Fight for Blood (Blood Origins Book 2)

by Tiffany Heiser

  And I was one of them now.

  Would I be expected to sit in one of those massive thrones,

  now that Cryder and I were taking over from his parents? The vision

  in my head shifted, and now I saw myself sitting up there. It was an incongruous thought. This room was far too ornate, too fancy, for

  someone like me. I didn’t belong up on that throne.

  “This is where the citizens of La Oscurità come when they

  have problems that need to be addressed,” Giorgia said. “We take

  meetings with La Oscurità citizens every day. Sometimes there are

  only a few petitioners. Other days, dozens come. As king and queen,

  your responsibility will be to hear their grievances and do your best to resolve them.”

  Cryder nodded, seeming to take that in stride—I supposed he

  wasn’t hearing anything he didn’t already know—but I felt shaken.

  How was I supposed to solve the problems of vampires? I couldn’t

  even imagine what those problems might be, but I felt sure they’d be out of my league.

  “Can Rena sit on that throne?” Cecile asked.

  “Cecile!” I couldn’t believe she was being so forward.

  “It’ll make a good picture,” Cecile said. “We can send it to

  my mom.”

  “What are you talking about? We can’t send a picture like

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  that to your mom!”

  “Sure, we can,” Cecile argued. “We’ll just tell her we’re

  touring an old palace. It’s the truth. She’ll think it’s neat, and she won’t be worried, and it’s something we can actually be kind of

  honest with her about.”

  I felt terrible. Cecile had never been anything less than

  enthusiastic about our new life, but it must be hard for her to be

  leaving her mother behind. Of course, she would jump at the

  opportunity to share something. I turned to Giorgia. “Is it okay?”

  Giorgia seemed to understand. “It’s more than fine,” she said

  gently. “The throne is soon to be yours, after all.”

  It still didn’t feel fine. It felt like trespassing, and I also felt more than a little foolish. But I allowed Cryder to conduct me to the throne, and I allowed Cecile to take a picture of me seated there.

  Then, she wanted to do pictures of Cryder and me together,

  him on his throne and me on mine. Cryder sat down gamely enough

  and smiled for the photos. I noticed Giorgia and Samuele

  exchanging looks. Were we embarrassing ourselves? Were we

  failing to respect the solemnity of the occasion? Or maybe we were

  just acting too human?

  I hopped off the throne and returned to Cecile’s side. “Can

  we see the rest of the palace?” I asked, suddenly eager to put the

  throne room behind me.

  “Of course,” Samuele said. “Let’s proceed into the

  ballroom.”

  The ballroom!

  The throne room had overwhelmed me, but it hadn’t exactly

  surprised me—I had known such a thing must exist. It was a palace,

  after all. Kings and queens had to have audiences with their people

  somewhere. But a ballroom? Such a thing had never even occurred to me. “Are there many balls?” I found myself asking, my curiosity

  overcoming my shyness.

  “A few each year,” Giorgia said. “There will be one for your

  coronation, of course.

  I found Cryder’s hand. A coronation sounded a bit

  frightening, but I didn’t dare ask for too many details about that just now. “Who comes to them?” I asked instead. “All the people we saw

  outside, I suppose?”

  “Yes,” Giorgia said. “All of La Oscurità is welcome at the

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  royal balls.” We had reached another pair of wide double doors, and

  she threw these open. “The ballroom,” she announced.

  It was, if that were possible, even more gorgeous than the

  throne room. It was also much more modern. The floor was made of

  highly polished wood, and three of the four walls were clear glass,

  providing stunning views of the grounds. I looked up. The ceiling

  was peppered with massive skylights. Dancing here would feel like

  dancing in a snow globe. Nervous as I was about the idea of a

  coronation, at which I would be the center of attention, I had to

  admit that I was a little excited about the prospect of a ball.

  Adjoining the ballroom was the dining room. This room

  featured a long oaken table—long enough to seat several dozen

  diners, I thought. Did vampires really need a dining room? What did

  they do in here? I had never seen a vampire eat anything I would

  categorize as food before.

  I didn’t ask. I admired the room and followed the family

  back out to the main foyer.

  “Upstairs?” Cryder asked me.

  I nodded. I did want to see the upper rooms of the palace.

  Samuele led the way. “The ground floor is the only one

  that’s ever open to the public,” he said. “These rooms up here are all private, for the family’s use only.” He rested a hand on one of the

  doors. “I don’t know whether you enjoy reading?”

  “I do.”

  “Then you’ll want to acquaint yourself with our library. It’s

  one of the finest private collections on the continent. We’ll make

  sure you have some time tomorrow to explore it more fully, if we

  can.” Cecile, I noticed, was wearing a sort of glazed expression, and Samuele smiled indulgently. “I’m sure you girls would like to see

  your bedroom?”

  There would be a bed. I was suddenly aware of just how

  exhausted I felt. “That would be great,” I said.

