Chapter 17 Vesper
Vesper
“Drink,” Aurelia said with a hoarse voice.
Bloodred tears filled her eyes. Pity and pain radiated from her through the bond.
Cedar was by my side, one hand holding one of mine, her other wrist bleeding, held over my mouth. But I was holding back.
The hunger was ravaging my body, putting violent thoughts in my head. I wanted to sink my fangs into her and drain her blood more than anything. But I didn't want to lose myself in it. And even though Aurelia was with us, I was afraid to lose control.
I was barely holding on, my body feeling weaker with each second.
The world passed us by in a blur. I thought we were in a car, but if I was being honest, I couldn’t be sure. All I could see were the panicked and hurting faces of Cedar and Aurelia.
When the first droplets of Cedar’s blood entered my mouth, my entire body froze. It was so sweet. And with my body being on the brink of nonexistence, it tasted like the most delicious thing I’d ever had.
I grabbed her wrist, my grip weaker than usual, but enough to force her wrist against my mouth and bite down on it.
She let out a pained gasp, but her cheeks quickly started turning red as I pumped venom into her. But she was fighting the effects this time.
“We will have a feeder waiting for her,” Atlas said, her voice breaking through the tension between the three of us.
Atlas is starting to get on my nerves.
There was only one thing I wanted more than Cedar’s blood.
Her. My eyes darted to our sweet, traumatized princess. Her too.
I wanted them both. Right now. One riding my mouth. The other between my legs.
I couldn’t think of anything else.
“I doubt she’ll want one,” Aurelia replied, her hand coming to brush my matted hair.
So gentle. When were we ever this gentle to each other?
Against everything in me, I removed my fangs from Cedar.
“Wait! It’s not enou—”
“When we get back, I’ll take from the reserves,” I said, my eyes flitting between the two of them.
I can’t risk them. Every time I was near death, theirs were the only two faces I saw. And I knew one thing for certain: I never wanted them to look at me this way ever again.
It hurt more than anything General Lee could do to me.
Before pushing Cedar’s wrist away, I licked the wound, coating it with venom. Then, as a little gift, I planted a kiss on her pulse.
She looked away from me. Aurelia caught the act, and a small smile spread across her face, finally breaking the pitiful look she was giving me.
“Wounds,” I said and pushed myself into a sitting position, with Cedar and Aurelia helping me up.
It was a car, likely a van, with a partition that separated us from the driver and had more than enough room for the four of us in the back.
My heart soared.
We were finally together again. These weren’t the best circumstances, but if the council knew about it and didn’t forbid it, we were in the clear.
At least for now.
"They were wounds, not scars,” I clarified, looking at the group. The memory of General Lee’s hand holding my father’s heart was still fresh in my mind. My eyes stung, but I tried my best to push through. “I caught a glimpse of them before it all went to shit.”
Aurelia’s brows furrowed.
“My source would have mentioned it if they were open.”
“Did you see what he was doing there?” Cedar asked.
I shook my head.
“I was about to go in. I was taking out the surrounding vampires guarding the place when the hunters came.”
“I’m sorry about your father,” Cedar whispered, her hand on my back.
“He was shitty,” Aurelia said with a huff. “One more enemy gone.” I couldn’t hide the way my heart sank at her words, and her face twisted up. “Why do you feel like that?”
“I…” I ran my tongue over my fangs, Cedar’s blood still there. “I don’t know. He was going to kill me but pulled back and…”
My hand came up to my neck. There would be a scarred mess where my tattoo used to be, my outcast status visible to everyone. I flinched when my fingers brushed across it. It was sore and still open, but not actively bleeding.
The pieces started clicking.
“It’s magic,” I told them. “His wounds. They felt and smelled weird.”
“How would they heal then?” Atlas asked, calling our attention back to her. She had a long lock of her hair between her hands, her eyes on it as if it were more engrossing than our display.
She probably doesn’t want to watch Aurelia with us. Dark satisfaction unfurled in me.
“A witch can make and heal the wounds,” Cedar replied. “He has to be working with one.”
Aurelia made a noise.
“We don’t have any in the castle, so whoever did it in the first place must be healing him. The real question is, why is he using magic on himself?”
There was an uncomfortable feeling in the bond. Like dread slowly seeping into us.
“Did you happen to see what was carved on it?” Cedar asked in a small voice.
I shook my head. “I was too busy trying not to die.”
Atlas let out a scoff.
“And see where that got us.”
“We are going back to the Castle palace,” Aurelia cut in before I could attack the dark-haired vampire who finally had the nerve to look at her.
“That’s not a good idea,” she warned. “Your brother is going to be furious.”
Aurelia sat back against the seat with her arms crossed.
“Word will get back to him about your gift anyway. It won’t look good if we delay this any longer. And I need to warn Caspian.”
Atlas’s jaw twitched.
“General Lee won’t kill me,” I said, and everyone turned to look at me. “Neither will her brother. He said he needed Aurelia to obey, and killing any of us would make it difficult.”
“He may be bloodthirsty, but he’s lazy,” Cedar concluded.
“He had General Lee there, likely doing the harder strategy work, whatever that may be. And he has his inner circle, the ones who are enforcing what he wants. Has anyone actually seen him kill anyone since… Levana?” Her voice got thick toward the end.
“Only in his sparring matches. He’s killed guards, and more recently moved on to his inner circle,” Aurelia answered her. “He had me do most of it. Up until now, as far as anyone is concerned, he hasn’t been the one to kill anyone outside the family.”
