“Louis.”
“Louis?”
“Why does that surprise you?”
“He doesn’t seem the sort to be playing games.”
“Vampires have an innate drive to hunt. This game was perfect for him.”
We waited until Louis left the house and a shout rose up from a few streets over, declaring the hunt finished. We slid down from the roof and walked back to the castle, trying to beat the rush of people that were now congregating in the center of the city.
Cale and Rose caught up to us in the courtyard, acting oddly quiet. I flicked a glance at them, and then to Hazen, who had his forehead creased in confusion. We were halfway across the fountain room before he finally seemed to break through whatever mental barriers they had been putting up, and then he stopped walking, clutched his head and swore loudly.
Cale coloured and Rose groaned, slipping up the stairs, not sparing us a glance as she quickly disappeared.
“Hazen…” Cale stepped forward, looking obscenely guilty.
“That’s my sister, Cale!” Hazen yelled.
I felt an almost overwhelming urge to laugh, but knew that now certainly wasn’t the time. I grabbed Hazen’s arm, and threw Cale what I hoped was an apologetic look.
Hazen, I thought, talk to me here, just get out of your head for a little bit.
He looked down at me, but it wasn’t long before Cale recaptured his attention.
“God dammit!” He groaned, slamming his fist against his forehead as if he could knock the thought, or the memory, or whatever it was, out of his head.
Cale shot him one last cringe and then moved toward the stairs as well. I supposed that getting out of Hazen’s immediate vicinity was probably a good idea. I tightened my hold on Hazen’s arm and started to drag him out of the room, toward the back of the castle, and finally out to my crossbow garden. I had to leave him there for a moment, so that I could run back inside and grab a few lanterns, which I set beneath the hanging targets. When I returned to him, he was still clutching his head. I pulled his hands free and handed him the crossbow.
He looked from it, to me, to the lighted targets in the distance, and then whipped it up and fired. One of the lamps exploded. I thought it might have been an accident, but then he fired the second and third shots, and the next two lamps exploded. When he released his fourth arrow, I sent a blast of wind at it, to knock it off course, and it thwacked into a nearby tree. He turned to frown at me, and threw the crossbow to the ground, leaving me very glad that it hadn’t been loaded.
“It’s not working,” he growled, and then to my surprise, he grabbed me. “Drop your glamor,” he demanded.
“I’m not sure—“
“Just drop it.”
I braced myself, steadily increased the amount of Force moving about me, and then carefully drew away my glamor. It still hit me pretty hard, and I winced at the hunger that seized me, but it wasn’t hard to pull myself back. I opened my eyes once I was sure that I had a good handle on myself, and found that Hazen’s grip had slackened a little. He was examining me.
“Why this?” I asked, as he touched the skin of my neck.
“It’s a nice distraction.” It was said in an offhand way, but I still felt my eyebrows arch.
“Is it hard for you right now?” he asked.
“It’s not so bad. I’m surprised, actually. I thought it would be worse.”
“I’m impressed.” His hand ran down my braid, catching the end.
I examined the strands as he did, deciding that the golden-tinted red was a vast improvement on my usual colour.
“I disagree,” Hazen answered my thought in a way that had me wondering if he even realised that I hadn’t said it out loud. “I love your hair.”
I felt something twist deep inside me, and he dropped my braid, peering into my eyes. “I love your eyes too, the gold only hides them from me.”
He picked up the crossbow then, and aimed it at the last target. I let out the breath I had been holding and tried to surreptitiously lean against the weapon stand behind me. I was concentrating on pulling my glamor back into place when the last lantern exploded.
“Hazen!”
He chuckled. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you ready to go back inside?”
“No.”
“But you just destroyed all the lamps.”
“Afraid of the dark, Beatrice Harrow?”
Chapter Eighteen
How the Tainted are Sated
I awoke the next morning feeling sick. Quick had happened across Hazen and I in the crossbow garden, and we had ended up back in the tower, playing cards again. I groaned and rolled out of bed, accidently kicking Rose, who had been perched on the edge, reading a book.
