Chapter 8 Bronwen
Bronwen
We walked down the stairs, and more stairs, spiraling deeper and deeper into the belly of the castle.
The staircase wound tightly in a corkscrew of cold stone, open at the center so you could look over the edge and see nothing but darkness below.
On each landing, a hallway branched out, lined with doors on either side.
I could feel the pull of magic behind every one of them.
There was no doubt in my mind that vampires waited just beyond, listening, breathing, existing in the silence.
The deeper we descended, the louder the sound of drums became.
Low, pulsing beats that echoed off the stone, ancient and primal.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose as unease crawled through me. After dinner, August’s siblings had risen and slipped out of the dining hall without a word. When August finally stood and gestured for me to follow, the only thing he’d said was, “The night is far from over.”
He offered me no other answers as we descended. By the time we reached the bottom, I bent forward, struggling to catch my breath.
“Are you okay?”
I glanced up to see August staring at me with wide eyes.
“No, August, I’m not. No human should ever have to walk down that many stairs. And in heels! Is this why you really brought me here? To torture me?”
He scoffed. “Yes, this was my plan all along. To have you doubled over, heaving. I can’t believe you figured it out.”
I straightened. “What are we even doing down here?”
He took a slow breath, eyes flicking toward the massive doors before us. “You’re about to see what it’s really like here.”
Then he nodded once to a nearby guard who stepped forward to open the doors. “Here we go,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.
As we stepped forward, I realized we had entered a chamber that felt larger than the entire town itself.
Hundreds of vampires filled the space, their laughter and music crashing together in a cacophony of indulgence.
Some wore extravagant finery that shimmered like woven starlight, their coats embroidered with gold thread, corsets boned with jet-black metal, and sweeping garments that moved like water.
Others wore almost nothing at all—bare skin glinting under candlelight, jewelry resting in places clothes never touched, and a few not wearing anything at all. It wasn’t shameful. It was pride.
Chandeliers of black iron and dripping wax hung from the vaulted ceiling, casting erratic shadows across the marble floors. Silk banners with the royal crest waved gently from invisible breezes, and candlelight shimmered off bodies that twisted and writhed to the beat.
Some danced—elegant, slow, intoxicated on the sound.
Others lounged on velvet pillows, sipping from goblets so dark I doubted it was wine.
In the corners, fangs gleamed. Bodies pressed.
Some kissed. Some were wrapped so tightly around each other that I wasn’t sure exactly what they were doing. It was beautiful and terrible.
Above ground was a show. Something that seemed almost human.
But down here, everyone looked like they were having the time of their immortal lives.
And all of them turned to watch us enter.
The drums slowed, some bowed, while others stared at me with sick smiles.
“King Augustus!” The guard introduced him.
As if on cue, the crowd parted. Vampires stepped aside in synchronized motion, giving us a clear path through the center of the room. The scent of blood, perfume, and power thickened as we walked, and every step echoed louder than it should have.
This was for Mama and Papa, I told myself. Their deaths wouldn’t be for nothing.
Whispers followed us. Curious eyes clung to my every movement. The fabric of my dress shimmered like flame in the dark, catching the light with every movement.
Some of the vampires looked fascinated, their gazes lingering with something like awe—or hunger masked as interest. But others seemed to tense the closer I passed. I caught the faint pulsing of veins beneath their eyes, and I knew they were fighting to stay in control.
It was my scent.
I was their prey.
Several figures offered nods or brief bows to August as we passed, murmuring greetings I couldn’t make out over the whispers. He returned none of them. His hand hovered near mine, not touching, but close enough to herd me forward.
At the far end of the room, a grand staircase rose in a sweeping curve up to a high platform that overlooked the entire chamber.
At the top, two thrones waited—one carved from obsidian and trimmed in blood-red velvet, the other smaller but no less imposing, silver laced with dark engravings.
More guards stood at the bottom and the top of the staircase.
That was ridiculous.
We climbed the stairs slowly, every eye still on us.
