Chapter 25 #2
At last, he gives a slow grin. “Then expect to find me by the food and drink, feasting for most of the night.”
Despite myself, I laugh.
Then I flush.
Dove winks. “Do that more often. It’s not like anyone is going to forget that you can also punch through their guts any time you want to.”
When he starts pulling Freya toward the door, however, I stop them.
“Our entrance is an important statement to the court.” I prowl forward, firmly pulling Dove to one side of me and Freya to the other side.
I make sure that my shoulder is still brushing Dove’s to help guide him.
“Follow my lead, dearhearts. Do not mistake this for an ordinary ball. Emotions will be running high, and so will people’s grief.
It will be dangerous for us tonight. No one who isn’t a Blood has been given access to this event before.
I am making clear your legitimacy to this kingdom and its Crown.
Do not act shocked by anything you see.”
“Shocked, huh?” Dove replies. “And what will we have to be shocked about? Fae are kinky bastards. I doubt there is anything planned for tonight that I haven’t already seen.
..or taken part in myself. Once in one of our sacred rituals under the moon, we all danced naked together, before we each chose three partners to—”
“A blood sacrifice is held at its heart.” I don’t look at either of my nest mates, even when they gasp.
“I will beat the arse of anyone who tries to sacrifice a Shadow Human in front of me.” Dove balls his fists.
“Who?” Freya whispers.
“I don’t know.” I feel Shadow and Devil prowling to walk behind me.
My neck prickles with unexpected shame.
Before my nest mates, I never cared who was chosen. I never found out their names. I didn’t know why or how they were chosen.
Criminals or traitors, I was told.
They elected to have their deaths sanctify the Night of the Shades, which would send their souls to join their ancestors, rather than die as outcasts.
The House of Crocodile chose the sacrifices. They are traditionally in charge of this ball.
Dove grabs me by the arm, wresting me closer.
“You are the bloody King. You should know. You’re responsible for everybody within your kingdom.
Don’t you understand that? You have a duty to Shadow Humans, Blood Lovers, prisoners, and Turned, as well as the Fang Born here in court.
You can’t hide away, even if things were tough when you were younger.
You’re a killer. But do you want to be a murderer? ”
Dove is breathing too hard.
Shaking.
Why is this important to him?
If only he knew that for three years all I have known is my responsibility to everybody. That I am going to die for every single person within the realms.
“If I stop this tradition, then I risk my position,” I argue. “Is one death more important than establishing your position as the future King? You’ll change things as soon as you reign. I know that you’ll be a good king.”
“I’m not good.” Dove wrenches the bat circlet off his head.
“I’m a bad bloody fae. It has taken being bonded to this remarkable soulmate here, however, to realize that there are more important things than my schemes.
I have learned through loving her that I may have lost so bloody much but I can still fight for what I have left.
And I won’t watch another Shadow Human die in front of me for entertainment. ”
To my shock, Freya wrenches off her circlet too. “Fuck it, me too. Blood sacrifices drain all the fun from an evening.”
I snarl in frustration, glancing between my determined mates. “By my fangs, you win.”
They both grin, slipping their circlets back on.
Once, I would have torn out the throats of anyone who challenged me. Yet with my nest mates, losing to them still feels like winning.
Yet what will be the consequences of stopping the blood sacrifice?
Better make our entrance impressive.
I sweep into Diamond Hall, allowing my shadows to trail up the walls and darken the room. Freya and Dove swagger in at either of my shoulders.
Shadow and Devil prowl in after me, roaring.
Instantly, the music dies away, as does the chatter and conversation.
My skin prickles at so many gazes settling on me.
Diamonds glitter in both the walls and the floors. Tall columns that are painted with lions hold up the high ceiling. The ceiling’s wooden beams have been decorated with rope-like garlands of blue lotuses, white lily, and jasmine.
Moonlight streams through the lattice windows over the central dance floor, which is packed with Fang Born wearing obsidian linen tunics, which whisper across the stone floor, sheer shawls, and an array of bejewelled masks.
The guests drink cups of pomegranate or blood wine, which Beta servants from the House of Crocodile are carrying on golden trays, along with platters of fresh figs and dates.
Some Alphas recline on reed mats to the side of the dance floor or rut their Omegas in dark-eyed ecstasy.
I scan the room.
The crimson dressed priestesses are missing, which has never happened before. But then, I have just executed their Head Priestess.
They may imagine that I will do the same to them at this event.
My lips curl in satisfaction.
Finally, I am claiming the power that should always have belonged to me.
Dove doesn’t understand how tough things truly were for me.
Killer. Murderer.
Assassin.
Martyr.
Hero.
What do labels matter?
I am the Shadow Vampire King.
And I will prove it to my kingdom before I die.
Despite myself, I dart my gaze to the Betas with shaved heads in silver robes, who are seated apart from everyone else on stone seats to one side of the hall.
Ruin and his Void Cult.
