by Ciara Graves
Even before then, if I wanted to be completely honest. I admired her for her fighting skills and the fire in her soul. And bit by bit, who Seneca really was became clear to me and I changed. She helped me remember who I was a long time ago. The man I thought died when Rudarius entered the picture.
“She’s done something to me,” I whispered quietly, hoping she wouldn’t hear through the door. “Awoken a part of me I thought Rudarius destroyed.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“No, but she’s faltering. That display of power should have lifted her spirits, and instead, she seems almost scared by it.”
“It was impressive, to say the least. She burned those vampires to a crisp.”
She did, which meant she could do it again when Rudarius’s forces arrived. There was even a slim chance she would be strong enough to kill Rudarius with so much magic pent up in her. The trick would be getting her to reach that point again. The edge of despair. I saw her go down as the vampires closed in. Saw her give in to the death they were ready to rain down on her.
“She said the power felt off,” I told Shane. “Like it didn’t come from her.”
“Is that possible?”
“We’re in territory I don’t understand.” I sighed as I leaned back into the couch. “The rings and the dust… all this power… Rudarius got us into a mess with no clear way out. Vampires aren’t meant to use magic. I never cared to learn anything about it. Guess I should’ve. I suppose there’s a chance she’s drawing on the power of the land, of her people, somehow, and not just her own.”
The refugees had seemed exhausted by the time we arrived. Not from walking here, but as if there’d been a drain on their bodies.
“Think they’ll believe us? These other royals? When we tell them what Rudarius is capable of?”
“If they don’t, they’ll pay for it.”
Shane paced around the room for a while after our brief talk, leaving me to get lost in my mind. Of course, my thoughts went to Seneca.
When I shut my eyes, her green ones appeared in my mind, filled with shadows and a pain she couldn’t escape. Her scars stayed with me, too. I’d noticed as I patched the new wounds. Every single one, courtesy of Rudarius. Beyond the tough, heartless persona was a woman wanting to get free of a world that wouldn’t cut her a break. A person could only take so much in one lifetime, and she was already nearing that point. She was probably past it, and somehow, I had to stop her from losing herself completely. There was more to Seneca than anyone, including herself, realized. I only needed to understand what that was and how to make her see it before it was too late, and she was lost to us for good.
The notion that our destinies were tied together made me curious, but it wasn’t destiny that drew me to her. Her smartass remarks were a small part of it. Her beauty another. When I imagined the future, suddenly she was there, and not as an enemy.
I must’ve dozed off at some point and when I opened my eyes, found Shane passed out in one of the armchairs and Seneca curled up on the other end of the couch.
I closed my eyes, ready to get back to sleep while I could when Seneca hissed. Her eyes were closed, but she wore a snarl on her face, her nails digging into the arm of the couch, tearing into the fabric.
Over the last five days it took us to get here, she’d slept for a couple hours at a time, using my shoulder as a pillow and she’d seemed at peace.
I frowned when she grunted as if in pain this time, her face scrunching.
Gently, I reached out and ran my fingers down her cheek. She calmed and moved toward me in her sleep. When she rested against my side, curling up as if she did this with me all the time, I found my arm draped over her shoulder, drawing her in closer.
I waited for her to wake up and make an excuse to get away from me as she had every other time. She stayed asleep, and I closed my eyes. Though she was a vampire, she was warmer than the typical vampire due to her fae blood, and it was comforting to have her so close.
When was the last time I was this close to someone I liked?
The answer was too depressing to really think about, and I let myself drift back to sleep, holding Seneca close.
A door banged open, startling me awake.
“The King and Queen will see you now.”
Shane got up from the chair in a hurry and blurred to the door, but I couldn’t get up that quickly. Not without disrupting Seneca. Who, it appeared, hadn’t heard the commotion and slept on.
“Seneca,” I said quietly, rubbing her arm, “we have to go now.”
“Hmm?” She opened her eyes and blinked up at me.
Sometime during the night, I ended up slouched on the couch with my feet on the table, and she was across my lap.
The second she realized where she was, she sat up and scooted to the other end of the couch. “Damn, sorry.”
“It’s fine, really. Glad you were able to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, guess I did.” She smoothed her hair, then braided it loosely. She rose, then gasped, reaching around to her back. “Freaking vampires.”
“Let me check them, really quick.”
“You need to follow me now,” the fae guard at the door ordered.
“Give me a minute,” I hissed, not bothering to look at him. “If you would’ve let one of your healers tend to her, the wounds might be in better shape.” I lifted the shirt and peeled back the bandages around the three slash wounds. “They’re alright. Probably just stiff, from the way you slept.”
“I’ll survive.”
“Thrilled to hear it,” the guard snapped. “Move. Now. Or I’ll come in there and drag you out.”
“It’s fine,” Seneca murmured, squeezing my arm. “Let’s go see what they want.”
I stayed right by her side as we were led from the room and through the massive castle. More guards closed in behind and alongside, the further we walked. When we stood outside a set of massive gold doors, one of the guards knocked loudly and waited.
“You think they’d be ready for us since they wanted to see us so badly,” Shane muttered.