The music never stopped. The revelry never paused. But I could feel their hunger shifting. It was less toward blood, and more toward what August and I represented now.
Power.
A union that was never meant to happen.
I sat in the smaller throne, feeling like an impostor cloaked in silk and resentment. The silver markings curled cold and unfamiliar beneath my fingertips, and my gown pooled around me like a shroud. I was meant to be their queen, but all I felt was trapped.
“What is this?” I asked, the edge to my tone impossible to miss.
“I told you they indulge. This is the great room, and they do this every night. And we have to be here,” August replied without looking at me. His tone was flat, almost bored, like he’d explained it before and didn’t care to again.
From here, the details were even starker: bodies intertwined on cushions, bare skin flashing in the candlelight; the glint of fangs as one vampire sank teeth into a throat; the way the music surged when blood spilled.
Laughter erupted from somewhere below, wild and unrestrained.
I saw a vampire dancing alone, covered in fresh blood, twirling as if in a trance.
Another fed from someone who looked all too willing, their hands tangled in each other’s hair.
In a far corner, a group lounged on a velvet circle of cushions, their limbs tangled lazily as they passed a silver chalice from mouth to mouth.
A low, musical hum drifted from their circle, hypnotic and strange, as if they existed in a dream separate from the chaos around them.
I leaned forward, narrowing my eyes through the candlelit haze. Halston stood with a woman with dark hair. She had her hand on his arm as she whispered something in his ear. He smiled, not like the malicious smiles he had given me… it seemed genuine.
Movement below caught my attention. One of the men being passed between vampires looked familiar. Light brown hair, tousled from too many hands. Pale skin, growing paler with every greedy bite. Then I recognized him.
It was the man who helped me out of the carriage only hours ago.
He had looked so content then. Proud, even. Had he known what awaited him?
Another vampire gripped his jaw gently, almost affectionately, petting his face like one would calm a trembling animal. He leaned in close, whispered something I couldn’t make out.
Then, without hesitation, he bit into his own wrist. Thick blood welled instantly, and he pressed it against the man’s lips.
My heart dropped.
“What—”
The gasp tore out of me as the vampire snapped the man’s neck with an audible crack.
I shot to my feet, the throne scraping against the stone floor behind me. My hands trembled as I walked toward the edge of the perch, breath catching in my throat.
In an instant, August was beside me.
“What is it?”
I pointed to the broken body lying in a heap on the marble below.
“Oh, that?” August said, unfazed. “Give him a moment.”
“A moment? What do you mea—”
Then I saw it. The body convulsed. The man sucked in a sharp breath, his chest rising like something had clawed its way back into it. When his eyes opened, they glowed crimson.
No longer a human.
A vampire.
I stared down at the sight. Vampires cheered as one came forward, pulling a pale woman along with him.
She looked as if she was seeing through everyone around her with a smile shining on her face.
When brought to the new vampire, she extended her neck to him.
I blinked and he was on her feeding with such force that she went limp almost immediately.
“He wanted that,” August said.
I turned to him. “No one would want that.”
His jaw tensed, only for a moment before his cool composure returned. “You’d be surprised. Many of the servants here are working for one thing—immortality. The better they serve, the faster they get turned. But most of them are just here, stolen in the night.”
“And the woman that just lost her life?”
August laughed. “Don’t start acting like that bothers you, Winnie.”
I stared at him as he scanned over the crowd, the candlelight catching the sharp lines of his face.
He looked more at home here than anywhere else I’d seen him—regal, detached, a king in his kingdom of horrors.
But I saw the tension in his jaw, the stiffness in his posture.
He didn’t smile here like he used to, not like before everything happened. This wasn’t ease. It was control.
I wanted to tell him he was wrong about me, but he knew me better than most.
August turned to me slowly, his eyes drifting up my frame before meeting mine. He tilted his head just slightly, then gave a single, deliberate gesture back toward the thrones.
I rolled my eyes and moved back to my seat.
As August sat beside me, a pale servant glided forward, offering him a goblet of deep crimson. Without hesitation, he took it.