Ruin’s cold eyes meet mine. He bares his fangs in what is meant to be a smile.
My fangs ache to descend and rip out his throat in return.
Yet I can’t. I have a deal with him.
I hate him but I also know that his thirst for both power and order will mean that he’ll protect my royal nest mates after my death.
I allow the moment to drag on, making sure everyone notices that both my mates are not only attending but are also wearing House of Sin crowns and matching outfits to mine.
Then I wave at the musicians, who are raised on a wooden platform and are nervously sweating. The harpist bends over her golden harp, beginning to play again, along with the lutist, although they sound more strained than before.
“Someone knows how to kill a party,” Dove mutters.
I take a cup of pomegranate wine from a tray that a servant holds up shakily to me.
I press the cup to Freya’s lips, enjoying the bob of her throat as she swallows the wine. “I know how to make an entrance.”
Casually, I stroll further into the hall.
I scrunch up my nose at the intoxicating scent of lotus and myrrh, which is tinged with coppery blood.
The crowds hurriedly part for me, ducking their heads and avoiding my eye.
“Maybe people wouldn’t look like they’re about to piss themselves every time you walk close to them,” Freya offers, “if you didn’t have two demonic lions behind you.”
“Ones who are growling,” Dove adds. “And who ripped off your brother’s knot.”
“Half-brother,” I reply, automatically. “The court are used to my lions. That’s not why everyone’s…”
Ignoring me.
I stop, offering Freya another drink of wine.
It satisfies me deep in my soul to care for my Omega like this.
Freya inches closer to me. “So, why is everybody acting like you’re about to choose them as the blood sacrifice? Wait, that’s not what happens, right? The King chooses someone from the ball to…?”
She mimes slitting her throat.
I bat away her hand.
Ruin’s secret offer rings in my mind: The other is for you to break our deepest laws and instincts and offer up the blood of your bonded Omega.
“Don’t do that, even in jest,” I command.
“Absolutely not. They are treating me as if I’m damned and about to be dragged to the hottest part of hell because I am.
I killed the High Priestess in her inner sanctum.
No soul comes back from that. I also attacked Horus, the most beloved of all the Fang Born, before killing Sobek on the Hunt.
The House of Crocodile is the most powerful and admired faction in court.
If I was mocked before, then I am detested now. ”
Dove wraps his arms around the three of us, as if he can shelter us from the rest of the guests and create a private world for us alone.
I wish that was true.
I drag him close, unable to resist the draw to his blood. I graze my fangs along his tantalizing throat. I lick up a dribble of nectar scented blood from the bite that I made before we dressed for the ball.
“You bloody idiot.” Dove pulls his neck away from me with a snarl. “I didn’t want you to… I asked for revenge but… Your soul?”
I tilt my head. “Nebet hurt you. She cut you with the Night Sky Blade, my mother’s own weapon, trying to turn you into a blood sacrifice. Didn’t we agree to let go of the past? You don’t deserve to be punished for the sins of your people or King Daire’s sins.”
“How do you know what I deserve?” Dove’s feathers tremble. “I would never have asked you to—”
“You don’t need to ask.”
“But I’m—”
“Grateful,” Freya hurriedly cuts him off. “He’s just upset that you’d risk yourself like that. Surely, if you explained...?”
“I have spent my life explaining myself. It has led to nothing but disgust, words carved on my flesh, and punishment. I am done explaining. This is who I am. I had my reasons for every action. I stand by them. I will bear the consequences.”
“But I should bear them when you did it for me,” Daire protests.
“I didn’t kill Nebet for you alone.” Rage rises in me.
Shadows trail from my hair, curling it up like tendrils around me.
The nearby Fang Born shrink away. “She tore away my twin. It has taken me many years to fulfill my oath, but I swore then that no matter how long it took, I would take my revenge for Laz. In fact, that I would feast on this kingdom’s blood for what they did to my brother and me. ”
I struggle to control my fast breathing, balling my hands into fists.
Dove is giving me a considering look. “And do you feel better for tasting that blood?”
I hesitate.
It should be easy to answer. But it isn’t simple.
“I feel better,” I reply with an intensity that feels like my soul spilling from me, “that every one of the spirits of my ancestors with the Power know that the last of their kind didn’t die hunted, oppressed — the victim.
That I can honor them today, equally with the rest of my family, knowing that I avenged them.
But it didn’t unite me with my twin. And that is the only thing that would in any way make up for what Nebet and Ruin stole from us. ”
“What if you could never unite with your brother?” Daire is avoiding my gaze. “What if someone…?”
Murdered him? Is what he’s trying to say?
I would rip out the tongue of anyone else who dared say that to me.
Grief howls through me because I know, however, that he’s right.
I also know that I can’t tell my nest mates the truth that I am just as lost as Lazarus.
“Then half of my soul would die alongside his.” I bare my fangs. “And whoever killed him had better fear the half that remains.”