfect couple to be her parents. What do you think, Julian?” Her eyes clouded over in a way that told me they were mindlinking.
“Definitely,” the king agreed with a grave nod. “She’ll be more loved and protected than you can imagine, Miss Bell.”
“All of her papers are in a folder in her diaper bag. Her birth certificate, her immunization record—”
“I give you my solemn vow as king and alpha that she’ll be well taken care of.
The parents Lilah has in mind truly are perfect for her.
I swear on the moon that she is going to a good home.
” He didn’t smile, but his eyes were warm and understanding.
“You can lay this burden down. Your papa would be proud of you for protecting your baby sister so well.”
Swallowing hard, I kissed Josslyn’s forehead to hide how wet my eyes suddenly were as relief washed over me like a cool breeze on a late summer’s day.
“Well, now that one of your contracted conditions is met, we might be able to help with another one,” King Julian said. “The dire pup’s mental state is concerning, and I don’t like his physical condition any better. If you leave him here, we have skilled elders and healers who can work with him. ”
As if understanding the king, which maybe he did, Brumous leapt up on the couch and nestled against me, but was careful of both my bad arm and Josslyn. His whole body was tense, his striking blue eyes full of fear and pleading, his heart thundering hard and fast.
“Thank you, Your Majesty, but he stays with me. I can take better care of him now that we’re away from her.”