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“Sol’s right,” the queen says quietly. Her voice is fond.
Malcolm nods. He still fixes us with a stern look, though. “I appreciate your trust in me. Rest assured, this matter will be investigated and we will deal with him accordingly.”
The man standing by him smirks down at Donovan. Malcolm, as if he can sense it, playfully elbows the man. The man elbows him back.
Okay, so whatever’s going on with these two extra men here, they’re more than guards or advisors. Family? I don’t know how vampire families work.
Malcolm nods at the guards who led us in here, who come up to grab Donovan.
“We sprinkled holy water on the ropes,” North warns them. “Be careful.”
The guards nod at us and take Donovan by the arms, practically picking him up as they drag him away. I feel a wave of relief when he’s out of the room, safely imprisoned and away from me, but I also simultaneously feel a twinge of disappointment. There’s still a part of me that wants to punish him myself.
The queen stares after Donovan, looking rather pleased that he’s being dragged off. Her sense of vindication doesn’t match what I’m feeling, but then again, she doesn’t have personal history with him the way I do. But she still seems glad that he’s getting his comeuppance.
That’s good. Maybe her loyalties do still lie with the fae a bit. Maybe we can trust her, and her husband.
Once the guards and Donovan have left the room, it’s just the eight of us. Cain, Raven, and North all shuffle so that they’re around me properly, now that there’s no vampire for them to wrangle. I appreciate their protectiveness.
“Thank you,” Malcolm says. Then he leans forward and his gaze grows assessing. My stomach flips nervously. “Now. What really brings you here?”
CHAPTER10
Well, the guy’s smart, I’ll give him that.
Cain opens his mouth, but Malcolm waves his hand dismissively. “Don’t lie to me. O’Shae is not enough to bring four fae into the heart of danger. There are a dozen other ways you could’ve gotten this information to me for us to act on and none of it would involve you coming to us directly like this. And out of nowhere. What’s going on?”
I take a deep breath and step in front of the men. “I know that this is going to sound too fantastic to be real. If you need to drink my blood to see if I’m telling the truth then go ahead. But I promise you, everything that I’m going to tell you is real, and if you need to corroborate it I’m sure you can get the truth out of Donovan. I don’t care how you do it.”
The four vampires seem amused and perhaps, just a little, understanding at my harsh tone about Donovan. I don’t care. They’re going to find out our personal connection soon anyway once they talk to Donovan and get the story from him as well. There’s really no point in me hiding my animosity for him.
I try to be brief as possible, but I explain the whole thing: how I stole an Aurora Gem from Donovan and he sent people after me to get it back because he needed to gift the gem to Roanac, since he owed the man. How when I offered Donovan something else instead, I accidentally cut myself and he tasted my blood and realized I was ‘pureblood fae’. He brought me to Roanac, we escaped, we captured Donovan, he betrayed us, and Roanac was able to activate my blood and steal some of it.
“I’m not entirely sure what my powers are,” I wrap up. “I didn’t even know what a pureblood fae was until Roanac was talking about it. I have the blood of the ancients, apparently. But I do know that since the ritual with Roanac, I’m able to project incredibly powerful glamours. Not just stuff you can see, but stuff you can smell and hear and feel.”
The queen leans forward, looking incredibly interested.
“If I can do that, then I don’t know what Roanac’s capable of, he was so powerful already.” I explain what happened after Roanac took my power, how he’s gone to this island that seems to have magic in its very bones and how we went after him, how we failed but managed to get Donovan instead.
“I think that Roanac is a threat to all supernaturals,” I wrap up. I explain my theories and my fears. “This isn’t just a fae issue, this is an issue for all of us. I wouldn’t be coming to you if I didn’t think that this was serious. And it’s because of Donovan that I think you’ll be able to take us seriously and he can corroborate everything I’ve said.”
The four listen patiently, and then the two men on either side of the thrones move in. With them standing while the king and queen are sitting on the thrones, the four of them are the same height and can bend their heads together to council with one another.
I step back and glance at my mates. I can feel their pride in me, and it reassures me. I just hope that the two, or rather four, people in front of me will agree with what I say.
The four talk in low voices, all of them listening to each other. I’m shocked. Whoever these two men are, Sol and the other one, they seem to be talking to the rulers not simply as advisors but as equals, and rather casual equals at that. The dark-haired one lays his hand on Malcolm’s arm, the queen touches all of them, and at one point Malcolm says something that makes Sol smile briefly for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
Again, I wonder what their relationship is and what’s going on here with them. Hmm.
Not like I can ask them, though. I’m pretty sure that would be considered rude and we’re on thin ice as it is, storming in here.
The four debate privately, each listening to each other, and then turn to face us again. They’re a bit more casual than before, a bit more relaxed, and honestly, I’m suddenly struck by how much they remind me of, well, me and my mates. Huh. I wonder even more now what the deal is between them.
“It’s a risk,” Malcolm says, “but we feel that we have a responsibility to the supernatural community, not just vampires. We’re a part of a greater whole. Vampires are powerful and so we have a responsibility to protect and take care of the other supernatural people in our community.”
He sounds like he’s repeating not just what he’s thinking but what the other three said to him, speaking not just as himself but as part of the larger whole.
I can hardly believe that all four of them work together as one entity instead of just doing what Malcolm says. I guess the rumors are true and things really are changing with the vampire community, or at least with the king, and Malcolm probably can’t change everything at once but it’s far more than I ever expected from any vampire, ever. A sense of responsibility? Taking care of the supernatural community? Seeing it not as vampires ruling over or on their own against everyone else but protecting and being part of a greater whole?
