Chapter 23
Twenty-Three
“I’ve been expecting you,” the Queen of Dreams said. “Up, up, up. We can’t be late.”
At any moment, Silt expected this Entity to clap her hands together. But he didn’t sense an acute threat from her. Nor did he scent that dragon’s breath.
He levered himself to his feet, helping Kosmina to hers. “Late for what?”
“Our banquet starts in one hour. We keep schedule by the clock, because it’s always night here. One could go batty without a schedule! Besides, I know you must be hungry. Running from revenants and all manner of creatures increases the appetite.” She started off briskly, her bootheels clicking along spotless floors.
Chandeliers lit the area, and every fixture gleamed with gold. Rich wood panels covered the walls, adorned with collections of formal Sorceri masks through the ages. The large windows framed a view of a paradisical courtyard with more grapevines growing.
Of all the things Silt might have expected in Nightside . . .
He and Kosmina shared a look, then caught up with the sorceress.
“I’ll show you to your rooms for baths and fresh garments.” Tapping her mask, Enti said, “We dress for dinner here.”
“I’m Silt?—”
“Harea. I know! The great King of Sand. And she is Princess Kosmina of Dacia.”
Kosmina said, “Are you a mind reader, Entity?”
The sorceress said, “Call me Enti, which is better than the other way I could have shortened my name.” Broad wink. “To answer your question, yes, I read minds. I see your hopes, dreams, and more. Oftentimes I can make them come true. Within reason, of course.”
Good luck reading his dreams. He didn’t even know himself anymore—or what he might want. As soon as the thought occurred, he recalled how he’d felt as Kosmina lay dead.
Something mysterious binds us.
Enti eyed Silt, and her strange irises appeared to swirl like pinwheels in the wind. “You’ll find everything you need here, every luxury to make your stay pleasurable.”
Everything he needed? The food scents were stronger here, making his stomach knot with hunger, but he still didn’t detect that dragon’s breath.
“The revenants won’t try to swim?” Kosmina asked.
Enti drew her gaze from Silt, her irises stilling. “No. Now they’ll bury themselves back inside their rock grave, hibernating until they sense the living once more.”
“Why didn’t they storm the bridge?”
“In the past, we furled a number of them in it. An absolutely crushing way to go,” Enti said dryly.
Anger flaring, Silt said, “Yes, we got that up-close impression.”
“I apologize, but some of the revenants looked like they might try me once more, so I had to enact my best defense quickly to keep everyone here safe. Sometimes accuracy suffers.”
Kosmina’s brows drew together. “Why help us?”
“We welcome all living immortals in Castle Vitis, without judgment for how you came to be here.” Vitis ? Named for the vines outside?
“In exchange for what?” the princess asked, hunting for the angle.
“For not having ill-intent. I can read people’s hearts, and you two hold no malice—at least not toward me. But my gods, toward each other? You, princess, dream of killing this sorcerer, and you crave to drink more of his ‘magical’ blood—not at the same time.” Enti pointed at Silt. “You dream of killing her brother, and you’re in a lather to bed her alone—also not at the same time.”
Silt and the vampire spoke at once:
—“I’m not preferred , sorcerer? Just available ?”
—“My blood is magical, is it?”
Kosmina craved him! Yet his self-satisfied grin faded. After their kiss, he’d hoped her resolve to murder him would have faltered. Despite Enti’s words, his own plans to off Mirceo felt less pressing.
As they turned a corner into another corridor, Enti said, “Nevertheless, we have a peaceful existence here. I will maintain it.” She turned the full impact of her smile on him. “Sorceri come along so rarely. We have just a handful here.” As her steps matched his, her eyes indicated she was reading his mind again.
Then she would see his gravest secret: my past as an Inferi . He refused to glance away. Would she reveal his ignominy in front of Kosmina? Didn’t matter. The princess would be lost soon anyway.
“What a pleasure it will be to know you,” Enti said, hinting at layers of meaning.
And you. If her power proved gettable, would he change his view on sorcery accumulation? Maybe. “I haven’t heard of you before, and I know of most.”
“I believe you were already in Poly when I came into my abilities.” She led them down another hallway.
Before he could drill down on her answer, a gaggle of scantily clad demonesses passed them. All of them looked well-fed and happy. Where had Enti found so many females among those condemned in Nightside?
Silt flashed them a smile. When they giggled and waved, he turned to see Kosmina’s reaction.
Eye roll.
So he tapped his jugular with raised brows. You know you want it. And now Silt did too.
She gestured to herself from head to toe and mouthed, Me alone.
He liked this facet of her. Who knew saucy lit his wick?
As if she hadn’t just made his cock swell, Kosmina asked, “How do you provision yourself here, Enti?”
“Sorcery works well in this plane. Not enough to leave, but our jail isn’t so bad when I can produce shelter, food, wine, and anything else one needs for pleasure,” she said, clearly for Silt’s benefit.
She’d discovered his habit and was offering to create dragon’s breath for him. His heart pounded at the thought of a never-ending supply.
With females everywhere and smoke at the ready, this castle varied little from his home. His plans to rebuild his power stores dimmed. . . .
When they reached a grand set of stairs and began to climb, Kosmina kept her head on a swivel, scanning for the next sinister threat.
Though she looked unsure of Enti, Silt didn’t anticipate treachery. And why would Enti try to take out two immortals who posed no harm to her? With this castle’s protections, the only issue facing the Queen of Dreams was boredom.
“Why are you in Nightside, Enti?” he asked.
