A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(17)

“We need to go back,” I whispered urgently. “We need to go.”

I took a step back, and my foot crunched on something. Looking down, I saw one of the stones. It must have rolled out from the sea bed. I bent down to get a closer look. It had broken in half like an eggshell. I thought maybe I had done that, but when I looked toward the sea bed, none of them remained whole any more. They had all opened up.

“The stones…th-th-they’ve opened,” Ragnhild stuttered, coming to the same realization as I had.

The air seemed to stir, as if we’d woken something…

“Now—we leave now! It’s coming – something’s coming!” I called out to Ragnhild, no longer worried that my voice was too loud. I didn’t care about anything apart from getting as far away from this place as possible.

I yanked Yelena’s arm. She hadn’t moved since we’d come close to the sea bed. I would drag her away from here if I needed to. We all started to run. Blood pounded in my head, blocking my eardrums to any other sound than the beating of my heart. I screamed as I felt a jolt from behind me, but it was just a guard picking me up—running with me and Yelena in each arm, back to the passage.





Jenus





He had awoken.

Something had happened, finally. I had been afraid that Queen Trina and the Acolytes had not been successful—that they had met their end before their task was done. The land had been so silent, the guards and sentries almost jubilant, as if they had conquered what evil there was in Nevertide.

Fools.

In the darkness of my cell I could hear him whispering to me once again. The promises he had once made to Queen Trina were now offered to his most loyal servant—still alive, still dedicated to his ultimate rise. Promises that would leave me blessed by all his power—to share in his glory, and his reign.

“What do you ask of me, benevolent lord?” I muttered in the darkness, over and over again, too low for the pot-bellied and mead-soaked guards who surrounded me to hear. They wouldn’t understand my worship anyway. They worshiped nothing but themselves, and the false emperor, and my brother — a being even more wretched and broken than myself. I had been offered salvation in the form of the entity, a gift my brother would never receive.

Come to me, my son, the voice would whisper, come to me, and taste a freedom you have never known.

Images wound their way through my mind with the soft caress of a lover. Me, sitting on the imperial throne, staff in one hand, a decree of my rule in the other. On my head the crown, gold and opulent, finally placed on the scalp of its rightful owner. Women who looked like angels, dancing around me in attendance, their silks and gauze brushing up against my skin, their eyes pools of lust as they beheld me in all my power and greatness. And then my brother, the greatest prize of all, sniveling at my feet, begging for my mercy—clutching the ruined, blood-soaked body of his once-human love, her eyes glassy in death, staring up at the stars, her body cold and ready for the grave.

All this will be yours, Jenus of Hellswan, all this and more…

“What do I do?” I cried out, rattling the bars of my cage. I was trapped—tricked by Queen Trina in her last hours—left to the mercy of my brother and the rest of the armies of the six kingdoms. I supposed she’d thought they would end me when they saw me in the Seraq kingdom, the fool. She underestimated the mercy of men—Tejus’s childish hope that one day I would love him again.

But what was I to do? The bars of my cage seemed unbreakable, and even with the roaring drunkenness of the guards who shared this dank hole with me, they watched me closely, their eyes never leaving me. They ensured that the barriers that surrounded me, along with the bars of my cage, never let up.

The only time they had left me, and the barriers had come down, was at Tejus’s request, so his pet monster might feed off me. But even then, I was helpless—weakened by her greed. I couldn’t fight Tejus, not in this decaying body. It had been so long since I’d entered the tar-like waters at Queen Trina’s palace—so long since I’d felt the true force of my lord running freely within my veins. I didn’t have the strength to stand up to Tejus. If I faltered, if he overpowered me, I would be killed. They would see through my lies, see how much I desired escape—if they didn’t already.

“What do I do?” I called into the darkness, hopeless.

He did not answer me, the whispers had gone silent. Had I displeased him? But what choice did I have? There was no friend left to me—the Acolytes were dead, Queen Trina with them. Not that she was ever much of a friend. I alone was the sole worshiper of my lord, and now he was silent.