The guard glared over his shoulder. “You will keep your mouths shut in the presence of our King and Queen unless you are asked a direct question. Understand? Or my spear will find its way through your heart.”
“Touch them, and I’ll tear your throat out,” Seneca warned quietly.
The guard eyed her up and down, then sniffed derisively. “I’ll take my chances, girl.”
Seneca’s lack of reaction worried me more than if she would’ve cursed out the fae. The guard’s smirk said he thought he’d won this round, but oh, how wrong he was.
The doors swung inward, and he jerked his spear for us to get moving again. The hall was decked in more gold and silver. Columns lined the walls and tapestries in purples and greens were draped over the space in between.
Fae crowded in the hall, whispering behind their hands as their eyes landed on Seneca.
If it bothered her, she didn’t show it.
At the end of the hall, we were lined up in front of a dais where four thrones were currently filled with the royal family of the Middle Kingdom.
Raine, Karina, and Marlie stood off to the side. Raine and Marlie bowed their heads to Seneca to acknowledge her, but Karina stubbornly faced forward.
“You are in the kingdom of King Nova and Queen Mina, and their sons, the Princes Drake and Felix,” a man in dark blue robes announced.
The three of us did nothing except look back at him.
He huffed.
Guessed he expected us to grovel or get on our knees, but that wasn’t about to happen.
He continued, “By their grace, you are here not bound in silver chains. I suggest you keep that in mind and show them the respect they are due.”
The guards behind us grabbed our shoulders and pressed boots into our knees, trying to get us to kneel.
Shane snarled viciously, earning a punch to the face that sent him to his knees.
Seneca and I
were a bit harder to shove.
I hissed quietly, but Seneca remained in that silent, deadly state.
I was more worried about what she was going to do if that guard didn’t leave her alone. Her hands curled into fists, the more she was pushed.
I was about to tell her just to yield when the guard behind me smashed his spear into the back of my head.
The crack echoed around the hall and made me dizzy.
“Grab her,” someone yelled.
Then, Seneca was there in front of me, and the two guards were on the ground. They were alive, but she’d bloodied them in a blur.
“Stop,” Marlie shouted, rushing in to defend his sister as the guards raised their spears, ready to run her through. “Enough of this. Do we really have to be so damned petty at a time like this? War is here, majesties, I think forcing three vampires to kneel is the least of your concerns.”
“You alright?” Seneca held my face in her hands then turned me around, so she could see the back of my skull.
“Fine.”
The guards hadn’t backed down, but they stopped trying to shove us at least. When I glanced at her brother and everyone else in the room, I saw the sudden fear in their eyes as they watched us.
No, not us. Seneca. At how fast had she just moved to take those guards down. It wasn’t two, as I thought, but four, all lying in a pile. The remaining guards anxiously looked to Queen Mina for orders.
“Well?” Marlie asked. “Can we get to business or not?”
“Keep an eye on them,” Mina ordered the guards, and none of them lowered their spears. “Now then, you were telling me that Rudarius attacked the Lower Kingdom. May I ask how many vampires he has with him if he was able to overrun you so easily?”
“It wasn’t just numbers,” Marlie explained. “He’s using our rings against us.”
Mina and Nova burst out laughing as their sons shook their heads, looking at Marlie like he’d lost his mind along with his hand. “That,” Nova said once their laughter quieted down, “is impossible. No vampire can control our magic.”
“It’s true,” I chimed in. “It’s why he started the fae dust trade in the first place. He didn’t care about using it as a drug.”
“You expect us to believe you?”
“Yes. If you don’t do something to prevent it, he will not stop with your kingdom. He will take over all the fae, wipe them out if he can, and then he’ll move on, to everyone else.” Neither one looked ready to listen to a damned word I said. “The mages. Haven’t you noticed they’re missing? Rudarius has been taking them out, too. You should have seen this war was coming.”
“The mages have not been a part of our kingdoms for a very long time,” Nova said loudly, getting to his feet. “What they do or don’t do is not our concern, nor our problem.”
“It is now.” I couldn’t believe what he was saying, how any of them were acting. “If Rudarius found out how to use the rings, do you really think he’ll stop there? What if he’s using the mages somehow? What if it gets worse?”
“His power will not last.” Mina waved her hand flippantly at me. “He will run out of dust and then where will he be?”
“You do understand how many prisoners he has in his keeping, right?”
Were they under some sort of mind control? No one could be this blatantly stupid. Rudarius just took over an entire kingdom of pure-blooded fae, and some of them were undoubtedly nobles. If he kept them alive, he could have dust for months, years. True, he could only use Marlie’s ring for so long, since he hadn’t been able to get as much dust from him, but he already had plenty of others. There was no guarantee Marlie was the only one able to summon the shadow of night. And we had no idea what magic he took from the mages yet.
“He is a vampire. He will not be able to sustain the power,” Mina insisted louder.
“Just like this endless night? How long has it gone on now? That’s his doing. And if he’s strong enough to keep it going for this long, what’s to stop him from making it last forever? His vampires will have the run of Otherworld, and you’ll be dead. Or worse, used to fuel the rings he collects.”
“Is that a threat?” Nova shouted.
The guards came closer.
