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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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
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