by Krista Rose
Quarius started forward, his brows drawing together in concern. “Dariel, that is not a good idea-”
“If he sets me on fire, then we will know he’s guilty,” Dariel interrupted coolly. “Torelis will stay right here to put me out, and I will never question you on prisoners again. Deal?”
Quarius muttered under his breath, but nodded. Torelis stepped forward, his fingers darting toward my neck. I flinched, and he skittered back, his eyes watchful.
“Can you tell me your name?” Dariel asked, leaning forward on the desk. His face was unafraid. “And where you are from?”
“Brannyn.” My voice was rusty, and I cleared my throat. “Brannyn Rose. From Des- northwestern Valory. By the coast.”
“Rose.” Dariel frowned thoughtfully. “Isn’t that the name of the family that owns all the land west of here? Their farms produce about ten percent of Valory’s grains, correct?”
I had no idea if it was that much, but nodded anyway. “Yes. Your Highness.”
He waved the title aside. “Just Dariel, if you please. Now, tell me, since Quarius will stare holes in me until I ask. Are you a Firemage?”
I took a deep breath to calm the nerves jumping in my stomach. “Yes, your- Dariel.”
“Did you start the fire?”
“No.” I shook my head, adamant. “I wasn’t even in Fallor when it started. I was at the Manor, guarding it with Vi- Desper. He’s the Second of an Earthmage. We were together when we heard the bells.”
“Really?” Dariel’s eyes flicked to Quarius. “Why don’t you send someone to find this Desper for me?”
Quarius nodded, and stepped out of the tent, talking quietly to someone outside.
“So,” Dariel continued, “how did you end up in Fallor so quickly? It’s about an hour’s ride from here to the Manor, isn’t it?”
“Sylvathi brought us,” I admitted reluctantly. “He- he’s my dragon.”
“Your dragon?” Dariel’s brows disappeared underneath the hair that had fallen back in his eyes. “You have a dragon? Are you a Wrayth?”
“Yes. And no, I’m not a Wrayth. He found me. In the woods, about a month ago. He’s been helping protect my family.”
“Protect them? From what?”
“The Vampyres.” I frowned at him. “Surely someone told you by now that’s what is really going on here.”
“They might have mentioned it.”
“But you don’t think it’s real,” I realized. Panic began to bubble in my chest. “Your Highness- Dariel- please, you have to listen. The Vampyres are very real, and very dangerous.”
Dariel gestured to Torelis, who stepped forward again to wrap his magic around my throat. I gasped, fighting against the feeling of being strangled as I struggled to make him understand.
Quarius reentered the tent, and Dariel looked up expectantly.
“Desper and the man known as Tanner left Fallor about half an hour ago.” Quarius scowled at me. “My men say they headed west, toward Rose Manor.”
“Really.” Dariel looked unsurprised as he sat back. “What do you think they’re doing there?”
“I think they heard that we were arresting their friend, and went to hide the evidence that they started the fire.”
I struggled valiantly against the magic, but it was hopeless.
“Brannyn just told me he has a dragon.”
Quarius barked a laugh. “You don’t honestly think my men would have missed a dragon in the middle of a field, do you?”
“Maybe.” Dariel shrugged. “Dragons were around long before the Gods created us. I think one might be smart enough to hide from large clusters of heavily armed men.”
Quarius rolled his eyes.
Dariel glanced back at me, contemplating. “When we were requested to a small town with claims of monsters roaming the streets, we knew it was a hoax, potentially a trap for our soldiers. I think you and your friends have been terrorizing this town, playing on their fear of demons to hide your crimes.”
I shook my head violently, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good.
“Quarius, get two regiments together, and have a horse saddled for me and Brannyn here.” He stood, stretching. “We’ll leave as soon as the men are ready.”
“You’re not letting him go?” The Legate glanced at me. “Dariel-”
“Of course I’m not. What do you take me for?” Dariel made a face at him. “We’re going to follow behind his friends until we find the proof we need for the trial. Common rights, remember?”
Quarius grumbled, but nodded and left the tent again.
Dariel looked at me, and smiled in sympathy. “I apologize. I know you desperately want us to believe this story about monsters hiding in the dark, but in my experience, most monsters are just cowards using the darkness as a mask.”
I knew what he said was true, knew in his place I would have believed the same thing. But I also knew that the monsters were real, and that we were walking into disaster.
I rattled my chains, and listened to the hopeless sound they made.
VITRIC
The taste of moonflower had barely faded from my tongue before I was dreaming. I soared across the golden sands of Surak toward the gleaming black temple, my heart pulling me toward it like a lodestone.
No. I forced myself to stop, pulling away from where I most wanted to go. I have to find Felice.
My dream-self hesitated, then shot up, towards the sun’s blinding light. When I was able to see again, I was descending toward trees, the setting sun turning the horizon on fire. I had the fleeting impression of Rose Manor, perhaps half a mile east, before I was diving back through the branches. A rocky outcropping rose from the center of a clearing; even though I knew it was a dream, I still flinched as I shot straight through it.
