Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Irenbis was a few miles from the castle, and the forest opened to rolling green hills with the capital nestled among them. The spacious city sprawled over the rich landscape.
Thalia glanced over her shoulder as they left the tree line, finding the castle’s dark spires in the distance. She quickly turned back as Cassius urged his horse to the road.
Cobblestones echoed under their horses’ hooves as they passed the city’s watchmen. The Vampyrs all nodded to Cassius, a few whispering to each other when they caught her stare.
She didn’t know what to make of it. Nor did she know what to make of the city itself. It was laid out like an eight-pointed star, the roads and homes forming a grid-like pattern, all merging into what appeared to be a vast city center.
Thalia kept her jaw from dropping as they moved deeper, passing homes with ivy-covered walls and open storefronts, the scent of freshly spiced meat tickling her nose.
The smells made her mouth water, and her stomach grumbled.
Thalia didn’t think it was very loud, but Cassius looked over his shoulder with a smirk.
Thalia scowled as he turned back around.
But despite the richness that seemed to bleed from the buildings and the opulence of everything she saw, attesting to the full coffers of House Lorenzia, something was off.
No Vampyr was out in the city. No one shouted their wares; no children ran underfoot with their toys. It was quiet—still. Like someone had frozen the place and forgotten about it, leaving it to collect cobwebs and dust like an ivy-covered tomb.
“Where is everyone?” Thalia asked. She hadn’t whispered the words, but she felt as though she should have.
“Days like this are quiet in the afternoon; most don’t venture out until the night,” Cassius replied, stopping in the middle of the city center. A large fountain bubbled, the only noise as he dismounted.
“But there’s no sun.”
Cassius patted his gelding. “That doesn’t stop one’s instincts.”
Thalia glanced around. Shop fronts opened into the city center, and she could have sworn she caught someone peeking out behind curtains. She blinked and the shadow was gone.
Thalia dismounted, leading her horse next to Cassius’s. “So what does this city do?”
Cassius tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, there’s no ocean, or even river, from what I’ve seen. What are its exports?”
Cassius raised a brow. “Did you actually listen to all those lessons Domina Tullia taught you?”
Thalia rolled her eyes at the mention of her governess growing up. In fact, Cassius used to sneak Thalia out of lessons when the crone’s back was turned. They’d go off hunting wolves in the woods. Thalia never would have guessed that she should have been hunting Vampyrs instead.
“She did teach some rather important things.” Thalia crossed her arms over her chest. “Besides, it’s not as though I did nothing in my mother’s court.” Yet Agripa’s exports were far and few between, given the dangers of their shores.
Cassius smirked, also crossing his arms over his chest. Finally, he relented. “Irenbis has a number of exports.”
“Like?”
“Wine, and wool. Meat and grain from farms.”
Thalia’s eyes narrowed. “Who do you export to?”
“Other territories in Vaccarium, that and some continents across the sea. Our wine is particularly popular in Sula.”
Thalia knew of the small island to the east. The humans there had been the first to refuse aid to Agripa when her family was murdered. But the other territories … those could be the ones the Vampyrs were trying to ally with.
Thalia chewed the inside of her cheek, letting the information settle over her.
Trying not to let the rage festering inside her gut take over.
Agripa had tried for years to set up trade with the bordering continents.
It was no wonder they hadn’t been successful, considering those continents profited from the very creatures Agripa was plagued by.
Thalia picked at the skin around her thumbs but stopped when she caught Cassius’s stare. “Why meat? I smelled something cooking earlier. Don’t you all drink …?” She waved a hand.
“Blood?” Cassius’s eyebrow quirked further.
“Yes, blood,” Thalia gritted out.
Cassius shook his head. “Did you not read any of the books Marcus gave you?”
It took a moment for his words to register. “You took my books?”
Cassius shrugged, flicking a speck of dirt off his leather doublet. “You weren’t looking after them. Considering I hauled them all the way from Agripa to the castle, you should be thanking me.”
Thalia stepped forward, her anger spiking. “Thanking you? For stealing my books? Where the hell are they?”
“In our room. I would have given them to you if you’d asked. Although some of the information needs to be amended. But I can’t fault Marcus for that. It seems no one has updated the information since before our treaty fell.”
