Chapter 7 – Vale
Chapter 7
VALE
I strode down the bustling streets of Avaldenn, Neve to my right. At each of our sides were Sian and Filip, dressed in fighting leathers embellished with impractical but impressive gold-plated steel on the chest, back, and shoulders. Their wings, both honey-brown, were vanished, though I wasn’t sure if that was because they wished to keep them secret from the vampire sailors or to better protect their wings. As added protection, a contingent of twelve armed Clawsguards surrounded us.
Sayyida and Vidar would have had plenty of time to rouse sailors to be on the lookout for trouble. And yet, I worried .
Not for me. Nor Sian or the Virtoris siblings, or even for lanky Filip, who had been undergoing magical growth spurts more often lately. No, my concerns were with Neve. I’d urged her to wear leathers for protection. That protection was hidden beneath a thick royal blue cloak. She was also armed with two daggers and six stakes, two of them ash. Though I doubted there was another royal vampire in the kingdom to use the ash wood stakes on, but one couldn’t be too careful.
I shot my wife a sidelong glance. Was it enough? If she was among the fallen, it would mean that all we’d done was for nothing. I wished for her to stay safe within the castle walls, but she’d been so bleeding insistent on coming, and truly, I couldn’t deny her. Prince Gervais Laurent was dead at her hands. Her wish to be present when we told Gervais’s ship to leave was well within her rights.
Perhaps the ship would adhere to the code for diplomatic vessels and leave peacefully. Perhaps I would have nothing to worry about.
I wasn’t holding my breath.
“It snowed more last night.” A hint of a wobble touched Neve’s tone, the first indication that she might be nervous. “After we slept, I mean.”
I didn’t bother telling her that I hadn’t slept a wink. The city of Avaldenn was used to snow and great frigid gales of wind coming in off the Shivering Sea, but she was right. It had snowed quite a lot.
In the narrower side streets, fae were still either shoveling or using their magic to move the snow to the sides. Fae had been likely working on it since the small hours.
“It only stopped right before the king called everyone to the throne room,” Sian said, an unimpressed expression on his face. “It was an odd storm. Only lasted about five hours but some are saying this is the most snowfall the city has received in that short a time. ”
“Are there storm clouds on the horizon?” I asked, intrigued.
“None,” one of the Clawsguards replied. Two others echoed his words.
We were nine days from the tenth moon. Early for the most intense winter storms to begin. Usually, I paid little attention to the weather. However, with Caelo on the run and the distinct possibility that my wife might need to escape the city in the coming weeks, that had changed.
I didn’t trust my father when he said he wouldn’t harm Neve. Perhaps he wouldn’t today, or tomorrow, or even a turn from now. But one day, he would unleash his wrath. King Magnus did not allow slights to go unpunished.
My father hadn’t always been cold and cruel and unpredictable. Growing up, I’d idolized him. He’d always loved his children and treated us well, but as I turned from a youngling to a grown fae, I began seeing his flaws. Like how he flaunted his harem and whores around Mother. And then there was his insatiable lust for power.
In the weeks since I’d returned from fighting orc tribes and given him vital information on the Hallow of our kingdom, he’d been a fae possessed. He desired the Ice Scepter. The item had the power to turn the tides of winter and possibly stop the blight, a mysterious illness that had plagued our lands for two decades, from continuing to affect fae lives. For Father though, the Hallow had another meaning: it gave him the legitimacy he craved. Unfortunately, so far, we had no leads.
“Look alive, Vale,” Sian said gruffly as we turned onto the street that funneled down to the harbor .
I straightened as the muscles of my face fell into a cold expression that I knew struck fear in the hearts of my opponents.
Minutes later, salt filled my nostrils, along with the reek of docks and sweat. For the moment, the winds were down, though that might change in an instant.
Amidst the bobbing karves , fishing boats, and the largest ships belonging to the Royal Nava or House Virtoris, the vampire vessel was easy to find. It gleamed against the gray sky, large and ostentatious, with a black sail bearing a crimson serpent poised to strike. I spotted a chandelier glittering on the top deck.
Fae loved luxury, no one could deny that, but vampires took decadence and indulgence to a whole new level.
“Are Sayyida and her brother ready?” Neve whispered.
I cast a glance about and caught sailors watching us. Each armed with their typical rust-covered daggers, and, more atypical for sailors, a sword. One female caught my eye and touched her heart. Yes, they were watching. Waiting for trouble.
I nodded back, pleased the Virtoris siblings had prepared the sailors and armed them, likely with weapons from one of House Virtoris’s many ships.
