51. Blood on Ball Gowns
A drian nodded to one of the young Holt girls (Andrew’s cousins) as they passed through the quick changes of the dance, but all the while he kept Rose in sight. She was angry with him, and he had a feeling it would only grow as the night wore on, as he was feeling similarly with all the males noticing her. Her beauty was evident, as was her power, and they wanted her.
Adrian wanted to knock a fucker out. Instead, he took note of the males for later.
He wanted to whip Rose’s ass red for allowing it, but that was for later as well. The make-up sex would be explosive, he had no doubt. Picturing her beautiful submission had some of the jealousy fading.
Until she bounced to a new male. He had to clench his teeth and pretend to smile at a new female.
Eventually, the dance ended and Rose’s original partner inclined his head to her. He offered his arm and though she hesitated, she accepted and let him lead her to the gift tables, where the King and Queen stood together.
But she did glance over her shoulder at him. Those pink irises said she knew exactly what she was doing. She almost smiled. He saw the beginnings of it, but then her gaze dropped to Lady Clearwater’s arm wrapped around his, and her expression went cold.
Good. Let her get a taste of her own medicine.
“Your lady is not pleased with you,” Lady Julianna said lowly to him.
“Oh, I am well aware.”
“Jealousy is a funny thing.” She looked across the way to where Andrew stood with Silas’s sister. A tiny line appeared between her brows before she wiped it away. “Perhaps if you introduce us after the gifts, it will ease.”
“Perhaps,” Adrian agreed before turning to his father, who tapped his champagne glass to get everyone’s attention.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” he called. “It is time to honor our dear Queen by cutting her marvelous cake and showering her with our gifts!” He motioned to the massive five-tiered cake on display, covered in tiny roses and sparkling from the sugar sprinkled on it. Turning, he lifted his glass in toast. “Happy birthday, dearest, and I hope you have had a wonderful evening.”
His mother smiled and sipped her champagne as he did, setting a hand on his arm. She closed her eyes as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. Lifting her face, she kissed his cheek, to the awwws of the crowd.
“Thank you, my King.” The Queen turned to the crowd. “And thank you all for attending tonight to join our celebration and happy day. Thank you for your generosity.” She motioned to the tables of gifts. “I am sure I will love them all.”
The King, having stepped away while she was talking, came forward again with a pair of lovely white doves in a cage, handed to him by a servant. “ For your birthday, my Queen, I am building you an aviary. I know you love birds and find them majestic creatures, so adjoining your rose garden will be a marvelous building full of your favorites.”
“Peacocks?”
“A flock of pea hens and at least one cock,” the King replied, making those gathered around laugh.
“Thank you, my King.” She smiled at the birds as he set the cage aside.
“Mother,” Dimitri stepped forward and handed her a large wrapped box. Inside, she found a trio of crystalline birds on a glass tray. The tray was the size of a dinner plate, the largest bird the size of a ripe pear, the others decreasing in size. She grinned to her eldest as she carefully turned the platter so the crystal sparkled in the light of the now-lit torches at the edge of the square. The crowd made awed sounds.
“Thank you, Dimitri.”
He stepped forward to kiss her cheek. She beamed and handed the gift to a waiting servant, and then turned to Adrian, who handed her a smaller box. Eyeing him questioningly, she pulled off the wrapping and found a velvet jewelry box. Smiling, lifting her eyes to his momentarily, she opened the box to a beautiful set. She fingered the gold chain studded with a pattern of alternating diamonds and small pink gems, a larger, heavier square gem as the centerpiece. There was also a matching bracelet, two hairpins, and dangling pink earrings.
“From your new mine?”
“I know your love affair with jewelry,” he answered, glancing at her current set that matched her outfit. Beneath her necklace, the faint bruising that was barely discernible under her expert makeup turned his stomach.
“What are they?”
“Pink sapphires. ”
“Most unusual. And you are very cleverly promoting your business.” Leaning up to kiss his cheek, she said, “I forgive you—for now—but will not tolerate another stunt like this with that whore.”
Adrian clenched his jaw at her blatant words, and she patted his cheek condescendingly.
“Dance with others, Adrian. Promote your garden with the delightful Julianna. Soothe the ruffled feathers. Otherwise, there will be harsh consequences, both from me and the nobles you are openly offending.”
As he opened his mouth to reply, surprised gasps and shouts rang out, and then a high scream as Horace suddenly shoved a young woman just in time to push Rose out of the way and take an arrow to the neck.
