The Bloodtruth Series (Box Set: Heiress of Lies, The Queen's Betrayal, Trials of Truth, A Heart's Deceit)

by Cege Smith

  “I don’t know,” Angeline said. “However, I have an idea.”

  “You crave blood.”

  “I do.” Angeline saw no point in lying. “But it is controllable.”

  “Your moods are erratic. Your behavior is abnormal.”

  “No, it is not abnormal,” Angeline replied. “I lost my father three days ago. If anything, I have kept up proper appearances while dealing with my grief. That is absolutely normal.”

  “You have benefited from the spell that we cast to bind your wraith in your subconscious.”

  “I know that the spell no longer binds because the wraith speaks to me,” Angeline said.

  Cries of outrage went up around the room.

  “Blasphemy, Theodora!”

  “She must be contained!”

  “You brought death down on our heads!”

  Theodora stood, a look of outrage on her face. “Calm yourselves! You are in no danger.” After a few moments, the voices finally quieted. Theodora turned narrowed eyes on Angeline. “I hope you can forgive the Council, Majesty. Surely you understand their…concern.”

  “The perfect combination of human and vampire, with all the benefits of both races but few of their respective weaknesses? Or is the concern that the wraith is a species that cannot be controlled because it is driven mad by a lust for blood and a guilt that cannot be contained? Yes, such a creature would concern me as well.”

  “You talk as if you dispute that you are such a creature.”

  Angeline felt a small measure of satisfaction at the look of surprise on Theodora’s face. The Clan Mistress would have had a good idea of how she would want the negotiation to go. The first step would have been humiliating Angeline in front of everyone so that she became more malleable to the terms that Theodora offered. Angeline was going to throw a wrench into those plans, and she was delighted that Theodora caught onto the intention of her nuanced words so quickly.

  “I do.”

  The room erupted again. This time, Angeline welcomed it. A small smile crossed her face at she watched Theodora’s chagrin. The Clan’s leader once again was forced to stand to calm the angry and fearful voices coming from the alcoves. That told Angeline that if a Clan member stepped outside of the alcove, the magic keeping them hidden from her eyes would likely cease to be effective. She wanted nothing more than to draw each one of them out into the open. Cowards negotiated from the shadows.

  “Do you have proof of this allegation?” Theodora’s voice boomed throughout the room. “Because we have proof that your new form was created in the way that wraiths are formed.”

  “I am in control of the wraith,” Angeline said. “The wraith does not control me.”

  “You are a wraith,” Theodora said.

  “No, I have a wraith inside of me,” Angeline said. “There is a difference. You speak as if we are one. We are not. That is why I have come to the Clan. I ask that piece of me be removed. Forever.”

  “What would you do if we said no?”

  “I don’t believe that you will,” Angeline said.

  “And why not?” It wasn’t Theodora who asked the question. The voice came from a man who emerged from the alcove on her left. His face looked liked Theodora’s, smooth and unlined, but she sensed that he was older. He watched her curiously.

  Angeline was pleased. She had listened carefully to everything that Thomas told her about the magic and the legends. She was going to use their own myths to get her way, one way or another. She had a kingdom to protect.

  “Because I believe that I am the One,” she said.

  She thought that it was possible to hear a pin drop in the chamber.

  “You dare?” Theodora hissed.

  “I don’t dare. I am a Robart. I speak the truth,” Angeline said. She saw more figures emerge from the alcoves listening closely to her words. “Whatever proof you need I am willing to submit to it. The time that you have been waiting for has arrived.”

  Theodora regarded her coldly. Angeline had put her in an uncomfortable spot. To dismiss her out of hand would mean that she would risk angering the rest of the Council, who clearly were curious and wanted to know more. If Angeline proved to be the One, then Theodora could lose credibility and perhaps even some of her power. Angeline was willing to take the gamble. Now she had to see if Theodora was will to take the risk as well.

  “You will submit to the Trials of Truth?” Theodora asked.

