Page 105 of A Dawn Of Blood

I grit my teeth. “It is.”

My words are followed by a long moment of silence.

“Should we rethink this?” Nuala finally asks. “It’s one thing to go stealing from a cathedral while everyone’s in service outside. It’s a whole other to do it right in front of the eyes of thousands of people.”

I glance around the square, spotting a few shadowcursed going around begging. My heart constricts in my chest. “We might not get another chance,” I whisper.

I sense everyone follow my gaze.

“I guess you’re right,” Nuala mutters in a grave voice. “Let’s go then.”

*

Dressed as Baldur’s priests, we don’t even have to elbow through the crowd to make our way to the stairs. It’s with reverence in their eyes that people let us through.

Everyone seems to be merry — the merchants at the stalls lining the square giving out free food and drinks, the dancers doing their acts with smiles on their faces and the children running around chasing each other.

But the closer you look, the more underlying misery you see — most of the people seem to actually be starving, a worrying number of them have symptoms of highly treatable diseases, and sure, some of the children are playing, but I actually see more of them working.

Just keep moving, I tell myself. The fastest way to help is to complete this mission.

We keep going, moving across the square leading to the stairs.

And of course, the closer we get to them, the more ‘select’ the crowd becomes, now mostly made up of lavishly dressed vampire noblemen.

As we walk, my eye gets drawn to this especially boisterous group. My eyebrows pull down when I register a couple of shadowcursed trying to retreat from them. I slow down, realizing the vampires are laughing, wearing these fancy masks and using their bejeweled canes to shove the poor people around.

And it’s not that no one else is noticing, it’s just that no one seems to be willing to do anything about it.

“Hey,” I yell out as I move straight towards them.

“Anna,” Nuala comes to whisper in my ear as she struggles to keep up with me, “you’re leading us farther away.”

I stop to throw her a frown. “I can’t just let this happen, Nuala.”

She lets out a frustrated sigh, but she doesn’t try to stop me when I keep moving. “Hey,” I say as soon as I get withing the vampires’ earshot. But I’m not stupid. I force myself to stay calm and try to resolve this peacefully.

So when they turn around to face the four of us, I put on a smile and urge, “Come on. Leave those people be.”

With the corner of my eye, I spot one of the shadowcursed shake his head at me in a silent warning.

The most lavishly dressed man in the vampire group lets out a scoff and gets in my face. “Do you know who I am, priestess?”

I force myself to give him another smile. “No, I’m afraid I don’t.”

His lips curl into a smug smile. “I’m the man who just last week had dinner with the Emperor himself.”

His men all push their chests out and laugh.

Gritting my teeth, I keep smiling. “Among other things, that must also mean you’re much more privileged than these people and have no real need to pick on them.”

The man frowns. “Who areyouto tell me who I can and can’t pick on?”

“What’s the point in arguing with the bitch?” one of his men demands.

Their leader gives me a sly smile. “You’re right. Get her.”

Damn it.

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