Page 37 of A Kingdom of Broken Bonds

I look over and take in his defeated posture. Geoff is not the type of male who ever lets something beat him, so I find it very strange to see him like this. The weight of his fatigue makes him seem older somehow. He is old, I know this, but thanks to his vampire heritage, he appears middle-aged in human years.

“The slums continue to grow by the day,” he continues wearily. “There aren’t enough resources for everyone. It is how areas such as this are built, the lack of space forcing them to find shelter wherever they can.”

I consider his words, mulling over the issue. If a surge in numbers is the ultimate problem, then a solution is needed regarding that. There would be a reason behind why the increase in population is happening.

“Why are all these people here?” I ask, seeing creatures from all seven races. Most of them appear to be humans, yet I see all seven realms represented here. Something must be pushing them from their homes. If there was only a small group of them, that would be one thing, but for a mass exodus from their home realms to live in the slums of Drathlor City is a whole different matter. They willingly gave up their homes and came here with no guarantee of anything. How bad must things be back in their home realms for this to seem like a better option?

Geoff sighs and looks away from the window, turning his attention to me, his expression tight and concerned.

“The prophecy.” He says those two words like they are the answer to everything, yet I still have so many questions. Seeing them written across my face, he takes a deep breath and continues. “War was promised, but the lands are beginning to warp too. Life is being drained from the ground, slowly destroying the realms. I suppose they thought they could come here in hopes that being closer to the king would protect them longer.”

Why have I not heard of any of this? The castle in Trador is right at the bottom of the realm, so I suppose it would be easy to miss something that was happening on the borders. However, the land dying is pretty big, and as one of the seven from the prophecy, I should have been told about this.

Staring at my escort, I open my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, but no words come to me. He knew about this, and he kept it from me. I should be worried about the life draining from the realms, and I am, but I am more upset that he’s been lying to me.

The carriage rolls to a stop, and the door is opened swiftly by one of our guards. I don’t say a word to Geoff, taking the guard’s hand and exiting the carriage.

“Anthea,” he calls out behind me, but I don’t stop, taking in the chaos around me.

We seem to have stopped in front of the volunteers’ base, a large tent-like structure set up to act as a shelter and a place to organise the efforts. It’s busy, everyone looking like ants as they scurry about, yet they all seem to know their place and job.

A middle-aged human spots us and peels away from a group of people who seem to be organisers, looking at a map. Once he reaches us, he bows deeply.

“Lady Anthea, it is a pleasure,” he greets, his voice warbling slightly with nerves. I’m not sure if it’s because of who or what I am, but I ignore it. “My name is Luca, and I am your guide while you are here.”

I become aware of Geoff standing behind me, but I don’t take my eyes off the male in front of me. “Thank you, Luca, put me to good use, I want to help.”

He smiles tentatively and gestures towards the tent. “Of course, if you will follow me.”

He leads me away from the carnage and towards the temporary structure that has been put up. The smell of cooked food greets us, yet it only mixes with the foul stench already in the air, and it makes my stomach turn. It doesn’t seem to have that effect on anyone else though. Long tables have been set up at the back of the meeting point, and every single chair is taken as creatures from all different races eat from their bowls as though they are starving. Looking at how thin most of them are, that would be an accurate assessment.

Luca clears his throat to catch my attention. “We thought you could help give out soup.”

My brows shoot up into my hairline with disbelief. “You want me to hand out soup?”

While there is absolutely nothing wrong with handing out soup, and I meant it when I said I would help with any job, they have clearly picked something they thought would keep me out of the way. Near the entrance of the tent are several large counters where a group of females and a couple of males are cooking and serving soup to those who wait. They have a good system going to keep the line moving, and there isn’t space for me, so I would only get in their way.

I am physically able to help with the more difficult work, and my race gives me particular skills that will be useful here, yet they want me to hand out soup.

“Is there a problem?” He looks nervous, wringing his hands together as he looks between me and Geoff. It’s clear Luca is terrified of me, although I don’t have the slightest clue why. I spotted at least one vampire since I have been here, so I don’t think it’s because of what I am, but who I am.

“Yes, Luca, I’m afraid there is,” I begin, turning so I can gesture to the devastation behind me. “I’m a vampire, I’m strong, and I want to help rebuild. Put me to good use!”

Looking completely dumbfounded, he blinks at me several times as though not understanding what I said. He frowns as he attempts to figure out what to say to me. “Well, we thought you might not want to—you see, it’s very muddy—we just thought—”

His stuttering and stumbling reveal the true nature of the issue here. Whoever organised this excursion for me obviously assumed I would not even dream of tramping around in the mud and lifting heavy bits of debris. In fact, they probably believe I’m here just to look good. The first bride of the prophecy handing out soup in the slums—how lovely. No, that is not how I will be remembered. When I put my mind to something, I dedicate myself a hundred percent.

“You thought that I’m a pampered princess who wouldn’t want to get her hands dirty,” I say, cutting him off. There’s no malice in my words. I do not blame him for the assumption, since born vampires have a bit of a reputation for shunning physical labour. “Look, this isn’t a publicity stunt, this is where I want to be. Use my skills, I want to help.”

He stares at me intently for a few moments then nodes. “Follow me.”

Dropping several broken pallets onto the growing pile in my section of the slums, I huff out a breath and brush back the silver strands of hair that escaped my braid. It feels so good to be physically active.

I look up at the sky to work out the time. We have been at this for around four hours now. Thankfully, the moon is bright without a single cloud around to obscure it, making the hard work a little easier—not that anything about this is easy. As soon as they pointed me in the direction of where they wanted me to work, I threw myself into it. I’m exhausted, and my entire body aches, but I don’t mind the pain because I know I’m helping. The beauty of this is I don’t have to think, and I’m able to switch off my mind.

Geoff surprised me and dove straight in to help once he saw what I was doing, and as I straighten and stretch out my back, I see him talking to a shifter child, gesturing towards the temporary base. It makes me smile, but my lips soon drop as I glance around and take in the destruction we still have to get through. We have barely made a dent.

Continuing to pick through the debris, I clear what I can, not concerned about the muck and filth that cover me. When I was given this section to work through, I was warned that we might discover bodies under the wreckage. The search parties had been called off at this point, and recovery of the dead is now in progress. No one could survive being crushed under all this for that long.

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