The Red Lily (Vampire Blood #2)(17)

"How do you do?" She dismissed Sienna in a blink, returning to Nikolai. "It is a dark night, lieutenant," she cooed.

"Hear ye, friends!" shouted Ivan, drawing everyone's attention to the makeshift stage of crates where he stood. "Lady Sienna, if you'll please step forward and join me, we'll get started so these good people can be on their way."

Sienna swallowed her ire and waltzed forward. Ivan offered his hand and helped her up.

She let her eyes rove the crowd before beginning. "You all know why we are here." The room fell silent. "It is no mystery that the Varis monarchy, that the queen herself, is set on destroying the Black Lily."

"Then why the hell should we join?" asked a young farmer. A few in the crowd grumbled, and a few laughed in response.

"Because if the Black Lily falls, our people will fall further still."

"We've been fine up till now," said a barrel-chested man in the back. "Why should we risk our lives for a lost cause? I have a family of my own to take care of. If I join the Black Lily, who will care for them if I die in this revolution of yours?"

"Pardon me, sir," interrupted Sienna. "You say you have a wife and family?"

"Aye."

"How many children, sir?"

"Two sons and a daughter." He nudged his companion on his right. "So far."

Another round of masculine laughter.

"So if you do nothing and stay here, who is to say that you will be safe after all?" Silence and gloomy countenances flickered in the dim torchlight. "Let me assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that Queen Morgrid is raising her own army, spreading the blood madness as fast as she can. Rest assured, no matter what the crown promises, we are beyond the security we once had. I have seen the carnage of the blood madness in Sylus and the woods beyond."

Sienna heard a woman whisper to another, "She's the Witch of the Wood."

"Aye." She lowered the hood of her cloak. "I am the Woman of the Wood." Murmurs rose amongst them, but no one interrupted. "And I can tell you from what I've seen, the deaths are growing. The corpses of men, women, and children are piling up. Was it not that long ago that the sweet potato farmer's son here in Hiddleston went missing?" Nods around the room. "He was a victim of the vampires with the blood madness at Glass Tower." More grumblings of discontent. "I tell you this, sir." She aimed her word at the man who spoke out. "If you all remain here and do nothing, you are sure to fall under increasing danger as the blood madness spreads abroad. And so will your families. Do not think that by staying home you will be safe in your warm beds."



       
         
       
        

"Then we'll move away," shouted a thin woman, clinging to the arm of her husband. "We can go north."

Sienna leveled her gaze, the audience seeming to hang on her every word. "There is no place far enough that you can run. If a doe flees into the forest as far as her legs will carry her, does not the wolf simply follow? Our only chance is to stand and fight."

The burly man who started it all bellowed out, "And what if my family comes to harm while I am gone? Who will protect them if I'm off fighting your revolution?"

"Bring them with you," said Sienna, remembering Arabelle's letter and all that she offered to those who would fight alongside them. "I have been assured by Arabelle, the Black Lily herself, that where they are now is safe from prying eyes with room enough for soldiers' families if they care to join them. And this is not just my revolution. It is yours, as well."

"Where is the Black Lily? Why didn't she come herself?"

"Too busy with her vampire prince," the burly man's friend said with a sneer.

"Hold." Ivan stepped in with a hand up. "If it were not for Prince Marius, all of Sylus would surely be dead." The room fell silent again. Only the guttering of the torch standing by the stage made any sound while Ivan let that sink in. "You've all heard the tales that Queen Morgrid held the peasants of Sylus captive. Her plans were to hang them all on the gallows, but it was Marius who staid her hand. And it was Marius's lieutenant"-Ivan pointed at Nikolai who leaned against a side wall, arms crossed, watching in pensive silence-"who abandoned his post, his king and queen, and the safety of the Glass Tower, not only to join the Black Lily, but to train us for battle. And let me tell you, brothers, we are ready for battle. All because of him. This vampire on our side."