“I meddled with humans, granting their dreams in return for their worship. I see that you did a variation on that theme as well. Delicious sport, isn’t it?” She turned to Kosmina. “Why are you . . . ? Oh.” Enti’s gaze dropped to her arm. Were those wounds growing angrier? Seeming genuine, the sorceress said, “I’m very sorry about your illness.”
Kosmina canted her head. “And if my dream is to be cured, sorceress?”
“I wish I could help you. But some things are beyond my abilities.”
“I understand.” That stoic acceptance returned, tugging at something inside him. Had she had a brief hope that Enti offered deliverance?
They climbed what felt like endless stairs. This castle appeared even larger from within. Silt perceived sorcery in every flickering lamp, every stone, every inch of the plush carpet lining the stairs.
Kosmina glanced out one of the airy windows. “Is this place . . . real?”
Enti chuckled. “What’s real or unreal? It’s all conjured with a wave of my hand, but it feels real to me.”
When laughter broke out downstairs and a moan sounded from somewhere within these walls, Kosmina said, “With so many immortals here, you must know much about this realm. I’m eager to locate an escape.”
“Unfortunately, there is none.” Before Kosmina could argue, the sorceress paused and raised her hand. “I know you have many questions, and I will answer them all at the feast. But I never discuss business before pleasure—such as a warm meal—and I’m never late for dinner.”
Though such a force in combat, the vampire hesitated before saying, “I can wait until then.” Was he watching royal socialization at work? He could imagine her princess brain flashing a warning: One mustn’t insult one’s hostess.
They reached a landing and continued onto a new floor. Enti indicated two rooms across from each other. “You’ll find clothes inside, and your baths are prepared. Silt, your room is to the right. Princess, yours is to the left. Unless you two prefer more space between you after your trials?”
He and Kosmina both said, “No,” at the same time.
He wasn’t keen to let his asset out of his sight, and she seemed hell-bent on keeping her target near as well. He reminded himself that neither of them could leave without the castle’s bridge.
Enti said, “I must warn you both: magic will prevent any violence inside my home.”
Appearing put out, the princess eventually nodded.
He did as well.
When an unseen clock chimed, Enti said, “Oh, I must dash! Once you’re ready, follow the sounds down to the banquet hall and bring a large appetite. Until then!” She hastened off, boots clicking.
“You get a reprieve,” Kosmina told him. “Enjoy it.”
“You couldn’t kill me before. You wouldn’t be able to do it here, even if allowed.”
She gave him a smile with curving red lips and a hint of her little fangs. “Soon.” That smile hit him harder than her knee to his balls. She turned from him and headed into her room, saying over her shoulder, “After thousands of years, you’ve finally met your ruination.”
He rubbed his nape. Starting to believe that.
He entered his palatial suite, one even more lavish than the bedchamber in his stronghold. Would Kosmina’s suite compare to the luxury of her home in Dacia? He found a steaming tub large enough to swim in, a basket of fruit and nuts, and a bottle of wine.
Sorceri were susceptible to poisons— I would know —yet wines that could mask such a taint were always on tap in their lairs. He shunned the drink but devoured the food.
It fueled his immortal regeneration, his frame putting on some of the muscle he’d lost during his withdrawal and Nightside’s trials. His body had retained its resilience; why did his power still suffer?
Once he’d satisfied the worst of his hunger, he stripped off his clothes and sank into the steaming water. “Great sand.” He rested his head on a waiting pillow and basked. . . .
Yet antsiness soon invaded him. Not surprising. His drug of choice was on offer here.
Would he accept and let down his guard? The only thing that could make a sorcerer more vulnerable than exhaustion was inebriation. And during his last binge, Silt had mistaken a cold street for a warm bed!
He traced the tattoos on his chest, a vow to defend his root power to the death. No, he’d never make himself vulnerable. Surely not. And so the cravings would continue. That must explain the unease.
His fingers paused. His need for opium wasn’t all that affected him.
He gazed in Kosmina’s direction. I don’t want to part from her. Not yet. For the first time since his parents had betrayed him, he had another’s safety on his mind.
My asset. My prize. His oasis memory remained fresh in his mind. Should I follow that irritating vampire over the next dune and see what might be?
He snatched up soap and quickly scrubbed himself, intending to dress and then harangue her again for trying to kill him. He’d just dunked his head a last time when half a dozen bath attendants, beauties all, sauntered into the chamber.
One said, “In a hurry, King of Sand? We’re here to assist you with anything you might desire.”
He swiped water off his smiling face. So Enti had sent in concubines to service him? He sensed that three were shifters, and the others were masked Sorceri of limited power. I’m one to talk.
“We’ve heard you’re quite the ladies’ man,” another one said. “ Ladies plural.”
With their coy glances and wiles, they reminded him of his own harem. His smile faded. Why hadn’t a single one of the females in his stronghold lifted a finger to help him?
His gaze flicked in the vampire’s direction as he recalled all she’d done—and would continue to do—for her loved one. He dug into the idea of a bond like that, feeling like he’d spotted a hint of a wellspring in the deepest desert.
“Sorcerer?”
He turned back to the females. Pleasure was on tap here; all he had to do was surrender to it. But Enti was right—he craved Kosmina alone.
For now. Once sated of the vampire, that feeling would fade.
Had the sorceress been testing him with this offer of females? Gauging how long his preference would hold when his desires went unmet?
His eyes narrowed. Maybe Enti had procured males to help Kosmina with her bath. He shot to his feet with a curse, securing a towel around his waist.
“Sorcerer, we don’t bite!” The females laughed. Feminine laughter was his aphrodisiac. It meant women were happy and more likely to bed him. These were guaranteed.
And yet he strode to the door.
He yanked it open and came face-to-face with Kosmina.