“It’s a warning of what will happen if you sit here and do nothing. Put your politics aside and see the bigger picture. This isn’t about the fae kingdoms. It’s about all of Otherworld. You can’t fight him or the entire Black Hawk Coven on your own. You’ll need help.”
Nova stomped down the dais, the guards parting so he could stand directly before me. “You think we’re scared of vampires? So, there’s no sunlight. You know we can create our own.”
“For how long?” I closed the distance between us, baring my fangs. “You can’t keep your power going forever and the more of you that fall, the more powerful he’ll get. He can create more vampires. You can’t create more fae.”
“Listen to him,” Seneca spoke up.
Nova’s head whipped violently to the right, glaring at her. “You are tainted.” His lip lifted in disgust as his eyes narrowed on Seneca. “I can smell it from here.”
“What I am doesn’t change the facts. Rudarius is coming for you all. Clearly, you have no idea what he’s capable of, or you’d be doing something about the threat that’s almost on your doorstep.”
“Our walls have never been breached by an enemy, and that is not about to change. And as a precaution, we have told the outer towns to be on alert for any roving vampires. Our soldiers can defend them well enough.”
“You’re willing to bet all their lives on that?”
Nova stood toe to toe with her as he replied, “I will. I am their king. I will not let them fall to vampires.”
“That’s what’ll happen as soon as he shows up.” Seneca laughed darkly, ignoring my warning look. “Your walls don’t mean shit. He’ll blow through them and then what? He outnumbers your army, I guarantee it.”
“And who are you to speak in our presence?” Mina asked. “You’re worse than them, much worse.”
“She is not.”
“Marlie, don’t,” Seneca whispered, but too late.
Her brother stood front and center, chest out and shoulders back as he defended his sister’s honor as if that would win her favor. He really was an idiot. I started to feel less and less sorry for cutting his hand off.
“This is Princess Seneca of the Burning Thorn,” he announced. “She is of royal blood and deserves your respect.”
“Royal blood?” Mina laughed sharply as Seneca growled. “You’re joking. She is not a royal, not anymore. She lost that title when she let herself be turned into one of them.” Her brow arched, and I hated the glimmer that appeared in her eyes all of a sudden. “I bet he was the one to do it, too, seeing how close they are. Probably bent her neck and asked for it.”
I took a half-step forward, but Seneca swung out her arm to stop me. Probably a good thing since I was more than ready to throw myself at Mina and teach her a lesson.
“I was turned by an unknown vampire. He died the night it happened,” Seneca told Mina calmly.
“Perhaps you should have died that night too and saved us all the trouble.”
“You heartless wretch,” Raine said.
Seneca’s calm demeanor was shattered as she turned to look at Raine after his outburst. His face was bright red, and he marched furiously toward Nova as if he was going to hit the other king for his comment.
“You will not speak of my daughter like that. She was turned against her will after being tortured by Rudarius. For years.” He reached out and took hold of Seneca.
As soon as he did so, I knew what he was going to do and reached out to stop him, but two of his guards grabbed hold of me and dragged me backward.
As the entire hall watched, Raine dragged the back of Seneca’s shirt up, revealing her scarred back.
The gasps weren’t hard to hear.
It was the look of pure hatred that fell over Seneca’s face, her eyes darkening t
o a dangerous shade of red that had me wondering if the king realized what kind of danger he just put himself in. But he went even further, tearing the bandages off her more recent wounds to showcase the worst scars even better. Suddenly ripping his throat out sounded like a perfect idea.
“This is what he did to her. He tore her wings from her back. He broke her apart. That is what will happen to all of you if he gets his hands on you.”
Seneca tried to shake Raine off, but he nodded, and two fae closed in to stop her from getting away.
Mina stepped down from her throne, approaching cautiously, her face unreadable. When she reached out and ran her fingers along the puckered scars, Seneca hissed.
I attempted to get her attention before someone was killed, but she was glaring at the floor as if she could make it collapse with sheer will, and take them all with it.
“I am sorry for what your daughter endured,” Mina finally said. “If this is the fate that awaits us all then I suppose we have no choice. We will fight Rudarius at your side when he comes for us.”
“We need more men,” Raine told her, but she shook her head.
“No, the Middle Kingdom is strong enough to hold this evil. Captain? See to the defenses. Prepare for battle.”
“Yes, my Queen.” The guard who brought us to the hall left the hall.
“Everyone else, return to your homes. We will need every able-bodied warrior ready for when these vampires come. Away with you.” Mina took Nova’s hand, and they exited the hall, followed by their sons and their guard.
She hadn’t given orders about the three of us, which was good. At least we weren’t going to be trapped in a cell this time, when Rudarius attacked.
Seneca tore out of Raine’s grasp and raised her hand to strike him, but I stepped in between before she did something she’d regret.
“You sick asshole.” She shoved at me to try and get to him. “What the hell is wrong with you? You don’t give a damn about me.”
Raine straightened his vest as he shrugged. “Desperate times. It was the only way.”
“No, it wasn’t. You have no right to touch me, no right to show others what I suffered because of you. I should kill you right now. I should kill you all and save Rudarius the trouble.”