Thalia pushed the image of the night aside. Her sister’s unseeing eyes, her mother kneeling in a pool of her father’s blood. She didn’t realize she stood toe to toe with Cassius until she had to tilt her head back to see him clearly. “What information?”
Cassius cocked his head. “Be specific.”
“You’re a prick.”
“Now, that is specific.”
“How can you eat meat—food?”
“Because blood isn’t our sole source of nutrients.
It’s like how you eat meat and drink water.
We eat meat and drink blood. Same concept.
” That would explain why her breakfast hadn’t tasted like shit.
But that didn’t explain why she hadn’t seen any of the Vampyrs eat anything since being in their realm.
“How long can you go without consuming blood?” she pushed.
Cassius shrugged. “A few days.”
“Do you have to drink blood from the source?”
“No. Another fact Marcus’s books got wrong. And before you ask”—Cassius interrupted as Thalia opened her mouth again—“it doesn’t have to be human. Believe it or not, Vampyrs never lived off the blood of humans as a sole source. Sheep’s blood works just as well.”
“Then what about the Scarecrows? Why suck out their blood if you had other sources? Tell me, did you all draw sticks on who got to terrorize the farmers? Who got to slice them up and peel their skin until they were strips of leather? Was the war between our worlds, the fact that our ore was dwindling, not enough for you?” Thalia wished she weren’t standing so close to him, if only so she could kick dirt onto his boots now.
“Or is it just you who was assigned that honor?”
Cassius’s jaw flickered. “You must think me quite capable to cause that much damage all over Agripa.”
“I know it was you.”
“How so?”
Thalia scanned his eyes. “I tracked you.”
Surprise flared in Cassius’s face before he quickly masked it. “Of course you did.”
Thalia’s anger rose. “Did you really think I’d let you go? That I wouldn’t try to find you?”
“I didn’t realize you wanted me dead so badly.”
Thalia’s lips twisted into a cruel grin. “Considering what you did, the fact that after your betrayal you began hunting innocent humans, death would be a kindness.”
“And why would I have needed to hunt humans?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’d take a look in the mirror.”
Cassius’s face darkened. “Did it ever occur to you that I didn’t do it?”
Thalia scoffed. “Who else would have done it?”
“Do you really think me capable of such a horror?” Anger filled Cassius’s voice, his words a near-inaudible growl.
“Do you really think that the man I am could be so easily given over to my bloodlust? I may be a Vampyr, but the man inside me is still alive. If you really think I could do something as heinous as what was done to those farmers, then you truly don’t know me at all. ”
Thalia swallowed, but she didn’t let his anger faze her as she lifted her chin. “Then who else would have done it?” she repeated.
Something in Cassius’s eyes flashed too quickly for Thalia to decipher it. “It was probably a different creature from the forest.”
“A different creature?” Thalia’s mind flashed back to the Nestos.
Its scythe-like hands were perfect for dicing up flesh.
But she’d never even heard of that sort of creature before traveling to Vaccarium.
Not to mention she had been deep in the forest when it appeared.
Thalia would have received word from someone, anyone, if there were other creatures leaving the Scarecrows.
Either Cassius didn’t know, or he was lying.
And Thalia had a sense that it was the latter.
For some reason, the thought of him lying sent a sour note through her stomach.
He didn’t owe her any truths, and gods knew she was lying to him too.
There was too much betrayal between them, too much anger and hurt.
Before Thalia could ask anything more, her stomach grumbled loud enough that Feryena jerked her head up from where she’d been drinking her fill.
Cassius glanced at her stomach, then back to her face. Anger still lined his blue eyes, but he just handed her his horse’s reins. “I’ll find us something to eat.”
He didn’t glance back as he walked back down the path that led to the area where she’d first smelled the cooking meat.
Thalia huffed out a breath, pushing aside the hair from her face. Fine. If he wanted to be an ass, so be it.
The sound of a door creaking open in the quiet center had Thalia’s head perking up. She didn’t see anything as she scanned the area, the storefronts quiet, their curtains drawn. Then, there—
A shadow moved down an alleyway.
Thalia glanced at the horses, then to the retreating figure.
After a split second’s hesitation, she dropped the reins.
She moved on silent feet, heading after the figure who seemed so eager to remain unnoticed, and she intended to find out why.