“They are,” I said. “Sayyida and Vidar will be near the Laurent vessel. Are you ready?”
“I-I am,” she exhaled. “Stay by me?”
She turned her large eyes up to me, and despite myself and the danger we were walking into, I found myself momentarily captivated.
Blinking, I shook the clouds from my mind. They had no place here. Not when so much was on the line. “Don’t leave my side.”
I swore a little of the tension in her shoulders loosened. I didn’t know how she trusted me when most of my family despised her, but she did. Saga must have spoken well of me.
Wood creaked beneath our feet as our entourage strode down the long dock leading out to where the Laurent ship bobbed in deeper waters. Awaiting our arrival were two vampires, dressed in Laurent crimson and black.
“Sian, you do the introductions,” I murmured.
The eldest of High Lord Balik’s many children swaggered forward, breaking through the front line of Clawsguards as we reached the ship.
“Prince Vale and Princess Neve are here to speak with your captain,” Sian announced.
The vampires bowed, though every line in their taut bodies hinted that they did not wish to do so. When they rose, the taller and paler of the pair wrinkled his nose. “Why the visit, Prince of Winter?”
“That is for your captain to hear,” Sian shot back. “This is a diplomatic ship, no? Therefore, a prince, or any high lord or lady for that matter, has the right to step aboard and speak with those in charge.”
“ Our prince is at your castle, though,” the vampire replied. “Why not speak with him?”
My jaw tightened. I’d wondered if the vampires had already heard of Prince Gervais’s death. But no, the gossip had not yet reached his ship. I supposed it wasn’t a surprise. What commonfae would want to tell a vampire that their prince was dead? Only one with a violent death wish.
Sian glared. “Again, you speak above your station. Now, are you going to allow us up?”
The pair exchanged a long, pointed glance until the one who had remained silent shrugged. “Go on then.”
I took Neve’s hand as our company strode up the gangplank two-by-two. At the top, a dozen interested faces stared back at us. Most of them were stone-cold and eerily still, vampiric faces, but there were the humans present too, and I recognized the moment Neve noticed them because she stiffened.
She hadn’t thought about the blood slaves aboard. For that matter, neither had I. My focus had been on her. Keeping her safe. Despite all my precautions to arm Neve and warn her of the violence we might find aboard, I’d failed to consider the basics of vampire culture.
Like any ship bound for a long journey, they brought their food with them.
“Come,” I whispered, and she fell back into step, back into her performance of someone who had never been a blood slave.
The Winter Court had slaves too, though far fewer than vampires because we no longer actively sought humans to serve us. Those at Frostveil Palace had either been there since the Cruel King’s reign or been born to a mother who was also a slave.
The only other way for a human to become a slave was for them to slip through a portal into the Realm of Isila and eat fae food. Once our food passed their lips, the human was forever bound to our realm. A potion could be given to the human before they ate, allowing them to leave later. However, humans who slipped through a portal on accident didn’t know that and they usually ate before someone found them.
If they were found in Winter’s Realm, by law, one of three places had to take in the trapped humans: a noble house, the House of Wisdom, or the Tower of the Living and the Dead. In short, a place that could feed, shelter, and protect them from others who might use them for more nefarious purposes.
Sometimes those humans became paid servants rather than slaves. However, that was incredibly rare. In Winter’s Realm, power was everything, and humans had none. That fact had always made me uncomfortable, and even more so now that I was married to Neve.
Neve had been a slave in the Blood Court. Did she recognize those on board? My attention strayed to the scar on her right temple. Had a cruel vampire given her that scar? I still wasn’t sure why she hadn’t used the balm I’d gifted her to erase it. She’d done so with her other scars. But to bring it up felt too familiar.
“To what do we owe the pleasure, Prince Vale?” A vampire with long blond hair and a jagged scar across his right cheek cut through the crowd to stand in front of them all. He bowed. Belatedly, the others bowed too, but I focused on the vampire who had addressed me.
He was better dressed than the other sailors and the badges on his red uniform told me he was an officer .
“I’m here to speak with the captain.”
The vampire cocked a sandy blond eyebrow. “That’d be me. Captain Barvo, at your service. To my cabin, then?”
The captain waved for us to follow through the crowd of sailors and humans to the upper deck. I took in the area. There were fewer vampires milling about up here—only five.
Five, plus the captain, we can handle. But if the whole crew attacks . . .
