by E. M. Knight
The former Crusader picks through the jewels. In the back, April and Liana whisper to each other in hushed tones.
“Do you know anything of them?” I ask.
Sylvia looks to me on the verge of saying something… then changes her mind and shakes her head. “No,” she says, extending her arm to give them back to Victoria. “They’re nothing I am familiar with.”
“Victoria?” I ask. “What do you think they are for?”
“It’s only a guess,” she prefaces.
I grunt. “That’s fine, get on with it.”
“There are native tribes in the area. Such cultures have always been more attuned to the spiritual forces of the world than those in modern civilization. My suspicion is that somehow, they found out—or suspect—that the airfield belongs to creatures who are not human. The marks and the stones are meant as wards to protect against evil.”
I snicker. “How perfectly quaint.” I do one last scan of the surroundings and, finding no one, make up my mind.
“Time we go, then. The sooner we are flying toward Cierra’s lair, the better.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Phillip
The Stronghold
“Tell me what happened with Deanna,” Mother asks.
I stop short, nearly missing a step. “Excuse me?”
“Deanna,” Morgan repeats casually. “You fell victim to her, did you not?”
Her eyes shine with an erstwhile zeal.
“I wouldn’t say that,” I tell her stiffly.
“Then how was it that she was able to abduct me? She played you, Phillip. She took advantage of the vulnerabilities that you possessed before.” Mother gives a carefree smile. “While you resisted the vampiric allure, you made yourself less of a man.” She laughs. “Why do you think your brother James has such a voracious appetite?”
Anger flashes in me at mention of James. I take an aggressive step toward her. “How dare you bring him up after the fate you sentenced him to?”
Mother looks up at me, blinks in an innocently beguiling way, and pats my arm. “James would have been put through a trial,” she confides. “I would never have made him join the ranks of The Convicted. Not truly. But I had to know where his loyalties lay.”
I think back to the time she shackled me in silver for helping Eleira escape.
“Somehow, I find that hard to believe,” I tell her drily.
She steps back. She considers me for a moment. “You really have changed, Phillip,” she says softly. “I wanted it for you. You know I did. But never did I think you would embrace it so… thoroughly. Tell me, did you enjoy my blood?”
The off-hand remark catches me by surprise. “What?”
Mother smiles. “My secret stores. I know you raided them.” She gives a quick, dismissive gesture of her hand as I start to protest. “Don’t deny it. Why try? I don’t need to see the empty bottles to feel the link that’s been triggered between us.”
I eye her warily. “Link?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have left that blood unprotected.” A momentary glow surrounds her, and dark sparks cackle in the halo. “Did you really think that it was regular human blood you were drinking? There is a reason you found it so irresistible, you know.”
My gut clenches in apprehension. “How much do you know?” I ask softly.
She gestures around us. We are in an unoccupied, cavernous room deep beneath the bowels of the stronghold. “I know all there is to know,” she says vaguely, “about my kingdom.”
I grit my teeth in frustration. I know how Mother loves to speak in generalities and riddles.
But now, at this time, it’s too little. It’s unacceptable, given everything we face.
Given the imminence of the succession taking place tonight.
I decide to shift the subject away from me and to more appropriate matters. “Why did you bring me here?” I ask. “You said we need something to prepare for the ceremony.” I look around the empty space. “There’s nothing here.”
“Ah, you cannot really be so blind, can you?” she chastises. “Phillip, Phillip, Phillip. How long will it take you to learn that things are now different between us?”
Without warning, a red bolt of light explodes from her open hand. It strikes the far wall and blasts through the rock. The room shakes as stone comes crumbling down.
A moment later, all is still. There’s a cloud of dust blocking the now-gaping hole. What lies on the other side, I cannot tell.
I scowl at the Queen. “Was that really necessary?” I ask. I keep my voice firm, steady, and unyielding… but inside, I’m beset by a trickle of fear.
When Mother cast the spell—there was no blue glow. And in the moment just before… I saw a stream of black flecks swim across her eyes.
She gives me a devilish look. “No. But it’s fun, isn’t it?”
Before I can respond she’s moved on. “Come on, don’t delay.”
Grumbling to myself, I follow her to the opening.
I have to wave a hand in front of my face to clear away the dust. On the other side of the wall is an ancient passageway.
Unsurprising, given all that I’ve seen.
What is surprising are the marks I see carved into the walls. They are like the runes in the Book of the Dead. I thought those were exclusive to the realm of witches. What are they doing here?
“The stronghold has many secrets,” Mother says, as if reading my thoughts. “Some of which are known to the Elite. Others, to the Royal Court. A few, to our family. But most…” again comes that devious smile, “…only to me.”
She steps over the rubble and begins down the exposed tunnel. “Come.”
I catch up to her and keep in stride. “You asked me to come with you for a reason,” I say. “I want to know what that reason is.”
“Well, to show you what we’re capable of,” she says. “To counteract some of the fear growing within you. You’re concerned with what Raul and Eleira were told in The Crypts.”
“I feel no fear,” I bluster.
