A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(22)

“You know I’m going to carry on loving you anyway, right?” she asked.

Her words were painful to hear. I gently kissed the top of her head, inhaling her scent—I wanted to take her, here, now. I had never wanted anything so much in all my life.

“I know,” was all I said.

She leaned her head back on my chest and sighed.

“You’re impossible,” she murmured.

I held her body tightly, knowing that I had nothing else left to say—at least, nothing that she would want to hear.

“Distract me,” she said sleepily. “Tell me about the trials—what’s going to happen next?”

“Well, I think the trials are going to begin as soon as possible. What they will entail, I have no idea. My father’s accounts of his own trials tended to be exaggerated—I doubt there was much truth to them. I suppose it will be the same sort of thing that we saw in the kingship trials. Harder, most likely.”

“I wish I could be there with you,” she replied, yawning. “And I don’t really understand why they haven’t just appointed someone in the meantime—I mean, if Nevertide is under such threat, wouldn’t the ministers want to do that? To stop the warnings and the entity?”

“They can’t. They don’t have that power. The emperor has always been chosen by trial. It’s an ancient law.”

“Huh, more ancient laws. They’re really working out well, aren’t they?”

I tended to agree with her. Why Nevertide was bound by these laws was a mystery to me also, especially when it seemed like they prevented us from saving ourselves.

“Time is running out. I hope the Impartial Ministers will see that and choose swiftly.”

“I hope they choose you,” she replied, curling up closer against me.

“So do I.”

When I next looked down at her, she had fallen fast asleep. This time, I watched over her till dawn.





Ruby





I had tried to rest, but just ended up worrying about Benedict and Julian, so eventually gave up and took a hot bath instead. It was pure heaven to finally luxuriate in a tub of hot water without a team of kids outside needing to get in. I took my time, admiring the elegant décor of the bathroom and the lack of grey stone and vulture heads adorning every available surface.

My mind drifted to the rune that I’d seen previously. I was absolutely adamant that the Acolyte cult was active in Hellswan, and as soon as I got back to the castle I would tell Tejus and Hazel. If they were responsible for the slain goat, then how many other things might they have been behind—like the faulty disk at the trial? Without knowing what they wanted, or who they were, it was impossible to tell how powerful they were…but if they were once revered enough to have part of a palace tiled with their insignia, then my guess was very powerful indeed.

As beautiful as the castle was, I was irritated that I would be kept here until the fires cleared. Having dinner with a bunch of sentry royals at a time like this seemed frivolous and pointless. The sooner it was over and done with, the better.

With that in mind, I exited the bath and wrapped a large towel around myself, not relishing the idea that I’d have to re-wear the clothes I had.

I stepped out into the bedroom, trying to remember where I’d lazily dumped my stuff, when there was a knock on the door.

“Um…wait, not dressed!” I called out.

A laugh came from the other side of the door.

“It’s Varga. I have fresh clothes for you,” he called through. “I thought you might prefer that.”

My hero.

“Thanks! Can you leave them outside?” I asked, not wanting Varga to see me in a towel. Had it been a female minister or a servant I didn’t think I would have minded, but it felt totally inappropriate to let him see me half-naked.

“Of course,” he replied, and I knew without seeing his face that he would be smirking. I rolled my eyes.

“Okay, go now.”

“Gone!” he called out.

I smiled, only opening the door when I heard his retreating footsteps fade.

A silk robe and some underclothes had been left outside the door—all in the pale blue of the Memenion colors. I dried myself and then put them on, loving the feel of the clean, fine silk against my skin. When I’d finished getting dressed there was another knock on the door. This time it was the minister who had escorted me to the room. She smiled when she saw me.

“The color suits you.”

“Thank you,” I said, stunned again at how polite and friendly a minister was being to a ‘lowly’ human.

“Are you ready to go down for dinner?” she asked. “I’m to escort you if you are.”