Many of us were trained soldiers, but vampires were formidable foes. Their incredible speed alone made me wary of fighting them. I swallowed, hoping that the Clawsguard, Sian, and Filip were ready for anything. And that the sailors Vidar and Sayyida put on alert were close enough to hear if something went amiss.
“I’m afraid the cabin I use for work is small, like most spaces on ships. Only two of your soldiers can fit inside, along with the gentlefae, of course.” The captain gestured to Sian and Filip.
I chose my best fighters and directed the other ten to remain outside. They fell into a line before the door. If the captain found that suspicious, he didn’t let on, only opened the door and waved us inside.
Captain Barvo’s cabin was sparse, decorated in the colors of the royals he served, but with a distinct flare I assumed was all his own. The captain seemed to have a bit of an obsession with warmer climates. Images of a lush and green jungle that were more suitable to the farthest flung Southern Isles of the Summer Court than the Blood Kingdom hung on the walls. He’d even managed to squeeze a hammock into the corner of the crowded office.
His desk took up the most space, a vast expanse of honey-colored wood littered with maps and papers. One map caught my eye.
It was an old one, depicting the Islands of the Shadow Fae. Those islands no longer existed. They’d disappeared, along with the Shadow Fae, during Queen Sassa Falk’s reign. Of all things, why would he have that on his desk?
“A personal obsession,” Captain Barvo said when he spotted me eyeing the map of the Shadow Fae Isles. “They had so much gold, some of it might still be in the sea. When I’m not sailing for the royals, I do love the rush of a treasure hunt.” His eyes twinkled. “Have a seat.” The captain offered me the better of the two chairs opposite him.
I ushered Neve into one chair, taking the more worn seat, which earned me an arched eyebrow from the captain. But he said nothing as Sian and Filip flanked us, and the two Clawsguards permitted into his office stood behind.
“I’m intrigued as to why the Warrior Bear himself would be visiting us.” Captain Barvo, now seated, leaned forward to place his elbows on the desk and tented his fingers. “Rumor has it you don’t much like ships, Prince Vale.”
Internally, I cringed at the embarrassing truth. Though I was in the army, and sometimes had to sail with the Royal Nava to help fight off pirates, I did not relish life on a ship. My fear of being submerged in water was one of my weaknesses.
“I prefer the back of a horse,” I admitted. “Though it’s not unknown for me to grace a ship’s decks.”
“Of course not.” The captain gave a small smirk. “So what brought you to mine?”
“This ship is under diplomatic protection, correct?” I asked. “No blood or blade will be drawn when docked in other kingdoms?”
“This isn’t starting off well.” Captain Barvo leaned back, and his arm dipped closer to the dagger he wore before he caught himself.
“Answer the question,” Sian barked.
The captain glared at my friend. “Correct. This is a diplomatic vessel. We shall draw no blade. Nor blood—save for the purposes of nourishment, of course. A necessary caveat for those of my order.”
At my side, Neve stiffened, but Barvo didn’t notice, wasn’t as attuned to her as I was. No, his eyes drifted back to me.
“Of course.” I cleared my throat. “Now that we’re clear on that, I regret to inform you that your prince has died.”
The captain’s eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“Prince Gervais met his death last night,” I said without hesitation. Weakness could not be shown here.
“How?” The captain’s voice took on a dangerous growl. “Under royal guest rights, he was supposed to be safe.”
“That’s true,” I allowed. “However, the prince attacked and forcibly drank from our people. Which, as everyone aboard this ship knows, is against our laws. We provided your prince with fae blood and offered him volunteers to drink from. He took liberties with our people.”
“With whom?” The captain stood; anger restrained but visible in the tight lines of his neck. “A merchant? A peddler? A whore?”
“It matters not what they did for a profess?—”
The captain lunged. Neve screamed, and I acted on instinct, leaping up, throwing my arm out, and with all my might, flinging the vampire to the side and into the wall.
“Sian, protect her!” I drew my sword. At my side was young Filip, stake in hand.
“What happened to not drawing blood?” the captain rasped as he stood. “Or did you just mean yours?”
“You wouldn’t dare attack a royal,” I replied.
“You’re right. I can’t draw your blood, Prince Vale, not if I wish to keep my head back home, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take theirs.” He flew to the door, darting past the guards in the room with ease, little more than a blur with his great vampiric speed.
“Behind you!” I roared, hoping I wasn’t too late to save the outside Clawsguards from an attack.
“They killed our prince!” Captain Barvo bellowed. “Prince Gervais is dead!”
