The Long Night
Decadent golden decor dripped from every corner of the Hive, including its sparkling guests. Flames from a firebreather danced across the jewels of the oversized chandeliers in the grand ballroom, making shadows dance through jolly conversations.
Guests gasped and applauded the performers Gorvin had procured. There was a snake handler, two men on stilts, jugglers, and so much more to look at than I’d expected.
Meanwhile, women swooned at Rhazien as if making a last ditch effort at the still uncommitted regent.
After today, everything would change, and their window of opportunity to sway him away from me would close.
Batting lashes, fluttering fans, and heaving breasts surrounded us.
I knew he noticed, but he didn’t falter.
He didn’t give them an ounce of attention.
My heart ached at his loyalty. I didn’t deserve it or the public dismissal of their desperate attempts. And he didn’t deserve what I’d done. He didn’t deserve to be forced into a life with someone who couldn’t want him back.
I looked directly at the women and they reluctantly curtsied beneath my gaze. Rhazien could have any one of them.
But he’d chosen me.
The women may be jealous as they see a seemingly undeserving human woman stroll through the ballroom on the arm of the handsome and powerful regent, but their envy was wasted on me. Two days ago, I would have abandoned this fate in a heartbeat if it weren’t for my family being held hostage.
No. Better me than them. Any of them.
As if the thought conjured my family, Lydia’s face popped through the swaying crowd. My mirror image waved a fan beneath a flirtatious gaze. If I didn’t know better, I would have described the man taking her hand and placing a kiss atop her glove was young. But no one was young here. Not really.
I wondered if their placement on the perch next to the dais was a choice made by the regent on my arm or his cunning and clever steward. Where was Gorvin tonight?
“Ladies, I didn’t think the room could sparkle more. But here you are, two glittering jewels stealing away our hard-earned attention.”
Lydia swooned at Rhazien’s compliment and blushed immediately. Cova’s jaw tensed to match the rest of her rigid stance.
“You’re sure it’s the jewels and not our beating hearts your guests are most interested in?” Cova’s venom dripped from each syllable.
The regent’s eyes snapped to my sister’s awaiting gaze. She did not shy away or back down but simply arched a brow in the silent space between them.
“Oh, yes, Lady Cova. I don’t doubt for a moment that your—” his eyes lowered to her throat—where the glimmering family heirloom rested—before he lifted them again “—very healthy heartbeat is likely the most alluring thing about you.”
My sister’s retreat was a micro-movement, but she stiffened and swallowed at Rhazien's clear and present threat. I thought I would eventually grow out of the swell of joy when Cova was bested; it happened so infrequently, but apparently I still had some growing to do.
I placed my free hand on Rhazien’s chest in a silent request to back down. “Don’t scare her, my love,” I purred, leaning into my character of a doting and smitten prospect.
Rhazien’s green eyes fixed on me, on the gesture.
His gaze brimmed with a hesitant hope that I wasn’t pretending.
Deep down, we both knew better. We would live this lie tonight.
We would perform our dutiful choreography, for the good of both of our realms. We would live side by side respectfully to prevent the violence and horror that would surely come should Eryx ascend instead of Rhazien.
We would do this for the good of all, even if it meant giving up everything else.
“My apologies, Lady Cova. This night has been long awaited and I am a mess of feelings,” Rhazien said, regaining his composure.
“Everything is so lovely and grand!” Lydia chimed, beaming at a passing man holding a rare bird of prey.
“You’ll take care not to have too much fun tonight, right?” I winked at her while Rhazien handed me a goblet of red wine.
“Your favorite,” he whispered between my bound braids of hair.
“This isn’t the special blend, is it?” I arched a brow and murmured into the cup.
“No, my love,” he strained and my heart ached for him.
No. I would not feel bad for him. The circumstances he found himself in were his own doing. He set this into motion. He had brought this upon us. Well, most of it.
Lydia was focused on the decadence surrounding us. Meanwhile, Cova was focused on us. And Cova didn’t miss a thing.
“Where is Commander Thorne this evening?” she asked with an icy breath.
Rhazien’s arm flexed against mine. “I’m sure he’s somewhere in the vicinity.”
“He never strays far, I’m sure,” Cova retorted into her own cup as if she’d already pieced my betrayal together on her own.