  “Whatever proof you need,” Angeline said. She wanted to know what the Trials of Truth were, but she thought to ask now would raise doubts about her declaration.

  Theodora nodded sharply. “We will begin then with testimony. Later tonight, we will commence the remainder of the trials. Is that acceptable to the rest of the council?”

  “I second,” the man who had first emerged from the alcove said.

  Angeline smiled at him gratefully.

  A wicked grin crossed Theodora’s face. “Excellent. The Council calls its witness. Connor Radwin, please approach.”

  Angeline’s heart dropped into her stomach as she watched Connor emerge from the final alcove. His face twisted in a grimace. That was when it hit her. Connor was being called to testify against her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Connor couldn’t believe it. When Theodora called his name and his feet propelled him forward, he found that he just wanted to turn and run. He saw the look of hurt and surprise cross Angeline’s face before she could hide it away, and he thought he was going to be sick. He didn’t know what she was trying to do, claiming to be the One, but he could tell that Theodora was less than pleased. He was her secret weapon against Angeline. He cursed his weakness again that so neatly trapped him under Theodora’s thumb.

  “Thomas, please escort her Majesty to her seat. I’m sure that the day has been rather tiring for her, and we’re just beginning.”

  The rotund man that Connor saw standing just behind Angeline stepped forward and took her elbow. Angeline shook it off not so gently and, with her chin held high, strode over the alcove that he had just exited. He had to give her credit. Even though he could sense that her emotions were running high, she appeared to be in complete control. Before he met her, he wouldn’t have thought such a thing possible. She had grown by leaps and bounds in just a few weeks. He hated that he had played a part in that.

  Connor found that he was now the focus of Theodora’s stare. He hoped that she wasn’t about to do something to call out his subservience to her. He needed to find a way to tell Angeline about what happened. He tried reaching out to her with his mind. If nothing else, their blood bond should have made their connection stronger, but he found that there was still nothing there. He assumed that magic was being used to block him.

  He waited for Theodora to begin. He put his hands behind his back and assumed a soldier’s stance. It made him feel slightly more confident standing that way. It wasn’t as if Connor had never been put on the spot in front of a group of people before. When Monroe and the Master finally decided that he needed to be relegated to another position, he had been called out in front of the entire coven in a similar manner. It didn’t mean though that he’d ever get used to it.

  “State your name for the record,” she said.

  “Connor Radwin.”

  “How old are you, Connor Radwin?”

  Connor paused. “I am one-hundred and twenty-nine years old.”

  “How is that possible?”

  He was annoyed that Theodora seemed intent on belaboring an obvious point. He wondered if she wanted to humiliate him. “I am vampire.”

  “Who is your sire?”

  He didn’t know why that was relevant, but he knew better than to try to avoid the question. “Monroe, Chief Deputy of Alron’s coven.”

  Whispers immediately went up around the room and the hair on the back of his neck prickled. There was obviously something about his lineage that was important. He wished in that moment that he thought to ask Monroe about his background. In reality, Connor had
spent as much time as possible trying to get away from his sire. Then he realized that, as the Chief Deputy of the Master’s coven, Monroe would be well-known by the Clan. He was overreacting and reading too much into Theodora’s questions.

  “Tell us about yourself, Connor. What have you done with your life these last hundred and twenty-nine years?”

  “I was recruited to serve in the Master’s personal guard. I did that for fifty years. For the last fifty years, I have tended to the Master’s library and focused on my own pursuits.”

  “Those pursuits are?”

  Now Connor felt humiliated. He cleared his throat. “I have been looking for a cure.”

  “For the blood thirst.” Theodora’s statement wasn’t a question.

  “Yes and even so far as a way to become human again.”

  “Was your investigation sanctioned by your Master?”

  “Not in the slightest.” Connor couldn’t keep the sneer out of his voice. He was an outcast because he didn’t revel in his new existence the way that it seemed everyone else around him in the coven did.