I didn’t need to see the Clawsguards to know they’d fallen into a fighting position. Or that the closest vampires were already upon them. Metal struck metal. Preternatural growls rang from the lips of vampires .
I darted out the door, desperate to help my escort. “Sian, keep Neve safe!”
“You heard him—burning moon, get back here!” Sian yelled as someone barreled into me from behind, then another person. I twisted. Neve was squished between me and Sian.
She gasped, wriggled her way out, and I grasped her wrist. “Get back in the cabin. Sian and Filip will?—”
“Vale, watch out!” Sian growled, drawing a blade and pushing Neve into the arms of his younger brother.
The captain was upon us again, his dagger flying.
“Your guards will die. One by one,” Captain Barvo grunted as I pulled my sword and met his metal with my own. The news had sent him into a rage. He could no more honor the diplomatic treaty than keep the fury from his eyes. “And you will see their blood spill on the decks of my ship.”
He wasn’t wrong. Though I focused on the captain, I didn’t miss when one of my guards fell to his knees. Thankfully, he had backup. Another fae took the head of the vampire looming over his comrade. Vampire blood sprayed as two more opponents went down.
The vampires on the top deck had attacked, but we had the numbers, at least until those below arrived.
“I did it!” Neve shrieked from behind. “I killed your prince because he was trying to kill me!”
I prepared for Captain Barvo to swing around me, to go for her, but then she added, “however, I’d think before you take another step, Captain. I’m Prince Vale’s wife, a member of the royal family of Winter’s Realm. ”
The captain froze, his eyes wide, dagger still aloft. I halted my attack, waiting. For a moment, neither of us moved, though the fighting continued behind us. Another vampire head flew, another fae soldier took a dagger in his leg.
“Prince Laurent attacked your wife ?” the captain breathed as he met my eye. “She killed him? In defense?”
“Yes!” Neve screamed. “I killed him in self-defense. Or he would have murdered a member of the Royal House of Aaberg! That cannot stand!”
The captain sucked in a breath and spun. “Stop! All who fight for the banner of Laurent, stop!”
“And those who fight for House Aaberg!” I added, not wishing to draw more blood if we were, in fact, at a standstill.
The skirmish came to an abrupt halt as twenty more vampires appeared from below decks. Not far behind, the sailors from the docks soared our way with Vidar and Sayyida. So many were covered in blood.
I sucked in a breath. Had others from our side died below? Was the captain going to continue now that he had backup? But then the captain gave the signal for them to hang back. To stop. The vampires didn’t look pleased about it, but they did as ordered. As a result, the fae sailors, Vidar, and Sayyida lowered their weapons.
He twisted to face us again. “Your name, my lady?”
“Princess Neve of House Aaberg,” my wife replied, her chin tilted up. “And I believe that, as he attacked me first, your prince was in the wrong. I had every right to defend myself. And I may be new to the royal house, but I believe that attacking a royal is grounds for war. Much like this might be considered?”
Captain Barvo looked unsure if he believed her, but possibly because the fae couldn’t lie, he didn’t lash out again. “You’re correct, Princess Neve. Royals adhere to codes and if Prince Gervais . . .” he trailed off, collecting himself. “I cannot spill more blood here today, in your kingdom, knowing this. I cannot bring war to my kingdom.”
“Precisely,” I said, understanding he didn’t do so out of a sense of righteousness.
Neve was right. The Crowns of the nine kingdoms of Isila did not strike one another. And if we did, it was an act of war. Should Captain Barvo proceed with the fight and his own king and queen hadn’t approved of him starting a war with the Winter Court, he’d be executed.
The fact that Neve hadn’t technically been a princess but a common fae when Gervais struck at her didn’t need to come up.
I glared at the captain. “We came to tell you the truth and to ask you to leave. Today. If you do, I will omit news of this skirmish to the diplomat we send to your homeland to discuss the aftermath of your prince’s death.” I gestured to the blood on the decks, the dead vampires and downed fae.
Captain Barvo cast his dead crew members a pained glance. A male like him would understand that, among the courts, their lives were less than that of a princess.
The captain sheathed his dagger. “We will leave. No harm will befall you from me or my crew. ”
“Good,” Neve replied. “Now, can we go?”
“I think that’s for the best.” The captain stepped aside. I motioned for Neve to take my hand. She did, and I found her skin clammy, shaking.
“I’ll send a scout by last light to make sure you are gone.” I glared at the captain.
“We will be, Prince Vale,” Barvo replied. “After all, I have news to relay to my king and queen.”