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“Who’s he?” I asked, squinting at the door. I bet it was Kalon.
My heart hammered when I saw him. I parted my parched lips, my tongue feeling like sandpaper in my mouth.
Astor tilted his head, sliding his icy eyes to mine. Out of everyone I expected to walk through that door—Kalon, Velda, hell, even Gwen, I didn’t expect Astor. He should have been at the top of the suspect list. He’d lost everything, and I’d been horrible to him, for a good reason, but still. I was sure he didn’t see it that way. Astor had faked his suicide before, and allowed the mass slaughter of his friends. This shouldn’t be that surprising, yet, my stomach was in knots.
He looked me up and down. “I offered you the opportunity to marry me, but you had to choose Sebastian.” His nostrils flared, the muscle above his lip feathering.
“So you—” I coughed, choking on my lack of saliva. “You sided withthem? Because I wouldn’t marry you?”
“That’s not the only reason.” He paced in a circle, and I stared at the man I’d spent years with, someone I once loved. That was when I saw what Sebastian had said—a lack of light. The boy I knew was gone, replaced by something monstrous. “Gwen,” he continued, seeming uneasy around the aniccipere, too, with a slight tremble whenever he got too close to one, “chose Kalon’s bastard son over me. The only reason I didn’t leave the bitch is because she provided me with protection. It was fun for a while, though. She was such a tease, and gods, that mouth.” He glanced down at my bare breasts. “Unlike you. You were always so—” He paused “—prudish. And now I’m left with nothing. Your mom has made several attempts to get me out of the castle and cast me into exile. Once Gwen and Velda’s loyalties started waning, I realized I needed to take control of my own fate.”
“So you joined Hamza’s band of idiots?”
Pain stung through my cheek and nose, sending a ringing into my ears. It took me a moment to register I’d been slapped by an aniccipere. Blood spattered from my lip onto the ground, and I glared at the creature with deep loathing.
Astor didn’t even wince, and I ran cold as I watched a sadistic smile curl on his lips. Lips I’d once kissed. “Like me, they have been cast aside. Forgotten by the precious monarchy and that fool, Sargon. Hamza felt the same way, until your actions killed him.”
My heart raced. “He tried to rape me. He was a psychopath.”
Astor shrugged. “Hamza sought me out when I arrived. He saw in me something none of you did.”
I shuddered against the cold. “Evil?”
“Power,” he snapped. “Then he was dead, and you were giving orders, talking of right and wrong as if you were so righteous. Then the gods gave you immortality—without vampirism—as if you’re so fucking special. I know you, Olivia. You were always such a naive little bitch who cried over everything, and I still tried to protect you when they came for your mom at the guild. But you were so ungrateful, so hurtful, and now….” He trailed off, looking at one of the soul vampires. “I’ve chosen the right side.”
I shook my head. “This is not the right side.”
He closed the distance between us, grabbing my chin, and lifting my face to examine me. “You don’t get to have everything! You did nothing to deserve this. I’m the one who sought the vampires out. I did my research and persuaded them to turn me, something most mortals never succeed in doing.”
My jaw clenched as I wrestled against the ropes. “Congratulations.”
He released me. “Well, now you know the true cost of such power. They want Sargon removed from the throne and Kalon dead. You’re the key to tearing it all down. Gods know your father, mom, and Sebastian won’t let anything happen to you. That’s why I waited. I was so pleased when I learned you’d gotten close to your dad. You are his weakness.”
My throat burned as fatigue and dizziness waved through me. “I need water.”
His nose wrinkled as he turned to an aniccipere. “Bring it.”
The creature nodded, then returned with a glass. “False princess.” The creature angled its head. “Here’s your drink.”
I could smell the poison-laced in the liquid, one keeping me from my magic, but my body ached for the drink. “No.”
The aniccipere dragged its long talon across my neck. Its lipless mouth curled into a sadistic smile, showing off its needle-like teeth. I recalled the gutted mortal I’d once seen on the streets of the City of Nightmares.
The creature pinched my nose, forcing my mouth open for a gasp of air. He tipped the poison mixed into water into my mouth, then shut my jaw with such force my teeth trembled in my gums. “Swallow, or I’ll cut out your eyes,” he spat.
I swallowed hard, pinching my eyes shut. The poison burned the back of my throat, trickling into my stomach. Within seconds, it entered my bloodstream, weakening me from the inside. The memory of Sebastian having to drink the same poison when we were in the dungeons, floated back. Except they’d laced blood with it and gave him the choice of drinking that or dying from starvation.
I could barely make out what Astor was saying as a ringing sounded in my ears. My eyelids closed, and I heard Astor whisper, “When your husband comes for you, he’ll be the first I kill,” before the blackness stole me, and I fell to the mercy of my enemies.
The End…For now
