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“Oh I’m sure you’ve planned a bunch of fun surprises,” Nigel grinned. “But there had to be blood. It had to look real. Some questioned my narrative. That Damien would really kill his own father, that we weren’t safe even in the citadel. And now you’re here; proving you’re exactly the threat I said you were. You’ve even gathered up and exposed all the people who hate the covenant; collecting them from the compounds like a gift basket. Whatever happens next is your fault. I wasn’t sure you’d be so stupid, but I guess love makes us do stupid things.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. The whole city was a damn trap; just like the cave had been for me.I had to warn them.
“Now that your friends have attacked, I can kill whoever I want with impunity, without breaking the covenant. Don’t you see? I can extinguish the revelation for good, pulled up by the roots. And you’ve absolved me of all wrongdoing, the night I take the throne.”
“What are you going to do to them?” I asked. I felt a swelling in my mouth and lips, and pain in my teeth and bones. A sign the elixir was running its course through my body. I was healing, but I was weak again.
“You know what you do when the winter comes?” Nigel asked. “You preserve the fruit so it doesn’t spoil. Tonight I’ll start over, purge anybody who doesn’t come to my ceremony. I’ll blame it all on you; it’ll make a pretty story. The treacherous, bloody bride, who snuck into the citadel with a revolution on her heels, to die with her elite lover. Or to finish off Richard’s line completely. I haven’t figured out the details yet.”
“You’re going to kill them?” I asked, my eyes widening. Not just my allies, the rebels. Those who knew the risks. But regular citizens.
“What did you think would happen?” Nigel gloated. “Too many mouths to feed. Why feed the humans when you can juice them? But don’t worry, everyone who attends the crowning will be saved. And only them. Everyone else… will be harvested.”
Nigel paused for effect, considering my face, his eyes gleaming in the dim light. His wounds had no doubt healed, but he must be getting thirsty. And he’d want to change his clothes before his big ceremony. My best efforts, and I’d only been a minor inconvenience.
“Nothing as wasteful or gruesome as Quondam. No, I’ll collect them from their beds while they sleep, and turn them into preservatives. Blood pudding in little portable containers. Humane really, if you think about it. They’ll die quietly, which is more than I can say for your rebels. Without you and Damien to lead them, I doubt they’ll last long in a city of vampires. There’s no way out of this tomb, but perhaps you’ll hear their screams.”
“Not all the elite are with you,” I said.
“Maybe. But thanks to you, I have a cure, remember? A way to weaken them, age them. Maybe I’ll poison them all, until I’m the only immortal left. A king with divine powers.”
“I doubt they’ll take kindly to that,” I said, thinking of Augustine. If the walls had truly been breached, were my allies already fighting? The real battle wouldn’t begin until the sun went down, and Nigel seemed in no hurry to leave. But the light was only a foot away from Damien now and moving swiftly.
“I’m not going to ask them. I’ll raze the compounds, down to their roots, starting with everyone in the citadel. One by one. Purging them of everyone but the children. And I’ll start again. I won’t need all the extra blood supply, once the elite numbers are reduced. In ten years it’ll be like none of this ever happened. The only king they will remember is me; as will their children and grandchildren. What do you think, everyone under ten? Or five?”
“Counting, chicken, eggs,” I said. “How does that go again?” I turned away, acting disinterested. “Wouldn’t it be ironic, if the reason I beat you, was because you wasted so much breath dreaming up fantasies before you’d won the battle?”
“Well then, since you aren’t feeling chatty, I’ll leave you here to rot with your prince. Maybe you’ll be more servile after Damien is a heap of smoldering ash. It shouldn’t be long now. Unfortunately, I won’t be here to witness it. I have a coronation to attend. But I’ll check back after my crowning. Or maybe in a few years, I’ll come back to see how your bones have scattered, and decipher how spent your final moments. All romances must end in tragedy. That’s the point, and the appeal. Happy ever afters are boring and predictable. The greater the suffering, the greater the satisfaction. And love between an elite and a human, it’s just not possible.”
