A Shade of Vampire 37: An Empire of Stones(45)

Perhaps I just needed to give him some space. Some time to mourn his friend in whichever way he chose to do so.

“Okay, I’ll get the books from the library. There’s a couple of volumes I saw last time that will be a good starting point. Are you coming?” I asked, rising from my chair.

He nodded. We walked down to the library, passing a few ministers and guards who looked as if they were wandering aimlessly around the castle. Tejus noticed too, scowling at their retreating backs.

When we passed a third guard, he stopped.

“Tell the lieutenant to meet me in the library, now,” Tejus instructed. The guard bowed low and hastened off. Tejus and I carried on, entering the high-ceilinged room that smelt of musty parchment and candle wax.

I started to hunt down the books that I could recall—with difficulty. Every single volume looked pretty much the same to me. I was in the stacks furthest from the door when I heard a knock. Tejus commanded them to enter, and I peered around the shelf to see who it was.

A huge, burly sentry stepped forward, wearing the red cloak of the guards.

“Your highness.” He bowed in greeting.

“Lieutenant. Hazel will be remaining in my quarters this evening. She will be alone. I want six guards outside the entrances at all times, is that understood? There will be a barrier built and maintained outside of the room—the guards will be responsible for its upkeep. Under no circumstances are they to leave their post. I want additional guards positioned outside of the passageway, and outside the human quarters. Don’t spare any of the men. All are to be in the castle tonight.”

“Understood, your highness,” replied the guard.

He left the room, and I came out of the stacks, buried under a pile of books. Tejus strode forward, relieving me of them.

“Is this all?” he asked.

“For now,” I nodded.

We made our way back to the living quarters, and Tejus placed the books on the table.

“I’m due to leave now,” he said, looking at the sky.

The sun was almost set. I hated the thought of Tejus left at the mercy of the morbid games of the Impartial Ministers.

“Do you know when you will return?” I asked quietly.

He smiled at me, and I got the impression that it was meant to offer reassurance. It did not.

“When I have won.”

I sighed.

“We will go again tomorrow to the graveyard,” Tejus continued. “You can speak to your brother again. But promise me one thing?”

“What?”

“Do not, for any reason, leave this room. Under any circumstances.”

“But I thought you were going to have a barrier up anyway?” I asked, puzzled.

“That’s not the point. Promise me anyway,” he urged. “Please.”

My eyebrows rose involuntarily in surprise. Tejus rarely bothered with manners when he believed that I was in danger…which seemed to be pretty much a constant state of affairs while I was in Nevertide.

“Okay, I promise I’ll stay inside.”

He nodded, seeming relieved.

“Will you see if Ash is there? Can you ask how Ruby is?” I continued. “I haven’t heard from her at all—I thought she might send a message or something…” I trailed off, shrugging. I wished she’d get in contact just so I would know that she was all right.

Tejus’s face suddenly looked as if it was set in stone.

“What?” I asked, alarmed.

“Nothing,” he muttered. “It’s nothing. I need to go, Hazel. Is there anything else that you need?”

I shook my head, wondering why he was behaving so strangely all of a sudden.

Before I could say another word, he left the room, shutting and locking the door firmly behind him.

Okay.

“And be careful!” I called out after him.

I didn’t have a good feeling about this.

It suddenly occurred to me that Tejus hadn’t asked if he could syphon off me before the trial…why didn’t he ask?

Why didn’t you offer! I scolded myself. I knew I wasn’t allowed at the trials, but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t help out in other ways.

Not knowing what else to do, I turned my attention to the books on the table. I wanted to find the image of the rune again—it obviously meant something specific, and if I could find the translation, it could be a way for us to understand Varga’s death.

I had also started to wonder about the whispering voice that we heard in the tower. It reminded me of the Elders, the ‘original’ vampires who had spoken to our kind in a similar way, heard but never seen…but Elders were a thing of the past now. They’d been weakened practically to the point of extinction—partly thanks to my uncle, Ben. Besides, what would an Elder be doing in a land with no vamps? That wouldn’t make any sense… though perhaps it wasn’t too far-fetched to imagine that the sentries had an equivalent ‘original’. In many ways they were similar to the vampire species. They just consumed pure energy, rather than blood. Maybe that was the ‘entity’—the creator of the sentries or the first sentry, locked in the stones?