A Shade of Vampire 40: A Throne of Fire(6)

The Memenion castle was smaller than Hellswan, but much more welcoming. Everywhere I looked flowers and bushes grew, along with pretty trees—willows and apple—that made the whole place look more like an English manor house from a Jane Austen novel than the dark medieval vibe that Hellswan had encapsulated.

“The architecture here is weird,” I commented to Ruby, who was sitting on a fallen log, watching the comings and goings of the sentry army.

“I’ve noticed that.” She grinned. “Especially as the last arrivals here were from the Viking era. Do you think they kept traveling through the portal and picking up styles from Earth?”

“I guess so. I can’t figure out how else they would have come up with this.” I looked back at the castle, seeing Tejus standing in the doorway. He beckoned us over and then disappeared back inside.

“We need to go.” I nudged Ruby. “Come on.”

Reluctantly, we made our way back toward the entrance. Both of us were too weary from the battle to want to do anything other than make small talk, completely avoiding the more important, life-threatening matters. The moment we’d arrived, I had tried to curl up on a sofa in the hallway, but I was too hyped to get rest—plus I’d dozed off on the back of Tejus’s bull-horse for a while. I also knew there were decisions to be made—we couldn’t stay here forever, afraid of the danger that we’d soon face. Those barriers wouldn’t protect us from the entity, or its armies, whenever they decided to show up.

We met Ragnhild in the hallway, and Ruby flinched away. I knew her doubts about the lieutenant, but I thought Ruby should talk to him about it rather than constantly suspecting him. He had done nothing further to warrant our suspicion. I’d seen him fighting the Acolytes down at the cove—he certainly hadn’t held back.

“The emperor and the commander are in the main banquet room. They’re waiting for you,” he announced stiffly, then gestured for us to follow him. Ruby—as the only one of us who had been here before—strode confidently in the right direction, overtaking the lieutenant.

We walked through marble arches and into the room, seeing Ash, Tejus and Queen Memenion already seated at a large table. Ragnhild left, disappearing back the way we’d just come. Ruby and I paused, unsure of the protocol, but Ash turned to us with an encouraging smile. We seated ourselves quietly. The mood was somber, and Queen Memenion kept her gaze fixed on the wooden table, her delicate features etched with misery. I imagined it was hard for her, being here without her family. I couldn’t imagine what it was like for her, to lose her husband and son in the space of a few days.

“We need to decide what we’re going to do next,” Ash started, looking at each of us. “Tejus and I have decided to keep Jenus here as a prisoner, and hopefully he will give us some idea as to what the entity has in mind.”

“What?” I burst out, shocked at the decision. It seemed unnecessarily dangerous to keep one of the entity’s allies locked up with us—hadn’t anyone learned lessons from what had happened with Queen Trina?

“We can’t just let him fall into the hands of the entity—we are assuming he’s able to communicate with it, and it’s imperative that we get some answers.” Tejus cut in. “Though we can’t just wait around for my brother to divulge what he might know—it will take a while to break him down. In the meantime, we also need to find out what’s happening at the cove. If that’s where the entity is raising his army, then we need to be watching the area, finding out what we can about the enemy.”

I sat back in my chair, chewing on my bottom lip while I considered how risky both moves would be. First, Jenus was nothing but a liability, and I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Second, we had fled the cove for good reason. Going back would be putting lives at risk. Still, if we could get to the portal…

“I think our best chance of surviving this is getting GASP involved,” I announced. “We have jinn in The Shade. If a jinni locked up the entity in the first place, then they can do it again—the only problem is getting to the portal.”

“I agree with Hazel,” Ruby interjected. “We don’t have a chance without the jinn—or the combined forces of GASP.”

“It still leaves us with the same problem.” Ash sighed. “I don’t think we can send the army back there, not without knowing what kind of threat we’re facing.”

“Then we send a small group—reconnaissance only,” Tejus argued. “While the rest of the army remain here, continuing to maintain the barriers. If the coast is clear, or there’s a way to get through the portal unseen, then we retrieve GASP from Earth’s dimension.”