“I’ll join him,” I say.
This time there’s no denying the look of displeasure that crosses the Queen’s face. “My second son,” she says curtly. “Forgive them, they have no tact for politics.”
“We are not here to interfere,” Collin says. “Let them do as they wish. This welcome is more than enough.”
Mother shoots me a scathing look, but then nods. “Very well.”
In a second Raul and I take off into the trees.
We run in the direction the scream came from.
There, we stumble upon a ghastly sight.
Patricia is bound to the trunk of a tree. Her clothes are in tatters. There is blood on the front of her shirt, pooling from a horrendous gash in her neck.
Her head hangs limp, and her eyes are open… but unseeing.
She’s dead.
“No!” I gasp. “No, it can’t be!”
Raul approaches the area carefully.
“She was left here as bait,” he says. “But the trap was set improperly.”
He picks up a rock, takes aim, and flings it at the spot just below the dead vampire’s feet.
A silver net, just large enough to catch an animal the size of a bear, shoots down from the tops of the trees. It hits the ground and folds lamely in on itself.
My brother and I share a concerned look. “The Narwhark,” I breathe.
“I suspect so.”
Raul creeps closer to the hanging vampire. He touches his fingers to her blood, then brings them to his lips.
He spits it out immediately.
“Tainted,” he says. He points at the cut across her neck. It’s savage and uneven and lethal, almost like somebody took a wood-axe to her throat. “No vampire would kill like this. You’re right. It was the demon.”
“A failed attempt to capture it. Would Mother be desperate enough to try?”
Raul shakes his head. “No. Not yet. Not if she knows what the demon is capable of.”
“Then who? Smithson?”
“He’s the only other one who knows about it. Maybe he thought this would help curry favor with the Queen.”
I grunt. “He was keenly aware of her hatred for Patricia.” I look away. I can’t take the sight of her lifeless body.
Raul places a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I saved her,” I say softly. “I gave up my ideals to grant her life. And she ends up being… slaughtered… like this.”
I spit in disgust. “Let’s get her down. No vampire deserves to be seen like this.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
RAUL
An enormous feast is hosted for the visiting vampires later that night. It takes place in the middle of the village, where most of the homes have already been rebuilt. All of The Haven vampires attend. It’s an unusual opportunity for members of the Incolam to mingle with both the elite and the Royal Court.
Mother had kegs and kegs of blood brought out from her personal stores—the ones separate from the blood banks. They are mixed with wine, so that as we drink, tongues become looser, inhibitions are abandoned, and friends more easily made.
There is music playing and dancing. I get asked to dance by more than my fair share of pretty female vampires. It is a rare chance for them to attach themselves to the Prince.
I turn each offer down. My thoughts are solely on Eleira, suffering in that horrible holding cell.
I’ve been weighing my options all day. If I break her out, I’d be going directly against Mother—again. And I’ve already exhausted her reservoir of goodwill for me.
But if I use my wits… if I somehow convince the vampire Queen that Eleira should be given another chance… then maybe, just maybe, Mother will see reason and let Eleira go.
I look up at the table at the head of the room. Mother is sitting in the tallest chair with a jewelled crown atop her head. I haven’t seen that gaudy thing in centuries.
On her left-hand side sit Collin, Mark, and Nestar, drinking from their goblets and sharing stories with each other. Mother glances at them occasionally while granting them a small bit of her attention.
Most of her focus, however, is on the man on her right.
Smithson.
When did she and he become so… comfortable together?
I see the way she clings onto his every word. As the night progresses, she touches him more and more, on the arm, on the wrist, on the chest…
It quickly becomes obvious that if I want to influence Mother, Smithson is the man I have to go through.
At a certain point he excuses himself from the table. I take it as my chance. I follow him into the night.
The door behind me barely has a chance to swing shut as he steps out from beside the building and lunges for me. I’d been expecting that, however. I parry the attack, spinning us both so his back collides against the outside of the building.