I found myself standing in a large dark cavern. The air was damp, smelling of rot and mildew, and I swallowed as my stomach churned. I didn’t know if I could throw up in a dream, but I didn’t want to find out. A couple of torches burned in corners, and furtive shapes darted through the shadows between them, glowing white eyes revealing that I had found what I was looking for.
I was in the nest of the Vampyres.
In a far corner, Felice sat on a crudely carved throne, surrounded by several dozen flickering candles. I approached her slowly as the Vampyres surged around my dream-self, skittering like rats across the filthy, blood-stained floor.
She was wearing another dress: white silk this time, cut daringly low in the bodice, though the elegance of it was ruined by the blackish stains along the hem where she had dragged across the floor. A fist-sized rose made of diamonds sparkled at her throat, and more gems dangled from her ears. Despite the burning white of her gaze, her face looked uncertain, and she sat rigidly in the throne, as if she were afraid.
“I did as you asked.” Her voice trembled as she spoke, though I couldn’t see who she was talking to. “Everything you asked.”
“And yet they live. After everything I have done for you.” The voice emerged from behind the throne, cultured and compelling and cruel as it cut through the quiet, more deadly than any blade. It was the voice of someone accustomed to being obeyed- and I wanted to obey, to please him, to have him acknowledge me, even as a slave.
If I had not been paralyzed by fear, that knowledge would have run made me run screaming from the chamber, dream or not.
“I bit the boy,” Felice snapped, but fear flickered across her features. “How could I have known he would be saved by the damned Cedrani?”
“I gave you a family,” the voice continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I took away your pain, made you strong. I gave you vengeance on the men who tortured you, promised you an empire greater than any that has ever existed. And yet you could not kill even one of the six.”
“He should be dead.”
“But he is not!” The voice rose in anger, and Felice flinched. My knees buckled. The other Vampyres cowered, pressing themselves further into the shadows.
�
�He is not dead,” the voice continued more calmly. “You have failed me.”
“Give me another chance,” she whispered. The diamonds trembled at her throat, sparkling rainbows flickering across her pallid skin. “I’ll make certain he is dead this time.”
Something moved behind her, and a hand emerged from the darkness to slide across her throat; the fingers, too long to be human, cradled the curve of her jaw. The nails were twisted, the wrist oddly fragile-looking, and the skin gleamed like blackened copper, as if it had been bathed in gold and then set on fire.
I whimpered, wishing I could hide, wanting to curl up beneath a rock and never be found.
“You will do more than that,” the voice murmured. “This time, you will kill them all.”
Felice swallowed. “But- but they aren’t all here. How-”
“My other agents will deal with the eldest, and the one in the Abyss, wherever he might end up. But there are four here now, and those you will kill.”
The eldest- My stomach knotted. Kryssa. He’s talking about Kryssa.
Felice took a deep breath. Her eyes seemed to burn into me as she nodded. “Yes, Eoct. It shall be as you say.”
The hand slipped from her throat, back into shadows. “Do not fail me again.”
“Vitric!”
Someone was shaking me, and I struggled out of the dream. My mouth tasted like ashes, and the scent of decay lingered in my nose, sickening me as I blinked up at the frightened faces of Amandine and Tanner.
“Water,” I croaked, my throat dry and aching. Tanner leapt to fetch me the pitcher on the desk.
“Are you alright?” Amandine hovered over me, her fingers reaching but not quite touching me. “You were screaming.”
“I’m sorry,” I managed, before taking the pitcher from Tanner and downing half its contents. The ache in my throat eased, and I took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“What scared you?” Tanner stared at me, his expression caught somewhere between hopeful and afraid. “What did you see?”
“I saw Felice.” I took a deep breath. “And I saw Eoct.”
“Eoct? Who’s Eoct?”
“He’s the one controlling her. He- he isn’t human. I don’t know what he is, but Felice is terrified of him.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Amandine argued with a frown. “Felice is a Vampyre. They don’t have feelings.”
“I don’t think Felice changed all the way,” I told her, forcing my mind to be logical. “If she had, her eyes wouldn’t change back and forth. And she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from feeding.”
“She hasn’t been feeding?” Amandine gaped at me. “Are you sure?”
“I’m fairly certain.”
“But what about Farius? The murder of her family?”
“Being present- or even killing them- is not the same as devouring someone for their soul. And I don’t think this Eoct wanted all her feelings removed. She’s the leader of the nest. Through her, he controls it.”
“Why?” Tanner looked confused. “What good does a group of cannibalistic monsters do anyone?”
“They provide a good cover for murder.”
“Who could anyone possibly want to kill so badly-”
I simply stared at him.
“Oh.” His face turned white as the realization hit him. “Oh, no.”
“What?” Amandine demanded. “Who?”
“Kryssa’s family,” I explained gently. “Especially Reyce.”
Amandine paled. “Malachi’s children? But why-” She stopped herself, realizing. “It’s more than that, isn’t it? More to them?”
“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “All we can do is try to keep them safe.”
