“Yes, I am a prince. Butyou, highness…” He sneered at Dorian, contempt rising in his eyes. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a vampire king who lives and dies by the fickle whims of his cock.”
Dorian blurred through the crowd, stopping just before his brother and lancing him with another warning glare, but Malcolm was just getting started.
“Your blindness is the only reason House Redthorne even exists,” Malcolm spat. “If you’d been a bit more discerning as a human, you might’ve noticed your whore was a vampire before—”
Malcolm blurred inexplicably from Dorian’s view, crashing hard into the adjacent wall.
Gabriel, who’d just arrived, had him pinned by the throat. “Easy, brother. No need to air the Redthorne laundry in front of our distinguished guests.”
Before Dorian could even process the fact that Gabriel, of all vampires, was actuallydefendinghim, Malcolm fired off a few more rounds.
“You killed our witch!” he shouted. “You tore apart our city, slaughtering entire families with no remorse! Youdestroyedthis family, Dorian!”
Dorian stood there, taking every bullet to the chest, knowing each one was true.
“Even tonight,” Malcolm said, his teeth gritted, eyes glittering with malice, “you’ve brought a human traitor into your bed. A woman connected to Alexei Rogozin.”
A collective gasp spread around the room like wildfire, igniting the gossip as sure as it ignited Dorian’s wrath.
Everything else had been fair game. Cruel, perhaps, but fair.
But Malcolm hadnoright to bring Charlotte into this. No right to put her in danger.
Malcolm’s vacated chair was close at hand, and Dorian grabbed it without a second thought, smashing it against the table. Gripping a sharp, jagged piece of wood, he turned to the mob and shouted, “Who among you can claim innocence? Who among you hasn’t spilled a single drop of blood?”
Dozens of eyes stared back at him, shocked and vacant in their pale faces.
No one uttered a word. Not the assembled guests. Not his brothers. Not Aiden, who’d just joined them.
“Who among you is prepared to deal with our enemies by any means necessary?” Dorian asked, turning to the cage behind him.
Still, no one spoke.
In a blur, he smashed through the cage and hauled the gray out by its throat, lifting it to its feet. Then, with everyone watching in abject horror, he buried the stake in the creature’s chest.
It should’ve killed it—should’ve killedanyvampire—but of course, it didn’t.
Gabriel released his hold on Malcolm, and the vampires in the vicinity skittered backward, shocked and confused by the ineffectiveness of the stake.
“What about you, brother?” Dorian asked, turning the gray toward Malcolm. “Since you’re so keen to lead us into that big, bright future, perhaps you’ve already got a plan for dealing with this?”
“Dorian,” Gabriel warned. “Perhaps now is not the time for—”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Dorian rolled his eyes. Keeping one hand secured around the gray’s throat, he shoved his fist through its back and tore out the heart.
Again, the gray survived.
“This.” Dorian held up the ravaged heart, blood dripping down his arm as the gray moaned and twitched in his grip, broken and bloodied but just as alive as every other vampire in that room. “This is but a preview of what Duchanes is planning. So, I ask… Who among you wishes to challenge your king for a shot at the helm?”
Silence.
“After all your talk of regime changes and peace,” he said, “is there no vampire brave enough to take the reins?”
None of them spoke. None of them even breathed. The only sound in that room was the gray’s blood splattering on the hardwood floor.
“Ours isnota democracy.” Dorian pitched the heart onto the table, where it slid and skidded to a halt in front of Lawrence Deegan. “We unite, undermyrule, or we die. If any of you need a moment to consider your options, feel free to take a stroll outside to clear your minds. Though, I’d advise you to stay within shouting distance, unless you’re keen to meet another of our less civilized brethren.”
With that, as swiftly as he’d torn out the bloody heart, Dorian ripped the amulet from the gray’s neck. Seconds later, the creature—heart and body both—turned to ash.
