Chapter 1 #2
The queen raised a well-groomed brow. The setting sun filtered in through the large-paned windows, highlighting the gold and marble of the throne room.
It set her mother shining, the beams bouncing off blonde hair braided neatly into a chignon, making it glow like a halo.
Thalia supposed that was how her mother wished to appear: like an angel, a savior.
“Why am I here? You know I have a duty to fulfill.” Thalia steered the conversation away from the supposed scent her mother could sniff out like a bloodhound. Away from him.
The queen shifted on her throne, her simple crown catching the light. The two olive branches wrapped around her brow. The branches were meant to be a symbol of victory—of hope.
But hope did not shelter here. It fled when darkness came, chased out by its warring cries.
“There has been a new development with the ore,” the queen said, pulling Thalia back.
“Reina said as much. Have they found something to replace it? Some new resource we may have overlooked?” Thalia’s heart rate picked up.
The queen’s green eyes flashed. “You know the only place to get that ore is in the mountain.”
Thalia’s stomach twisted like a knife. The mountain was at the very tip of their continent, accessible only to the monsters who had killed her father and sister, who hid behind an impenetrable forest. That was why the war had gone on for so long.
The humans couldn’t break through the forest, and the Vampyrs seemed able to send only a few of their kind at a time to target the farms.
“Has Marcus found something in the library, then?” Thalia pushed. She craned her head, trying to spot the head librarian among the courtiers, but she didn’t find his curly head in the crowd.
The queen hesitated, then her face hardened. “Not quite.”
“Then what—”
The throne room doors boomed open, and her mother’s adviser, Kamith, strolled in.
Although his hair was shot through with gray, he carried himself like a younger man.
He wasn’t unattractive by any means, and Thalia had learned to ignore whispers among the displeased courtiers that he was bedding the queen.
“Your Majesty.” Kamith bowed before straightening. “Your guests are ready for you.”
“What guests?” Thalia asked, looking between the two.
“Princess,” Kamith acknowledged, sliding his guarded gaze to hers. “Potential allies.”
Agripa didn’t have any allies, at least here in this land. The treacherous waters around Agripa made overseas journeys from other continents more perilous than they were worth.
“I thought you had something on the ore?” Thalia glanced between the two of them, picking at the skin around her thumbs.
The queen ignored her, nodding as the last of the sun’s rays fled the throne room. “Bring them in.”
Reina stepped forward, flashing a warning look at Thalia before she left with a few other soldiers. Thalia had failed to note how many guards in glinting armor lined the back walls.
The queen turned suddenly to her. “You must be on your best behavior tonight.”
Thalia resisted the urge to scowl. “I always am—”
“I mean it, Thalia.” The queen’s hand suddenly gripped her arm. “You cannot ruin this for us, for Agripa.”
Everything in Thalia went on high alert. “Why?”
Her mother made another face, displeasure on her full lips.
“I have brokered a mutually beneficial deal that will help both our lands—that will end this war.” Thalia opened her mouth to speak, but her mother cut her off.
“This deal, Thalia, will not be to your liking. But think of Agripa, think of your duty. You will do well to sit quietly while this plays out.”
The queen released her, and Thalia’s heart pounded in her chest, her thoughts racing. The courtiers all quieted as the soldiers’ hands drifted nearer to their swords.
The throne room doors creaked open, the sound eerily like the closing of a coffin.
Reina reentered, her steps clipped, and bowed. “Your Majesty.”
Thalia’s eyes trailed past her to the guards filing in, along with five cloaked figures.
“Welcome,” Kamith’s voice boomed out. “On behalf of Her Majesty, Queen Helena Cesiaran of Agripa, we thank you for joining us this evening.”
Thalia glanced at her mother, but she appeared stoic, unchanging, her face shifting to an unreadable mask once more.
The figure in the middle stepped forward, their hood concealing their features. “And on behalf of House Lorenzia, we want to thank you for such a … warm welcome.” Their voice was so cold it sent a shiver down Thalia’s spine. “Although we had hoped negotiations would have been concluded by now.”
“I apologize on behalf of my daughter.” The queen’s voice nearly shook Thalia from her stupor. “She is here, as you can see.”
“How excellent,” the figure said, pulling back his hood.
A gasp went out, and one of the courtiers fainted, their companion catching them in a swirl of purple silk.
Thalia’s stomach bottomed out.
Pale skin gleamed like cut glass, and red eyes met hers. Slicked-back blond hair was pulled away from the smooth planes of the Vampyr’s face, accentuating his deadly beauty.
“Perhaps we can speed up our negotiations, then.” Glimpses of sharp fangs showed behind bloodless lips.
Thalia’s knees locked as her mother tilted her head. “Of course. We wouldn’t wish to delay you further.”
Thalia’s breath seized in her lungs as soldiers stepped forward, carrying six chairs.
This couldn’t be happening. There were …
there were Vampyrs in her home. There hadn’t been any Vampyrs since that night over thirteen years ago.
