“Yes, Your Majesty,” Rook Daciana said, bowing deeply.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Rook Neculai repeated, making his bow even deeper than Daciana’s.
Queen Lovina glanced about again. “Anyone, anyone, who finds me a Trove will be heavily compensated.”
“Yes, My Queen,” said Knight Ferko with a smile that sent a shiver down my back. It wasn’t enough to be known as The Decapitator, she also wanted to be known as The Trove Hunter.
For years, there had been almost no Trove raids, but there was a time when they were common. I had read in one of my history books that the raids had been conducted on a monthly basis until it became impractical and too expensive. What if this evil creature started something like that again?
Apparently, entire sections of the city would be put in quarantine until all Troves were found, which were never many. With time, fewer and fewer Troves were discovered. The trait was rare and, most of the time, it skipped entire generations. Therefore, it was impossible to pinpoint the families who carried the curse.
Trove breeding programs had also been attempted, but, for reasons no one could understand, not a single one Trove had ever been born through those efforts. It didn’t help that once a vampire tasted a Trove’s blood, the Trove was rendered sterile. And a vampire couldn’t long resist sinking their fangs into such delicious fruit.
With that, the Queen walked toward the carriage where Knight Kelsus still stood holding the door open. He bowed as she was about to climb in, but she stopped and glanced back at him over her shoulder. Slowly, she turned, leaning into him with a hungry look in her eyes.
Then, she was on him, her claws and fangs unsheathed.
The horses spooked again. She sank her fangs into his neck, her paleness in stark contrast to his dark skin. He was pushed against the small carriage door, his head thrown back, his eyes wide.
I watched in horror, fighting my instinct to cry out, to tell her to stop. Knight Kelsus’ gaze locked on mine and held on. There was helplessness in his expression and, also, resignation. He wasn’t struggling at all as if he knew it would make no difference as if he had no right to fight for his life.
Tears filled my eyes.
The Queen drank and drank and drank. And no one did anything, except watch, until he went limp and she let him go, dropping him right there on the pathway. She then calmly climbed into her carriage and instructed the driver to take her home.
CHAPTER 12
That night, Vinna and I huddled together on my cot, talking about what had happened that morning, while Knight Kelsus lay in the infirmary, recovering.
“I’m glad he’s still alive,” I said.
“Me too,” Vinna said.
“That was... something.” I tried not to seem too curious since the Queen’s words had raised many questions in my mind.
Vinna sighed, scrubbing her cropped red hair. “It ain’t good. She’s right mad, and it doesn’t bode well for us. She’s kept that Trove alive as long as possible. They said she’s always fed him a tiny bit of blood every week, nothing that could make his blood go bad, but enough to make him live longer. It’s a wonder he’s still human.”
“What do you mean go bad?”
“Well, yeh know like the Rooks, Knights, and Bishops.”
I gave her a blank look.
She sighed again and explained. “When someone becomes a Rook, they drink vampire blood once, something like a cup full. It changes them right away, makes them crave blood an love the night a little too much, things like that. The Knights drink two cups full and the Bishops three, and they turn worse. But if a Trove drinks that much vampire blood, it also ruins their taste. And not only that, but their blood also becomes useless. No more strolls in the sunlight for Lovina or Maximus.”
“So their blood is like a... cure,” I said without thinking.
“A cure?” She laughed. “It ain’t like the Trove’s are sick.”
“No, I guess not.”
I frowned, deep in thought, quickly realizing that if I drank Lovina’s blood, I wouldn’t have to worry about ever becoming a blood slave again. Suddenly becoming a Rook seemed more crucial than ever.
After that day—inspired by the different ways I’d imagine killing King Maximus and by my discovery about what vampire blood could do to Troves—I began pushing myself to the limit during my training sessions, improving in all aspects.
I worked so hard that I was always exhausted and, every night, crashed onto my cot like a rag doll, but feeling satisfied with my progress.
I even got better at running in senseless circles around the palace, so much that I was close to beating the fastest runner, who happened to be no other than First Pawn Breen.