I watched as he raised it to his lips. The liquid inside moved thickly, almost syrupy, and I knew instantly it wasn’t wine. My stomach turned as I watched him drink. His eyes slipped shut, the smallest sigh leaving his lips.
“It calms the hunger,” he said softly, catching my gaze before I could look away. “Helps me think.”
“But it doesn’t stop it?”
He glanced down my throat. “No, Winnie, it doesn’t.”
I hated the way the thought of him feeding on me sent heat curling low in my belly.
My gaze dipped downward, sweeping over the great room below. Amid the chaos, I caught sight of Corwin, lounging on a velvet chaise and deep in conversation with another vampire. But his eyes weren’t on them—they were on me. A wicked smile pulled at his mouth when he noticed me watching.
A chill crawled down my spine. There was something in the way he looked at me that set every instinct I had on edge.
I turned back toward August—and found him already watching Corwin. His face was a mask, completely unreadable, but his knuckles were white where they gripped the arm of the throne.
“Is this where you were on the nights you weren’t with me?”
He turned his head just slightly, but his eyes stayed locked on his brother. “Why do you think that?”
“Everyone seemed so comfortable at dinner, and then at the end, you all got up like this was second nature. I had just assumed you needed a break from harassing me, but now I’m not so sure.
” I pointed to a particularly happy woman spinning herself dizzy on the dance floor.
“I just don’t understand. Your siblings are here, and yet you had a home in town. ”
August was quiet for a moment, as if he was sorting through his thoughts.
“When I lived here, I made it as difficult for everyone as possible. I pushed every limit Carrow tried to place. He punished me, locked me up, starved me. But I never stopped. Eventually, we came to an agreement. I didn’t have to live here if I attended a weekly dinner to let him live out his fantasy and comp—“ He stopped mid-sentence but quickly recovered.
“perform my duties that he expected of me. It let him pretend he still had power over me.”
It wasn’t always once a week that he disappeared. It was random, leaving me wondering what took his attention away from me. I shouldn’t have cared. “And the other nights?”
He sipped again, the red staining his mouth like a bruise. “Some of those nights were my designated time to hunt.”
I frowned. “Your what?”
“Carrow scheduled when we were allowed to feed. Another one of his rules. The night we met, it was my night to hunt. He sent the other vampire to watch me, for ‘protection.’ I told you that.”
“I wasn’t sure what I could believe of the things you told me,” I muttered, watching as another vampire laughed with a mouth full of blood.
“I kept things from you,” he said, turning back to the room, “but only because I thought it was best.”
Guilt surged up again, churning my stomach and battering against every wall I had so carefully rebuilt.
No. I couldn’t feel bad for him.
Not after everything he had decided to take from me.
“When is the wedding?”
He tilted his head to the side and smiled at me. But it didn’t quite reach his eyes. His hair fell loose across his forehead, a pale curtain in the flickering light. I had to fight the ridiculous urge to reach up and smooth it back. To touch him like I used to. Like nothing had changed.
But everything had.
“So eager to marry me, Winnie?” he asked, amused, but there was something frayed at the edges. Something brittle.
I didn’t flinch. “Eager to know my brother is safe.”
He rolled his shoulders, a slow shrug that seemed more like a show of strength than anything else. “In a couple of days. It takes time to plan these things. But I told them to be as quick as they can.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Plan what exactly?”
He turned his face fully toward me, the candlelight catching the glint in his deep brown eyes. “Do you think this is going to be a hidden wedding? Me?”
My stomach tightened. “And until then, I’m supposed to just sit here and let everyone stare at me?”
He leaned closer, and I could feel the chill radiating off him despite the warmth of the room. His voice dropped to a rasp meant only for me. “No. You know what we’ll be doing until then.”
A thrill of heat curled low in my traitorous stomach. I hated the way he looked at me and that I still wanted him to.
But it was nothing but my body betraying me.
I may be playing this game with him now, but I had already made up my mind. After we stopped Carrow—after I knew that my brother was safe—I was going to kill him and every vampire in this castle.