Page 57 of Cruel Vampire King

When I woke the next morning, there was a pleasant ache through my body. I felt as though I’d gone hard in a workout the previous night—which, looking back, I definitely did. I stretched, noting a particular soreness between my legs. It was the same sort of pleasant ache that came from a day of successful training.

“Morning,” I murmured as I opened my eyes.

I was alone.

I pushed myself up, letting the blankets fall around my waist. The big room was bathed in golden sunlight, and without Luken to distract me, I took in my surroundings. We were in the same room I’d been brought to for the masque. Slipping out of bed, I padded over to the massive library stacked up against the wall. Finally, I was going to have time to indulge my reading. I hadn’t read anything but instructional books for four years.

I’d saved Thessa. I gave up my one wish to do it, but Luken was powerful, and he was ready to challenge the Gods. He’d save Darcie. I was sure of it.

I glanced down at myself, at the vivid tattoos spread over my torso. They were beautiful. I touched them, and winced when my fingers traced the rough texture of my scars. So, I wasn’t miraculously healed. Like Luken told me—it seemed like ages ago—they were a testament of my strength. But thinking of my scars made me think of something else.

The bed was crumpled, and I returned to it, throwing back the blankets to check the sheets. There were smears of blood on the sheets that had dried to a brownish-red, transferred from my body. Some of it was mine. Some of it was Thessa’s. I smirked as I started to strip it off.

The door opened and I turned, but it wasn’t Luken who entered. A vampire woman with glowing blue eyes came in. I covered myself, but she didn’t seem to notice my lack of dress.

“Good morning, my lady,” she greeted with a curtsy. “I’m here to prepare you for the feast.”

“Feast?” I repeated.

“The celebration to honor the lives sacrificed during the Blood Trials,” she answered, peeking at me through her lashes. “And to celebrate you as the winner.”

I nodded. Still, with a blanket around me, I went to the bathing room, where I ran myself a bath. The maid kept trying to do things for me, so I finally sent her to the main room while I scrubbed myself clean. She had selected an appropriate cocktail dress by the time I was done. She did my hair and makeup quickly, perhaps sensing my impatience.

Luken would be at the feast. He must have had urgent business to take care of and that’s why he left. I hardly noticed the way she put my hair up, and I certainly didn’t spare a glance in the mirror before I left the bedroom. The maid led me to a large dining hall. A dozen or so vampires were already there, including Marissa. She smiled and whispered to the elegantly dressed woman next to her. She was a tall redhead with glowing green eyes and gave me a quick, dismissive look.

Disappointment hit my stomach. Luken wasn’t here at all.

Quickly, though, that disappointment turned. “Thessa!”

I hurried over to where Thessa stood in a corner, tugging at the tight-fitting dress she wore. Her eyes glowed brown, and when she glanced at me, I thought I had seen fear in them. But then her shoulders relaxed. A small, hesitant smile crossed her face, and she nodded once at me. I slid to stand next to her, myback to the wall. The vampires milled about, murmuring to each other.

“How are you feeling?” I asked Thessa, staring intently at her. I had no idea what changes happened when someone was turned into a vampire.

“Different,” Thessa answered. She held a glass in her hand, and with the ring finger of her other hand, she traced circles around the lip. “You make them nervous.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

Thessa jerked her chin toward the other vampires, who quickly pretended like they hadn’t been watching us. “They don’t know what your presence means. I think the only one who isn’t worried is that silver-eyed woman.”

Marissa glanced over, laughed, and linked her arm through the redhead’s.

With a delicate shudder, Thessa turned slightly, so her back was more toward the other vampires. Her gaze landed heavily on me. “You entered the Blood Trials to save Darcie, didn’t you?”

I nodded.

“But you used your one wish to save me instead.”

I nodded again. Though my stomach cramped when I thought of Darcie still out there, still doomed to be sacrificed, but we had several months yet. “It won’t happen until the end of the year. It gives me time. I’m the king’s donor now. I have more power than I used to.”

Thessa’s eyes grew distant as she touched the pendant at her throat. “So do I. I received a pardon. I’m not marked for death, and I’m a vampire… no lands, no money, but I have the blood. And you.” A fierce look of determination swept over herface as she turned to seize my hands. “Promise me that we’ll get Darcie out. Promise me that you didn’t trade her life for mine.”

“I swear it,” I told her seriously. “We will save her.”

Thessa nodded, drawing herself more upright. Her gaze swept over the gathered vampires again. None of them, not even Marissa, watched us. “It won’t be easy… the location of the temples moves every day. We’ll have to find where they are if we’re going to get her out before it’s too late.”

“Wait, the location changes?” I gaped.

Thessa nodded. “We never knew what would be outside the door when we woke up in the mornings. It’s one of the reasons we had such a strict curfew. If you’re outside of the temple walls when they move, then you’re left behind. It’s how I got away. I slipped out just before it moved.”

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