“Right.” I can almost imagine her rolling her eyes. “There’s no need for pretense with me, Phillip. I am the one who breastfed you as a child, you know.”
I miss a step. There’s one admission I never thought I’d hear.
Morgan gives another soft laugh. “I know you’re concerned about the revelation to do with… well with everything.” She looks over her shoulder at me. “And you have full right to be. You are the Captain Commander. Your duty lies in protecting The Haven. I’ve made the task unnecessarily difficult for you in recent weeks. But don’t worry. That will soon be remedied.”
“When Eleira raises the wards, you mean,” I say. “That is still your intent, isn’t it? Those plans have not changed.”
“If you’re alluding to something,” she tells me, “then don’t bother. I hate when you dissemble. Just say it outright.”
“Fine.” I step over a large crack in the floor. “I want to know what happened with you in the Paths. I want to know how you came back to us. I want to know what you did with the demon to nullify it as a threat. But, most of all, Mother—” I step in front of her, cutting off her path and looking straight into her eyes, “I want to know the type of magic you are using. It is no natural force.”
“My, my,” she mutters, clearly amused. “Is that all?”
“Don’t taunt me,” I warn. I pull my shoulders back and stand to full height over her. “You may be strong, but you no longer have absolute rule. The Elite, the Royal Court, all of them will demand to be heard.”
“And you think I want to tolerate that?” she asks breezily. “After what you’ve seen me do, do you think I’m still going to answer to them?”
“You need our vampires on your side,” I tell her. “You cannot simply force them down as before. An iron fist will not do. There needs to be diplomacy.”
She smiles. “I am giving them Eleira,” she says. “The new Queen will be responsible for that.”
I snort. “
I’m sorry. I find it very hard to believe that you would relinquish your powers. Just like that.”
“You think I would throw away everything we have waited so long for?” she questions. “You think I would have doubts, second thoughts, about it, now?”
Her voice is rising. She is starting to sound angry.
“The attack on our coven forced your hand,” I say. “All I know is that Eleira is not yet ready for the responsibilities we wanted to thrust on her. The transition should have taken place over years. Decades. Now, everything is moving so fast. She hasn’t been given enough time to adjust. She thinks she knows us, but she has only been a vampire for a blink of an eye. For the tiniest, most inconsequential moment.” I reach into my pocket and, on a whim, take out the letter she gave me. “Do you know what this is?”
Morgan blinks. “No. I’ve never seen it before.”
“It’s a letter,” I inform her. “A letter Eleira wrote to her mother. Somehow, somebody else had been in contact with her family. Somebody else delivered a message from Eleira’s mother, to her.”
Morgan reaches for it, but I snatch it away. “I’m not letting you read it,” I say. “I value the girl’s privacy.”
“Then what are you doing with that letter, pray tell?” she asks thinly.
I cross my arms in clear defiance. “Eleira asked me to deliver it for her,” I say. “That is something I intend to do.”
“Oh, how noble,” Morgan mocks. “Will you wash her feet, give her a backrub, too, when she asks?” She makes a disgusted sound in her throat. “Your constant need to appease the women around you sickens me.”
“This has nothing to do with that,” I say. “It—”
“Oh, really?” Mother cuts me off. “Then tell me, dearest… why have you kept Raul and Liana’s secret all these years?”
For the briefest moment, I falter. She knows?
I try to cover it up as fast as I can, but Mother picks up on the gaffe.
She wouldn’t be half the ruler she was if she couldn’t read others so easily.
“I—didn’t…” I begin.
“Oh spare me,” she says. “I know exactly what you and James colluded to do. Did you really think I was so blind, that I would let something like that take place in my own coven? Of course not.” She taps her lips. “But I kept my mouth shut, because I knew how much it would hurt Raul if he found out. And how it would destroy your relationship with him. The Royal Family needs to be strong, my son. We cannot have fissures in our group. I stayed silent, only for your benefit. So before you condemn me as this horrendous, irredeemable monster in your mind, just remember… all that I did, all that I’ve done, and all that I do… amounts to that purpose.”
She can’t know the whole truth, I think. There’s just no way!
“Doubtful?” she asks.
“No more than I should be,” I mutter.
She waves the issue aside. “I didn’t bring you with me to talk about that. Betrayals and loyalties we can discuss after the ceremony has taken place. After Eleira has embraced her rightful role and position amongst our people, as predicted by the stars.”
“The ceremony has to take place on a full moon,” I say. “If there’s one thing you made clear to us over the years, it’s that.” I look up at the roof high above us. “Tonight is not the proper night.”
“You know,” she says, “before my rebirth in the Paths, I would have granted you that. But even prophecy can be forced. What better way to do it than with the power of magic?”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“What do you think?”
“You don’t want to know what I think,” I say darkly.
“Believe me, Phillip. You can accuse me of anything at all. It won’t change my impression of you.” She faces me in full. “So let’s lay off the subterfuge, shall we? You know more than you should about the elemental forces. You know of the stars. You were the one to expose Eleira to blood magic.” Her eyes shine. “So tell me what part of this frightens you most. The fact that I am channeling dark magic… or the fact that you know you can, too.”
