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“And they will be punished byme, the viceroy of this city, according to law,” Maximillian said sharply. “Not by you. Now put the whip away, Commandant, or I will report this to the emperor.”
The commandant let out a scathing laugh even as the whip dissipated into a blood red mist between his fingers. “You’re going to report this incident?” he sneered. “Perhaps it’s you who should be worrying about whetherIreport this to the emperor.”
“And what will you tell him, exactly?” Maximillian asked, arching his eyebrow. “That you allowed the base, savage nature of your house to get the better of you, and lost control of yourself in front of thousands of witnesses?”
“No.” Vinicius took a step forward as Maximillian released his hold on the vampire soldier—but only him. The rest of us were still trapped in the stranglehold of the vampire lord’s magic. “But I will tell him how lenient you are with these humans, how you allow them to worship enemy gods and protect them at the expense of your own.” He flung a hand toward the smoldering ruin of the airship. “Do you really think I believe you don’t know what was inside there?”
“What I believe,” Maximillian said softly, moving closer until he and the other vampire were nearly nose to nose. “Is that your cushy bureaucratic position has filled your ego with a false sense of confidence, Commandant. Despite your rank and title, you are still a soldier, while I am the son of a high lord. Do not believe for one second that if you test me, I will not separate your head from your shoulders, consequences be damned.”
“I’d like to see you try.” The commandant smirked, then spun on his heel, his cloak billowing out behind him. Maximillian watched, stone-faced, as the vampire officer stalked toward the exit, his aides hurrying after him. The commandant never noticed me hovering just a few yards away, jaw clenched, my entire body quivering with pent-up rage.
Maximillian finally released me from his hold, and I stumbled, trying to get my bearings. The blood lust surging in my veins was so intense, my teeth ached.
I had half a mind to go after Vinicius, but Eliza, who had watched the entire exchange unfold with a shell-shocked expression on her face, collapsed to her knees. No one seemed to have noticed—Lucius, Sparrow, and the guards were busy rounding up the insurgents and doing crowd control, Maximillian was coordinating with the fire brigade that had arrived to put out the flames, and Nyra was off to the side with the otheradministrators and engineers, snapping rapid-fire orders at them.
“Eliza!” I rushed over to where she knelt and dropped to my knees next to her. “Are you hurt?”
“N-No. I… he…” Her chest heaved as she stuttered, unable to tear her eyes away from the burning airship. “This is my fault,” she said, her horrified whisper barely audible over the chaotic din.
“No, it’s not,” I said fiercely. I gripped her shaking shoulders, trying to get her to face me. “You are not responsible for what that monster did.”
“B-but I created the weapon.” She turned her tear-streaked face toward me, and my heart ached at the stricken look on her face. “You were r-right, Kitana. I’m just as bad as the emperor. It should be m-me being thrown in those cells tonight, not t-them.”
I glanced over the top of Eliza’s head at the insurgents, who were being loaded into a prison wagon in chains. Their heads were bowed, but I could see the anger and resentment on their faces as they were herded together, and the defiance in their tight shoulders. What was going to happen to them? Would Maximillian put them to death, simply for lashing out against their oppressors?
As if summoned by my very thoughts, the vampire lord appeared, his tall form casting a shadow across us. I glanced at Maximillian as he knelt in front of her, blocking her view of the airship while he wrapped a cloak around her shoulders. Some of the icy anger in his face was still evident, but his expression had softened at the sight of his thrall in such obvious distress. She leaned into him immediately, like a distraught child seekingcomfort, and he scooped her into his arms, tucking her face against his chest.
The sight of him cradling her melted some of my ire, and I swallowed against a swell of emotion in my throat.
“Come,” Maximillian said as he rose. He didn’t seem to care what the onlookers thought as he strode across the airshipyard with Eliza in his arms. I glanced back at the prison wagon one last time, then hurried after Maximillian, questions burning on my tongue.
A carriage painted in House Psychoros’s colors was waiting just outside the gates, the door held open by a human driver. Maximillian climbed in and settled Eliza onto one end of the velvet-upholstered bench, then sat down next to her. I took the seat across from him as the footman shut the door, and a few moments later, the carriage was in motion.
“You don’t need to fuss over me,” Eliza grumbled as Maximillian tucked the cloak a little tighter around her. “I’m not a child anymore.”
“Maybe so,” Maximillian agreed, “but to me you’ll always be the brave orphan girl who tried to sneak into the Tower to kill me when she was only fifteen years old. So forgive me for indulging in my fatherly affection for just a moment.”
I tilted my head, surprised at this bit of information. “You took her in after she tried to kill you?”
Eliza nodded, sniffing. “It was a year after the vampires took the city. My parents were killed during the war, and I wanted to make him pay. But the guards caught me before I could make it inside the Central Keep.”
I waited for her to say more, but she fell silent, a faraway look in her eyes as her gaze turned to the window. “I should have found someplace else to do the demonstration,” she said woodenly, clenching her hands in her lap. “Should have known the commandant might try to pull something like that.”
“No,” Maximillian said. “It was I who should have anticipated it.” A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I’m well-aware of Vinicius’s penchant for both brutality and fanfare. I just never thought he would dare to challenge me so openly.”
“What are you going to do about him?” I demanded. “He clearly knew about the temple, and that you turn a blind eye to illegal human activities. He’s a threat to you.”
“There is nothing I can do about him,” Maximillian said baldly. “The commandant may have crossed a line, but he knows that if I were to retaliate, it would call my loyalty to the emperor into question. And that is not something I can afford.”
Frustration ballooned inside me at his words, even though I knew he was right. “Well, what about the humans?” I demanded. “Are you really going to punish them in accordance with the law?” I’d read up on the laws after watching that poor human servant get whipped in the street—such a fate would be a blessing for this bunch. Insurrection and attempted murder against a vampire was punishable by death, not a whipping. The more heinous the infraction, the more horrific the execution method.
Maximillian’s gaze hardened, but Eliza lunged across the seat and clutched at his wrist. “Please, Max,” she said, a desperate look in her eyes. “You can’t.”
He hesitated. “They’ve left me little choice. Not after such a public violation.”
“Give them another sentence,” she begged. “Hard labor, or prison time. But don’t kill them. Please.”
He met my gaze over the top of her head, and the troubled look in his eyes stirred something within me. For the first time, I began to feel for Maximillian’s predicament—struggling to protect the humans under his purview while enforcing the laws he was bound by.
