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Viper looked at me, his face tight in hatred. “You disgust me.”
Cobra didn’t look at me, but he jumped to my defense. “Viper.”
“Please don’t tell me you still want to fuck this bitch—”
“Viper.” Cobra didn’t raise his voice, but somehow his voice became more powerful. “She just said she and everyone else in Evanguard had no idea. They’re victims of this deceit just like we are.”
“You do realize our mother isn’t in the afterlife?” Viper pressed. “These assholesateanddrankher fucking soul—”
“Stop,” Kingsnake said. “Queen Clara could have kept this knowledge to herself, but she didn’t. She’s not like King Elrohir and the leaders who came before her. We have every right to be angry—but not at her.”
“Am I the only one here who’s not an idiot?” Viper asked. “You really think Queen Clara or the Ethereal will stop the very practice that keeps them alive? The second they shut this down, their entire race will be gone. Did you think about that?”
Cobra dropped his gaze and said nothing.
Kingsnake had nothing to say either.
Viper looked at me. “You aren’t going to stop it, are you?”
“It’s—it’s not so simple.”
With a victorious look on his face, he sat back.
“On the one hand, I’m so disgusted I can’t sleep at night. Knowing my beating heart is fueled by the souls of innocents is traumatizing. But on the other hand, if I stop it…I die. So does everyone I know.”
“If you were to stop the practice, how long would you have?” Cobra asked.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Maybe we’d age and live the remainder of our lives. Like humans, we’d have our children then die. Or maybe we’d immediately perish…”
“I’d say the souls have halted the aging process,” Kingsnake said. “And if you were to stop, you would proceed with a normal mortal life. Yes, your days would be limited. And yes, you would creep closer to death. But you would have your soul—and so would the remaining humans.”
I gave a nod in agreement. I’d lived almost two thousand years, plenty of time to enjoy all the fruits of life, but the idea of losing it still terrified me. Children had never crossed my mind because I hadn’t found the right person, but knowing my days were limited suddenly affected that urgency. “In truth, the way we practice our immortality is our business, as it is your business how you maintain yours. Whether we decide to destroy the obelisk on the Mountain of Souls and choose a mortal life or we choose to continue harboring the souls of the dead is our decision. There’s no reason our races need to be in constant battle.”
It was clear Viper hated me from the way he looked at me. “We drink the blood of humans, most of them volunteers. And we don’t kill them. And even if we did, we don’t take their souls. The two are incomparable.”
“And spreading the sickness to their people only benefits you,” Kingsnake said. “Because the more deaths they suffer, the stronger you become.”
I’d never admitted that was intentional, but the truth was obvious. “I was disturbed when my father admitted that to me.”
“Do you have an antidote?” Kingsnake asked.
I shook my head. “We assumed it would have run its course by now, but it seems to be getting worse. The idea was supposed to be temporary, enough time to defeat you at your weakest point.”
“We have a cure,” Kingsnake said. “So we’ll take care of it.”
“Because we aren’t the monsters,” Viper said. “You are.”
This time, Cobra didn’t interfere on my behalf.
Kingsnake spoke again. “You have to stop the practice.”
I looked at him once again.
“You know it’s the right thing to do.”
I breathed a quiet sigh. “What if this were you? Would you sacrifice your immortality for any reason?”
Kingsnake held my gaze, and when he didn’t answer immediately, I knew he possessed the maturity to understand other points of view, even those that opposed his own. “If you stop, we’ll grant you immortality—as vampires.”
