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Natalia stirred with a small moan. When her eyes opened, they were fully dilated, and in their depths glowed the familiar golden light.
“Natalia? Sweet pea? Are you all right?”
“Yes. Oh, yes, my love.” She touched his face, her heart in her eyes as she looked at him. “It’s as Aubrey said; the fear is gone.”
The mention of Aubrey’s name made Dominique glance at the urn, then at Serge, who stared at Natalia with a thoughtful frown wrinkling his brow.
Dominique cocked his head in question.
The corners of Serge’s mouth turned down, but then he said, “This Adilla could be a great ally…if you can sway him.”
Dominique squashed the impulse to argue. Killing that arrogant menace was more in line with what he had in mind. Too bad that wasn’t the peaceful, loving way he preached.
“He is old,” Serge offered when Dominique remained silent. “Many would perish if you ended him.”
True. Since Kambyses had not fully sired any younglings for a thousand years—only infecting them with his serum, but withholding his blood—Adilla was at least that old. Any blood-drinker that age had the potential to have sired many others who, along with their descendants, would depend on his survival. It was the dark web that bound them. Break one strand, and all the strands that branched from it unraveled. As the center of this web, if Dominique was destroyed, they all would be.
“What do you know about him?” Dominique asked.
“I may have heard of him.” Serge looked away. “Once or twice.”
As he often did around his friend, Dominique felt like he was missing something, a sensation that never boded well.
“Adilla is no one’s ally but his own,” Natalia said. She was back on her feet now. Ryan hovered close, one of his arms around her, providing support she surely did not need.
“Once he tastes your blood, he will see reason,” Serge countered.
“Is that what your visions tell you?” Dominique asked.
Shrug. “They all see reason, don’t they?”
“That whole setup with the colony gave me the creeps,” Ryan broke in. “Adilla gives them anything and everything you can think of. Money, homes, security, entertainment, and all the blood they can guzzle. In return, he demands their blind devotion, and let me tell you, he’s getting that in spades. Those vampires are more than willing to bow down and agree to everything he says. Their loyalty is bought and paid for many times over.”
“And I would gladly have been one of them,” Natalia said. “Until the night I found Ryan.” She looked up and they exchanged a brief smile. “He could hear my thoughts, and I was no longer alone. I saw things differently then.”
Cassidy joined Dominique and slid her hand into his. He lifted it to press a kiss to her knuckles. “I know the feeling.”
“I’m so glad we’re free of that mess,” Ryan said.
“And I am so sorry that it took Aubrey’s death to make me see how badly we needed to get away,” Natalia added.
“My lord, you must persuade him to join you,” Serge blustered.
Dominique tried to picture standing across from Adilla—the first millennial blood-drinker he had encountered since claiming his kingdom—and felt his confidence flagging. “Fake,” Adilla had called him. “Pretender.”
The words echoed in his bones. Not because they gave offense, but because they were true. He pretended to be something he could never be again for his mother.
Fake human.
He was supposed to be master of the world of night, but few of his subjects knew he existed, much less that he forbade them to kill or make others against their will. Yet he went through the motions of ruling—while distracted with every shiny possibility of turning back time, of being human again.
Pretend leader.
Cassidy squeezed his hand, disrupting the black spiral of his thoughts. Her silent voice was faint in her touch.Those who know you know better.What you do for yourself, you do for them all.
Aubrey died for me. I was too obsessed with seeing the sun again to stand by him, and he died. Because of me.
Maybe,she allowed after a moment’s thought.Or maybe, because you wouldn’t have known what to expect, they might have killed you both. Aubrey died because he believed in what you are trying to do. Now you know what you’re up against, and if you don’t use that knowledge, if you doubt yourself, he will have died for nothing.