“Do you know where they are?” Tanner interrupted, fiddling with the jar I knew he kept in his pocket. “Where Felice is?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Are you certain about this?” Amandine asked again. “That she would target Reyce is just…”
“Reyce is the only one we’ve ever confirmed as bitten by Felice,” Tanner reminded her gently. “Valin told us she was in the house the night her family was killed, but he also said there were at least a half-dozen Vampyres with her. One of them might have bitten their father, and Valin just assumed-”
“Gods, Tanner, stop.” She shuddered. “This is my family you speak of.”
“Felice is your family, too,” he reminded her.
“Don’t you think I know that?” she shouted. “Don’t you think I’ve prayed for a way to bring her back, to save her from herself?” Her voice broke, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “And then I gave up. I believed the worst of her. All this time, I- I thought-”
“She still did terrible things, Amandine,” I said. “She’s in charge of those Vampyres. What they have done is still her fault.”
“But you said someone is making her do these things, this- this Eoct-person.”
“She still had a choice. She didn’t have to listen.” I tried to forget how compelling the voice had been, the feelings of fear and adulation that had trapped me in that cavern, even in a dream.
Amandine swallowed, blinking back the rest of her tears. “Just-” She took a deep breath, steeling herself, revealing the strength beneath her fragility. “Just find her. Find her and bring her home.”
Tanner and I exchanged looks, and nodded. “We will.”
BRANNYN
The setting sun silhouetted Tanner and Vitric as they walked back out of the Manor, escorted by Great-Aunt Amandine. I wanted to call out to them, to warn them that more than a hundred legionaires were watching their every move from the edge of the estate, but Torelis’ magic was still wrapped around my throat, choking off my words.
“They’re heading into the woods,” Aurus murmured to Dariel. “Should we follow them?”
“Send a few of the scouts to mark a trail. We’ll follow about a quarter of a mile behind.”
Aurus relayed the order to one of the men at his elbow, then glanced back at the prince. “Any idea why they were inside so long?”
Dariel shrugged. “No idea.”
But I knew. I remembered my talk with Vitric before the fire in Fallor, when I had asked him to use his dreaming to find Felice. With Tanner back, I had no doubt they had done just that.
Vitric had found the nest.
And Dariel was going to follow them straight to it.
VITRIC
“There, that’s it. Just like in the dream.”
“You sure about this?” Tanner whispered, and glanced over his shoulder nervously. “It looks like a bunch of rocks to me.”
“I’m sure.” The cold knot of fear in my chest confirmed it. “The Vampyres are in there. With Felice.”
“Great. So what’s your plan?”
“Plan?”
“Yeah, your plan. You said we’d use your dreaming to find Felice, and we did. So now what?”
I blinked. “Umm…”
“You don’t have a plan?” He glared, and punched me in the arm. “What did you think we were going to do when we got here? Stare at the rock until one of the Vampyres popped out, then ask them to get Felice for us? Did you think she was going to invite us in for a nice evening of tea and souls?”
“Look, at least I’m trying, alright? We know where she is now, and-”
“And we can’t go anywhere near her or we’ll get eaten,” he finished for me. “Which is not on my list of ways I wish to be killed.”
“You have a list?”
“You don’t?” He snorted. “You need to spend more time around Brannyn.”
“Just shut up and-” I froze, turning my head back toward the forest behind us. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“It- it sounded like someone stepped on a stick, and cursed.” I swallowed. “I think we should-”
White light exploded all around us, blinding after so long spent in the dark woods. Voices rang out between the trees as shadowy bodies behind t
he lights converged on the rocky outcropping.
I squinted, shielding my eyes as group of men stepped forward. I recognized one as Brannyn, shackled at the wrists and ankles, being dragged behind a young man with hair that covered his eyes. A third man darted nervously behind them, fidgeting with a ring on his hand.
The fourth man stepped forward, straight-backed and obviously pleased. “This was a good plan, Dariel. I applaud your decision.”
It was Legate Quarius.
VITRIC
More men surged into the clearing to surround us. Dozens combed over the rocks, searching for an entrance. Anger and fear pounded against my chest. What was Quarius planning? What was he even doing here?
What if Eoct is still below?
The Legate Quarius approached us, smirking as if he’d won some great victory. I couldn’t understand what he was so happy about. His men were about to face down monsters.
“So good of you to lead us to your hideout.” He spread his hands. “I knew the Firemage was a liar. So, what’s down there, boys? Weapons? Gold? A dragon?” He chuckled at his own joke.
I looked at Brannyn, saw my horror and panic reflected in his face. He doesn’t believe. The worry I had lived with since Brannyn’s collapse came to fruition: Quarius blamed him for the fire that had destroyed Fallor, and now he thought Tanner and I had been his accomplices.
He thought it was our guilt that was hidden beneath the rocks.
“Legate, you have to listen to me.” I took a step forward and was immediately yanked back by legionaires. “My name is Desper. I am the Second of Lady Murthos Hetarielle of Enevai, and-”
“Yes, yes.” He waved my words aside. “Brannyn already told us. There’s monsters.” He turned his back on me, unconcerned. “Aurus, have you found the entrance yet?”
I tried again. “Sir, I promise you, whatever you think you’re going to find, this isn’t it.”
“We’ve found it,” Aurus called back. “It’s pretty narrow. I’ll take a group down with me to check it out and report back what we find.”
