Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Thalia dodged cobwebs thick with dust, trying to push aside the thought of spiders crawling into her dress. The cold stone soaked through the soles of her slippers, the dirt leaving footprints in her wake marked by the shafts of lights spilling above her from vents high in the castle walls.
She knew that if she were there in the council meeting, they wouldn’t actually share what was going on. Spying on them seemed like a better idea.
Eventually, Thalia stopped before a marked wall, the brick worn with use. Thalia glanced at the map. Behind the wall was the council room, a place Thalia hadn’t ventured to yet. She tucked the map under her arm and pushed.
The stone moved and Thalia held her breath, peeking through the crack.
She nearly sagged with relief when she realized the wall was hidden by a large tapestry, no doubt put there to ensure no one realized someone was listening in.
Despite the tapestry being in place, it was thin enough that Thalia could see through the threads of the woven fabric.
It seemed that all the leaders of the Houses were present.
They sat around a large, circular oak table in high-backed chairs. The banners behind them indicated the Houses they belonged to.
Cassius sat at what would have been the head of the table, speaking quietly with Keegan on his left, while Lord Damien was to the right of Cassius. Camilla was seated on the lord’s other side next to a woman whose dark skin and features matched the shifter’s—perhaps a distant relative?
Cassius’s head jerked up suddenly, his nostrils flaring. Thalia tensed, holding her breath. Shit. He looked around the room, his eyes settling on Camilla for a second. Thalia prayed her scent could be attributed to spending the afternoon with the shifter.
After a moment, he shook his head and went back to speaking with Keegan.
Thalia let out a sigh of relief. She squared her shoulders, leaning closer to hear.
Lord Damien cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the room. “Members of the Houses, welcome. On behalf of His Highness, we want to thank you all for traveling such a great distance to discuss the matters of Vaccarium. While His Highness isn’t here, he is represented by his own inner circle.”
Lord Adrian sneered, but Lord Damien ignored him, continuing. “As you are all aware, the humans have kept their end of the treaty. We received word just this morning that the springs are fully filled. We are hopeful that in the next few months our forest will again be thriving.
“In turn, the humans have received the ore from our mountain. Labor has been slow due to unforeseen circumstances. The humans’ reserves were far more depleted than we thought, and they are pushing to receive more ore soon.
Given the amount of effort and the tentative peace we have with them, House Lorenzia turns to you all to see what men might be spared to go into Lorceium to harvest more. ”
Her mother had been in contact with the Vampyrs? Had Cassius lied to her? The news had her stomach twisting. She didn’t want to consider that the queen might have ignored her letters.
Thalia picked at the nails around her thumbs. The knowledge sent a pang of hurt spearing through her. No, it seemed evident that her mother had been talking to the Vampyrs this whole time and hadn’t even bothered to see how her daughter was faring. If she even still breathed.
Thalia suddenly regretted sending word to her mother at all. If only out of spite.
“House Olvectus is closest to the mountain; why can’t they be used?” someone from House Santorien asked.
“Because we are currently dealing with the other situation happening at our borders,” the woman next to Camilla said.
“Oh yes, Lady Decima,” Lord Adrian sneered.
It clicked that this was the leader of House Olvectus, the only female leader in the room.
“You and the Mages, I’m sure.” His green eyes flashed, much like his son’s.
Thalia wondered if the leader of House Gallinus knew what his son had done and that he’d been banished by Cassius.
“Yes,” Camilla snapped, butting in, her golden eyes blazing. “You yourself have witnessed this blight upon your own lands. It is of the utmost importance.”
“But so is keeping the humans appeased.” Lord Amadeus spoke.
The leader of House Santorien nodded to Cassius.
“Our forest has gone too long without nutrients. Our springs were nearly dried. What happens if the rivers are cut off once more? What happens once the trees are dead? When the creatures who live within its shadowed border cannot find enough food? Then they will come out of hiding—they will come for our homes, our people. We’ll be fighting more than just one blight at that point. ”
What blight are they talking about?
“And the prince continues to ignore this problem.” Lord Adrian directed his hateful gaze at Cassius.
Cassius leaned back in his chair, the portrait of arrogant grace. “The prince is well aware of the problem at hand. He is working up north with the Mages as we speak.”
Lord Adrian’s lip curled. “Those damn Mages aren’t doing shit against the blight.
” Both Camilla and Lady Decima stiffened as he plowed ahead.
“He has done nothing as his people have succumbed to this madness. He has disappeared, despite you trying to cover for him. He’s probably fucking and drinking his way across Vaccarium while we all suffer.
While you”—Lord Adrian pointed an accusing finger—“do just the same thing.”
Cassius raised a brow, letting the insults fall at his feet. “I can assure you, we are doing everything in our power to stop this madness.”
“Are you?” Lord Adrian snarled. “It seems that you all have become more distracted of late. Especially you, Hand. In fact, I’d say that human bitch is why you’ve all done nothing as the blight against our kind grows.”
“Be careful how you speak about the prince’s bride,” Keegan said softly. “She is part of House Lorenzia now. Any insult you make of her is an insult cast on us all.”
“The human princess,” Cassius bit out, “is none of your concern. She has no idea about the creature in our woods, no idea about the madness it causes.”
