AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After all, he believed if Sanmorte was to one day become his, then he needed to ensure there was a kingdom left. A war with Asland would destroy us all, and if Sargon had any sense, he would have listened to his wife. She was the one speaking the most sense. Even his daughter had more than him.
Sargon disappeared through the tall, arched doors with Ravena and Azia. I was glad to be rid of them all, including that sorcerer. He thought himself better than any of us. My fingers flexed on seeing his pompous stride. Just because he had magic. But he didn’t have fangs, like me. I’d enjoy sinking them into his throat if I could get away with it.
One day I would.
Father grasped my shoulder, my skin slicing open under his nails before I could put enough distance between us now the room had emptied. “You spilled it on purpose. Why?” He pulled me back to his side, toppling me farther until I hit the wall behind us. His snake-green stare latched onto mine, the low light enhancing the burning rage behind his eyes. There was little point in lying. To his frustration and benefit, we were too alike, as if we were blood.
I lifted my chin at the man who’d adopted me seventy years ago, when I was nothing but a washed-up merchant clawing my way out of the shipwreck. I was a good man then. It’s a good thing he was dead.
“I saved us,” I said in a hiss, digging my nails into his wrist until he removed his grasp. “You refused to listen before, so I took matters into my own hands.”
“That,” he spat, nostrils flaring, “was our only chance.” His voice lowered, a shaking in the raspy deepness as he tried, but failed to contain his anger. “You foolish boy.”
“There will be other chances.” I stepped out of his shadow, my shoulders tensing as I looked around the room, smelling the sweet lace of Seraphina’s blood that had dripped as Sebastian fed on her. Closing my eyes, I imagined my mouth on her, filling myself up on the blood of a sorceress. It was the highest of highs, a luxury to be sure.
“Niall.”
I’d launched into the speech I’d prepared in my head while she was on the other side. “Azia would have known, when he touched her. He’d have sensed the magic in the mixture still in her veins. Besides, Sebastian ended up sucking her dry, anyway. So it wouldn’t have worked.”
His eyelashes flickered, the skin under his eye twitching his stretched skin. He knew I was right, not that he’d admit it, but we couldn’t have known she would die that way. She was supposed to use the dagger.
“You have the power of foresight now, I see?”
I composed my emotions, blocking his attempt to feel them. He couldn’t manipulate them, but he was an empath, like Seraphina, only he had better control than anyone I’d seen. They didn’t affect him because his heart was stone cold after his centuries. “I thought of every eventuality, and it’s a good thing I did. Else we’d have been the prime suspects. You sentyourservants to fetch the ingredients instead of using others.”
His jaw clenched, his robes swaying around his thin legs as he paced the length of the room. “I do not believe you.” He tried to feel my emotions again, but the wall I’d built since learning of his ability was strong. “But I suppose you’re right.”
The corner of my lip lifted. I wondered how much that pained him to say.
“Clean that up,” he ordered, turning his back to me and speeding out of the throne room. I glanced at the venom, deciding to send for one of the mortal servants to do it. I was no one’s fucking housekeeper.
My stomach tightened as her blood's aroma reached through the venom's stench. Crimson blotted my thoughts, and I headed to the feeding room.
***
Fuck.
Gwendolyn spotted me as I walked into the feeding room. She wiped her lips of the mortal she’d eaten, slumping him against the table as he lost consciousness. She always overindulged. We at least always had that in common.
My heart raced as I let out a breathy sigh. The blackness lifted from the sky, sending a pink light through the tall windows, blending with the flames from the torches on the walls.
I’d successfully avoided her since I came back. We hadn’t seen each other in a year. I’d hoped to continue evading her presence, but this had to happen at some point.
I’d hoped she’d returned to the City of Nightmares after she sent me flying from the castle after her little games. But she was still here, torturing me with a purposeful smile as if we didn’t share a history tangled in darkness and hate. She slowly made her way over to me, fluttering those damn eyelashes when she reached me.
“We haven’t had the chance to talk yet,” she said, her voice smothering me like silk, flooding back the obsession I’d spent twelve months sedating. “I’ve missed you, Niall.”
My name on her lips unexpectedly dipped my stomach, swirling bubbling anger, singeing my veins. “We both know that’s bullshit.”
“Oh, come now.” Her face split into a grin. “I speak nothing but the truth.”
I scoffed a laugh. “You’re a good liar, sweetheart. You’ve been learning.” I couldn’t tear my gaze from hers, the intensity of it burning into me.
“I had a good teacher.” She winked, and moved a pace closer, her lavender-laced scent just as intoxicating as I remembered.
The urge to run from the girl who’d destroyed my life, was overcome by the magnetism rooting me in place. Tension thickened the air, the words cutting into a place I kept buried.
“Niall, speechless…” She raised an arched eyebrow. “That’s a first. What happened to the man who had a quip for everything?”