“Ready?” Vinna asked one morning, scrubbing her hands together as we prepared to run.
Since I’d unseated her from second place, a healthy competition had developed between us, which was inspiring me to work even harder.
We took off, along with the other six Pawns and Challengers, and I quickly got a lead on everyone, except Breen.
Now, I was running my second lap through the woods, leaping over a dry log and some stepping stones sitting in the small creek that ran behind the White Palace.
The first time I’d run this course, two laps would have been impossible and, now, I could complete it almost as fast as Breen. At the thought, I pushed harder. I could see her ahead of me, weaving through the trees as if she were the fastest gazelle in the world. How could I possibly challenge her if I wasn’t better than her?
My bound hair was soaked with sweat, which rolled down my forehead, getting trapped in my eyebrows, then sliding into my eyes. I ran the back of my hand across my face as I veered right to dodge a tree.
Suddenly, someone stepped from behind the thick trunk, giving me no time to stop. I crashed into the person and fell backward, landing on my backside. A shock ran up from my tail bone up my spine. I squeezed my eyes together and growled as pain rolled over my back in waves. When it passed, I opened my eyes and glanced up, ready to curse whoever had dared to do something so stupid.
Rook Neculai hovered over me, standing casually, hands clasped behind his back.
“Good Morning, Fourth Pawn,” he said in a pleasant tone, extending a hand to help me get up.
I stared at perfectly manicured fingers. They were short and thin, obviously masculine, though more like a teenager’s than a fully-grown man’s. I ignored his offer and got up on my own.
He rose an eyebrow in a careless gesture, then lowered his hand as if saying “Your loss.”
I wanted to demand what was wrong with him and what had he been thinking of jumping in front of me that way, but I could very well guess his intentions. So, dusting the back of my pants, I tried to walk around him instead. He stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“You didn’t come,” he said.
It had been more than three weeks since his letter, and he hadn’t said anything until now. I thought he had given up. Clearly, I was mistaken.
The others were only a couple of minutes behind me. Rook Neculai wouldn’t dare do anything stupid knowing that. Would he? I glanced over my shoulder, hoping to spot Vinna.
“I waited for you,” he continued. “Perhaps you didn’t have an opportunity to get away or... you simply forgot.”
“I did not forget,” I said, holding his gaze. His eyes were dotted with green, a color that stood out against the rust of blood. “I have no interest in meeting you in the backwoods or anywhere.”
“And yet...” He glanced around suggestively, demonstrating that despite my intentions not to meet him in the woods, I inevitably had.
The sounds of trampling reached our ears.
I relaxed a bit, started to jog in place and said, “I’m afraid I must go. I would like to keep my lead.”
He chuckled, amused by something. “The summons stands, Fourth Pawn. I promise I’ll make it worth your while. You have two days to... comply.” He managed to make the last word sound like a
n invitation and not what it truly was: a threat.
Leaves rustled behind me. I looked back. Vinna pushed through a patch of thick foliage, her hands swatting a few branches out of the way.
Her gaze honed in on me. “Not so fast, after all.”
She increased her speed and, as she passed me in a blur, I realized the Rook had disappeared. I peered all around, behind trees and up at their thick branches. He was gone.
You have two days to comply.
The words echoed in my head. What did he plan to do if I didn’t show up again? And should I dare risk it to find out?
I promise I’ll make it worth your while.
What did he mean by that? Only one thing came to mind.
Assaulted by anger, I ran after Vinna and overtook her a few seconds later.
“Hey!” she exclaimed as I left her behind.
I couldn’t fall prey to Rook Neculai, no matter his intentions.
My boots pelted the ground. My breaths rang in my ears.
Who did he think I was? He was mistaken if he thought he could intimidate me. I wasn’t the same helpless girl who had joined this Board almost four months ago. I had learned to fight and defend myself, and I would rather die doing just that than bend to whatever ideas he had in mind.