Perhaps she could figure out what sorts of secrets the Vampyrs were hiding in their capital city so she could report back to her mother.
With no sun to chase her, the gloomy sky tracked her as she slunk down the alleyway, keeping at a safe distance. She drew Cassius’s dagger from her hip, the worn hilt comforting as she followed after the creature.
The shops gave way to homes, and Thalia journeyed deeper into Irenbis. Yet the Vampyr she stalked kept going, occasionally glancing over its shoulder, a satchel gripped tightly in their hands. They moved with an urgency that bordered on panic.
Finally, after what felt like eternity, the Vampyr stopped at an unmarked house on the very outskirts of the town. The homes were a bit more run-down than those near the center, though nothing like those in the slums of Corithian.
Thalia watched from the shadows of an abandoned store as the Vampyr gave the wooden door a few quick knocks. It opened into darkness, and the Vampyr slipped inside.
Thalia counted to thirty in her head before she peeled off the building, sneaking to the door. The windows of the home were boarded up, but the glass must have been removed, because she heard soft murmuring from within.
Thalia pressed against the building, her ear against the wood.
“This won’t help him!” someone inside exclaimed, followed by a loud crash of glass.
“This is all we have!” another voice whispered harshly.
“Well, it’s not fucking good enough,” responded the first person— a female. Her voice cracked.
“It’s the prince’s fault,” the second voice snarled.
“You can’t speak like that, Julian,” the female pleaded.
Julian.
Thalia’s eyes widened. What the hell was Lord Adrian’s son doing all the way out here?
“I can do whatever the fuck I want, Francesca,” Julian growled. “If His Highness wasn’t so set on marrying that human bitch to try to cover up this whole mess, then we wouldn’t be in this position.”
Thalia flinched at the words, at the disgust coating Julian’s tone.
“He’s looking for a cure.” Francesca tried to placate him.
Another soft crash echoed. “Bullshit. He’s doing nothing while we have to suffer. While we have to watch our loved ones succumb to this madness.”
Madness?
Thalia’s brow furrowed, and she pushed closer. But the two of them seemed to be moving deeper into the house, their voices drifting away.
She pulled away, her mind spinning. Lord Amadeus had mentioned something about madness in the forest. But that didn’t make any sense. They must have been talking about the Mages’ wards failing. But that didn’t make any sense either. Does being in sunlight cause Vampyrs to become mad?
Too many questions spun in Thalia’s mind, but right now, she needed to get back before Cassius realized she was gone—
The hair on Thalia’s neck prickled and she whirled, dagger drawn.
Only to find Cassius not six feet away, his arms crossed and his face livid.
“What the fuck are you doing out here?” Cassius growled out, eyes bright with anger.
Thalia knew better than to glance at the house she’d just been eavesdropping on. Not that it mattered, considering how quiet it’d become.
“I thought I saw something,” she said, casually tucking her dagger away.
“What?” Cassius snapped.
Thalia’s annoyance rose. “Nothing, apparently. Why does it even matter?”
She made to move past him, but his arm snaked out, grabbing her wrist.
“It matters”—Cassius pulled her to him, his voice low—“because you’re a human.”
“So you keep reminding me.” Thalia struggled to shrug out of his grip, but he kept hold of her firmly.
“Just because you’re married to the prince doesn’t mean everyone is pleased with this treaty between the humans.”
“I know,” Thalia snapped, raising her eyes to his. As if her introduction to the courts hadn’t made this obvious enough. She matched the anger whirling in his irises. “I thought I saw a dog with a rope stuck around its neck. I went to try and help it, but it disappeared.”
Cassius studied her, his gaze so intense that Thalia was surprised she didn’t catch flame. She refused to look away, to swallow past her dry tongue. To do anything that would show him she was lying. To allow any sort of sweat to dot her brow that he could scent.
“We don’t have dogs in Irenbis,” Cassius said after a moment.
“Well, I saw something,” Thalia insisted.
A muscle in Cassius’s jaw flickered, but he released her, taking a step away. “We should head back. We’ve lingered too long.”
Thalia didn’t falter or glance back as she moved ahead of him. Yet even when they’d gotten on their horses and were making their way back to the castle, she could have sworn more faces peeked out of the closed homes, casting their hateful gaze right on her.