It was an extremely lucky shot, one of the few vulnerable places not covered by his leathers. Blood ran in a deep red river, and the screaming was hysterical as guests ran every which way. The King and Queen called for order, but it was chaos.
Adrian rushed forward at the same time Rose regained her feet. They both knelt, Adrian staring into his guard’s shocked eyes while he gurgled. Rose took one of Horace’s hands, squeezing, and set her other around the arrow. Her power swirled thickly around them, unseen but felt by all. The torches lining the square burned brighter, hotter, dancing as chaotically as the crowd, spitting tongues of flame.
A Devilbird landed nearby, settling on a pole holding the covering above one of the vendor’s tables. Adrian dismissed him and his assessing red eyes, ignoring the ominous feeling that crept over him. Steeling his spine, he checked the rest of his guards in the crowd—Timothy and the others of the unit prowling.
“Take the arrow,” Rose told him.
Adrian gave a short nod, gripping the shaft, relieved to see it was no longer actively bleeding and that Horace was sedated in Rose’s magic. Recalling that floating feeling, he knew that as soon as he yanked, Rose would finish the healing.
Before he could yank, Ciel shifted to his lion form and roared at something behind Rose. At the same time, Timothy began fighting a costumed knight some distance away. The fight was fast, Timothy quickly overpowering the human, cutting his gut open between the layers of his leathers. Blood poured. More screams rang out, and the sounds of vomiting as two ladies emptied their stomachs on the cobbles.
Meanwhile, Ciel roared again and jumped onto the disguised knight’s partner several feet away, biting into and ripping out the male’s throat. Leaving him bleeding out, Ciel returned to his mistress, his eyes scanning the crowd as blood dripped from his mouth. When he saw another suspicious figure trying to discreetly advance, he charged.
More screaming, more chaos. Insanity ensued as Ciel attacked, the knife the male carried clattering to the ground as the lion jumped, taking him down with sharp claws piercing the chest. His jaws closed around the male’s neck, and with a jerk of his head, that neck snapped. Ciel dropped the body, panting as he looked for more threats.
Timothy gutted another guard, and searched for more, wiping blood spatter from his face and only managing to smear it and make himself appear more menacing. Moving opposite of Ciel, who stalked around him and Rose with his head low and eyes glowing as he growled maliciously, tail flicking behind him, Tim also dared anyone else to come forward, his dagger held at the ready.
Adrian, after a quick nod to Rose, pulled the arrow. Leaving her to her healing, he stood and took in the scene. Timothy prowled for more threats while the other two guards stood from more they’d just taken out. Both vampires walked to Adrian, one carrying an arrow identical to the one he already held. The other handed him a small knife .
While his parents called for everyone to make their way to the carriages in an orderly fashion, urging those gawking to move on, Adrian set his eyes on Duke Clearwater. The male stood some distance away, staring with mouth agape at Horace, who now sat whispering with Rose.
Feeling the weight of Adrian’s stare, the Duke met his eyes. Adrian lifted the arrow he held and broke it in his hands. The fletching was unique to Clearwater House, the feathers dyed a light blue that matched their family crest.
The Duke visibly paled and swallowed, understanding the threat, and urged his family around him to leave. The Duchess shook with fear, or maybe shock. Lionel frowned deeply. And Julianna appeared gobsmacked.
“Detain the Duke Clearwater for questioning,” Adrian called to two palace knights. Leaving the law enforcement officials to tame the crowd, the knights did as ordered.
The Duke kissed his wife, gripped Lionel’s shoulders while giving him a firm look, and then kissed the silently crying Julianna’s forehead. He then followed the knights willingly.
As the square cleared further, Adrian took in the bodies—seven in all. Two were Clearwater archers, and the audacity to plan such a thing at his mother’s birthday party was shocking. Not that she minded because there were two dead males with her insignia on their daggers. One of the other bodies he recognized as his father’s. There was another he didn’t recognize, and the last belonged to him, the newly recruited Blair.
It burned. Everyone, literally everyone, was against him.
“Gather the bodies, Timothy. I want them taken to the palace for identification and holding until I decide what to do with them.”
“Yes, sir.”
The entire unit bowed and got to work.
“Your Highness. ”
Adrian turned to the small female bowing at his feet. Nervously twisting her hands together in front of her as she stood, she kept her eyes downcast. When her gaze darted to his shoes and then away, it brought back memories of when Rose was still collared and behaved similarly.
“Speak.”
“Yes.” The maid shook in place. “Yes, sir. I am Cordelia.”
Adrian tried to recall where he’d heard that name. “Rose’s roommate?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You work for my mother.”