“He’s making sure you’re the one to step up if anyone wants to challenge him,” Atlas offered. “Didn’t you learn anything during your time under your father?”
A growl ripped from my throat. Aurelia placed her hand on my lap, quieting me.
“She’s right, unfortunately. He’s trying to separate me from everyone. It makes it less likely for people to side with me if there’s an uprising.”
But an uprising was exactly what we were trying to accomplish. We needed something to turn people against him. Adrian only killing the vampires who followed him wasn’t enough.
We needed something shocking. A kill that would make a statement.
“I have an idea,” Cedar said.
I turned to her with a smile.
“Scheming witch! I like where this is going.”
She sent me a smile that had my stomach flipping.
“First, let’s get through this, hm? Adrian will want to meet us first. After that trial, we can consider everything else.”
I knew what awaited us wouldn’t be easy, but the dread coming from Aurelia told me it might be harder than I imagined.
“And somehow the strays have made it back,” Adrian said from the nest of a bed he built for himself, feeders surrounding him. “Let’s hope this time they’re on a tighter leash, or I may need to get rid of them myself.”
My body was still weak, and the bastard was having Cedar and me kneel on the ground as Aurelia stood before him.
I had seen Adrian only twice in my life, once when he killed Levana and then at the engagement-turned-wedding, but having him so close now was giving me the same feeling as General Lee.
There was something evil about him. Especially in the way he looked at his own sister. I had seen those same eyes before, and it hit me again that his were nothing like his sister’s—or even their father’s, which never looked that… malicious.
“We won’t have a problem,” Aurelia declared, looking back at us.
I almost lost my balance but quickly righted myself before anyone could say anything. Adrian smiled, then looked us up and down, no doubt taking in our uniforms.
This part had been Aurelia’s plan. We had even gone as far as to dress in the new guards’ uniforms. It didn’t escape me how many times I’d played this same role, all of them feeling like different realities.
“They follow me, and now that I have sworn my loyalty to you—”
Faster than I had ever seen a vampire move, he appeared in front of her.
Fast. Too fast. How did he move so—
Aurelia gasped as his hand wrapped around her neck. It didn’t look like he was hurting her, but that didn’t convince my body that it was right.
I pushed myself forward, needing to get his filthy hands off her. Cedar’s hand on my arm, pulling me down, was the only thing that gave me pause.
I couldn’t stop the growling, though. Red covered my vision. My body wouldn’t go back into position, but at least Cedar’s hold on me kept me still.
“Is that true, dear sister?” Adrian asked, dropping his voice. “Because somehow, in a matter of a few days, you married someone I didn’t approve of and came back with guards that I know would rather have me dead.”
I could feel her panic. Her anger. I wanted to squash him for what he was doing to her.
“Let’s not start a war we cannot finish,” Cedar whispered.
“Well put,” Adrian said, having heard her. “Sister?”
Her anger spiked.
“I am prepared to show my loyalty to you,” she vowed. “In any way you deem fit.”
Adrian smiled cruelly at her, his fangs shimmering in the dim lighting ahead.
“And if I ask you to birth an heir for your husband? Or ask you to rent yourself out to royal family heads? Better yet, let’s arrange it. I know the Solei family is dying to get their revenge. What do you say?”
Disgust rolled through the three of us. Another growl spilled from my lips.
I almost attacked.
“Don’t try to scare me with that bullshit,” Aurelia hissed and pushed him away from her. “You need me for things far more important than that.”
“Oh?” He raised a brow. Red flickered in his eyes.
But Aurelia wasn’t fazed. In fact, she brushed invisible dust off her shoulder.
“They’re whispering about you,” she said with a sigh. “Saying you’re too unstable to lead. Crazy. Not just families here and there, but people in the council.”
What is she doing? Why is she goading him?
“You think I care about that? Try again, sister.”
She looked at her nails. “What if I told you one of those damaging your reputation is a traitor, hiding in your mists and feeding intelligence to the council?”
That got to him, just like she said it would.
“No one would dare,” he spat.
She shrugged. “Okay, guess I’m not needed for anything. I’m going to Caspian for some heir-making—”
“Damn, you really know how to be fucking annoying.”
She turned to him with a smile.
“Runs in the family.”
He let out a growl, not bothering to hide his anger.
“Get me their head by the end of the week.”
Satisfaction rolled through the bond.
“I’ll do you one better. Tomorrow, at the Blood Rites. Let’s make an example out of them.”
His expression changed for the first time, awareness evident on his face, but curiosity was the overwhelming emotion.
Apples from the same tree. Back in the day, this trick would have worked on Aurelia as well.
“Don't make promises you can't deliver.”
Aurelia started retreating. Each step back was another step closer to us.
“I will deliver, don't you worry. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”
She waited for him to say something, but he merely shrugged and climbed back onto the nest of his bed, the feeders already waiting for him.
Before we even left the room, he had already sunk his fangs into one of the girls’ necks.
We walked the hallways, following Aurelia as she led us in silence. The castle was the same as ever, but there was a chill to it that had me looking over my shoulder. My vampire hearing couldn’t pick up anything, but it still felt wrong.
We aren’t safe here.
“My room,” Aurelia ordered, turning to us. “Blood, then tonight is just for us. Tomorrow, the Blood Rites are at sundown. It should be enough time for you, right?”
I turned to Cedar, who nodded.
“More than enough.” She took my hand in hers. “But first, we have a lot to discuss.”
From the looks on both their faces, there wouldn’t be much discussing on the menu for tonight.