Trust No One
“Triple the guards,” Rhazien whispered to Gorvin who eyed the Northern Hive regent with a flavor of disdain I hadn’t seen before.
The steward bowed his freshly shaved head and in a smooth sweeping motion, set to work. The Northern Hive regent’s arrival boomed from a footman. The few sets of eyes not already on the stately vampire made quick work to locate him.
His casual saunter had nearly reached the dais when Rhazien gave his regent counterpart a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes and helped me to stand before greeting him. “Majesty! What a fantastic surprise.”
Eryx held his upturned hands to the side and two nearly naked female attendants removed an oversized fur cloak from his shoulders.
Two golden chains decorated his collar and his cut, bare chest was visible beneath the plunging neckline of his dress jacket.
And from the size of the jeweled band sitting atop his blonde hair, I had a feeling he was playing a one-sided game of ‘whose crown is bigger’.
“Your Majesty. Your Hive is immaculate. Impeccable. A testament to your leadership, indeed. Lorana would be proud.”
“Your flattery is most welcome.” The two regents pulled each other into a forceful hug.
Eryx’s steely eyes found mine over Rhazien’s shoulder. They unabashedly raked up and down my form. I didn’t shy away from it, but even given his position, it felt like an overstep.
The regents parted and Rhazien looked back at me. “You remember my prospect, Lady Reyva.”
“Yes, the Unbitten,” Eryx growled like the title made me a quest worth pursuing.
I gave him a modified curtsey, the tight mesh of my garment limiting my movement.
“Blessings of the Four on you both,” he said, taking one last long look at me before beginning a campaign through the crowd.
Like a hawk on a perch, Rhazien watched Eryx as he retreated to mingle with guests. The previously charismatic and boisterous regent shifted, as if the Solstice frosts had crept beneath his skin, chilling and stilling him.
“Are you well?” I whispered up to him, the blood pushed the question past my defenses.
Rhazien’s eyes brightened. It was the first time I’d initiated a conversation since…
“Perfectly well, my love. Better than I have been in days.” His fingertips traced my shoulders and slid down my arms until they captured my hands in his. “I’m looking forward to sunrise.”
I tilted my chin up to him, lengthening my neck and feeling the scrape of the black diamonds against my skin. “That’s a peculiar sentiment from a vampire.”
Rhazien’s hands cradled my lower back, pulling me flush with his skin. My instincts to recoil collided with the blood. Its alluring call to submit to its whims submerged my resistance.
“Will you let me worship you—” he nibbled at my earlobe, fanning the ember of a flame building in my base “—the way you deserve to be worshipped?”
My heart fluttered at his request. His need.
I had wanted this. I had wanted him.
But not anymore. Any want coursing through me was the blood’s, not my own.
More than the riches and titles and lust he could offer, I wanted freedom. And with Rhazien, anything resembling freedom now came at a steep price.
My response hung on my lips as a scream erupted from the far side of the ballroom.
And then another.
Guests sprinted for the ballroom exits.
“What’s happening?” I asked, tucking myself into Rhazien to avoid a fleeing vampire.
Shadows slithered through the opening, their dark trails searching, exploring, and blackening anything in their path.
Shades.
“Take her to safety!” Rhazien yelled to a nearby guard before barking orders to others posted around the room. “Get the wards back up!”
The frenzy swallowed Rhazien whole as he sought to control the situation.
Panicked guests fled the glittering ballroom, knocking over tables with the perfectly placed bouquets, trays of expensive wine, and tapered candles. Small fires rose throughout the ballroom, quickly clouding the room in a thin veil of smoke.
I looked ahead to the men pulling me away from the chaos. But it wasn’t the familiar garb of Southern Hive soldiers that led me through the crowd. They wore red. The color of the Northern Hive. Eryx’s color.
As if rehearsed, two more Northern Hive soldiers flanked my sides and back. The six guards surrounded me and were leading me away. A roaring built in my ears. Every instinct screamed at me to get away from them.
“Fire!” I yelled from behind their walls, waving my hands frantically.
Eyes turned to my screams and soldiers wearing Rhazien’s emerald emblems approached.
A guard in front of me assured them, “We’ll escort the prospect. The regents need help securing the wards.”
And why wouldn’t the guards take orders? It’s what they were trained to do. But one of them stayed. One of them with dark hair and storm-filled eyes.
“Release her.”
“We are moving her to safety at the command of the regent,” the same Northern Hive soldier said.