  “It appears you have a petulance for insubordination.”

  “I did not ask for this fate,” Connor said. He wished that he knew what Angeline was thinking about that moment. He didn’t want her to see him as a vampire, but as a man. It pained him to think that this was all he would ever be to her. “If I was going to live forever, I decided to spend my time trying to find a way out of it.”

  “You want to die?”

  “I want to be what I was before. Nothing more.”

  “Do you still want this?” The question hung there in the air between them. It was a test, he realized. She was testing his loyalty and obedience to her, to see if he would honor the terms of their deal. It appeared that Angeline was not the only one on trial.

  He struggled with how to answer the question because he wanted to say yes, but if he did and through some twist of fate he was granted his wish at the worst possible time, he would never forgive himself.

  “It is not a difficult question.” Anger flashed in Theodora’s eyes.

  “I do not dispute that there are advantages to being a vampire,” Connor said slowly. “However, if I could have those benefits without the thirst for blood, I would consider that an improvement.” It was the vaguest answer, or non-answer, that he could provide.

  The way that Theodora’s lips thinned told him that she was less than pleased with his response. He wondered how she would make him pay for that later. That was all the more reason that he had to find a way to unbind the spell. “You are an acquaintance of Queen Angeline Robart?”

  “I am,” he said. He wondered what kind of word trap he would have to evade next.

  “Can you explain to the Council how you became acquainted? I hazard a guess to say that many of our members are likely surprised to hear that one of royal blood is keeping company with a vampire.”

  “It was part of a game,” Connor said. It felt like a lifetime ago. All of that plotting and planning. If only he had known how it would all be for naught. “The Master had intelligence that the Crown Princess was going to be transported from the Sisters of St. Abath convent where she was going to school back to the capital city of Brebackerin. He wished to have an audience with her, and offered a reward to anyone who brought her to him.”

  “So you decided to try your hand at winning the reward?”

  “Yes.” It all felt so callous. He thought that he would just hand Angeline over and collect his prize. It seemed stupid and shortsighted now. “I kidnapped the Princess and planned to deliver her to Alron.”

  Theodora turned and looked at Angeline, who so far was sitting silently watching him. He could see the hurt in her eyes. He wanted to wipe all of that hurt away. He hated himself because no matter what he did, he always seemed to cause her pain. He thought again of everything that Theodora told him. Angeline was better off without him in her life. Knowing that fact though didn’t make it any easier thinking about never seeing her again.

  “What happened then?”

  “An exiled member of my coven also decided to play the game so that he could be reinstated. His strategy though was to wait until someone else kidnapped her from her guard, and then to sweep her out from under that person’s nose. I uncovered his ploy before he found us, but that meant that I took a risk transporting the Princess on a route that proved more dangerous than I anticipated. Just outside of the Amaron Forest, she was bitten by an Arythmatonian Pillora.”

  “The venom of that spider is fatal,” Theodora said, stating the obvious for dramatic benefit.

  “Yes. The Princess asked me to remove the venom from her system in order to save her life just before she slipped into unconsciousness.” The panic of that moment still resonated in Connor’s memory. That single event set in motion a decision that he still questioned and regretted every day. “I tried to do as she asked, but the venom spread too quickly for me to remedy the situation.”

  “What did you do, Connor?”

  “She was near death. I didn’t have any time to think about what to do. I just knew that I swore I would never condemn another person to this fate, to have to live this horrible life,” Connor sputtered. “I wouldn’t do that to anyone, especially not to her.” He stopped and shuttered, reliving that final moment in his mind. “I stopped just as her life expired. I was too late.”

  Theodora turned to regard Angeline again. “And yet, the Queen sits here before us. Clearly, she did not die.”

  “No,” Connor said harshly. “The transition began before I could even realize what had happened. The venom from my bite entered her system and resuscitated her. I did not give her any of my blood. The Princess was not becoming a vampire, but a wraith.”