Thalia sucked in a sharp breath, but with so much tension rising in the room, no one heard her.
A creature in the woods … madness.
Thalia’s mind flashed to the Vampyr in the cellar, how utterly deranged it had acted, as though it had gone mad. Then to the conversation she’d first heard when she was introduced to the courts, and Lord Amadeus’s own concerns about something continuing to fester in the forest …
“No idea?” Lord Adrian growled, his chair scraping as he stood. “She was the one who discovered the bitten in Irenbis! She’s the reason my son is banished.”
“Your son is banished,” Cassius growled, his face rippling, “because he was foolish in bringing a bitten into the city. He put countless lives at risk, all for his own selfishness.”
“You wish to speak of selfishness, Lord Cassius?” Lord Adrian’s words dropped, his own face rippling.
“Was not that human princess your own lover? Was she not who your heart sang for? Yet the prince was called away that day you brought her back, and has remained absent from his court while his bride remains here.”
Cassius didn’t take the bait, although his face darkened.
“He is trying to find a cure,” Camilla said, eyes livid. “You would know that if you ever took your head out of your ass.”
“Is he?” Lord Adrian challenged.
“Yes,” Lady Decima spoke, her voice firm and unwavering.
“Which is more than can be said of you and your family,” Camilla commented.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Lord Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Your own son was harboring a bitten,” the shifter said. “Considering the fact that another creature was spotted near Cupisco, when you swore your borders were secured, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more bitten being harbored.”
“Are you accusing me of something, shifter?” Lord Adrian asked.
Awkward silence stretched as the rest of the leaders of the Houses all looked at each other
“If you were harboring bitten”—Cassius’s voice turned deadly serious—“then there would be no choice but to banish you and all of your House members.”
Lord Adrian’s lip curled, but he said nothing.
Lord Damien cleared his throat, turning to Lord Amadeus. “House Santorien is near Olvectus. Do you have laborers that can be sent to Lorceium?”
Lord Amadeus nodded slowly, glancing at Cassius. “Yes. I shall send twenty men within the week.”
“Fifty,” Cassius cut in.
Lord Amadeus shifted. “I don’t have more men to spare.”
“Find them.” Cassius’s words were final. Lord Amadeus’s jaw flickered, but he gave a stiff nod.
Lord Damien glanced around the room. “The blight grows stronger as the days go on. It is becoming more difficult to go through the forest to bring the ore to the humans. While we have our ships to bring the ore by sea, we have always struggled to find a safe place to port.” The Vampyr turned to Cassius.
“Do you know of a safe dock where we might get ore to the people?”
Cassius’s fingers clenched on the table, his face unreadable.
Why the hell has he never shared where our ports are?
Granted, not that the ports would do much good.
Only the most skilled sailor could ever hope to safely land in Agripa.
But Thalia couldn’t make sense of the fact that Cassius had never provided the Houses with this information.
Certainly not given his seemingly new devotion to the Vampyrs.
The fact that he’d never told the Vampyrs where they might enter, as though he were protecting Agripa, sent another piece of the hazy puzzle scattering.
“Perhaps,” Keegan said tentatively, “Thalia would know.”
Lord Adrian sneered again. “She’d be more inclined to show us the opposite. To watch our people drown as their ships were smashed upon the rocks.”
“Do not speak about her as if you know her.” Cassius’s voice was lethally quiet.
“No, but I am sure you know her well enough. Better, considering all those cold, lonely nights alone together. Given your history together, I wouldn’t put it past you if this plan was yours in the making.”
“What exactly are you accusing me of, Lord Adrian?” Cassius said softly.
“That you brought the human here for a purpose. That perhaps you wished to seduce her, to win her to your side so you might overthrow the prince together. So you might rule House Lorenzia officially. Is that not what you’ve always wanted, to restore your family name, given what happened? ” the green-eyed Vampyr spat.
“What I’ve always wanted,” Cassius said in the same lethally quiet voice as his face shifted, flesh sinking into his skull, sunken cheekbones highlighting the sharp planes of his face, “is to keep my people safe. That is what I am doing as hand, what the prince is also trying to do.”
“And what is there to show for it?” Lord Adrian snarled again.
“I don’t see you going out into the forest to try and find a cure.
I don’t see the prince either. It’s no wonder the blight is getting worse.
When you pick and choose his own people to be sent out as lambs for the slaughter—adding more fuel to the fire. ”
Cassius stared at the lord, not refuting the claim, his jaw tense.
Was that why House Lorenzia was so empty? They were being sent out to find a cure for the sickness? What was taking them out?
“Perhaps it’s time for a new hand,” Lord Adrian said, and the attention of the room shifted to him. “Perhaps one who might be willing to do whatever it takes to stop this once and for all.”
“And what would it take?” Cassius growled out.
Lord Adrian smirked. “It would start with ending the treaty with the humans. It would start by killing—” Thalia stepped back, her boots kicking some pebbles on the ground. Lord Adrian’s nostrils flared, eyes widening in surprise, then rage. “Someone is here.”
Before she could turn and run, Lord Adrian ripped down the tapestry, flinging open the hidden door to expose her.