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The minty fragrance swamped the space.
I coughed from the all-consuming smell.
My claws shredded through my skin.
This is madness.
They all clucked and whistled back to Spenrik and Tru.
They were going to kill us.
It should have been obvious to us.
They had too easily welcomed us into their territory. Even if my queen had been convincing, it would make no sense for them to simply invite two vampire kings within their land if they did not plan to kill them.
We almost died.
Camille placed her soft hand in mine. “Settle down, my king. No one is challenging you.”
“Please stay next to me.” I drew in my fangs and claws. “If they hurt you—”
“They won’t.”
Tru motioned to us. “Hear me now! These are our friends. None shall be harmed without our order.”
Without their order?
The king inside me didn’t like that.
I tightened my hold on Camille.
Maybe I should rip out the chiefs’ tongues to guarantee no orders are spoken to harm us.
“Are you calm?” Camille asked.
“For now.”
All of the hundreds of mage lowered to their knees. For some reason, the king within me sank back down into myself and was soothed.
They weren’t bowing to me; they lowered for their tribal leaders, but still, they lowered, and that was enough.
“We should head to our feasts.” As if they had not intended to kill us, Spenrik strolled past and gestured for us to follow. “We’d planned on the feast to celebrate our annihilation of you and your people. But now it seems you really shall live tonight and rejoice with us on our union and even the possibility of destroying the Quiet King.”
Is this for real?
I turned to Ian.
He kept his voice down. “Just go with it, and remain calm.”
They’re too confident. I should slice their necks open and drink all that confidence away.
As if Camille sensed my unease, she wrapped one of her arms around my back and hugged me a little while we walked with them.
Let’s hope aligning with these mages is worth it.
Chapter 20
Friend or Foe
Ian
A flame mage, rock mage, and a vampire king stood around a fire out in the woods by themselves.
The flame mage boasted, “I can make that fire rise to the moons and all will know that I am great.”
The rock mage countered, “With one enchantment I’ll build a tower of dirt, rocks, and sticks to touch the moons faster than you raise that flame, and all will know that I am great.”
The vampire king extended his arms out in a blur, seized both of the mages’ necks, and ripped their heads off. “I am great.”
It was the only mage joke I knew.
I decided to keep that one to myself as we journeyed through a forest rich with fruit and huge leaves that looked like big fans when the wind blew through them.
An herbal perfume flooded the forest and blocked out the bitter scent of magic emitting off the mages.
Trees towered above us, shielding us from the moons’ light and casting shadows on our skin. They were tall and thick with shiny bark.
I was glad Tote walked several feet behind me as he pushed the wagon. I’d placed Phinova in there, hoping to find a medicine mage in one of the tribes that could possibly analyze her.
For some reason, the farther I was away from her the less she could talk to me in my head. No matter how hard I concentrated, her words became fainter and fainter until they faded completely, leaving me engulfed in a deafening silence.
It was never that way before.
Does that mean this is not my true Phinova?
Even many years ago when I first got to the sewers, Phinova talked to me in my head and sent soothing thoughts my way.
It was how I knew the night she died.
Her thoughts had been screams.
Her last words were I love you, Nai and Ian.
I just never knew why she had screamed and what had made it the last time.
She’ll be back. There will be a medicine man here that can help.
White birds chirped above our heads. Their sound was unlike anything I had ever heard before. Their chirps floated on the breeze like a prayer.
How fascinating?
The birds must have been three feet long. Their feathers shimmered with colorless light.
I pointed to them. “What type of birds are those?”
“Doons,” Tru replied. “Our sun goddess Ressi gifted all mages with the birds so that we can see in the night and have light to kill vampires.”
“So I see that all mage still believe their religious texts.”
Better known as lies.
“It is the words of the goddess that decorate the ancient tablets at the center of our prayer area. We will believe those words until the goddess sends another messenger.” She kept her pace with mine.
“Do you think that Ressi will ever send you a message?”
Tru let out a long sigh. “My father received a dream two nights ago, symbolizing that change will come for our tribes.”
