Page 54 of The Vampire King's Gift

Her voice was musical, and through the grime and horror of her face, Balthazar knew she had once been quite beautiful.

“I will be again, Eyros. You will compliment my beauty. Tease me endlessly. Your flirting! How I miss it. You are ever such a flirt, even though your heart is taken now,” Seeyr said with an almost girlish laugh.

Balthazar stepped towards the bars, and reached through them to her. “Forgive me, Seeyr, that I did not know you were here. That I did not come to your aid.”

“You did not know who you truly were until a few days ago. How could you remember me? We were all supposed to be dead. Truly dead,” she said, clasping his hands in her bony, grimy ones.

A shudder went through her. “You’re starving.”

“Yes, I am afraid so. I can scent the blood. So many humans. He used Armageddon, yes?” her voice was taut, and her fangs came down.

“Caemorn, unlock that door and then get her some of the humans to feed from. Now!” Balthazar snapped.

“Yes, yes,” Caemorn murmured, and the lock to the cell fell open.

He immediately darted towards the stairs and was racing up them. He was not a fool. He had kept her in there.

“Mistress!” Sophia opened the door for her, and immediately got on her knees, groveling. “I took too long! I took too long!”

Even without eyes, Seeyr found the small Vampire girl and embraced her. “No, no, no, Sophia. You came exactly in time.”

Seeyr rocked Sophia as the Vampire girl sobbed tears of joy and grief.

“We should get Seeyr out of this place,” Christian said.

“No, dear Christian, until I am fed enough not to fly into an insane frenzy, I must stay down here,” Seeyr said.

“How… how do you know my name?” Christian asked her.

“How could I not know the name of the best friend of the king’s fledgling? Let alone, Eyros’ beloved?” she asked.

Balthazar stiffened and a tidal wave of despair went through him. It was so great that he could not stop himself from saying, “He’s not… He’s just learned… Daemon used Armageddon and now we both know that he can become human again and—”

“Why would I want to become human again?” Christian’s eyebrows were drawn together.

“Why… why… Why indeed? You mean… you don’t? I thought you…” Balthazar ran out of words, as he felt his fledgling’s mind open to him.

“Oh, Balthazar… you thought… no! I was just worried about how I was going to explain to Mom and Dad that even though thereisa way back that I don’t want it,” Christian began, but he got no farther.

For Balthazar was kissing him.

QUESTIONS YOU WILL NOT ASK

“What do you intend to do to us?” Vivica asked.

She scrambled to her feet once more soon, as Caemorn, Sophia, Balthazar and Christian disappeared into the crowd. Caemorn was no longer there to put a booted foot against her spine, andkeepher down.

Daemon, however, could care less about her questions, her concerns, her fears, her wishes. He only cared about whatJulianwas thinking, and his fledgling’s feelings were beyond him at the moment. Though he could have simply pressed their minds together and know everything that Julian was thinking at that moment, he could not do it.

Balthazar was right. I have no faith. What right did I have to upend everything? Even if I had to…

“What is to be our fate?” Vivica pressed when he did not answer her first question.

Everyone had thought that Armageddon was thisdestructivepower, like Dust, which allowed him and the other Immortals to turn Vampires into their pure essence and drain them, like he had done to the Vampire on the platform who dared move to touch his fledgling.

But it wasn’t.

It was the ultimate power to take away the gift of Vampirism that the Immortals had granted certain humans. “Armageddon” was not his or the other Immortals’ word for this power, but the Vampires’ own word. They had forgotten what it truly was, but they knew that it was utterly devastating.

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