Page 106 of Entombed By Blood
“Trust Eve,” Frost adds. “She hasn’t let us down so far.”
I canfeelGideon’s apprehension, but I know my sire. “We should stay here,” I mutter, pulling Frost closer to me. “He knows we’re here. Let him make the first move.”
Frost nods, leaning one hand on the balustrade just as my sire makes it to the stairs and starts climbing them. He’s heading for the gilt throne on the other side of the room, deliberately avoiding our side as he shakes hands and accepts greetings from everyone he passes.
When he finally reaches the seat, he doesn’t take it. Instead, he stands just in front and holds a single hand up for silence.
He doesn’t have to wait.
An unnatural still falls across the room. It’s the kind of absolute quiet that only a crowd of creatures with supernatural hearing can achieve, and it’s eerie.
As a result, when Cain speaks, every word is like a bomb detonating in the room.
“Honoured guests!” he booms, grinning an easy smile that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end in warning. “Welcome!”
A splatter of polite applause answers him, but it dies quickly.
“I’ve arranged this little celebration in honour of my five beautiful daughters,” he continues. Callie and Bella gravitate to his sides as if pulled there by an invisible rope. They stand poised beside him—the very image of vampire perfection—but I know them both well enough to see the unease masked by their confident smiles.
Morwen joins them seconds later, dragging behind her my beaten thrall. The gorgeous man who played the guitar for me is almost unrecognisable. Beaten black and blue by her guards. She’s tugging him along by a chain that connects to a thick silver collar around his neck. Even from this distance, I can see the red welts where the metal is burning his skin raw. His eyes are glazed and unfocused as Morwen forces him to stumble forward until he falls to his hands and knees before Cain.
Our sire smiles. “An excellent gift, my daughter. A shame that it took you so long to make even a hint of progress.” He looks down at the hybrid in contempt. “Take him to his new cell.”
Guards spring forward at his command, taking the chain from Morwen and freeing her to take her seat on a throne beside Bella.
The crowd, which has started to murmur with the gossip that the display has presented them with, falls silent as Cain raises his hand once more.
A sly grin plays at the corners of his lips as he looks over them all, towards a space in the distance.
“Imogen, why don’t you join us?”
I scan the gathered heads, my eyes darting from person to person in search of her.
There. Sashaying through the crowd in a golden gown, her red hair wound tightly into an impeccable chignon. It has to be her.
Immy looks... gorgeous. Nothing like someone who’s just been released from decades of punishment. She’s walking in insanely high shoes like she was born for them and her smile...
She looks more confident than I’ve ever seen her.
“Something’s wrong,” I whisper.
“She’s coping remarkably well with fountains full of blood for a vampire who was supposedly starved for decades,”Gideon snarls as Immy takes her place beside our sire, who actuallybeamsat her.
“They’re moving Vane,”Finn interrupts.“Cain’s guards are taking him out of the building. We’re going to lose him!”
“We can’t split up—”Gideon begins.
Frost speaks over him. “Silas, Gideon, follow Vane. If he disappears into Cain’s dungeons, he’s out of our reach for good. Draven, Eve, and I will get Imogen.”
“On it,”Silas mutters.
Gideon’s curses are so creative I’m almost impressed. Who knew the stoic alpha had it in him?“Fine. But play itsafe, Frost. No risks.”
“Draven, have you got our backs?” Frost asks.
No response.
I haven’t heard anything from Draven at all, and that worries me, but Frost doesn’t seem to care as he pulls me through the crowd, following Immy from above. Perhaps the other vampire’s silence is a result of him breaking Finn’s tech, and this happens often enough that it no longer concerns the others. Or maybe he never speaks unless something is wrong, and his silence is actually reassuring.