It flew from her hands and she yelped.
“Oops.” I laughed, and then groaned again, clutching my head. “I can’t believe you kissed Cale.”
She blushed. “Hey, it just happened.”
“I’m not criticising you, I’m saying I’m surprised. I can’t think of two people who would deserve each other more though. I love you both, you know that, right?”
“I know.” She smiled, and then it trembled a little. “How bad was it last night?”
“I had to get drunk and do a lot of embarrassing things. But it cheered him up.”
She laughed. “What kind of embarrassing things?”
“I impersonated a crow, danced on a table while Quick sang some truly horrible song, raced a rat across the wall and almost cut my hair off, but Hazen interrupted that one.”
“Thank god. Do you know what your advisors have planned for today?”
“An arena challenge. I’m hoping the prize isn’t my hand in marriage.”
She sniggered, and then continued to list the possible prizes while I bathed and changed. Once I came out of the bath chamber, I noticed Miriam standing in my dressing room, laughing quietly to herself. They both eyed my tights, and I released a melodramatic sigh.
“Go ahead.” I flung my arms out. “Do your worst, you fiends!”
Miriam threw her head back and laughed, the sound like tinkling bells, and Rose waltzed past me, tapping me on the nose before joining her mother in the dressing room. Gretal came into the room a few minutes later, and froze, registering that the Queen and Princess of the human kingdom were in my room, laughing and sorting through clothes like prepubescent girls.
“Hello, Gretal.” Rose smiled at her, and she stammered a response.
Miriam managed to rope her into helping them, which I thought was a bit of an overkill, as I was only one person, and perfectly capable of dressing myself. Almost an hour later, however, they finally declared me ready, and walked me to the mirror.
They had dressed me like a Queen.
“Wow…” I managed, trailing my eyes over the toga-style gown.
It gathered in two sections from my waist up, looping over my shoulders and then twisting together down the center of my back. It left most of my skin bare, and yet there was something regal about it all the same. Perhaps it was the flowing fabric, which trailed a small way behind me, or perhaps it was the braided hair-crown that Gretal had given me again.
“I really need to meet this Flora,” I decided.
“Yes, she is amazing.” Rose sighed, throwing my dressing room a wistful look.
“If you saw something you liked, why aren’t you wearing it?” I demanded.
She grinned and slipped back into the dressing room, alighting again mere moments later with a pale blue dress draped over her arm. I insisted Miriam take one too, and then found that I actually liked fussing over them as much as they did over me. I brushed out Rose’s hair, and tried to style it in different ways until Gretal finally bumped me out of the way and took over. I looked down at myself several times, fingering the pale yellow material of my gown.
Once we were all dressed—Miriam in a beautiful court dress and Rose in another toga-styled gown, which was cut-off at the knees—we moved down to the courtyard,
where Quick waited.
“Any news from Teddy?” I asked him, drawing his eyes back up to my face.
“No, Lady Queen, Bea—he hasn’t returned yet.”
We moved down to the fighting arena, which was located in the training yard, and I tried not to be suspicious of the distinct skip in Quick’s step.
“You know what the prize is,” I finally accused, as we began to climb the steps of the arena to where Hazen, Cale, Dom, Owl, Louis and his two cousins already waited.
He didn’t answer, but I was distracted, as each of the men had just jumped out of their seats. Owl was the only one still sitting, and she blinked at me, as though she had only just noticed me since coming into my kingdom.
“No need to get up,” I said, a little alarmed.
Ashen came up the steps on the other side of our small podium and paused, his mouth dropping open.
“Bea, you couldn’t have made this any more perfect if you had tried, darling.”
I shook my head, frowning as I found a seat between Hazen and Cale, unsure as to where they stood with each other today, and figuring it would be best to separate them.
