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Fae blood, fae blood,
The dead wake now.”
The light, joyful melody made the words even more chilling. I shoved aside my feelings of foreboding. “That tune. I know it. It’s from a children’s lullaby. Sleep in Fields of Roses,” I took her hand and tugged her toward the door. “There’s a book in the library with that title. I never thought to look in it, but it might be a clue.”
Reilyn hurried with me out of the room. Tobias looked alarmed when I pulled Reilyn out but fell back when I waved my hand at him. We quickly went to the library, where I started to search the shelves.
“I’m not sure exactly where it is,” I told Reilyn over my shoulder. I lit a second candle for her and held it out. I hesitated, seeing the dark circles under her eyes. “Unless—”
“No.” She took the candle.
I had to smile at that. She hadn’t even known what I was going to say. It took us all night to find the book. It was shoved unceremoniously in a long-forgotten shelf of children’s literature, pressed between arithmetic and spelling schoolers. The book was worn and old, covered in inky fingerprints of careless children.
“It’s a storybook,” Reilyn said in disappointment.
“It’s still the only clue we have,” I said.
I gestured for her to sit on the couch while I sat in the chair beside the window. Dawn was breaking, giving me enough light to read by. I flipped through the stories, looking for anything related to the song. Eventually, I found one about a fae man who lost his wife to the fires of a dragon and so slew the dragon. I read it aloud, and Reilyn’s eyes never left me. “The dragon’s patron God, made of fire and shadow, promised to bring the man’s wife back if he collected wolfsbane under the full moon and carved the dragon’s bones into throwing sticks. The God of fire and darkness told the Fae to slice his wrists on a stone and then sang a dark song,” I read, forcing myself to go through every word so Reilyn could have the full story. “Pick me heads of wolfsbane.”
Reilyn joined me, singing the song softly as I did.
“And when the song was done,” I continued. “The man’s wife rose. But she was not as she had once been. Her features were scorched and blackened. Her eyes held no life. Wickedfangs grew in her mouth, and she fell on the man, drinking every last drop of fae blood from his veins. The God laughed. ‘Now,’ said he, ‘you are a creature of darkness and torment. Go forth, my Vampire.’ And from that day forward, if ever a sorcerer speaks the words and performs the ritual, they summon the God’s dark powers to fill the body of that who once was dead. And they can be destroyed only by invoking the God once more with fire.” And that was the end of the story. I shut the book and met Reilyn’s eyes.
“Someone is creating an army of these things.”
“They had to kill so many fae—”
“For the past few months, fae nobility have been disappearing from all over Halafarin,” I supplied. “There have been dozens taken. And that’s just nobility. I cannot know how many working fae have been taken and assumed to have run away.”
“If we assume that this is accurate. How can it not be widely known if it’s in a children’s story?”
“I don’t know.” I stood, stretching my tired limbs. I turned to the window, watching as the cool grey faded to a light blue. All I wanted to do was sleep and wake to answers. But… “I have duties as the King to complete today. Taking care of the kingdom seemed far simpler when such petty concerns didn’t bind me.”
Reilyn stretched out on the couch, tucking her hands beneath her chin. “As the King, can’t you just tell people to deal with their petty concerns?”
“When facing a tiger, losing sight of your footing is easy.” I gave her a wry grin. “There’s not much use in defeating the obvious threat if you find yourself stuck in shifting sands.”
She hummed. “Just because your enemy has a sword in hand, you can’t forget the dagger behind their back.”
“Indeed. Unfortunately, I can’t let myself be impaled by the little dagger while trying to avoid the sword. Although it’s easy enough to forget that court politics can be as vicious as a viper.”
Reilyn closed her eyes. She looked so peaceful, lying here. “What duties do you need to attend to?”
“Bonfyr’s celebrations are coming up. Her Samhain cats will be wandering the world, collecting lost souls.”
Reilyn’s eyes opened. “It’s so soon already?”
I nodded once. “In the past, I’ve conducted my private ceremonies and let the lords and ladies have their harvest celebrations to ensure Bonfyr’s cats don’t accidentally collect them… but Klaus has told me that my popularity has increased since the ball where we met.” I scowled at the word. Popularity. “And apparently, with popularity comes greater peace. So I’ve decided to throw another ball. This time, open to anyone and not just the nobility.”
“That’s a stupid idea.”
I laughed at Reilyn’s bluntness.
“It is,” Reilyn insisted. “A person won’t need to be connected to the Nightshade to come after you if you’re letting anyone into the palace.”
“You say that as if I don’t already know.”
Reilyn narrowed her eyes at me. Then, something seemed to change in her eyes. “Nala and I always had our celebrations this time of year. I want to come to the ball.”