“Mr. DuMont paid me, sir.”
“Of course,” Adrian replied dryly. “You spied for him.”
“I did. Rose never told me much.” She chanced a glance up but averted her gaze again quickly. “It displeased him.”
More like it displeased his mother, Adrian thought, but didn’t say so. “You planted the necklace.”
“Yes, sir,” Cordelia whispered, bowing her head as if in shame.
“Were you involved with the gems as well?”
“No, sir. Only the necklace a-and information. But, um . . .” With a harsh swallow, she reached down into her boot, pulling out and handing Adrian a small dagger, which he stared at. “I answer to someone new now. S-since Mr. DuMont, um, left. He”—she took a tiny breath—“th-they told me to get to Rose tonight.”
There was a sniffle and then she said so quietly he wouldn’t have heard if he wasn’t a vampire with sensitive hearing, “I don’t want her hurt. She was always so nice, even though she was suspicious of me. When th-they shredded her dresses, it s-scared me. And then the animals . . . Helpless creatures don’t deserve to die for n-no r-r-reason. She—Rose—she doesn’t deserve to be h-h-hurt. And her . . . your . . . the . . .” Motioning to Ciel, she shook her head, and swiped tears, at a loss for words .
Adrian stared at the knife, his blood boiling. Never would he suspect Javier, even with his disdain for Rose. His butler had been loyal for many years. Perhaps it had been na?ve to think it would always be so.
But this dagger was a very stupid mistake on Javier’s part.
A gift from Adrian a few years ago, it was meant to be decorative, a symbol of the butler’s loyalty as a form of protection. But it was also sharp and could be used as a weapon. That was a symbol as well—the butler using all, even what seemed pretty, to protect his master.
Maybe there was symbolism in Javier’s choice to give it to Cordelia—as him trying to protect his master from himself and unwise decisions.
If so, it was idiotic, Adrian thought.
Obedience was the first rule of the butler, one Javier used to know well.
Pulling him from his thoughts, Cordelia whispered, “The blade is p-p-poisoned. I don’t know with what, but he said it would k-k-kill her.” Tears ran faster as Cordelia looked up, and her expression was tortured. “I can’t do it. I don’t want her to die. She always—”
Not letting her finish, Adrian moved swiftly behind her. Gripping her head he quickly tilted it back and efficiently slit her throat. As with the slave traders, he got not a drop of blood on himself. As with the slave traders, he let her body fall, watching her gurgle. Wiping the blade on her apron, he watched her blood run. As it did, black colored the veins under her skin, showing the poison’s advancement.
“NO!”
Rose rushed from healing their guards’ minor injuries to give him an angry shove. “You can’t just kill anyone whenever you feel like it!”
Adrian didn’t argue as Rose dropped down on her knees beside Cordelia, taking her hand, and sent her magic out. The cut in Cordelia’s throat immediately healed, but the poison continued staining her blood vessels as it spread. Rose tore Cordelia’s dress and set a hand to her blackening chest as her breath went slow and raspy.
“No,” Rose choked, tears beginning to fall. “I can’t take it.” She looked up at Adrian helplessly. He felt no remorse.
“S-s-sorry,” Cordelia wheezed. “You . . . didn’t . . . d-d-deserve . . .”
“It’s okay,” Rose reassured her. “You don’t have to talk. It’s alright, Cordelia.”
Cordelia’s life quickly faded, her chest going still, her body going limp. Rose stared, her tears continuing to fall, and then she closed the vacant eyes and set Cordelia’s hands to her black-veined chest.
She then stood to face Adrian. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“She was sent to kill you.”
“She was confessing! She was repentant!”
“It was too late.”
Rose’s eyes burned with her anger. Her magic around her was hotter than he’d ever felt it before. The flames in their stands hissed and roared, flaring with energy. The Devilbird, brave with the crowd clearing, flew to drink the spilled blood. Rose glanced at him, something strange crossing her face before she returned her attention to him.
“It is not up to you,” Rose hissed. “It is not up to you to decide who deserves death and who deserves to live. She was trying to come clean and ask for forgiveness.”
“Which I denied.”
“It’s not up to you!” Rose repeated, causing the flames to flare again. The Devilbird squawked, rose in startled flight, and then settled where a different body had been to continue its meal.
“Everything concerning you is up to me.”
“No,” Rose retorted coldly. “Everything concerning me is up to me . ”
“We are not doing this here,” Adrian replied lowly. His parents watched them, his mother smiling slyly as he tried to take Rose’s arm and was instead shrugged off. “We will finish this discussion at home.”