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Our ears had been covered, but we’d heard it all.
Viper dropped his hands from his head. “One down.”
* * *
We finished the last stone—and then the obelisk was no more. The slabs were on the ground. The earth was dug up in various places. Some of the stones had snapped at the base, their edges razor-sharp.
The place used to be an enigmatic monolith—and now it was a graveyard of stone.
It was done. No going back.
I inhaled a breath and released it, choosing to accept my mortality. When I didn’t perish on the spot, I knew I would begin to age naturally from that moment on. But instead of getting old with crow’s-feet and wrinkles, I would creep closer to death.
Cobra’s hand went to my back. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I’d betrayed my father before he died and beyond the grave. But I had to do the right thing.
“Doing the right thing is usually the hard thing.” Kingsnake regarded me, tall like his brothers with the hardness of a king, but the softness of a man. “And you did it courageously—and with grace.”
* * *
We made the return journey to Fallonworth, and it still took several days, despite knowing the way. The vampires were all fatigued, including Cobra since he refused to eat when his brothers had to starve.
When I returned to the forest, it felt entirely different. The peaceful serenity had been replaced by a heavy burden. My kin weren’t enjoying the sunlight on the forest floor, picking flowers and bringing crops to the market. Most people sat in despair, their eyes empty, thinking about the choice that lay before them.
A decision I’d forced them to contemplate.
We returned to the city center, the rubble of my former palace still on the ground. The Ethereal would have normally cleared the debris and exposed the earth and grass beneath, but there was no longer a motivation to do anything anymore. “I’ll ask for volunteers for you. I know you’re hungry.”
“Thank you, Queen Clara,” Kingsnake said with a nod.
I asked my men, the ones I had left, to gather up those who wished to feed our saviors. It was the same volunteers as before, and the vampires immediately excused themselves to nourish their bodies. Cobra and I retreated to my tree house so he could feed, and instead of removing my clothes and taking me roughly, he only fed. He was that hungry and weak. He fell asleep shortly afterward, collapsed on the bed beside me.
I moved to the dining table and made myself a cup of tea and a fruit bowl. I tried to eat after he ate to keep up my strength. I sat there alone and looked out the window, knowing this place would never be what it had been. This life was based on lies and deceit, and now that the truth had been revealed, it was nothing.
Hours drifted away as I remained lost in thought, contemplating my new life and the path I needed to choose. My tea had grown cold, and so much time had passed that my stomach tightened with hunger again.
Cobra left the bed and joined me at the table, in nothing but his boxers. “How long did I sleep?” he asked in a gruff voice.
“I don’t know…a couple hours.” Now I had a bite mark on my neck, a mark that was visible because it was so raw.
He sank back in the chair as he stared at me, his eyes still tired.
“Now what?”
He cleared his throat like it was still asleep. “We’ll return to Grayson. Kingsnake and Larisa need to distribute the cure to the kingdoms, we need to speak with my father…and I suspect there will be a wedding.” He watched me for a moment. “I suggest you take that time to confer with your people and decide what’s best for them. I know the decision won’t be unanimous, so you’ll have to decide how that dichotomy will work. Those who choose to be nightwalkers will need to join us in Grayson and the other vampire kingdoms. Those who choose to remain mortal…will remain behind.”
“Why can’t the new nightwalkers stay here?”
“You think humans would want to live among vampires?” He tilted his head slightly. “They want their next-door neighbor to be a nightwalker who wants to feed on their blood? The living and the dead have very different ways of life, different cultures, different rules. You can be allies, but not neighbors.”
That was probably all true.
“Those nightwalkers will submit to Kingsnake’s rule. And those who choose mortality will either follow you as their queen…or will have to appoint a new ruler.”
If I became a vampire, I would lose all my power. Being queen had never been my ambition, but now that I wore the crown, it was hard to give away.
“I know it’s a lot to think about.”
