Page 69 of Shadow's Heart

“Without fail.” Tempted by the drink, he mined for fortitude—actually coming up with some. This surprised him considering their topic of discussion. He pressed the goblet away. “Have you ever heard of a cure? She’s considering Dorada’s ring.”

“Assuming Kosmina escaped, the ring could save her. Yet bargaining with that sorceress would be as good as a death sentence.”

“Why?”

Enti shared a look with Pearl then leaned in. “When Xodin arrived, he brought news from the Lore that Dorada had risen and was amassing an army. Sorcerer, this is the prophesy. She’s going to use all her new oathbound soldiers to attack against her ages-old foe Morgana. It will happen this Accession. Thank gold we’ll be safe here!”

“Sand almighty.” Morgana was the Queen of Sorceri in two senses. She was their monarch, and her power was to control all Sorceri. All of them except for Dorada. Those two colossal powers had been prophesied to destroy the mortal realm, ushering in an apocalypse.

“And apparently Morgana has harvested even more powers of late,” Enti continued. “Anyone sent to fight her will be annihilated like cannon-fodder.”

Pearl adjusted the modulator at her throat and said, “If the ring is the princess’s hope, will you tell her about Dorada? Maybe right after you tell her no magical scythe is coming?”

Demolishing all her hopes. “I’ll come clean about everything when I find the right moment.”

Enti said, “If she drinks from your flesh, she could see us discussing this very plot.”

“I won’t let her.”

“That might prove difficult, considering you’ve repeatedly dreamed about it.” The glimmer in her eyes told him she’d seen his memories of ejaculating all over himself.Fantastic.“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Silt. You’re a hedonist faced with a new temptation. Our kind don’t change.”

Yet he hadn’t always been a hedonist. As the years had come and gone, he’d hunted and built strongholds. He’d warred and meted retribution. He’d made mistakes and tried to learn.So many interminable years.“I can handle it.”

Enti gazed deeply into his eyes. “And once she’s gone, you’ll enjoy all we have to offer here.”

It wasn’t a question, but he said, “Exactly.” Once Kosmina was gone, she’d be . . . gone. He recalled how he’d felt holding her lifeless body—that incomprehensible loss. His leg jogged beneath the table, his palms flickering erratically. He clenched his fists to conceal the light.

I stay. I surrender revenge. The vampire dies out there alone.

She was doomed anyway!

“Very well.” Enti quaffed her wine. “You and I will keep her hopes alive, while allowing her to deteriorate—so that you can sleep with her and then cast her off like so many women before.”

Pearl looked shocked by Enti’s words. “Castle Vitis is all about merriment and sport, isn’t it? Let the sorcerer have his.”

Yes. I want what I want, and damn the consequences.

“You’re right.” Enti adjusted her mask yet again. “The merriment of many over the gloom of the few.”

Undercurrents passed between the two females.

“What is it? What aren’t you telling me?”

Pearl said, “If you want the princess, you’d better hurry. She isn’t alone.”

Thirty-One

Silt stalked away from the balcony and charged up the stairs.

“Not interested,” he snapped at the stair orgy when they reached for him.

Pausing outside Kosmina’s door, he heard grunts and groans. Cut-off bellows. She’d already been seduced by one of the wastrels here!

A thud pounded against the wall. Then another. It sounded like they mauled each other. Jealousy seethed, and that weird feeling of wrath shaded his thoughts, swelling his muscles.

The thudding died down, and Kosmina said in an exhilarated tone, “That was amazing!” She was out of breath.

Silt quaked as much as this realm continued to do. He should be in there, taking her body and accepting her praise. She would’ve fallen for him. Why hadn’t he just told her the truth about his powers?

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