CHAPTER FORTY TWO
Davien
THIS WAS NOTHING short of a nightmare.
I sat surrounded by polished smiles and hollow loyalty, by men and women who would sooner slit each other’s throats than miss an opportunity to impress the man at the head of the table.
Pompous, self-serving, ass-kissing bastards, every last one of them.
I’d endured these spectacles more times than I cared to count—Valerius did love to parade his favourites, to remind everyone who exactly held the power—but I had yet to suffer through one without wanting to tear the entire room apart.
This was no different in that regard.
I’d made a beeline for the seat beside Ailsa—to be close enough to intervene, to protect, to at least give myself the illusion that I could do anything for her. But I hadn’t even reached the seat before I was intercepted and redirected to a seat further down the table.
Away from her, I’d clenched my jaw and let it happen.
I had no choice but to oblige, I couldn’t make a scene. Not yet anyway, not until Ailsa and her sister were safe.
So I sat.
And I watched.
I looked across and up the table to where she was seated, beside him, instead of me. I knew they wouldn’t have allowed me to stay at her side. In all honesty I was surprised they hadn’t marched me off the second I stepped foot in the Ninth. But him? Really?
I supposed I should have been relieved, there were a lot worse in the Ninth.
It really shouldn’t have mattered with everything else going on, yet I couldn’t shake the picture of the two of them together.
How had that even happened? Where? When?
He’d mumbled something about a club…
Was she happy then?
Did he get to see a side to her I never would?
I was fucking jealous of Leon.
This was a new low.
She looked tense and this bizarre part of me, deep down, wanted nothing more than to comfort her. To run away with her.
Mentally, I calculated how many of them I could realistically take on.
I was weapon-less, but then again, I was a weapon.
Few of the vampires here matched me for age and strength.
But the sheer amount of them would make things difficult.
I reckoned Ailsa could fend off a few of the turned ones without problem by herself, and I could take on a dozen, maybe more?
I wondered if it came down to it, would Leon fight for her?
Would she really have managed to have such an effect on him too?
She was magnetic, enchanting, and quite simply a goddess in my eyes. So maybe?
She was the sun in a sea of darkness.
To be honest I was itching for a fight. The adrenaline pumped through me, begging for release.
Everything had been too calm so far. Something was coming, I just didn’t know what.
Valerius was too unpredictable in that way.
And I was yet to spot any sign of Claire, which made me worry for Ailsa because I was sure she had noticed the same.
I didn’t even want to think of the possibilities of what fate may have had in store for her.
I wanted to protect Ailsa from that inevitable heartbreak, but I was afraid things would only get tougher for her from here on out, if she survived at all.
And that was a thought I really didn’t want to commit to.
I’d managed to send a message to Cathal through Niko when I’d first contacted him and I hoped the message was received.
I hoped that meant at least he’d be warned of the goings on and our discovery.
I’d been in this position for one hundred and seventy four years and a strange calmness fed my mind with the knowledge that it was coming to an end.
I wasn’t naive enough to think that I’d get to go home and maybe just be.
But I slept better with the knowledge that we were on the cusp of change.
It was finally coming and she’d be at the centre of it.
I was sure of it. I just hoped I got to see the day she became what she was always meant to be.
I got goosebumps at the mere thought of everything she could become, of all the things she’d be capable of.
Maybe I had failed her.
Maybe this was part of fate’s plan.
Just like Besian’s appearance in all this.
Something definitely wasn’t right about that.
Where had he come from?
He was a bedtime story told to true borns about what not to do—he’d been deemed too powerful, too chaotic to be allowed in society.
They’d magically bound him—confined him—well over a thousand years ago, hidden him away.
I’d finally put the pieces together in my confinement.
He was the one they referred to as The Dark Void.
Only speculation had spoken to what the name meant. But now that I’d experienced him first hand, I understood. I now also understood why even his own family had feared him.
Not that there were many of them left now. Once the ruling family, they were now nothing more than cautionary tales.
He was seated to Valerius’s right, as though that was the most natural place in the world for him to be.
As though he belonged there.
I didn’t like it, because it meant that Valerius had been playing me all this time. He had to have known about Besian’s extracurricular activities… hadn’t he?
What part did Valerius play in Besian’s miraculous re-appearance?
Either way, I didn’t like him.
Didn’t like the way he carried himself. Far too relaxed, too self-assured. How hadn’t he gone mad in centuries of starved darkness?
He leaned back in his chair with an almost bored elegance, long fingers drumming lazily against the stem of his glass, green eyes flicking about the room with mild curiosity rather than calculation like everyone else.
But every so often… they landed on her.
And when they did, something in my chest tightened.
It wasn’t subtle.
Not to me.
The way his gaze lingered just a fraction too long, the faint tilt of his head, like he was studying her, dissecting her without ever needing to touch. There was interest there—real, undeniable interest—and it made my skin crawl.
He didn’t feel bound to Valerius’s authority in the same way the others were. If anything, there was an undercurrent between them, something unspoken that suggested Valerius didn’t quite have as much control over him as he would have it seem.
Dinner dragged on, the tension never quite easing, and when finally it began to wind down, chairs scraped softly against the marble as people began to seek other forms of entertainment.
Besian stood with them, stretching slightly like a man who’d just sat through something mildly tedious.
His gaze flicked to Ailsa once more.
Then, without a word, he turned and made his way along the length of the table.
Toward me.
I didn’t move, or react.
But every instinct in my body sharpened as he approached.
He paused just behind my chair.
Close enough that I could feel him.
Close enough that I could smell something faintly metallic beneath whatever expensive scent clung to him. Then he leaned in, just slightly. “Careful little spy,” he murmured into my ear, his voice low, smooth and amused. “You’re not the only one who sees her for what she is.”
My jaw clenched.
He let out a quiet chuckle, straightening again as though he hadn’t just dropped a blade between my ribs.
“And trust me,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “I plan on having front row seats to her rise. I do so enjoy collecting rare things.”
Then he was gone.
Walking past me like I was nothing.
Like I wasn’t already planning how I’d kill him if he so much as looked at her again.
“I’m surprised to see you here,” a male voice to my right startled me out of my thoughts.
“It’s not like you to make cosy with this bunch,” Rupert said, pulling out the chair next to me and taking a seat.
He was one of the turned ones with a mid-level role within the Ninth.
Our paths had crossed many times over the last few decades, but that wasn’t to say I knew him well.
He was a good team leader, but terrible at poker.
That was as far as my knowledge of him went.
I cleared my throat, he wasn’t wrong, these events left me crawling in my skin. “Yeah, thought I’d make an appearance this year.”
He hummed his response. “Any idea on what’s going on?”
I turned to look at him then, trying to get a read. “Not sure what you mean.”
“The extra security. Thought that’s why you were here. He’s called everyone in,” he paused, looking around. “Obviously not to the party, but everyone is in the grounds. You’d think we’re going to war.”
I straightened in my seat. “Yeah, that’s why I’m here, but I don’t have details. I’m in the dark.”
Fuck, I was fairly certain his appearance next to me hadn’t been a coincidence and he was here as my babysitter. It was a warning, ‘don’t try anything, or else’.
He looked at Ailsa, and I felt myself tensing. “Interesting date Leon’s brought, I’ve not seen her around.”
Fuck, he was definitely fishing for intel. Or was he trying to warn me.
“No idea,” I said, acting nonchalant. “Never seen her before.”
He hummed low, as he picked up his wine glass and slowly took a sip. “Regardless, I think it’ll be an interesting night.”
I nodded my agreement and went back to mentally planning how to survive this night.