A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(23)
“I’m ready, thanks.”
We walked back along the hallways to the ground floor of the castle, the minister pointing out bits of artwork on the walls and giving me a short history in the different phases of architecture of the castle. The original parts of the castle all hinted at Viking origins, fitting with what Hazel had told me she’d seen down at the cove, but when I mentioned the term ‘Viking’ the minister just looked at me oddly, referring only to ‘the first sentry settlers.’
When we reached the banquet hall, Varga was waiting for me by the entrance. He held out his arm for me to take, and I did so, relieved that I would know at least one person at the dinner.
The hall was beautiful, more intimate than the one at Hellswan, with every available surface covered in candles and wild flowers, and long silk drapes hanging from the ceiling. Murals covered the walls in here too, more pastoral landscapes and floral motifs. A large table stood in the center of the room, laid out and waiting, but all the sentries were gathered at the other end, standing by the fireplace.
When Varga and I approached, the conversations halted, but only to welcome us both to the dinner. There were five ministers present, three women and two men, as well as the king and queen.
“What news of the fires?” the king asked Varga.
“An emissary came to your guards from the Hellswan kingdom only moments ago. The fires are still not dead. They are expected to last the night.” Varga shook his head. “They will ravage all the crops—everything.”
“More trouble at Hellswan,” the king muttered. “There is always trouble at Hellswan.”
“It has been the seat of the emperor for decades. Perhaps it is to be expected.”
“Exactly my point! I believe Tejus’s father is behind all of this somehow. He kept his kingdom isolated, shutting us all off, and now none of us know what to do, not even his own son!” the king barked out, gesturing with his goblet.
“Tejus is a great man,” Varga replied calmly. “He will see us out of this mess, if given the chance.”
“You put too much faith in your king,” King Memenion replied. “I have no doubt he will turn out to be just as slippery as his father.”
“Now, now,” the queen interrupted. “Tejus is a good man—you know that, Memenion. He can’t be blamed for the faults of his father.”
The king grumbled something under his breath that I didn’t catch, and Varga smirked.
“What of his death?” asked the queen, oblivious to her husband’s comment. “Did you ever get to the bottom of his death? I was told it came as a shock to all.”
Varga shook his head.
“No, your highness, we did not. There is no doubt the investigation will resume after the trials.”
I felt slightly queasy at hearing Varga’s prediction. Ash had believed that Tejus thought he was the one responsible, that somehow Tejus had found out about the poisoned soup, but as nothing had ever come of it, I had stopped worrying. It hadn’t occurred to me that the investigation had only been put on hold temporarily.
“Let’s eat,” the queen announced, and everyone began to make their way to the table. Thankfully, Varga guided me to the seat next to his, and I relaxed, knowing that I wouldn’t need to be an entertaining dinner guest.
The courses were brought out by servants, and I was unsurprised to find that the food here wasn’t that much better than at Hellswan. Clearly the sentries didn’t consider seasoning a huge priority…I briefly thought about pancakes and maple syrup, pizza, fries, milkshakes. My stomach rumbled, loudly.
Varga raised an eyebrow, but it appeared that no one else heard.
That is so embarrassing.
“Is the food to your liking?” he asked, amused.
“It’s lovely,” I enthused, lying through my teeth as the queen looked over to hear my answer.
“Ruby, you must tell me about the human dimension.” She smiled. “I’ve never been…do you like it there?”
I was about to reply when the door to the banquet hall swung open, hitting the wall. I spun around to see who had entered with such force and saw a young boy, no older than fourteen or fifteen, enter the room. He was wearing a black robe with the hood pulled up.
He scowled as he saw us and stalked past the table. I looked at the queen and she paled.
“This is our son, Ronojoy.” She smiled weakly. “Ronojoy, would you like to join us for dinner?”
He eyed the table and his gaze came to rest on me. His sneer intensified.
“So the rumors are true—you’ve invited a human to eat at our table?” he hissed at his mother. “It’s an insult! I would rather starve than sit and eat with that.”