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A stone settled in Haven’s stomach. “He stumbled on the Veritas’s hiding place and saw that they sought to sell me to the vampyres as cattle because of my blood.”
“The Veritas procured you, Haven. They procured you for Thorne in exchange for information and weaponry. He told me what he’d supplied them with was faulty and false. But now, who knows? He’s a liar. He’s always been a liar.”
Haven’s head swam. “It’s not true. Thorne saved me.”
“From a predicament he placed you in to begin with. He asked them to find him a young beauty with the sweetest blood. Everything you’ve undergone, all the horrors before you came into this life were because Thorne asked for you.”
Haven’s head hurt. He shook his head, staggering back. “Why now? Why now would you tell me this? If you’ve known all along?”
“I knew it would hurt you. And I didn’t want you to hurt. But now, you’re in danger. He has to find someone to blame. And who better than the boy he plucked from the Veritas’s nest?”
“He wouldn’t do that. He loves me.”
“Does he?” Gaius’s brow creased, his eyes going soft and sad. “How does he show that love? By selling you off to his allies? By pumping you so full of Ambrosia that you can’t feel, can’t think?”
Tears of denial filled Haven’s eyes. He tugged his hand from Gaius’s to run it through his hair, to massage his temple.
“What has Thorne ever done for you but turn you into a vampyre? It wasn’t something you wanted, was it? Back then, he convinced you that it was. But truly? You’re miserable. You want your humanity back. You want to see the sun, truly see it. You know I can help you with that. I can deliver you to the Cure. I will. But you must act before Thorne can make the first move. You must turn on him. Tell the Council you know of his conspiring with the Veritas.”
“But it’s not true.”
“That doesn’t matter.” Gaius took Haven’s face in his hands and locked their gazes. “What matters is keeping you safe.” He reached into the interior pocket of his velvet jacket and withdrew a torn envelope. On its front was the Bathory seal. “You’ll give this to Lord Tepes. Tell him you intercepted it on its way out of the castle.”
“What is it?”
“A letter. From Thorne to the leader of the Veritas.”
Haven’s hands shook. “May I see it?”
Gaius nodded and handed it over. Haven’s fingers slid over the thick parchment, examining it closely as he pulled it from the letter’s sheath. Inside, the calligraphy was defined and precise. It looked so near to Thorne’s, it might have been indecipherable to an untrained eye. But there. That loop was too wide, that slant too bold. The dots of ink that smudged the page near the bottom. Thorne would never allow such careless messiness. Not even in a letter such as this one.
It was a forgery. A believable one, but faked nonetheless.
“Thorne didn’t write this.”
“He may as well have. He’s taken many other actions of precarious intent. I don’t doubt his treacheries, Haven. Perhaps not in this matter, but against the Dominion, against the vampyre race. Against me. Thorne must be put in his place.”
“The Dominion wants him removed from power. They’re using this as a way to achieve that gain. Isn’t that so? Was this entire meeting staged to frame Thorne?”
Gaius blinked, stalling. “Haven…”
“Have there...have there even been any Veritas attacks?”
Gaius paused, his brow furrowing. “Haven, you know better than any of us the viciousness of the Veritas. The lengths they’re willing to go to—”
“Answer my question, Gaius.”
“The attacks have become less frequent,” Gaius admitted, and Haven felt suddenly nauseous. “But they still happen, and the Veritas still exists. It’s gathering supporters. Biding time. Soon, we won’t be able to stop it. And we can’t have those among us with questionable loyalty.”
“This is wrong, Gaius.” Haven knew his master. He knew how Thorne could be cruel and cunning, how his actions could hurt and his words could barb. His involvement in untoward advancements was perhaps likely. But framing him…it wasn’t something Haven could stomach.
Gaius’s expression hardened like stone. He glared at Haven, now incredibly cold. “Wrong? No. What’s wrong is betraying your own kind, pursuing selfish means when we’re in the middle of a war that will decide the fate of our people. The humans are evil; they self-sabotage and destroy. If left to their own devices, they’d only doom Terra further. They almost did it once. Had it not been for vampyre intervention, all life might have ceased to exist.”
“Thorne has no reason for wanting the vampyres to lose the war. He’d be just as affected by that as the rest of us.”
“Sometimes, I think Thorne does things just to see how they will play out. Like a test. He wants to watch the world burn because he thinks it’s fun. Can you deny it’s true?”
Haven shook his head. It wasn’t outside of Thorne’s character to pick the wings off flies. To lock a desperately hungry vampyre in a room with a human and wait to see what would happen.
