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Faye remembered herself and turned away. What was wrong with her? “Sparrow, we need to leave.”
Sparrow snorted, glancing back at her. “Fifteen minutes bitch.”
“The guy I ran into issniffing.” They’d stopped at the opposite side of the courtyard near the ornate fountain, between two couples, feeding.
Sparrow’s gaze bounced from the male, nuzzling a woman’s throat to Faye. “But he’s notbiting, so we stay.”
At her sister’s words, Faye imagined she was seated on her vampire’s lap. His long, elegant fingers traced circles on her thigh, inching higher with each rotation. Her nails scratched against the dark material of his jacket as his lips brushed the side of her neck.
“Figures, you would trip over the Shadow Prince.” Sparrow glanced back at the man, who now walked to a more secluded corner of the courtyard.
He couldn’t be. “How do you know who he is?”
“We’re at the Hunter’s Moon ball. Who else would dress like him.?”
“You think he’s the only white-haired vampire?” Faye glanced back in his direction. She watched him, making sure he stayed on his side of the courtyard.
Sparrow hit Faye in the arm. “Look, it’s the High Queen. Ritual time.”
Faye followed Sparrow’s gaze.
The High Queen stood at the center of the balcony, smiling at her guests. Her corseted gown tucked into every curve, accentuating her figure. Moonlight gleaming off the jeweled pins and combs in her shoulder-length rich brown hair tinged with bronze, she carried an effortlessly elegant air to herself.
The string quartet stopped playing as the guests silenced their chatter. Every attendee stood, focusing on their queen.
“Tonight, we give thanks to the Darkness,” The High Queen’s melodic voice carried through the courtyard.
Faye watched the High Queen raise a champagne flute. Her eyes darkened until they mirroredhis. Faye’s gaze snapped to the vampire she ran into earlier. The Shadow Prince. He watched the High Queen from a secluded alcove away from the crowd. A beautiful, dangerous male.
“For the wish granted that gave us life. Join me now as we cast our wishes to the Darkness.” The High Queen continued.
Sparrow leaned closer to Faye. “This is not the vampire orgy I’ve dreamed of.”
Faye glanced down at Sparrow and pouted her bottom lip. “Sad face.”
“I’m stealing a plate of their food, and then we can go.” Sparrow uncaringly walked around the vampires, who closed their eyes as they bowed their heads, making her way back to the food station.
The silence unnerved Faye. She crept around the solemn faces, her gaze wandering to the alcove. He bowed his head like the rest of them, clasping his wrist in front of him.
I wish for an equal.
Startled, Faye turned toward the voice, finding nothing. She heard a deep male voice; he spoke against her ear just behind her. Faye patted Sparrow’s back. “Did you hear that?”
Sparrow turned, holding a plate piled with pastries. “Hear what?”
“Somebody wished for an equal.”
Sparrow snorted. “Nope.” She looked around at the motionless vampires. “I didn’t spot any day-bloods. I would be upset about losing if they didn’t get so boring. Let’s go.”
Faye followed Sparrow, taking one last look at the Hunter’s Moon ball. At the rings housing their dark-blooded soul shards. They were all dark-bloods, Faye realized. She took a sweeping glance over the attendants. Not a day-blood among them.
Dark-bloods looked down on her kind. On anything weaker than them. They loved power, seeking out others they deemed equals.
Pain and anger whispered through her veins. She thought of all the times a dark-blood had dismissed her. Every dark-blood that wanted her, but only as a pet. She’d learned they couldn’t hurt her if she rejected them first.
She thought of the deep male voice and willed all her seething frustration and hurt into a reply she cried in her mind.I can hear you, but you’re no equal to me.A message to every dark-blood she’d met. Every dark-blood she had yet to meet. Her promise.
She would refuse them all.
