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Chapter Twenty-Three
Xander
I ducked under a low stone entry leading to ancient looking steps. It was dark and damp. The air smelled musty. I half expected to see torches flickering along the walls. Instead, it was a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. It hardly illuminated the staircase, casting strange shadows along the walls.
“Where exactly are we going?” I asked.
Justine didn’t concern me. She was human, likely easy to fight. But the deeper we went into the palace, the more my worry grew. I was starting to think I’d fallen for some elaborate trap. It was probably the queen giving the orders in all this.
I stopped walking. “I’m heading back up unless you give me a reason to continue to this basement murder room.”
“You have no idea how close you are with the termmurder room. But the death already happened,” she said.
“That’s not making me feel better,” I assured her.
“You need to know the truth about the queen. About the Knights. About all of it,” she said. “Because someone who has an actual shot at getting out of here should know.”
“I thought you and the queen were close.” I started walking again, oddly comforted by her words. I wasn’t sure why, but I believed her. Or maybe it was simply curiosity. Either way, I wanted to find out what she had to show me.
“We were, a long time ago,” she said. “Before I knew what she really was. Imagine meeting a beautiful woman and falling in love. She was the first woman I met who was so open about her sexuality. Everyone else I knew made me feel like I had to hide myself. Things were different with her. Times were different then, of course. But I’m not sure it’s too much better today.”
“You’re human, aren’t you?” I wasn’t so sure anymore.
“I am, but there are ways to prevent aging besides turning into a vampire,” she said. “Marcella loved me once, in her way. She agreed to never turn me. But that didn’t prevent her from using other magic to keep me around. I should have died ten times already. I’ve been alive far too long.”
I didn’t know anything about magic that would keep a human alive, but whatever it was, it had to be dark. And the price had to be astronomical.
We were silent as we continued down the stairs into a dark stone hallway. It was lit by another bare bulb, hanging from a string. Whatever this place was, it wasn’t decorated with visitors in mind.
I thought back to the queen’s comment about her mate. Was Justine the mate she spoke of? It would explain why she’d gone to such great lengths to keep her alive. I’d never heard of a human-vampire couple where the human refused to be turned. Once, there was a couple I thought would make it, but when the human got sick, they agreed it was time. Human bodies were so frail. Shifters weren’t far off, though. We bled and lived and died much like humans.
“Marcella mentioned a mate,” I said.
“It wasn’t me,” Justine said. “I was a fascination. A plaything. I thought it was love. When I realized it wasn’t a century had gone by and I had nothing. I fell into habit, stayed with the queen for protection and ease. I let life happen to me and didn’t engage.”
She stopped in front of a door. “I let this happen and said nothing.”
“You let what happen?” I asked.
She pushed the door open to reveal a large, dark room. I could make out a huge round table surrounded by shadowy figures.
Justine stepped in and lit a match. This time, there were torches. But that wasn’t the thing that surprised me.
The table’s guests came into view under the flickering firelight. Two dozen skeletons were sitting around the table as if they were gathered for a party. Clothing hung from the bones, hats covered the stringy hair on their heads.
I don’t have a weak stomach but I had to swallow down vomit. I turned away, giving myself a moment to collect my thoughts before facing it.
“Meet the Knights,” Justine said. “I would say in the flesh, but as you can see, there’s none left.”
She was so cavalier about it. So deadpan and numb sounding. I looked over at her and I recognized the expression she wore as one of absolute surrender. The horrors this woman must have seen.
She said she’d stayed because she thought she was in love. I had to wonder if she stayed because she was afraid to leave.
“Tell me what happened,” I said.
“Marcella hated the Knights,” she said. “They restricted her power. Limited her wishes. They kept her in check. I didn’t realize how unhinged she was until about a century ago.”
She swallowed hard. Her gaze unfocused as she stared at the remains of the once powerful Knights.