  Samuele led the way to another door. “You and Cecile will

  share this room, Rena,” he said.

  I frowned, confused. Though I hadn’t really thought about it,

  I realized now that I had expected to share a room with Cryder.

  Weren’t we to be married, after all? We were going to rule together.

  Giorgia seemed to understand my puzzlement. “The royal

  family is highly scrutinized,” she said. “It would be improper for the

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  prince and his bride to be to share quarters before the wedding and

  coronation. So, until that time, you will stay with your friend.”

  I nodded assent. I didn’t mind, actually. Enough was already

  changing, what with our having flown to a new country, moved into

  a palace, and preparing for the rituals that would allow me to take

  my place as queen. I wasn’t sure I was ready to take my relationship with Cryder to the next level on top of all that. For a few nights, at least, it would be a relief to go to sleep with Cecile by my side. It would be something familiar in all of this.

  Cryder gave me a quick hug. “Why don’t you two get some

  rest,” he suggested. “Tomorrow will be a busy day.”

  “Today was a busy day,” I pointed out.

  He chuckled. “All the more reason to sleep while you can.

  I wanted to kiss him, but I felt funny doing so in front of his

  parents. Their impression of me was still forming, and I wanted it to be a good one. I settled for returning his hug. Then I thanked the

  king and queen again and followed Cecile into our new

  accommodations.

  “Oh, look,” she said delightedly. “They already brought up

  our suitcases!”

  So they had. The room contained two l
arge, comfortable

  looking beds, and our bags rested at the foot of each of them. I went to the bed with my own bag and flopped down on my back. “I’m

  much too tired to unpack tonight,” I announced.

  “I know what you mean.” Cecile dropped into her own bed

  like a sack of bricks. “I don’t even understand how I can be this

  tired. It’s not like I sleep. It’s not like my body needs to refresh itself.” “You’re emotionally tired,” I suggested.

  “Okay, Dr. Phil.” She rolled up onto one elbow so she could

  look at me. “What do you suppose they all do at night?” she asked.

  “I mean, they’re not sleeping either, are they?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed. “It’s weird to think about. Like, having

  eight extra hours in the day. How would you fill all that time?”

  “Cryder’s never told you what he does?”

  “No,” I admitted. “But we haven’t exactly been hard up for

  things to talk about in the time we’ve known each other, you know. I know almost nothing about this world, and now I’m supposed to rule

  it. That’s pretty crazy.”

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  “Yeah,” she said. “But hey, Rena, you’ll be a queen!”

  “You say that like it’s a good thing.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  “Maybe. How would I know? I never even went to my senior

  prom, for God’s sake.”

  “Yeah, we probably should have done that.”

  I had to laugh. “We’re not going to be lacking in formal

  parties to attend,” I pointed out to her. “Remember, there’s a

  coronation coming up.”

  “Do you think I’ll be invited?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Well, I don’t know anything about it either.”

  “You’re Drake’s girlfriend. Drake is a member of the royal

  family, too. Of course, you’ll be invited.”

  “Mmm, you’re probably right.”

  “Besides, they said the entire town was invited. All of La

  Oscurità. They didn’t mean all of La Oscurità except you.”

  She laughed. “I’m being silly, aren’t I.”

  “No sillier than me,” I said. “I’m completely in over my head

  here, Cecile.”

  “No, you aren’t,” she protested. “You’re going to do fine.

  You’ll be a great queen. I know you’re worried that you don’t know

  what you’re doing,” she cut me off before I could object, “but

  Cryder knows you don’t know what you’re doing. The whole town of La Oscurità knows. Everyone’s going to be patient. And you’ve

  got a lot of people here to help you get your feet under you.”

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  “It is true. And don’t forget, you’re not going to have to do it

  alone. You’ll have Cryder as your king. And he does know what he’s doing. He was raised to do this. He’s been preparing for it all his life.”

  Somewhat reassured, I went to my suitcase and changed into

  my pajamas. Then I got back into bed and pulled the covers up to

  my chin. The long trip and the journey into the vampire city had

  definitely gotten the better of me, and all I wanted now was to go to sleep.

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  Fight for Blood

  Chapter Five

  I thought I would never fall asleep—my mind was racing a

  mile a minute—but eventually I must have drifted off because I

  awoke to the sound of Cecile talking on her phone.

  “You didn’t have to stay up, Mom,” she said. A long pause.

  “I know you wanted to talk to us—we wanted to talk to you too,

  honestly, but it must be one in the morning there.

  I waved.

  “Rena says hi,” Cecile added.

  I went to my suitcase and started leafing through my clothes,

  looking for something to wear that day.

  “No, it’s all good,” Cecile said. “Cryder’s parents are really

  nice. Their home is really quaint.” She looked at me and rolled her

  eyes. She couldn’t tell her mother that we were staying in a palace, of course. “Yeah, they’re taking good care of us. And we should

  actually probably get downstairs and be social. I think they have

  something planned for today.”