Instantly I suck in a sharp breath. “I—”
“Don’t try to deny it,” she sneers. “You are my son. The powers of witches are hereditary. You don’t think I sensed the power in you? Why did you think I cared so much if you resisted the call of your nature or not? I saw, Phillip, what you were doing to yourself. All the time you spent sleuthing around, all the time you spent studying the Elemental Forces… of course you had a purpose. You craved power, but you denied yourself it. In a misguided attempt you tried to supplant one sort of gift with another. You needed an outlet. You could not fight the vampire inside you forever. The base instincts inside you were boiling. The pressure was building until your little act of resistance was no longer enough. Willpower was no longer enough—Oh, don’t look at me that way. You know it’s true.
“What’s more, it’s nothing lamentable. If anything, you should be applauded. I should be thanking you, for you are the one who opened my eyes to the possibility of blood magic.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask softly. We’re treading dangerous ground. “My research was hypothetical. It was all academic! I never tried, nor wanted to, channel magic!”
“Ah, and now you betray yourself,” she murmurs. “Even if you think you did not want it, you clearly did. Something drove you to those pursuits. You are not so naïve as to claim innocence in this. Are you? Will you try to play me as the fool and say you are immune to the call of nature? What about the times you succumbed to your thirst while I was unconscious? What about that?”
Suddenly, it dawns on me what we’re really doing here. “You brought me down here to sabotage me!” I exclaim. “You were waiting to spring this up, all these defamations, these baseless accusations…”
“Come, now.” She clicks her tongue. “You cannot call them baseless and keep a straight face. Each one, to the letter, is true.”
“I cannot do magic,” I state flatly. “That much is true.”
“Wrong,” she says. “Blood magic can be learned. Your mind is already receptive to it. As is your subconscious. They are both primed to accept, both by circumstance and by birth. All it would take is the slightest… push—” She steps up to me and nudges my arm, “—and you would be off.”
“No,” I start to say. “It’s not—”
But then I cut off, because at that exact moment, a wave of dizziness hits.
I stagger back. My shoulders hit the wall. I try to focus on Mother, on my surroundings, but my head is spinning. Some external force, something I cannot see or explain, barrels down on me, exerting an unrelenting and inexplicable pressure all over my skin.
My vision swims. I try to focus. But my whole body feels like it’s on fire. My heart beats three times its regular pace. I feel the thudding in my chest. Heat, heat collects in my body, pooling in my core, until it’s so much as to be unbearable. I need to be rid of—
Mother laughs. “You see? You see, Phillip, how easy it is for me to send you over the edge. A tap is all it took!”
Through my hazy vision I glare at her. I will not be taken advantage of again!
With a gargantuan effort I push off the wall. I fight through the nausea, through the sickness.
I take a looming step toward the Queen.
She smiles, poised as always, and gives a tiny wave of her hand. “Enough?” she asks.
Suddenly, a grueling suction is exerted upon me, and all that dirty energy is drained away, leaving me raw and dry.
I force a hand out to support myself against the wall.
“What was that?” I gasp. “If you think you can play games with me—”
“No games,” she says. “I had to prime your body. To prepare you for what has to be done.”
A horrid suspicion forms in my gut. “And that is?” I ask.
“Why, I can’t channel enough dark magic on my own for Eleira to go through the succession. I’m going to need you—
whether you will it or not.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Eleira
The Stronghold
Cassandra stares at the goblet of blood set before her, wary.
“It will work,” Felix assures her. “The blood has been mixed and infused.”
She nods and reaches out.
Her hands tremble and she takes it by the sides. She brings it to her lips—
“Wait,” I interrupt.
She stops, suddenly, and looks at me. Her eyes are haunted.
“You don’t have to do this,” I say. The whole time, I’ve had this niggling feeling that she only consented to appease me. “Not yet. The time isn’t right.”
She looks at me sadly. “What choice do I have?” she asks softly.
And then, without further hesitation, she drains the goblet.
Right away I tense. I want to feel the influx of magic—to feel the dark energies swirling around and taking hold.
But I am blind to them.
Felix does not move his eyes away from her. He places a hand on her arm and steers the goblet back to the table.
“How do you feel?” he asks.
I remember the bloodlust that took me when I was coerced into Victoria’s ceremony. The hunger was undeniable. It was obliterating. It was all-consuming, so much so that I even attacked nearby vampires…
“The same,” Cassandra murmurs. She gives an uncertain look my way, then frowns. “Is anything supposed to be different?”
“Do you feel hungrier than before?” Felix asks.
Cassandra swallows, then shakes her head. “No.”
“It should come,” Felix says. “Give it a few minutes.”
The three of us wait in a very tense silence.
But as the seconds tick away, it becomes glaringly obvious that drinking from the goblet did not have its intended effect.
“Anything?” Felix asks after another span of time.
Cassandra drops her gaze. “Nothing,” she answers.
“Don’t be ashamed,” I tell her. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Her gaze flashes to me, and for a glimmer of a second, I see such ferocity in her eyes. “I know that,” she hisses.