  Theodora shot to her feet. “You understand that the sentence for the creation of a wraith is death? That is the law not just in the coven, but for the vampires who reside here within the walls of the Clan as well?”

  Connor’s mouth dropped open. “I did not.” He furiously thought about everything that Theodora had said to him. He just admitted in front of the entire Council that he knowingly broke one of their laws. Coldness seeped into his limbs.

  What had he just done?

  “You created a wraith. Despite the Queen’s testimony that she is not wraith, you, as her sire, confess to the crime.”

  “I have never met another wraith before, but I do know someone who has, and he was convinced that the Queen would be able to control her wraith tendencies. I have no personal experience to refute the Queen’s claims.” He desperately tried to think about how he could save his testimony.

  “You have personal feelings for the Queen that cloud your judgment,” Theodora said. Her deceitfulness knew no bounds.

  “I have sworn fealty to her,” Connor said. “As I said at the beginning of my testimony, there is no love lost between me and my sire, or the Master. I have had no home for over a hundred years. If I can be useful to the Queen in her service, I would rather live my life there.”

  “You should know better than anyone that humans do not even remember that vampires exist. They know them only as disgusting, bloodthirsty, violent creatures that terrorized them hundreds of years ago. Surely you are not so naïve as to think that they would openly embrace you, or that the Queen would allow you to be of service other than for duties that would need to remain in the shadows?”

  “I will serve wherever she needs me,” Connor said. He wanted to look at Angeline and see if she responded to his words, but he didn’t dare back away from Theodora’s glare.

  “I think we have heard enough.”

  “Councilwoman Baford,” Angeline’s voice rang out angelic and clear in the silence. Connor held his breath as all eyes turned toward her. Angeline had also risen to her feet. “In my kingdom, we look favorably upon those who want second chances. Connor Radwin showed me mercy the day that he saved my life. As a vampire, there was certainly no way that I could have ever returned to my father’s side.
Although I did not see it at the time, I understand now that it was part of my destiny. My destiny to become the One. I would hope that, in the Council’s eyes, such actions would also warrant leniency. It was not his intention to break any laws. He did what he did because I asked him to; otherwise I am certain he would not have done it on his own.”

  Connor wanted to tell her to sit down and to stop trying to defend him. He could tell from the stiffening of Theodora’s body and the set of her mouth that Angeline’s words on his behalf only made the situation worse.

  “The Council will, of course, take your words under advisement,” Theodora said. Her tone said otherwise. “In the meantime though, the letter of the law must be abided by. Surely you, above all others, can appreciate that, Majesty.”

  Angeline’s face paled. Connor could see the struggle within her. Then, she slowly sat back down in her seat. For the moment, they both had to let Theodora do what she was going to do.

  “Connor Radwin, by the power granted to me by the consensus of the Clan, you are hereby sentenced to death.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Malin didn’t have time to explain himself to Rhone, and he wasn’t sure that he had to. At the moment, it was all about damage control. Plus he had to find his sister and make sure that she was still calm, and under control; otherwise, he’d have an even bigger mess on his hands. Dealing with the re-emergence of the Blood Guard moved further down the priority list.

  “I have other things to attend to at the moment, Rhone,” Malin said. “I suggest you stake that body and find a way to clean it up and devise a cover story for the sudden absence of the Lady Redley.”

  “Easy enough considering she’s here in the city,” Rhone said.

  Malin cursed. “Don’t tell me. The real Lady Redley decided to make an appearance this evening? But how did you know that this woman was not only an imposter, but a vampire?”

  “I was called to the front gate because my guards were confused about the arrival of the real Lady Redley. She was none too pleased about being detained as she had been hoping to make it in time for the Ascension Ball. Seems she’s husband hunting,” Rhone said. “Too many strange things are afoot. When I heard that boy’s stupid announcement about the Lord Redley’s murder, I realized that the vampires had breached our walls.”