“I swear, Ashen, if you try to marry me off today I will pretend you’re Ayleth and beat you into the ground. Mercilessly.”
“So gracious, Lady Queen,” he said with a grin, before turning to the arena before him. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! For those of you who aren’t yet aware, we will be fighting today for a kiss from our fair Queen!”
The crowd roared, Rose sniggered, and I fell back into my seat, trying not to look too ungracious after Ashen’s announcement. He called up the first round of contestants, and then slipped off the podium.
“That’s not so bad,” I tried to convince myself. “I should have guessed it, really.”
“Poor little synfee,” Cale muttered, though it sounded as if he were having about as much fun as Ashen.
The competition passed in a blur, and I only paid attention to the fights that caused the most noise. Ashen himself seemed to be a crowd favourite. He fought with his twin swords, and generally managed to win first blood within minutes. I thought that one of Grenlow’s men had him at one point, but he managed to still come out on top. I watched the trail of limping, bloodied soldiers leaving the arena to get patched up and frowned, wondering what Ashen’s game was. It was clear that he was the superior fighter, and I was still puzzling over what outcome he was driving toward when he was crowned the victor.
He turned in the middle of the arena, raised one of his swords, and the people cried out for him—even those that he had beaten—and then he began climbing the podium. I rose, and once again, everyone rose with me.
“Now,” he called out, so that the people below could hear him. “Is there any monarch here who desires to take my place?”
Dom laughed, and it finally clicked.
“Ahh… Ashen, this really was your most elaborate setup yet.” I groaned.
His eyes glimmered and he quirked an eyebrow at Hazen, who remained silent.
“No?” he said, and then moved for me.
Hazen swore, stepping abruptly in front of him, moments before Ashen would have reached me. His hand threaded into my hair and he drew me forward, his lips claiming mine. I had never heard so much noise before. It stung my ears and thundered in my chest, and yet I felt as if I were hearing it from miles away. Hazen whispered something against my lips, and then he was kissing me again. My hands were on his chest, and my whole world was tipping away, falling right out from beneath me. When it finally ended, the noise from people all around us came buffering back, and his hands dropped away from me. I turned, unable to meet his eyes, and found Miriam, Rose and Cale standing there, stock-still with astonishment. It might have been comical, without the feeling of standing out on a raft in the middle of the ocean, lightning cracking down around me, threatening to set me alight and burn me to ashes at any moment.
Hazen was already stepping off the podium, and I leveled Ashen with a narrow-eyed glare.
“He needed a push, that’s all.” Ashen held up his hands in defense.
“You think you’re so clever?” I walked up to him and almost shoved him, but then something better occurred to me. “Let’s see how you fare against me, Soulstoy.”
I stalked down from the podium, grabbed a sword from the weapons cart beside the arena, kicked off my shoes and stalked right out into the middle of the sand. Ashen jumped down from the podium and drew his two swords. I tossed mine down immediately, because I wouldn’t be needing it.
He rolled his eyes, tossed his own swords aside, and a ripple of fire suddenly shot across the ground toward me. I jumped to the side, but it caught the end of my dress. I tried to summon just enough water to put it out, but managed to drench the entire train. Ashen chuckled delightedly.
“Flora is going to be angry at you,” I warned, sending a blast of wind at him.
He waved his hand, countering the attack with a more powerful gust, which knocked a few people over beyond the barrier of the arena. I smiled, and the ground beneath us began to vibrate until several roots broke through the surface and wound about his legs. He looked down, frowned, and we both seemed to realise at the same time that there was nothing he could do to counter this. I ordered the roots to tighten their hold, and then another shot up, capturing and binding his wrists behind his back.
I stalked forward and snatched the bent leather hat from his head, tossing it onto the ground before him.
“Anyone who tosses a coin into his hat gets a kiss!” I declared.
“Cruel.” He laughed, as I walked off. “You are beyond cruel, Lady Queen!”