I wanted to get in a last retort, but my tongue was dry. Nigel raced up the entrance and slammed the gate shut, leaving me in the chamber of bones, my heart pounding in my chest, a silence like the gallows ringing in my ears.
I stumbled closer to Damien, clutching my ribs and feeling my throbbing headache spread down my neck, to the bruises where Nigel had grabbed me. He jerked up when he smelled me, but his eyes were wild and dark red, his fangs fully extended. With his injuries, and not enough blood, his body was burning, like a machine without oil. All he could feel was pain and thirst. The chains around him were as thick as my arm. Not something I’d be able to break, no matter how much elixir I had in my system. I stood out of reach a dozen paces away, my heart beating like an alarm, as the sunlight crept closer.
Nigel was right. If I unlocked Damien, he’d feed on me, or my siblings. He couldn’t help it, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. He’d probably kill me before I could even unlock the chains, which meant he’d burn with my corpse in his arms. That’s why Nigel had toyed with me, baiting me into a fight. To make sure I was weak and helpless.
I scanned the shallow water for the bronze key, but couldn’t spot it, and there wasn’t time to search. All we’d been through, to get the elixir, the cure, to be so close to success… and it had led to this.
The sunlight cut through the darkness like a razor. The weapon I’d unleashed. An unstoppable march across the floor, a wall of light that seemed to move several inches each time I looked.
All the elixir, the anger and rage, was purged from my body, and I felt numb. I still wasn’t fast or strong enough, not for a hungry elite. Not even for one who loved me. The king was right to fear me, and Damien was a fool for loving me. I had brought the king to ruin, and Damien, to his death.
All these thoughts sped through my mind, sparkling like fireworks before flashing out. I had to stop Nigel, before he turned Jamie elite, before he killed all of my friends, everyone I’d enlisted in my mad quest. But that challenge seemed distant, and too daunting. I stepped closer, wringing my hands. I couldn’t solve this problem with reason, or make a choice about who to save. I couldn’t lose any of them.
My pulse spiked as I watched Damien. Even if I managed to get out of here, I couldn’t stop the sun, and I wasn’t ready to let him go. His eyes connected with mine, black and empty, but there was a kind of sadness there too. A yearning, for me, for my blood. For life. I wondered how much awareness he had left. The light moved closer in slow motion, like golden honey, until Damien’s toes were illuminated. He hissed and shrank away from it, tugging at his chains so hard I thought the pillar would shatter. My heart broke, seeing him in pain.
Love wasn’t a choice.For some reason, Nigel’s infuriating speeches had reminded me of Jazmine’s advice. Their words and faces mixed up together in my muddled brain.
Everyone wanted me to be something. Wanted to steer me, use me like a weapon, just like Tobias had been used. A pen to clutch. But what about what I wanted?
I was in love with Damien.If he burned up, I’d die with him; I’d roll up and become a stone. My flesh would rot off like the thousands of skeletons crushed beneath my feet, until moss grew from my skull. And I could’ve allowed myself to do that. But my allies would be defeated, and tortured. My brother would be turned and my sister would end up as one of Nigel’s renitent brides.
I didn’t care what was best for the kingdom, for the compounds. I couldn’t think about all that right now. I couldn’t think at all. All I knew was I couldn’t lose Damien. One of us had to survive this, and it had to be him, because I was useless without him. If I didn’t save him now, I’d have nothing else worth fighting for.
The cave was as silent as a tomb, but my thoughts were screaming like a tea kettle. Racing for just one more bargain, one more solution, no matter how dire or unfavorable. I would give anything to stop this… but it wasn’t about what I could give. It was something I had to take.
The broken vial of antidote sparkled a few paces away, in a constellation of shattered glass. My only option was something Nigel didn’t expect, but should have.The antidote.There was one way to save Damien, and make him immune to the sun’s burning fire. It was reckless, and I had no idea whether it would work. But I didn’t hesitate.
I raced to it and bent my head, slurping it out of the festering, shallow water of graves and bones. The formula sparkled on the surface, shimmering pink. I scooped it up with my stained palms and fingers. I licked it off the shiny crown of a skull, tongue darting between the eye sockets to catch every drip, feeling the sweet stickiness in the back of my throat.
