Page 17 of Darkest Heart

My father was waiting for me, and whatever announcement he was talking about, it had to be important.

***

My father stood upon the throne, the ruby-encrusted crown atop his flaming red hair running into a beard that covered his lower face. His snake-green gaze sparkled as he stood in what he felt was his rightful place. Now he held the power he’d longed for. I wondered if he would ever let it go. Even if Sargon came back in one piece. Which was unlikely.

“My son,” he addressed me with what many would mistake as endearing. I knew better. I was a prince now and ran the biggest society in the elite class. It was another show of his power here. “We are bringing back Competo Da Vita Immortalis.”

Well, fuck.They haven’t dragged back that age-old tradition since the dark ages.I was careful with my words, knowing we were being watched. I knew better than to humiliate my father. He held all the power. For now, anyway.

I wondered why he didn’t just tell me this outside, but quickly realized he wanted a show. The crowd came to him. That was how he always played it. “A wonderful tradition,” I said. “I miss watching mortals fight to the death to become one of us. A move, I assume, to lure more of them to our shores?” I baited.

“You know your politics, son.” Vampires gathered around us. “My brother may have banned the contest, but we need a bigger supply. The mortals in the other kingdoms are unaware of the truth, of how they can be granted the gift of vampirism.”

He spoke in a higher tone, pausing between words. While it may have appeared that he was talking to me, really, he was addressing the room. He continued, rolling his shoulders back, brushing the non-existent dust from his gold robes. “We must be tactical. We do not need to take them. They will come to us.” He placed his hands over his heart, glancing up at the arched ceiling. “We hold what they truly desire; a chance to live forever.” His lips curved up, his eyes glossing as his words affected him just as much as the other nobles who’d crowded around me to listen to his speech. He wasn’t wrong, but he was foolish doing it this soon. “They will fight, and one will remain victorious and join us as a fellow vampire. The others will perish, and their blood will be for the taking. The ones who come and are not entered, will be given tomysubjects.”

My subjects.I repressed the urge to roll my eyes. He was going too hard, too fast. But they responded well, fortunately for him.

He continued. “I do not shy away from our true nature. We are stronger, faster, deadlier than anything else out there.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. The aniccipere could easily beat us in a fight if they were more organized. But they didn’t have the numbers or society like we did, and that’s why they rotted in the south.

He turned to the room, not pretending to be speaking with me anymore. “Spread the word to your friends, to your allies, have the news of our truth cross the oceans and watch as we will never go hungry again.”

I wanted to ask if he’d discussed the upcoming nuptials with the Aslandian king or brought in more modern weaponry. But he was too high for my concerns to reach him. Perhaps anyone.

Velda walked into the room, smiling her bright white grin. I was wondering where she’d disappeared to.

Oh, gods fucking help us. She’d left to put a crown on, too. I smirked when she noticed me, holding back my laugh. Her smile fell away, and I licked my lips.

This was brilliant. Hilarious. She thought herself a queen. Kalon was only the temporary reigning monarch, but still a prince. She wasn’t even married to him.

I kept the snarky mark to myself, and my father finished his speech, riling the crowd, then turned his focus back onto me. “The Blood Brothers will help spread the word and prepare the competitors” He pointed at the other side of the room at a group of mortals. One of them was the sister of Elizabeth. Carla, if I recalled. “That group will be our first to fight. With each they win, they will go forward until only one remains.”

Velda leaned in, whispering something which I couldn’t make out through all the excited chatter. Kalon spoke again, his low voice booming the nobles into silence. “There will be four winners.”

Someone moved to argue, and my father held a finger in the air, silencing him. “The more winners there are, the more incentive mortals have to enter. We want as many of them to come. There are plenty of the sick and dying who would do anything to live. There will be four,” he said again, his gravitas submitting everyone into agreement.

I watched as Carla was pulled along with the rest of the small group of five and dragged into the foyer. I had no clue where the guards were taking them, but they had to be prepared. I didn’t care. I despised mortals. They thought themselves better than us, always had. My father, while hasty, was clever. I had to give him that. This would bring them to us in the masses, and we would have enough food to last us for good.

I left quickly and made my way toward the Blood Brother’s wing. Not to tell them to spread the word. That would come. First, I needed to find out how the aniccipere got in and use Azia to ensure they didn’t again. While I couldn’t trust any of them with that secret, I would ask them to monitor the forest and for any suspicious behaviors. Daily walks around the perimeter of the castle would do.

Second, I needed to make sure Sargon died. If he came back, this would all go away. The kingdom might love Kalon, but Sargon was the rightful king, and the dispute would cause a civil war. He would be killed, and it would look like an accident. There were plenty wanting to become a Blood Brother, and this would be their most top-secret mission. Kill the king. Spare Sebastian until he found Seraphina. They wouldn’t be able to get to Sargon once he was in the south, so it had to be while he was traveling.

I knew just the right person.

SIX

Sebastian

The winds carried us from the Black Mountain Retreat, where Sargon had insisted on resting for the night. He needed to wait for more guards to join him before we invaded the aniccipere’s territory. Meanwhile, time was against us. We had to find out exactly where we would be heading. Which meant going to the place I’d spent most of my vampire years. I looked down, the wind stinging tears into my eyes. The trees below grew sparser as we neared the City of Nightmares.

Gwen had listened for any information about the aniccipere. Mostly because of Astor, and her desire to find him. Regardless, she believed they’d been moved north. She’d told us right as we were taking off, desperate for us to find him. Although I didn’t believe him a victim. Either way, the news only confused things further. Niall insisted she was in Dragoirmer, the main city in the south. Zach was right that we needed clarification.

I closed my eyes, wanting to enjoy the weightlessness that came with soaring, but my heart was too heavy to enjoy anything while she was in danger. Every minute felt precious, knowing we only had so many left. The aniccipere wouldn’t keep her hostage forever. Eventually, they would give into their hunger and feed on her.

It wasn’t rare for them to feast upon vampires. We still had souls, albeit darker, so they tended not to bother with mortals around. But Olivia was different. While immortal, she didn’t carry the curse of vampirism. The gods had gifted her with eternal life and things mortals could only dream of possessing. Her soul was beautiful, and unfortunately, that only made her more desirable to the soul vampires.

Zach swept up to my left and shot me a signal, as he navigated the air with Erianna in his arms. The mountains here were treacherous, but he and Erianna knew them well. Ravena had come with us too, refusing to stay behind with her husband. She and I were the most desperate. I could see it in the force behind the flaps of her wings, propelling her forward without a break.

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