I ran the rest of the way back to the castle, and searched every spot I could think of before I finally found Hazen in my crossbow garden. He was shooting the targets this time.
“What did you say?” I asked him.
He spun around, his eyes cloudy, and then he seemed to re-focus.
“What did you say, when you kissed me?” I repeated.
“I said that we’re doomed.”
“It was just a kiss, Hazen, not a proposal.”
He smiled faintly, and his eyes became unfocussed again. I wondered whose mind he was slipping into.
“Whatever you felt—” he stepped away—“ I felt it too Bea. We both know it wasn’t just a kiss.” He spun and disappeared into the castle.
The sun was beginning to retreat behind the castle walls when Louis found me. I was standing in the same spot that Hazen had left me in, and I had run out of crossbow bolts an hour ago.
“Beatrice.” He startled me into finally dropping the crossbow, and I turned with an arched brow, because he certainly didn’t sound anywhere near as formal as he had on the vary rare occasions that he had spoken to me so far.
“King Louis, what can I do for you?”
“I’m leaving tonight, but I needed to talk to you before I left.”
“Tonight?” I gave him a narrow look, noting the way his eyes constantly flicked to the castle behind him. “You’re not staying for the Winter Festival?”
He shook his head, and exactly what he was trying to say to me finally permeated the distracted state of mind that Hazen had left me in. I snapped to attention, and called to Leif in my mind, hoping that he was near.
“Come with me, we’ll find somewhere private to talk.”
He appeared relieved, and I strode toward the castle, intermittently calling to Leif as I moved back to the fountain room. When we reached it, I waited while Louis shifted uneasily, and finally Leif appeared, a disheveled looking Ashen in tow. I nodded to them both, and then without saying anything more, I turned and began to climb the stairs.
I led them into Nareon’s chambers, to the glass room that overlooked the kingdom, because I knew that it was the only place we were likely to remain undisturbed, our words unheard.
“Should I bring Hazen in here?” I asked Louis, once we arrived.
“Do you trust him?”
“Absolutely
.”
“Then it may be wise.”
I looked to Leif, and he nodded. A few minutes later, his scratchy voice filled the quiet of the room.
“King Hazen is on his way.”
While we were waiting, Ashen set to straightening himself up, and I tried not to smirk at him, until he moved to a small side table and began to pour himself a drink from the crystal decanter, and then I couldn’t look at him at all. Sometimes his movements reminded me so much of Nareon that it hurt. When Hazen entered the room, his dark eyes bypassed me and went straight to Louis. They greeted each other, and I sat down on the chaise, barely even noticing when Ashen pushed a glass into my hand.
“Alright. You have the stage, Louis.”
He cleared his throat, nervously—I thought—and then moved to the glass wall, turning away from us as he spoke.
“My kingdom is small in comparison to this, and smaller still in comparison to the human kingdom. The vampires have never assimilated well with other cultures. We were the true Tainted Creatures, once upon a time.”
I looked at the others, wondering if this was as new to them as it was to me. Probably not.
“The Tainted Creatures were the undead; people who were too powerful to remove from the world entirely. Vampires are Tainted due to the disease that should be killing them, as instead, it returns them to this world from the brink of death. We are the least dangerous of the Tainted, as we have not yet died entirely. The other Tainted… they can only come from death. They might seem like they have been brought back to their former living selves, but they have not. Do you know what I am talking about?” He turned, his red-rimmed eyes fixing on me over his shoulder.
“Yes,” I managed, thinking of Nareon.
“It has always been that way,” he continued. “Because we cannot live in harmony, the dead and the living. Those who have touched the other side cannot ever hope to rejoin their loved ones, because the living burn too brightly. It saps us of our energy, and turns our souls ugly. It blackens us, makes us want to hurt, and kill. That is why we are the Tainted Creatures. We are tainted by death, and being surrounded by pure ones only sickens us further.”
The Soulstoy Inheritance (Beatrice Harrow Series Book 2) Page 20
