Page 8 of Darkest Heart

“I hate the aniccipere,” I promised, “and I want nothing more to keep the kingdom safe.”

“Yes,” he said after several seconds. “Then you must believe the prophecy, else you cannot possibly help me.”

“Believing it makes this worse, not better!” My patience snapped. “My plans are for nothing if it’s true. How is it any better than the aniccipere taking over?”

“We can stop Olivia from fulfilling the prophecy. There are many timelines, and her current one can always be changed. I believe it’ll only come true if she kills an innocent.” He smoothed his palm over his head. “It’s a part of the prophecy. Her heart must darken first, then she must die.”

“Seraphina doesn’t have it in her to kill,” I denied.

“Everyone has it in them under the right circumstances.” He closed his eyes, breathing out unevenly. “She’s been through a lot, and now she’s kidnapped. Who knows what the aniccipere are doing to her.” He placed a hand over his chest.

“Say I believe this prophecy, then what? We stop her from going dark and murdering an innocent?”

“Yes,” he answered, opening his eyes. “We get her back before too much damage can be done. She is the rightful queen.”

My eyebrows shot up, shock jolting through me. I blinked twice, making sure I heard his words right. “Queen? Not princess.”

“When she became immortal, without the curse of vampirism, the gods placed her on the throne. Her father refuses to concede. However, he is right not to. She is not ready to rule yet. It is why I was helping her.”

I noted the distancing statement to Sargon. Azia cared for her. “You believe she’ll rule?”

“Yes,” he replied, confirming my hopes. But if the prophecy came true, it doomed us regardless. I assumed the dying part of the prophecy indicated she might become a vampire, instead of a pure immortal like she was now. “Then we seem to have two battles on our hands.”

He nodded. “Let us pray we find her soon. If not, the things they will do to her, it might propel the prediction,” he reiterated. “If the rest of it has come true so far, then we must assume what is foretold will come to fruition unless we stop it. Are you with me?”

I nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

“What you do best.” The winds calmed, silence dredging the forest as a storm brewed in the distance. “I need you to lie, manipulate, and deceive all those around you.”

“Who?”

He gave me a look, and my stomach knotted. He believed Velda. Maybe even my father was behind it. I thought about it myself. Seraphina’s disappearance was only a benefit to them, and a reason to get Sargon out of the castle. “You think my father is involved?”

He nodded.

I wetted my lips. I’d investigated the matter already and found nothing connecting them. My father would let me know his plans. He didn’t know of my desire to take the throne from under him and trusted me with his schemes. But even if they weren’t behind this, someone was. Everyone needed to be treated as a suspect. “Understood.”

“In the meantime, get in touch with your contacts in the south. Have them report back anything out of the ordinary, congregations of aniccipere, rumors.”

“Rumors do not help us. Gossip is just the whispers of desperate men.”

He waved a finger. “Rumors, often, reveal more truth than you realize if we decipher them correctly. Report anything you hear to me.” He paused, turning his head. “Anything.”

I hated being dictated to, especially by a sorcerer who was only one step above a mortal. But I had little choice. “Agreed.”

“No one must know of our arrangement.”

“That goes without saying,” I answered, then watched him leave through the wisps of fog dancing illusory between the trees.

***

By the time evening came, I was exhausted. The east wing was full of life, the scent of blood carrying to my room as they partied into the early hours of the morning. Adrian was managing them well, collecting the paperwork, and keeping the identities of our members private. Discretion was the most important part of our organization. If no one knew who was or wasn’t a Blood Brother, then we could move around with stealth. Anonymity meant we could collect information without being noticed. Secrets were the greatest currency for gaining power. Stagma, or any other money, could only buy so much.

I pressed my back against the pillows, feeling the emptiness that often came when I was alone. Being immortal was the most incredible thing, but no matter what I did or who I fucked, I couldn’t find my way out of this emptiness. It’s why I needed to become king. I had to have a purpose. I was born to change this world. To be more than my late father, and everyone else, thought I could be. Being alive for a century, and having all the worldly pleasures at my fingertips came with a price, dissatisfaction. It took so much more to excite or surprise me. Everything was predictable, even the worst things.

I shook my head, sitting myself up before I could become lost in my mind. Music from the party pounded in my ears. I needed to swap rooms. I’d been offered a royal chamber in the west wing, and had originally declined, but I needed quiet.

We had hundreds of documents to look through, things to decipher and plan. With the king leaving, and my new title, I had to take care of business. I glazed my eyes over the bookshelves, deciding to leave them behind. Reading wasn’t as much a priority for me anymore, unless they were strategy books that I could use to aid my goals.

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