Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
“Good morning, Enti!” As the clock struck ten, Mina delivered sketches and a description of her dream weapon to the sorceress. She’d already gone down twice to find her, but few had been awake. The stair orgy had still been at it, which had made Mina worry about their poor backs.
Blinking at the stack of papers, Enti sipped coffee with her mask askew, looking like she too had enjoyed a long night of leisure. “ Is it good? And is it morning ? I suppose we’ll have to take the clock’s word for it.”
Bleary-eyed guests now milled in the dining hall. Once they’d recovered from their excesses, Mina would question them all, digging for more details about Nightside. She’d expected to see Silt sooner or later, but he wasn’t eating, nor was he among the smokers on the balcony.
She still couldn’t believe what had happened between her and the sorcerer last night. And he’d expected to take her fully! Though Mina had made decisions about her future, she’d been about to throw everything away in the heat of desire.
Enti skimmed the first page with a yawn.
Mina herself had experienced a fitful sleep. Dreams of making love to Silt had besieged her. Yet then those dreams had turned into nightmares of stalking him, slamming him to the ground, and piercing his neck.
She’d awakened with her fangs buried into her wrist, her blood covering the sheets and filling her mouth. Gods help her, she’d still been able to taste his crimson spicing her own. With the shimmer of magic heating her body, she’d climaxed from one graze of a blood-drenched finger.
Yes, indistinguishable lust and bloodlust was a red-eyed vampire’s trait; the plague continued to gain ground within her. The sorceress had said she might have years, but Mina no longer believed that.
Enti blinked up at her and said, “You want me to create a scythe with mystically cauterizing heat?” She blew out a breath. “It’s awfully early to be thinking about complex weapons, is it not?”
The ship is sinking, and no one can feel the water rushing in. “Do you think you can do it?”
“I will try, princess.”
“Try? You derive power from delivering dreams, right? This is mine.”
“And I’ll do my best.” She adjusted her mask. “But it could take some time.”
Mina’s least plentiful resource.
“In the interim . . .” Enti waved her hand, and a sword and scabbard appeared at Mina’s side.
She unsheathed her new weapon, a curved sword of polished metal. “Dacian steel. I’m impressed, dream weaver.” She tried not to get too excited. As easily as the sword had appeared, it could disappear. Though she liked Enti, Mina didn’t trust the sorceress, not even a little.
“Perhaps practicing with that will occupy you until I can get back to you on the scythe.”
“Thank you.” Mina planned to drink her fill of the blood available here while training her body, getting as strong as possible for her next mission. Yet even as she thought of strength, she succumbed to weakness, glancing around for a glimpse of Silt.
He’d probably bedded down with another female—or females—in his room.
The pain in Mina’s heart couldn’t be ignored any longer. She tried to convince herself she suffered from another wayward infatuation. But she knew it was more.
Defying all sense, she’d . . . developed feelings for Silt. Undeniable ones.
Yet he held no real regard for her. Only lust. And she could never have him anyway, because of something he’d said in the spur of the moment.
“Looking for the sorcerer?” Enti asked.
Even if Mina could lie, the sorceress would see the truth. “Yes. I have an interest in him, one that must never pass beyond interest .” Just because she had certain feelings didn’t mean she would act on them.
“Wise. A trifling between a sorcerer and a vampire could never become more.”
Though Mina had no intention of trifling further with Silt, she pointed out, “Our species aren’t natural enemies.” Not like Kristoff and Furie would be. “One of my uncles wed a sorceress and is overjoyed by the union.”
“She must be the exception. My kind don’t seem to form lasting attachments outside of our own. And of course, we don’t have a fated mate.” Most immortal species mated for life. Not so with the Sorceri. “If a vampire female like you accepted Silt in your heart, you would for life. Yet in time he would stray, devastating you.”
Yes. Exactly.
“So what will you do, friend?” Enti asked.
Was this girl-talk? Mina was unsure, having never done it. As ever, she wished her mother had lived and that they’d been close. They could have bonded over blood tea, her mother sharing womanly wisdom.
Mina had a mysterious aunt she might have talked to, a princess Lothaire dismissively referred to as the sixth cousin , but the poor vampiress was a shut-in who never left her wing. No girl-talk for Mina there.
She’d thought about discussing males and such with Ellie and Balery. But revealing her disastrous crush to them would’ve come with pitying looks—much like the one Enti was giving her now.
“No devastation for me,” Mina said firmly. “At least, not from him. I envision other things for my future.”
“Do you? Let’s see.” The sorceress read her mind, her irises appearing to spin. “You dream of what that couple experienced in a moonlit clearing. What a sight. I wish I could give that to you. Hell, I wish I could give it to me ,” she said with a sigh. “You refuse to settle for anything less than devotion. And, princess, I don’t blame you.”
“No, I won’t settle, especially not for someone who vowed to kill my brother.” She was almost thankful for his rash words—if not for them, she would do something ruinous like fall completely and utterly for Silt Harea.
Enti parted her lips to say something, then must’ve thought better of it. “Yes, he did. By collecting that bounty, Mirceo crossed a powerful Lorean. I remember the first time I saw Silt’s wanted poster. I had the thought that he would prove a formidable outlaw to meet.”
An outlaw sorcerer. Mina almost groaned. Her taste in males wanted refinement.
And more, her focus needed work. She should be concentrating on survival—not golden-eyed enchanters. “When Xodin explored the realm, did he map his findings?”
“Meticulously. He can show you detailed renderings of the dimension. He’ll rise soon enough.”
“Thank you. I’ll reconvene with you on this”—Mina tapped the papers on the table—“later today.”
Enti raised her brows. “Checking on my progress? You’re lucky I like you, vampire.”
Mina cast her a wink over her shoulder, which made the sorceress chuckle.
Yet as Mina walked away, vibrations shivered beneath her feet. She turned back a last time and found Enti with a studiously benign look on her face. But perspiration dotted her upper lip. . . .