Page 39
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, General.”
“You as well.”
I walked the six feet to the vacant, high-backed chair on the opposite end of Queen Mydusia and plopped myself down, leaning back to portray a portrait of ease. The queen surveyed me for a moment before she inhaled through her nose and turned back toward the human ambassador.
“Excellent. Now that we’re all here, shall we address your concerns?”
Despite my posture, my thoughts raced as I funneled my Mind Manipulating power at the human ambassador, picking out necessary bits of information.
His name was Noris Madran from Orvridge, Pliyith. He’d spent three months sailing here with a crew and an urgent message from the human governor. Considering Pliyith and Sorronia had been allies since the Treaty of Gradaleigh signed fifteen hundred years ago, he shouldn’t have been nervous for this meeting.
But he was. His mind rang out with panic and desperation, so loud I could hardly hear the thoughts boiling underneath.
“The vampires are overrunning our country, Majesty.” Noris licked his lips and sat up straighter in his chair. “They’re everywhere, hiding God knows where during the day and coming out at night to steal our citizens away.”
“You mean like kidnapping?”
That question came from one of the New Good Council members, a sharp-nosed female with ashy skin and hooded eyes that never seemed to blink.
Noris himself blinked rapidly in his effort to maintain eye contact. “Yes, but there’s no similarities between victims, madam. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what type of neighborhood they live in—we estimate that nearly five hundred are disappearing weekly, all over the country. People of all ages, genders, and statuses.”
I frowned. Last year, I’d told Rayna that the human territories weren’t safe anymore, but I hadn’t known to what extent. Five hundred people disappearing weekly?
“And you’re sure it’s the vampires’ doing?” Queen Mydusia asked politely, as if she were asking if Noris wanted sugar and milk with his tea.
The human nodded. “They leave their blood mark behind, Majesty. On floors and windows and doors.”
The image that bloomed in his mind made goosebumps rise on the back of my neck. I’d only ever seen the symbol in texts, but Noris must have seen one in person: a triangular marking that ancient vampires used to mark their territories.
“Oh, how very horrible.” Mydusia’s sickly sweet voice made me ball my hands into fists beneath the table.
She didn’t think it was horrible. She didn’t care about human lives or else she wouldn’t have ordered me to murder thousands of them. The only reason she was even entertaining this man was because of the Treaty, and even then, I had a feeling she’d dissolve the alliance within half a heartbeat if Pliyith didn’t have such a vast military and arsenal of weapons.
Right on cue, Mydusia tapped a single finger against her painted lips and asked with high-pitched innocence, “But doesn’t your governor boast of technological warfare far beyond the faeries’ comprehension? How are the vampires even getting in?”
Noris wrung his hands. “We don’t know, that’s the thing, Majesty. It’s like they’re invisible. And weapons don’t work if we can’t see or catch them.”
“I see.”
Silence snaked throughout the room. Mydusia tilted her face toward the New Good Council, and even though her expression remained hidden behind the veil, it seemed to be some sort of indication that they could speak.
“I don’t understand,” one of the males said after a beat. He was the youngest of the five, and had only received a seat on the Council because of his innate power: the ability to sense minor future events. Once he asked his question, he’d be able to guess the answer as surely as I’d be able to pick it out of Noris’s mind. “Our queen has already stationed several battalions of her best faerie warriors in Pliyith for your protection. What more could you be asking us for?”
Noris hesitated for only a moment, his next word slipping out like a plea.
“Magic.”
Mydusia shifted in her high-backed chair. The New Good Council exchanged glances.
“Please,” Noris said. “We need magic to protect us from our common enemy. A charm or a spell to protect us from them, as all your charms and spells protect you. If you would honor our alliance by gifting us a fraction of that power…”
A laugh erupted from the other side of the table. It was the female Good Council member with hooded eyes, throwing back her head with a cackle. The ones on either side of her laughed, too, and—
“Enough,” Mydusia said.
The mirth wilted immediately.
Mydusia cocked her head, veil falling sideways to reveal a sliver of her cheekbone. She barely had to lift a pinky before a bubble of liquidly blue formed in midair, blossoming above the center of the table.
