Chapter 6
Jessiah
Ihated her so much, and yet I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she dragged herself through that crowd.
Rummy was potentially the only person in the entire world who wasn’t the least bit afraid of vampyres. She was so confident that they would never crave her blood, that losing control wasn’t a possibility now that the curse of the hungry ones had been lifted.
But that didn’t explain the way my pulse heightened as I watched her.
I forced my fists to unclench as I stood on the edge of the crowd. Huntyr, Wolf, and the few other people who’d held on to their sanity tonight were gathered farther from the fire. They were talking and enjoying their coherent decision-making skills.
Nothing like the scene displayed in front of me.
I didn’t blame those who chose to let go. I wasn’t a vampyre, so I’d never experience what it truly felt like to feed.
But watching them all so close to Rummy? It set my blood on fire. She had a history of reckless decision-making, but this move was different. She’d done it to piss me off.
And it was working.
She swayed to the beat, her hips rocking from side to side seductively. Her black tank top exposed her sculpted back and strong shoulders. She threw her hair around like a weapon, drawing my eyes to her every time those blonde streaks flickered against the firelight.
Dancing wasn’t my thing. Neither were these feasts. But I came to support Wolf and Huntyr. I came to support the kingdom.
That’s what I told myself, at least. It had nothing to do with Rummy’s presence.
She shouldn’t be so close to so many vampyres. Not when they were in this state.
Though, in that moment, it was hard to remember why. All she did was piss me off, push my buttons.
She rested her arms on the shoulders of a beautiful redhead woman who still had blood dripping from her lips. The woman pulled Rummy close, hands slipping up and down her body.
I watched every damn movement.
It wasn’t long before another joined in. A male this time. He ground against both women as the moon rose higher in the sky.
This was my personal form of torture.
And I wouldn’t sit around and let her play with me like this anymore.
I shoved away from the crowd, desperate for fresh air. Walk away, walk away, walk away. Do not go back into that crowd.
Goddess above, even if I wanted to, my ego would never let me. Rummy had been the object of my affections once, and I’d let her know it.
It was the biggest mistake I’d ever made.
I would never let her see that side of me again.
Even if it killed me.
A shrill scream echoed in the distance. Shouting followed. The sounds came from the edge of the city, closer to the forest.
Any thoughts about Rummy and the hands roaming her body vanished as I ran toward the noise.
I wasn’t the only one.
For two years, we’d lived in relative safety.
For two years, there had been no threats to our kingdom.
But with a single scream, I slipped back into the defensive role I’d held for so long.
It was like being flung back into that war, remembering just how easily I could lose the things I cared about.
I wouldn’t lose Scarlata. Not today.
With my wings tucked tightly behind my shoulders, I ran faster. In the distance, at the edge of the city, a small crowd of people lingered.
“What in all hells is going on?” I asked as I approached.
Nobody answered. They were all too busy gawking at something I couldn’t yet see.
As I stepped up, I pushed through the crowd until I could set eyes on what caught their attention.
One bloody, dirty, bruised vampyre stood, though he looked as if he’d collapse at any moment. A stranger. Beneath the blood and dirt, his clothes were unlike what the citizens of Scarlata wore, and the insignias on the man’s sword wasn’t one I recognized.
I assessed him carefully, realizing then that the stranger before me wasn’t a vampyre.
He was fae.
Body tensing further, I took another step closer. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
He lifted his dirty face. He had determined eyes and dried blood smeared down his skin.
“I need to speak to the Queen of Scarlata,” he said. “Where is the blood queen?”
“I serve the queen, so whatever you have to say, you can say to me.” There was no way in all hells I’d let him near Huntyr. Not until I knew what was going on.
“No,” he argued. “I need to see your queen. I have information she needs to hear.”
The whispering around me ceased, and an instant later, I sensed it. The change in the atmosphere. The shift in temperature. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Huntyr and Wolf were approaching.
