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“No,” he ordered, his voice thick with a warning. “Leave her there. We have plenty to attend to before the night ends, and my guard needs to return to his post.”
Draven never moved, despite the order from his king. “Olivia?”
“It’s fine, Draven. Go.” I inhaled deeply as the corner of his eyes crinkled, and pity thinned his lips into a line.
Sargon’s fingers flexed, his gaze burning into Draven’s. “Your loyalty is to me, boy. Not Seraphina.”
Draven glared back. “I’ll always be loyal toOlivia.”
I stepped in front of him before he could anger my father anymore. “He’s loyal to us both,” I promised. “We go back a long time, that’s all. We’re both grateful to you for showing him mercy.”
Draven bit back his words, showing restraint. “So grateful.”
Try to sound less sarcastic, I begged in my mind, hoping he could somehow hear my thoughts.
“Go,” Sargon barked at Draven, then took my arm. Sargon moved the woman’s head to the side with his foot, stepping on her fluffy, gray hair as he walked us away from her.
Everyone continued about their business, pretending not to look at us, but I caught their eyes.
“The entire court is watching you,” Sargon said as the room's drunken chatter and melodic music continued. “You may one day be their queen, should I choose to retire. I forgive your naivete, as you are young, but you must give up your old way of life. You can’t be their savior.” He gestured vaguely to several mortals waiting beyond the tents, sitting at tables, waiting to be fed on. “It is a delicate ecosystem here. I allow my people their desires, and as for the mortals, they do not need saving. They are perfectly content.”
I matched his pace, joining him up the three steps to his throne. “Is it naïve to want to give a dead woman some dignity?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light and curious. “She’s probably been a slave here for most of her life.”
He shrugged, sitting back in his tall throne carved up to a point. “I wouldn’t know. We don’t keep count of our servants’ time here.”
My fingers flexed, and I clasped my hands behind my back, not wanting him to see the rage pricking through me, singeing my veins. “Where’s Mom?” I asked, changing the subject, noticing she’d disappeared since he’d walked into the room.
“Ravena is preparing for your ceremony. I’ve allowed her to handle the preparations.”
“How kind of you,” I stated, struggling—and failing—to keep the bitterness from my voice. “If I may be excused, I need to find Sebastian.”
“Seraphina,” he said before I could leave. It felt wrong to be called by my birth name. “I implore you to stop all this nonsense. It is not in a vampire’s nature to show restraint. You have my protection, but even a king cannot control every one of his subjects. If you meddle in the wrong one’s business, they may kill you.” He paused for a moment. “I can’t lose you again.” His nostrils flared; a breath baited against his lips.
Was that fear I could see beyond those ancient eyes?
“The gods have given us a gift,” he continued. “We are rulers, by blood, chosen to bring peace to Sanmorte.”
Glaring at the crowds dancing between the tables, sliding up and down each other, grinding and exploring their desires without shame, I couldn’t help but hold back a scoff. While I didn’t begrudge anyone for embracing their darker side as the god Laveniuess wanted, I disagreed with how far they would go. Everyone had good and bad inside them, but I judged them on their choices. Most of them enjoyed killing and humiliating mortals. They believed themselves to be the most powerful beings in our world. Therefore, they acted without apology, taking what felt good to them.
“This is peace?” I asked.
“We are safe here,” he explained, leaning forward, staring at the same scene as me, “to be who we were made to be. Mortals hunt us, condemn us for our natures,” he explained, as if I was already one of them. “They do not kill lions because they hunt and kill, yet we are not given the same kindness.”
I couldn’t help but flinch when he touched my shoulder. I spotted Kalon gliding through the hordes of vampires, his poise far more regal than ours. He’d finished feeding from his tent then and didn’t even have a spot of blood on his pristine white robes.
“Vampires have cruelly ripped people from their homes and families for centuries,” I said. “Lions hunt for food, but vampires do it for sport. You can restrain yourselves and feed without killing, yet choose not to.” I thought back to Sebastian, telling me how his family was mercilessly slaughtered before him. “Why does that deserve kindness?”
His icy fingers gripped my wrist, twisting me around to face him. His lips deepened into a frown, a grim look crossing his expression. “Be careful, daughter,” he warned, worry flashing in his features. “They will never accept you with this kind of talk. While you can say it to your mother or me, you cannot go around spewing out this treason.”
“It’s not treason.”
“In three days, you will become one of us yourself. I only hope the transition will allow you some understanding of your people.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“Then gods save your soul.”
I blinked twice. “You think the gods would be angry at me?”