My breaths came quick, sharp, and steady. My heart pounded against my chest in much the same way. Arms and legs pumping, I found myself practically gliding over the rough terrain. A moment ago, running, trying to catch up to Breen had been a struggle, but something seemed to have snapped into place, and I suddenly felt as if I could run ten more laps at top speed.
Ahead of me, a moving shape caught my eye. Breen!
I pushed myself harder, using my anger toward Rook Neculai as fuel. The distance between us shortened, and I could see Breen’s white shirt sticking to her back, plastered there by sweat.
She heard me as a branch snapped under my boot. After a quick glance over her shoulder, she ran faster. I did the same. Giving it my all, I pushed my legs to their maximum and leaned slightly forward. My arms pumped. I gained on the First Pawn and, just as we were about to break out of the woods, I passed her, burst into the open, and captured the red flag Rook Daciana had placed at the tip of a spear she’d stuck into the ground.
A euphoric feeling overtook me. Holding the flag in my fist, I lifted it up in the air and waved it around. I would have whooped, except, in the next instant, Breen rammed into me, wrapping her arms around my waist, and tackled me to the ground.
CHAPTER 13
I hit the ground hard. Breen straddled me and landed a punch on my jaw. Pain like shards of ice spiked through my bone. Blood filled my mouth.
“You’d better stop that,” Rook Daciana said in a careless voice as if it didn’t matter to her whether or not Breen followed her order.
I blinked in her direction. She was leaning against the back wall of the White Palace, intent on cleaning her fingernails with a dagger. Turning the corner, Rook Neculai appeared behind her. What was going on here?
Breen attempted to punch me again. I threw my arms up and blocked her.
“It’s your fault he’s dead,” she growled, her voice trembling with pain and hatred.
It was Skender’s fault he was dead, not mine. If he hadn’t tried to cheat as I was beating him in our horse race, he would still be alive. I would have pardoned him, even if he hadn’t deserved it.
She attacked again, but I bucked, twisting to one side and throwing her off me. I jumped to my feet, my breaths loud in my ears. My jaw hung open, blood trickling down one corner of my mouth. Tears of pain slid down my cheeks of their own accord.
I hoped Rook Daciana would intervene, but she just gave us a sidelong glance, bit into one of her fingernails, and spit it out. Next to her, Neculai smiled.
Breen charged. I sidestepped right before she laid her hands on me and, grabbing one of her arms, I twisted it behind her back, then drove her face-first against the wall right next to Daciana. If she didn’t want to notice what was happening, I would make her.
Behind me, I heard steps as someone broke out of the woods. I imagined it was Vinna, but I couldn’t glance back to confirm.
“You two are more trouble than you’re worth,” Rook Daciana said without even glancing at us. “Consider this your challenge. I’m tired of your constant bitching, Breen. Time to put your Chekes where your mouth is.”
What? A challenge? Here? Now?
Breen growled like a caged beast and pushed away from the wall, whirling and freeing herself from my hold. She turned, swinging her left arm. It caught the side of my head and sent me staggering to the side. Vision spinning, I kept moving backward, trying to stay on my feet as my body threatened to topple over.
She came at me fast and landed a kick in my stomach. Air rushed through my lips. My lungs seemed to collapse into two sheets of paper. I tottered, arms windmilling uselessly for balance. I crashed to the ground, my back landing on a jagged rock that seemed to pierce right through my ribs.
“This is not a sanctioned challenge,” Vinna protested. She was standing off to the side. Some of the other Pawns approached quickly as they came out of the woods, finishing their last lap.
Daciana snorted. “Someone hasn’t read her contract carefully. Anyone in a superior rank can call a challenge between members of a lower rank.”
I vaguely remembered that clause, but it was in the contract.
“Get up, bitch,” Breen called. “I will end yeh.”
I struggled to my feet, a hand wrapped around my stomach, shallow breaths attempting to fill my lungs.
Breen waited with her fists raised. She bounced on the balls of her feet, light and agile. Absolute hatred filled her eyes. She saw me as the monster who destroyed her clandestine affair, but she was deluded. We were all bound to end up dead after we signed that contract. Why was she surprised Skender had met his end?