When Wolf’s massive gold wings appeared in my periphery and when Huntyr’s slim figure cast a shadow over the stranger on the ground, I kept my mouth shut.
“Speak,” Huntyr demanded. “You’ve pulled us away from a very entertaining evening, so this better be good.”
The stranger surveyed the crowd, as if he wasn’t comfortable divulging information in public like this.
But when every eye remained locked on him, the fae pushed himself up to his feet. “I came from Pericius. Please, I had nowhere else to go.”
Huntyr assessed them, her eyes storming with a violence I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was a reminder of why she was the blood queen.
“A fae thought a kingdom of vampyres more than a week’s journey from his own was the only place to go?” She crossed her arms, her expression one of disbelief. “What are you doing here?”
“I come with a warning,” the man said.
Wolf stepped forward, wings broadening in anticipation.
The fae gulped, his eyes widening, but continued anyway.
“These rebellions are just the start. The new king is starving our towns and neglecting his citizens. The rebellion only exists because he’s so hungry for power.
” He paused, catching his breath. “And he’ll come for Scarlata when he’s finished destroying us. ”
“This changes everything,” I pushed.
Wolf, Huntyr, Rummy, Xavier, and I gathered in the study once the stranger had been chained up in the most secure holding cell in the kingdom.
He was the only occupant, since we weren’t exactly used to keeping prisoners here in Scarlata.
He wasn’t technically a prisoner, but we’d yet to decide whether he could be trusted, so for now, that’s where he would stay.
Huntyr hadn’t spoken since we left him, but her face said enough. She knew just as well as I did that there was a legitimate threat here.
We had more than vague word of rumors and a cryptic letter from the east. This alleged refugee was just the beginning.
And if Scarlata was truly at risk?
We had to act. Now.
“If he’s telling the truth,” Rummy chimed in. She sobered up in the last twenty minutes, but that didn’t make looking at her any easier.
It didn’t help that Xavier stood so close to her.
“Jessiah’s right,” Wolf added. “We’ve spent years rebuilding Scarlata, and once we’d found our footing, we should have been more proactive. Instead, we’ve been sitting around and waiting for the truth to find us. We need to send our men to Pericius. And we need to do it soon.”
Still, Huntyr said nothing. She paced back and forth, her black fae wings tucked behind her shoulders as she moved.
Wolf leaned against the back wall, watching his wife with the eyes of a predator.
“Our men can be ready by the morning,” I added. “We can take them with us if necessary.”
Xavier nodded along with me.
“The stranger stays here.” Huntyr finally broke her silence. “If refuge is what he seeks, we’ll give it to him.”
Rummy stepped forward. “And what if this fae is just the beginning? What if hundreds more come?”
Huntyr stopped pacing and faced her friend. “Then we house them, too. This is the foundation Scarlata was built on. We can’t turn our backs on them just because they come from somewhere else.”
As Rummy cursed beneath her breath, I bit back a smile. She was so used to getting her way, and now she was losing.
It was about damn time.
“You sure your men are ready?” Wolf asked. “The journey on foot will take at least a week.”
Hands behind my back, I nodded once. This was the Wolf I knew. This was the Wolf who would do anything to protect his people. He was finally seeing how important it was to be on the defensive rather than waiting for unrest to come to us. “Trust me, they’re ready.”
Rummy laughed beside me. All four of us spun to face her.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…”
My blood ran cold at the loathing look she gave me.
“What?” Huntyr asked. “What is it?”
“Jessiah’s prepared a lot more than just his own men. Isn’t that right? It seems like these events are falling in his favor.”
Xavier immediately straightened.
“What’s she talking about?” Wolf asked, brows pulled low.
Before I could figure out how to explain today’s activities, Rummy stepped forward.
“Jessiah wasn’t waiting for your permission to head to the east. He visited Nathan at The Golden City earlier today to recruit their men, too. He was going with or without your approval.”
That fucking bitch.