When she’d watched them rip off the head of her sister—when they’d punched a hole in her father’s chest so hard his spine had splattered to the ground—
Thalia jerked, only to have a gloved hand encircle her elbow.
Reina was at her side, her features hard. “Princess.” Thalia hadn’t realized a chair had been placed near her mother’s throne. “Sit.”
Thalia couldn’t.
She didn’t think she could even take a breath.
The remaining four figures revealed themselves, ethereal beauty exposed like the bright side of the moon.
From pale ivory to deep ebony to bronzed, the faces of the Vampyrs appeared before her eyes, though Thalia couldn’t quite understand what she was witnessing.
Reina helped her into her chair, her body going numb long before her mind did.
“We want to thank you again for your generous offer, Lord Damien,” Kamith spoke, ever the diplomat.
The middle Vampyr, the pale one who appeared to be Lord Damien, tilted his head. The movement was much too predatory. “And of your own.”
Thalia didn’t know whether she wanted to scream or puke all over the marble staircase. Or better yet, fly across the floor and plunge stakes through all their monstrous skulls.
“The ore you’ve provided will be enough to last us a decade,” Kamith continued, undeterred at the creatures before him.
A murmur broke out through the crowd.
Why was no one reacting? Why was no one screaming and wailing? These monsters had infiltrated their home, had tried to make a deal before—
“We have already broken the dams. The rivers are headed through to your forest as we speak,” the queen stated. None of the Vampyrs reacted, but Thalia jerked.
“What?” Her question was too loud. It echoed around the quiet room, hitting her back in the face.
Agripa had blocked off the rivers that fed the Vampyrs’ sacred forest after the tentative peace between them ended over a decade ago.
The dark woods allowed them to hunt during the day, and Thalia had been glad to know that the monsters’ sacred forest would strangle and rot just like her heart had.
But now the river was going back to feeding them?
Her mother cast her a warning look.
“Then it seems negotiations have already been sped along,” Lord Damien said, his red eyes flashing.
Thalia’s nails pierced her palms, and all the Vampyrs’ attention zeroed in on her.
Sweat dripped down her spine, her palms sticky with blood and water.
“We would also like to propose another offer,” Thalia’s mother said.
It was enough to draw the attention of the Vampyrs.
But Thalia still didn’t breathe, not as one of them caught her stare.
His ebony skin gleamed against short-cropped hair, and golden eyes glinted like two coins.
It must have been a trick of the light, because she could have sworn his skin had begun to sink in, his flesh pulling taut over his skull. Thalia blinked and it was gone.
“What more could you offer?” Lord Damien tilted his head.
“We have long since been at war. While this new deal is mutually beneficial for both our peoples, my council and I fear what should happen if we fall out of favor once more.”
Should one of the creatures decide to kill them as they’d done before. Thalia’s lips twisted in disgust. One of the Vampyrs stared at her palm, sensing the blood smeared against her heart lines.
“And what is this proposal?” Lord Damien asked.
“A marriage between House Lorenzia and the Cesiaran line. So that no more ill blood shall be spilled on behalf of our two peoples. United, we can hope to better the lives of both our kinds.”
Thalia whirled to her mother, heart pounding in her throat. “You can’t.”
Her sister’s dead face flashed in her mind—her body cooling not ten feet from where she now sat. They’d tried this before. Tried to broker a union between human and Vampyr—
The queen ignored her daughter, focusing on Lord Damien.
The Vampyr cocked his pale head, his ruby eyes looking the princess over. “A most interesting proposition, but I’m afraid—”
The throne room doors creaked open again, and everyone turned to see the newcomer. It was then that Thalia realized one chair had remained empty.
The cloaked figure didn’t walk with the fluid grace of the rest of the creatures in the room. There was almost something familiar about the way they moved, how their shoulders rolled under a velvet cloak.
“A most interesting proposition indeed.” The cloaked figure stopped in the half circle of chairs.
Another shiver rocked down Thalia’s spine.
“As hand to the prince, I speak on behalf of him, and I am most certain this would be advantageous to both our people. This war has gone on too long. Many have suffered, on both sides. But the time of peace is at hand, don’t you think so, Lord Damien?”
“Of course, Cassius. If that is what you believe His Highness would wish.”
Cassius—
Thalia jerked, stumbling to her feet, just as the Vampyr removed his hood.
Eyes bluer than the mountain lakes met hers.
She knew that sharp face. The jaw that could cut and the burnished dark-auburn hair brushing against powerful shoulders.
Not possible.
“You.” The word fell from her lips, breaking apart like ash.
The nausea swirling inside her gut quickly turned to white-hot rage.
The Vampyr grinned, twin fangs gleaming as his sensual lips stretched upward. “Hello, Princess. Did you miss me?”
Thalia launched herself down the dais, knife slashing straight for the strong column of the Vampyr’s throat.