Dommik tilted his head. His gaze burrowed into the guards, dark and menacing.
“If you do not step back in three seconds, I’ll consider your defiance as an act of aggression against my regent and will have no issue carrying out His Majesty’s will here and now.” His serrated blade glimmered in the firelight as he unsheathed it, pointing it at the Northern Hive guards.
“Three.” It was six against one. I knew Dommik was a skilled fighter, but could he take them all? Guests tripped over themselves around us, like the guards surrounding me were a steadfast island in the midst of a raging river.
“Two.” Behind us, glittering magic reflected off golden pillars as two priestesses worked together to repel the shades out of the ballroom. The guards around me revealed their own weaponry. I was sick of feeling helpless. I had to do… something.
I looked to my right. The soldier had a dagger at his belt.
“One.” I reached for the small blade and, in one motion, pulled it away from its owner before plunging it up into his thick neck.
While distracted by my act, a dark wind wrapped around the guards that circled me. One by one, their severed heads rolled off their necks and their bodies crumbled around me like a sacrificial wreath.
Their blood splattered on my bare arms. Witnesses screamed at the massacre, but I didn’t see the blood or the bodies. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
“You’re alive,” I breathed, relieved death hadn’t taken him yet while I was surrounded by it.
“For now.” He wiped his blade across his leather gauntlet.
The chaos simmered into a manageable level behind us.
My eyes scoured him for injuries, but there was nothing except the tinge of a faint purple bruise on his upper cheek.
It was nearly healed, days old maybe, and that’s when the image of Rhazien’s bloodied knuckles floated to the surface.
I wanted to reach for him but Rhazien’s blood protested, transmuting itself into solid, heavy iron, and it took great effort to lift my hand out to him. His bare hand met mine as he tenderly helped me step from the carnage. “You saved me again…”
“You have a habit of needing to be saved.”
Our eyes met and the chaos blurred. Time stopped. The way he was looking down at me brought me right back into his bedroom. Rhazien’s blood seared a path up my spine and into the center of my head, doing its best to drive away the memories of his hands and lips and…
“Dommik I—”
“Don’t.” His eyes dropped to my revealing gown. Defeat laced his words as he whispered, “This is what’s best. My actions were selfish. Misled.”
“Dommik.” I sighed, frustrated by his resignation but realizing what tonight must have looked like. Dancing with Rhazien, swooning from the blood, playing my part for the crowd.
“You’re with Rhazien. It’s what’s right.” His next words made me wish I’d plunged a dagger into my own heart. “And you look happy.”
Who was he working so hard to convince?
It’s you I want! I wanted to scream. Rhazien’s blood held my truth behind an impassable barricade.
Vampires scurried around us, securing the space. “You don’t believe that.”
His throat bobbed in deafening silence between us. Heartbreaking.
I raised my brows. “Right?”
Please don’t believe it.
Magic crackled and orders were being barked in different directions. But one voice silenced them all.
“WHAT is the meaning behind THIS!?” Eryx’s shadow fell over us.
Rhazien was not far behind. He leapt over the fallen bodies and wrapped me into a consuming embrace. “Thank the Four. Are you hurt?”
I shook my head, stealing a glance at Dommik. “No. No, I’m all right.”
Eryx’s fangs threatened death as he roared, “EXPLAIN!”
Dommik blinked away his focus from Rhazien’s arms around me. “These guards refused to relinquish the prospect.”
The prospect. He said it like I was a parcel. Like I didn’t have a name. Like we didn’t know each other.
He continued, “I warned them. Gave them a chance to yield their formation. They refused. I was within my rights to act on behalf of the best interest of my regent.”
“Thank you, Commander Thorne,” Rhazien said as he stroked my hair. “Majesty, this is an unfortunate event but these circumstances are quite delicate. We can discuss compensation for your lost guards after sunset tomorrow.”
Eryx let out a hissing sound before turning on his heel. No instructions on how to handle the bodies, no remorse for the loss of life. Had he really sent his guards to kidnap me? And if he did, was he more angry at the idea of replacing them or their failure to steal me?
I clung to Rhazien tighter. His blood in my veins begged to be sent home. My heartbeat thundered against his chest.
“Majesty.” Gorvin appeared and if the side eye he shot Dommik had been a blade, it would have aimed to kill. “There’s much to discuss.”
“Of course, Gorvin.” Rhazien looked down at me.