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A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(14)

By:Bella Forrest


Ash waved, mouthing something that I couldn’t hear over the clattering of the hooves and wheels. I waved back as the guard set off at a brisk pace.

Slumping back in my seat, I watched the manicured lawns and exotic plants of the Seraq kingdom become meadows and then thick forests.

My promise to Abelle, the apothecary who viewed Ash like her son, came back to haunt me—that I would watch his back, and keep a close eye on Queen Trina. But I couldn’t ignore the needs of my family. Though Julian, Benedict and Hazel weren’t my blood relations, we were a family in the way it counted most. I knew Hazel would be going out of her mind with worry—I needed to be there for her.

The bull-horse started to slow down, and it neighed loudly as it came to an abrupt halt. I peered further out of the window and saw three guards, all heavily armed, approach.

“State your business, Seraqean,” one of them commanded. My driver disembarked the carriage.

“I have a passenger for Hellswan,” he replied vacantly.

The guards turned in my direction, and I hastily opened the carriage door and stepped out.

“I’m staying at the Hellswan castle,” I replied as confidently as I could. “With King Tejus and Hazel Achilles. They’re expecting me.”

“Stand down,” one of the guards barked at the other two. I looked up at him in surprise, and he winked at me.

“You’re Ruby. You assisted Ashbik in the trials, correct?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s me.”

He nodded, a faint smile playing on his lips. He was almost as tall and broad as Tejus, with dark features—and there was something else about him that reminded me of the new king, maybe the sense that he could potentially be as brooding and deadly, but his manner seemed to be easy-going. I couldn’t imagine Tejus winking at someone.

“You left the castle?” he asked curiously.

“I went with Ash to visit Queen Trina.”

“Ah, of course,” he mused, then smiled. “And survived.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he leaned past me and reopened the carriage door.

“Hellswan awaits, Ruby.”

I clambered inelegantly back into the carriage.

“I’m going to escort Ruby back to the castle myself.” He turned to the other two guards, and they saluted in response.

“As you wish, Commander Varga,” one replied.

The name rang a bell—Hazel had mentioned him before, the guard who was in charge of Julian’s search party. What was he doing questioning people, at what I presumed were the borders of Hellswan?

The carriage started up again, and a few moments later, Commander Varga came up beside the door, riding his own bull-horse.

“Why aren’t you searching for Julian?” I asked, leaning out of the window to catch his attention.

“We were. We’ve searched high and low.” He shook his head in displeasure. “I am very sorry, but we’ve had to suspend the search for a while. There’s been so much happening, we’ve needed all our man power to calm the villagers, to maintain order.”

I realized that I hadn’t given much thought to the effects the boundaries and blood rains might have had on the general population.

“People must be terrified,” I murmured.

“They are. But it’s nothing we can’t handle… Not yet, anyway.”

The journey carried along in silence for a while, and then Varga smirked down at me.

“You did well in the trials. Both you and Ashbik. You must have an impressive mind.”

“Oh, it’s Ash who’s the impressive one. My mind is totally average.”

He looked skeptical. “I doubt that.”

“Well, we fell at the last hurdle,” I reminded him, thinking back to the final trial where Ash had lost because I’d not been able to provide him with any mental energy.

“I noticed,” Varga replied solemnly. “What happened?”

I was silent for a moment. I wasn’t really clear on how to answer that question—I was still so unsure myself.

“I don’t actually know…” I hesitated.

“Did anyone suspect foul play?” he asked.

“No,” I replied, surprised.

Before he could reply, Commander Varga’s bull-horse reared up violently, almost throwing him back onto the ground. I could hear the bull-horse driving my carriage neighing and whickering in panic. The buggy swayed to one side, and I was thrown back against the seat. I righted myself and reached for the door, pushing it open.

“Get back in!” Varga roared at me, still trying to calm his bull-horse.

“What’s going on?” I asked, pulling the door shut, but leaning as far out of the window as I could.