Page 12 of Vanquished Gods

“They need us.” Lydia held up a butterfly pendant, and it gleamed in the rays of sunlight. “They have us making these for their vampires. It’s really not easy, but if we’re going to war with the Luminari someday, the vampires will need to be able to walk in the sunlight without igniting.”

I shuddered. I had one more butterfly pendant to add to their pile, but I couldn’t explain to anyone how I’d gotten it. “Right.”

Godric handed me a meat pie, and a ravenous hunger carved through my stomach. The moment I took a bite, I lost myself in the taste of rich meat and flaky crust.Archon above, I didn’t want to leave this place.

“So, how many pendants have you made?” I asked.

“Not many,” said Lydia. “Especially since almost none of us have been trained in using magic for a specific purpose before. We were simply born with a skill we never wanted. Now, we’re trying to learn how to use magic properly for the first time.”

Thislooked like the sort of normal, cozy life I’d been dreaming of for Leo.

Maybe a place like this was worth fighting for.

As I took another bite of the pie, a distant scream wended through the air, raising goosebumps on my skin.

Lydia went still, her eyes shifting from side to side. “Nothing to worry about. That’s from the vampire castle. We’re perfectly safe here.”

Except this wasn’t where I was staying.

Iwas supposed to head toward the sharp-spired stone castle and the harrowing wail of screaming.

CHAPTER 6

Asilent, auburn-haired female vampire led me up a stone path toward the looming castle, where the portcullis gate had been raised but towering wooden doors stood closed. My gaze flicked up to the pale blue spires and the narrow, sharply peaked windows that stared out at the sea. The glass looked back at us, reflecting the sea, the sky, and the sun. It was a strange sort of glass, maybe a kind that filtered out the sun rays. From their perches, gargoyles leered down at us. The wind rushed over us as the dark wooden doors groaned open at our approach. This castle had no gatehouse, no outer walls. But vampires on a forgotten island might not need much protecting.

The vampire led me into a towering hall, its pale walls adorned with tapestries depicting men biting women, and nude women in sensual poses, exposing their necks. When I passed a tapestry of a man I recognized, my mouth went dry. Woven with silky threads, the image of Bran Velenus glared down at me. I could have sworn the tapestried eyes seemed to follow me accusingly. Suddenly, his butterfly pendant in my pocket felt as if it were taking up a ridiculous amount of space, an incriminating metal bulge tucked into the wool of my cloak that would get me executed at any minute.

“Any idea what that scream was about fifteen minutes ago?” In the silence of this place, my voice came out surprisingly loud, and it echoed off the vaulted ceilings.

The auburn-haired vampire glanced at me, her face an expressionless mask. “No.”

At the end of the hall, a second set of iron-studded doors swung open into an atrium, where swords hung from the walls. A woman stood leaning against the doorway, a wine glass in her hand. On either side of the atrium, towering windows let in filtered blue light that washed over her rosy skin. “There you are, Underworld Queen. There really has been so much talk about you. I’m Adeline.”

She was dressed so differently from anyone I’d ever seen in Merthyn, in a dress of sheer white with a belt tied loosely around her waist, strategically layered in some places. The front of her skirt stopped above her knees, while it trailed long in the back. Her long red hair flowed in waves over her shoulders, which she wore threaded with flowers. Strings of silver beads draped over her chest and glittered on her wrists. It was such a beautiful look that for a moment, I assumed she was a vampire—until I noticed the red silk scarf tired around her neck. A thrall, then.

From above, a raven swept down and perched on her shoulder. She hardly noticed.

She smiled sweetly at me. “Ah. They didn’t tell me you’d be so beautiful.”

I cleared my throat. Was she joking? I’d never looked worse.

She glanced pointedly at my gloves, then back up to my eyes. Smiling, a blush warmed her cheeks. “The Underworld Queen…I’m so happy to welcome you here. I’m the head of the thralls here. They thought you might like to be greeted by a human.”

“Nice to meet you.” My gaze roamed over the vicious-looking swords that hung on the hallway walls. “What are all these?”

She gestured to the swords. “Our great king and other vampires fought with these very swords centuries ago. Lirion was the last place to fall to the Tyrenian Empire all those years past. The Tyrenians got as far as Gwethel. That meant people on this island could still worship the old gods if they wished. We’ve never been conquered by the Order.”

I followed her into an enormous throne room—where Sion sat on a dais at the far end, looking relaxed on his throne. His golden eyes landed on me, and I saw that blood streaked the front of his white shirt.

Although Sion looked completely at ease, a dead man lay at the foot of the dais. The man’s throat had been ripped out, and crimson blood stained the flagstones. My stomach plummeted as I felt the terror thickening in the air. A queue of human thralls lined either side of the great stone hall, some of them visibly shaking.

Sion swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, and he sat up straighter. “What an inopportune time for our new guest to arrive. I promise you, it’s not all death here in Gwethel. Vampires live for pleasure. Of course, for us, death and pleasure can be one and the same.”

There was that famous vampire charm.

He cocked his head at the corpse on the floor. “Though that certainly wasn’t my friend Aelthwin’s experience a few moments ago, was it, Aelthwin?”

Here was Sion as I knew him. He’d managed to spend just a few minutes acting normal, but here was the real Sion.

---