A nearby performer blew fire into the air. Gasps and cheers erupted to my left at the flames. But Cova didn’t flinch. The warm firelight cast long shadows along her discerning, angular face.
“Dear, we best be going. So many guests. So little time,” I encouraged while trying not to seem like I wanted to flee the scene.
Rhazien tapped the hand hooked around his elbow. “You’re quite right. Ladies, if you need anything at all, send word, and I’ll see it done.”
Lydia looked at Rhazien like he was the sun and I envied the way she gravitated toward him. I wish I could so easily be pulled back into his orbit. But I knew too much. And the fissure between us was too deep.
We moved on, floating through the all too happy to see us crowd. Whether they meant it or not, everyone seemed to be wearing a mask.
“It’s nearly time,” Rhazien whispered in my ear as the hour approached midnight.
A performer in a bright-colored, skin-tight costume pranced by on their hands as comfortably as if they were walking on their feet. They tilted their head up to me and smiled a trance-like, eerie smile. How did they get this close to us? I looked around, wondering where our guards had gone.
“Delightful,” Rhazien greeted them with a coolness I could not muster. No, something else was creeping through me. A different flavor than my usual sense of dread I constantly carried with me.
I searched the crowd. I recognized no one. Not even the passing servants.
“Your Majesty. My lady. This way, if you please,” a masked attendant beckoned. Their protruding nose resembled a ripe radish. It was an unforgettable feature I knew I would have recognized on one of the servants of the Hive.
But Rhazien paid no mind. If he wasn’t concerned, I didn’t need to be. Right?
I stepped, commanding each movement to seem more confident and sure-footed. This was the beginning of a new age. It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was what Atoris needed.
Fame wasn’t something I longed for, but it would be inescapable after this moment.
I would be on the arm of the first King of Vampires.
The first royal to ascend over all others since the four Originals.
I would make his rise possible. My name would appear next to his in Oddo’s history books whether I wanted it or not.
So, if it was going to happen anyway, I would create as much good as possible from the opportunity. Crowds parted as I considered my first decree—abolishing human slavery to vampires. Something that might never be accomplished without Rhazien’s rise. Yes, this could be a good thing.
We climbed the stairs, the crowd beginning to hush behind us.
More servants in animal masks framed our path to the top of the dais.
The priestess, Orla, was covered in painted black runes and stood with arms spread, welcoming us to her sides, not unlike the executioner from Illica only a few months ago.
This woman didn’t hold an earthly weapon but one of the spirit worlds.
Her power to bind my soul to Rhazien’s would set in motion the steps to becoming an immortal undead myself.
My life would end and begin again at her hands.
My heart thundered as I braced myself for what would come next. What would it feel like to be bound? Would it feel like coming home? Like an embrace to make me feel a wholeness I could never imagine? Or would it feel more like a leash? A heavy, invisible, inescapable chain?
My stomach churned, acid roiling in the back of my throat. But Rhazien’s hands steadied me as the priestess addressed the crowd.
“Welcome all—” her voice splintered into many, as if multiple people were speaking in synchrony “—to our Winter Solstice gathering!”
She raised her hands high and the room brightened.
Popping sounds cascaded around the space as every candle throughout the ballroom burst, temporarily darkening the gathering before the light twinkled down like gently falling snow.
The crowd gasped before waves of delighted laughter and applause ebbed between the guests below us.
I looked in awe at the display of magic, admiring the glowing buds.
One of them fell directly between myself and Rhazien and that’s when I saw him. Him and the way he was looking at me.
It was a gaze I wasn’t sure I would see again. Not after what I’d done. What Dommik and I had done. Like he was seeing me with new eyes.
“You don’t have to do this,” he whispered before the crowd’s reaction conceded to Orla’s signal for silence and every muscle in my body froze.
“What?” I wasn’t confident I’d heard him correctly.
“We—we don’t have to do this. We can end this now. Celebrate Solstice. Find another way.”
He squeezed my hands tighter as if to assure me it would be all right if I took the opportunity to back out. But why now? Why at this moment? A moment that felt entirely too late to have this conversation.
I repeated his words back to him, “But there is no other way.”
The priestess cleared her throat. Her narrowed gaze looked more menacing in the dim light and blinking orbs.