Page 25 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

The idea of a trial for Elowen, despite her absence, still seemed ridiculous to me. But considering how badly someone had tried to stop me attending, I was even more determined to stay and speak.

There were guidelines more than rules in this world, nobody was going to hunt her down and punish her for killing some humans. The danger that she posed, as far as the council was concerned, was more about the power she wielded. The threat of usurping their own seats. Why have a council if you could have a dictator?

I didn’t recognise the other council members, only Adrian who kept glancing over at me with some expression on his face I couldn’t understand. What had he seen that had worried him so much? I’d claimed Novalie, and maybe he was worried I could claim others, too—I’d have to ask Cal and try and work out what exactly I’d done to Novalie. He’d refused to tell me before, but maybe he could point me in the right direction at least.

“Fine, fine,” Adrian was muttering and I tried to refocus my thoughts on whatever the council was whining about now. They were self-absorbed, power-hungry leeches and I could only assume that the others in attendance only humoured them because they were old as dirt and, therefore, hard to kill. They’d spent barely any time talking about Elowen or the experiment she’d been running, more interested in gossip about supposed vampire hunters. “We will hear from our first character witness, Rath, House of Curio, please rise.” Adrian looked up and nodded to someone in the audience I hadn’t yet noticed.

The tall frame was familiar and when he approached the council to take a seat in the wooden chair next to them on the dais, I frowned. House of Curio. Adrian’s house. Funny that Rath hadn’t mentioned that when I’d met him.

Rath bowed his head towards the council, a smirk curling his mouth as he crossed his legs and elegantly steepled his hands on his knee. “Delighted to be here.”

“For the record and those gathered, please tell us in your own words your impression of Elowen.” Adrian watched Rath with an intensity that surprised me, as if whatever was said here actually mattered and not mere performance. But why?

“The first time I met Elowen I was charmed by her power and the air in which she conducted herself.” Rath straightened, his eyes meeting mine in the audience for a moment before he looked away. “Of course, this didn’t last long. Elowen quickly proved herself to be interested in only three things: power, chaos, and reputation.”

“Do you believe that, given the proper motivation, Elowen may return to court to claim her seat?” The words were cool, unaffected, but it felt like the room held their breath—metaphorically, of course, as most of them were undead.

“Without a doubt,” Rath said, nodding. “If Elowen’s council seat were to be in question, I am certain she would crawl out of the gutter.”

So that’s what this was about? Her council seat?

“Though,” Rath continued, “I would like to add, for the record, that I do not believe her council seat should be in question.”

My eyebrows rose at his words and Adrian glared at the other man.

“Enough.”

“Come now, it is not the way things are done. If somebody here wishes to claim Elowen’s seat, they must do as you all have done.” Rath speared his gaze into the council member sitting closest to him and smiled wolfishly. “Take you, Billius, we all watched you carve out Tavian’s heart ourselves. Your seat is rightfully yours. Just like Refus,” Rath said, nodding to another council member further down the table. “If I’m not mistaken, you rolled old Minia into this very room tied to a stake and burned her alive.”

A few of the council members were nodding and Refus had a dreamy look on his face, like he was reliving a better time.

“And Elowen,” Rath said finally, “won her seat the same as any of you. She devoured Thierre’s heart right in front of you all. If you can decide to take her seat, what protects any of yours?”

My mother had claimed her council seat by eating a heart. It sounded about right. I couldn’t help my amusement, however, at the uneasy looks on the council members’ faces, like they’d only thought of the benefits of reclaiming Elowen’s seat and not the ripple effect it may have in endangering theirs.

“Of course, Adrian’s own seat would be protected in ways yours aren’t,” Rath mused. “Given that his was appointed by the monarchy before their disappearance.”

That seemed to be the final straw for Adrian and I chuckled as Refus narrowed his eyes on Adrian and several other council members looked equally suspicious.

“Your testimony is complete,” Adrian snapped and Rath swaggered down off of the dais, winking at me as he took his seat among the audience once more. “Next, we will hear from Leonora Romilly, unclaimed, as to the events that transpired at Ashvale.”

My spine straightened and I could practically feel Cal’s alarm radiating off of him in waves as a crackle of electricity lifted from my skin as I stood. “House of Romilly.”

“We do not recognise any such house,” the council member on the far left, Billius, said with a derisive snort, eyes so pale they almost looked white locked on me.

I smiled and inclined my head as if in respect. “Then I decline to give testimony.”

A wave of murmurs sounded and I tried not to roll my eyes. Vampires—who would have thought they’d be such clutch-your-pearls types?

Adrian glared at the other man who’d spoken to me. “House of Romilly is acknowledged. Approach, Leonora.” There was a new sharpness to him, as if his usual charm was slipping away with every step I took. Rath had unsettled him and had planted some seeds of doubt within the council too. I could only hope that meant Adrian would have bigger problems to deal with than me.

I settled on the wooden chair, moving it at an angle so I could watch the council members on my left and look out at the gathered vampires on my right. I didn’t want to put my back to either of them, lest I lose my head.

“Please tell us, in your own words, the events at Ashvale that led to the death of one of our own and the abandonment of another.”

My eyes found Adrian and held his gaze for a moment before I looked away and found Cal next to my empty seat in the pew. He nodded and a wave of calm washed over me. “After being murdered, I awoke as an undead vampire with no recollection of who—or what—I was. I was retrieved and brought to Ashvale.” I swallowed, not having anticipated how raw it would feel to talk about what had happened. “My death occurred under suspicious circumstances and more strange deaths began to occur at Ashvale, including that of a human girl who had been brought to the castle by a living vampire under the influence of a drug that Elowen had created.”

“What did this drug do?” Refus interrupted, and I fought to keep my expression pleasant.

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