‘We need to talk about what happens next.’ My mother, still quiet.
‘What’s there to talk about? I know what I’m supposed to do when we get to Jennie’s. Win everyone over with how amazing I am, so they don’t want to challenge my right to rule and fight father. Except, I’m not amazing, and I doubt anyone will think that!’ Tears come to my eyes. ‘Just because you say I deserve the crown, it doesn’t mean I actually do.’
‘Correct.’ My father’s voice is grave. ‘And it’s important you understand that. Vampires honour the ancient bloodlines, but they still hold their rulers accountable. It’s why things like the Challenge exist, why we anoint our heirs at eighteen, passing the crown on even though we are still able to rule. It is to guard against tyranny, against weakness, against a ruler who stays too long.’
‘And each heir has to learn how to rule,’ my mother says.
‘I do not want to spend the next twenty years making mistakes while you watch over my shoulder!’ I hiss. ‘There are five families who think I’m not fit to rule. Maybe they’re right!’
I get up, unable to take any more, heading to my room and closing the door. I sit on the bed, pulling my knees to my chest. I want to go home. More than that, I want to go back to the Safe Zone, to my little white house with Michael and Laurel. But Laurel is dead and the house is empty. And Michael, no matter how I want it to be different, is gone. Giving up is not an option.
There’s a knock on my door. I ignore it. It’s probably my mother. But the door opens to reveal Varin, holding a steaming mug of tea. He crosses my room, light on his feet, placing the tea next to me.
‘May I?’ He gestures to the end of my bed.
‘Yes.’ Sophie will die when I tell her about this. The thought cheers me a little. The bed shifts as Varin sits down, his raven-dark hair in waves around his handsome face.
‘Did my parents send you up here to talk to me?’
‘Your parents are worried about you,’ he says, his voice gentle. ‘We all are.’
‘I shouldn’t have shouted at you earlier. I’m sorry.’
‘No, you should have. There’s nothing wrong in standing up for what you believe.’
‘It doesn’t matter, anyway. Nothing’s going to change. My project is a disaster. The families don’t think I’m fit to rule.’ Irub the ache in my chest, my throat raw. ‘I can’t even do the Morningstar properly!’
‘Firstly, being able to do the Morningstar at the speed of myself, or your father, requires years of practice. We’re both impressed by how well you’ve picked things up. You’re coming along quickly but can’t expect to master it in a matter of weeks. I knew humans who could do it, though, and none of them had vampire blood like you. As for the rest of it … yes, what you saw tonight is a setback for your project. It doesn’t mean it’s a disaster, though. You will respond, and they will regret what they did. But what you’ve done out there, what you’ve created, is very much as things were. It’s a shame, I think, how much has been lost in the intervening years.’
‘What was it like, before the Red Rising?’
‘In the old world?’ Varin smiles a little, his gaze distant. ‘It worked, for a long time, until it didn’t. Vampires were legend to most people, and we were happy to remain separate, hunting near battlefields, in the darkness of forests and tangled city streets, generations of human families content to work for us and with us, while keeping our secrets.’
‘If you were so happy, why did the Rising happen? Vampires already ruled the night.’
Varin’s dark brows come together. ‘It was…’ His frown deepens and, in one fluid motion, he stands and draws his sword.
I tense. But Varin simply balances the blade across one finger, light catching the ribbon of steel. ‘You see this, how the sword is balanced. Everything equal, held at a point of equilibrium.’
I nod.
‘That’s how it was, for centuries upon centuries. Vampires ruled the night, as you say; their world mostly separate from that of humans, who ruled the day.’
‘Why take over, then?’
‘Night was being taken from us. We can take a little light, as you know, like the gleam of that candle lamp.’ He nods to the one on the nearby table. ‘But as the human population grew in both volume and technology, all of a sudden, lights were everywhere, polluting the night sky so we could no longer see the stars, their beams becoming more and more powerful, spreading across the globe. We were pushed into the shadows, relegated to pop-culture villains. It became almost impossible for vampires to hunt, our people starving. So, we took action. We took back the night.’
‘But you took the days as well,’ I say. ‘You took everything.’
‘I agree.’ Varin moves his hand, and his sword drops to one side. He catches it by the hilt, sheathing it, utterly lethal, utterly beautiful. ‘The balance was too far gone one way. Now it is too far gone the other.’
‘All because there was too much light?’ This seems hard to believe.
‘Light is lethal to us. Blood is what we need to survive. It seemed logical, at the time.’
‘Do you still think it’s logical?’
Varin shakes his head. ‘No.’