  I felt a fluttering in my stomach. Cecile was only guessing, I

  knew, but what did today hold? Would I be put through the painful and unpleasant trials I’d been vaguely warned about? Would I have

  to meet more of the public of La Oscurità?

  “Okay, Mom,” Cecile said. “Love you too. Take care.” She

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  hung up. “You’re awake,” she said to me.

  “Yeah. How was your night?”

  “Long. You can’t imagine. I was going stir crazy in here.

  And then, I knew the rest of the family was awake somewhere in the

  house, so we could have been hanging out the whole time.” She shook her head. “I guess maybe they like having nights to

  themselves or something. It makes sense that they’d want their

  downtime.”

  “You could have woken me up,” I offered.

  She handwaved that. “You were exhausted. It’s good you got

  some sleep. Do you feel better today?”

  “A little. Still anxious, though. I hope nothing too intense is

  going on today.”

  “Oh, right!” She jumped up. “Something came for you about

  an hour ago.”

  “What?”

  She went to one of the two desks in the room and picked up a

  silver platter with a lid on it. Would this be breakfast? I lifted the lid curiously.

  There was no food beneath it. Instead, a small cream-colored

  envelope sat on a doily. My name was written on the front in script.

  “Weird,” Cecile commented.

  I picked up the envelope, tore it open, and pulled out a card

  with a note scrawled on it:

  Rena,

  Please join me for breakfast in the dining room when you

  wake. Cecile is welcome to come along. This will be a formal affair and is part of the traditional process of joining the royal family.

  I look forward to seeing you.

  Cordially,

  Giorgia

  I put the note back on the tray and looked up at Cecile, my

  hands shaking a little. “A formal breakfast?”

  She picked up the note and scanned it. “Looks that way.

  Good thing we packed some nice dresses, isn’t it?”

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  Fight for Blood

  It had been Cryder who had advised us that our formal

  dresses would be needed. We had wrapped them in tissue paper and

  stowed them deep in our suitcases. I hadn’t expected to need them

  so soon, nor had I really anticipated needing more than one. “You’re going to want more than just your black cocktail dress when we get

  there,” Cecile had said firmly, pushing armloads of jewel toned

  dresses on me. “Look, it’s better to have and not need, right?”

  I hadn’t been able to deny that. And now, looking from

  Giorgia’s note to the pile of dresses in my suitcase, I was glad I’d let her have her way. “What am I going to wear?” I asked desperately.

  “I don’t know how formal a formal breakfast is.”

  “Something classy but not over the top,” Cecile advised. She

  rustled around in my clothes for a moment, then pulled out a knee

  length dress with an ivory bodice and a pale green skirt. “Here,” she said. “This is nice, and i
t’s not an evening gown. Put this on. When you’re done, I’ll do your hair for you.”

  Shaky and nervous, I got dressed. When I was done,

  Cecile—who had dressed in a peach bubble dress—carefully wound

  my hair up for me and pinned it at the back of my head. “I’m glad

  you’re here,” I said. “I don’t think I could handle it if I had to do all this by myself.”

  “You could handle it,” Cecile assured me. “It’s just nice that

  you don’t have to, that’s all. Good to have a friend around. Are you ready to go down?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, well, are you ever going to be ready to go down?”

  “No.”

  “Let’s do it, then.”

  We made our way down the stairs. I’d hoped to run into

  Cryder and Drake in the hall, to be able to say good morning to

  them, but there was no sign of them. I slipped my phone out of my

  pocket and texted him— going to breakfast now.

  The reply came back only seconds later. Good luck! I know

  you’ll do well. I love you.

  My throat seemed to swell closed. Cryder was so comforting,

  and he made me feel so safe. If only he could be here, I knew I

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  would feel so much better. I miss you, I texted.

  I miss you too. Strange, isn’t it? We’ve only been apart for a

  few hours.

  Feels like longer.

  I’ll see you tonight and you can tell me all about your day.

  That promise was enough to make me feel a little better. I

  just had to get through the next few hours, and then I would be able to spend time with him again.

  We finally reached the dining room. The low, gloomy

  lighting of the day before, had been supplanted with bright overhead lights, and the whole thing was much less spooky because of it.

  Giorgia sat at the table, a newspaper spread open in front of her. She looked up as we came in, then got to her feet.

  “Welcome, ladies,” she said. “Please, take a seat. I’m so glad

  to have you join me for this meal, Rena.”

  Personally, I was feeling extremely awkward. I was the only

  one at the table who actually ate food. I was used to meals with

  Cecile—they were mostly humorous affairs, with her lamenting the

  fact that she could no longer enjoy her favorite dishes as she once

  had. But what would eating in front of Giorgia be like?

  My question was quickly answered. No sooner had I take a

  seat at the table than a butler set a plate down in front of me. Eggs, pancakes, bacon, potatoes—it was as good as the best breakfast I’d