“Yeh don’t belong here,” Breen said, getting nearer, planning her next punch. “Yeh’re a damn courtier. Yehr place is at a ball, spreading yehr legs for rich assholes who might or might not marry yeh.”
My arm came away from my stomach as my fists clenched. Such disgusting words! How dare she talk to me that way? I had never done such a thing. She was the one who’d had a filthy relationship with a man who was little more than a beast.
“Yehr father was a coward and a piss-poor gambler,” she spat.
The words hit my chest harder than the kick she’d landed in my stomach. Off to the side, Vinna and the others murmured. Rook Daciana clicked her tongue.
“That’s right,” she said. “I know who yeh are. I know why yeh’re here, the little princess among the rabble. It must be hard for yeh.”
She knew nothing about me.
She knew nothing about my father.
And she had no right.
I lunged and, feigning to one side as I did when I fought with my sword, I jabbed my fist straight into her right eye. Her hands went up to her face in reflex. I landed another jab, this time to her stomach. She bent over. I pushed her to the ground and jumped on top of her, my fists swinging, slipping through raised arms, landing like ramrods as they found openings.
“You. Will. Never. Mention. My. Father. Again,” I said, accentuating each word with a punch.
I hit her and hit her until I’d landed enough punches that her arms fell limp at her sides and she lost consciousness. And yet, I kept on hitting her, making her head snap from side to side with each strike.
Blood stained her teeth, lips, nose, lashes. My father’s own bloody body flashed before my eyes... one, two, three times before I stopped.
I stood. My hands dripped with blood as I trembled over Breen’s immobile shape. I stared at my stained fingers as if they didn’t belong to me.
Holding them aloft, I slowly lifted my head and glanced around. The Rooks and Pawns stood frozen, watching me, their eyes wide and filled with different types of emotions. In Vinna’s, I saw horror and fear. In the Rooks’, admiration and glee.
Neculai licked his lips.
Daciana sheathed her dagger. “Meet our new First Pawn, Bianca Flagfall. Congratulations.” She paused next to an unconscious Breen and regarded her with a slight smile on her lips. “I’ll bring her to the Queen,” she added, a hint of satisfaction in her voice.
I shook my head, my chest still heaving with exertion. “No! I pardon her. I pardon her.” The words came out desperately in small, breathless barks.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Rook Neculai asked, leering at me. “So you have to watch your back every minute of the day. She will become Fourth Pawn and she’ll only hate you more for it. You need to be ruthless or you won’t last long, Take it from someone who’s been here thirty-two years.” He pulled back, eyes glinting.
Rook Daciana spoke next, leaning close to whisper in my ear. “Be smart, princess.”
They had planned this together. I couldn’t fathom Neculai’s exact reasons, but I figured Daciana might have been afraid of Breen challenging her.
I glanced down at Breen, thinking how convenient it would be if she were gone. I wouldn’t even have to kill her myself. The Queen would do it, and I would never have to be in her hateful aura again. I swallowed, weighing the decision and finding it as heavy as my longing for my past life.
Could I live with it?
Skender’s death had been his own fault. Alben was with his family, living a brighter existence among them. But it was ludicrous to expect that I would one day become Queen without killing anyone in the process. Maybe this was the next logical thing in what promised to be a path of doom for me.
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I took a step back and spoke loudly to ensure everyone heard me. “I pardon Breen Orbbluff.”
Wiping my hands on my shirt, I retreated, though not before I noticed one of Breen’s eyes was open, staring straight at me.
FIRST PAWN.
I was First Pawn. I still couldn’t believe it.
The ordeal earned Breen and me a trip to the infirmary where Nurse Loretta quietly tended to both of us. After she was done, she laid books on both our tables, the exact ones I’d read before. Still, I picked up the one with Florea’s story and leafed through it, skimming her story and feeling the same disappointment when I found the final pages missing.
White Rook Page 5