by K Loraine
“What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked, still brandishing the knife. “Traitor.”
“Sorcha, you know Father was mad. He’d reached the peak of his illness. He would have brought us all down with him.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, brother. I’m talking about the woman who stole your throne. Anne Blackthorne.”
“You don’t understand.”
“I do. You’ve taken her side. She pardoned you, and you went with her. I can’t believe you. We were working on rescuing you from the council, but you went with her instead. You’ve been glutting yourself on blood, throwing your support her way, even—and I hate to say this because I shouldn’t care—sacrificing Olivia.”
I dragged a hand through my hair, angry that she’d have so little faith in me. “You know nothing of what I’ve done. Anne thinks she’s got me compelled. She thinks I’m on her side and that Olivia means nothing to me now. I have to play along until I can get Olivia somewhere safe, and I can bond with her and ruin her for anyone else. Then, we overthrow Anne. Take back the Blackthorne crown, and rule together. All of us.”
“Not all of us, I’m afraid.” Callie’s voice echoed in the tunnel that led into the small space where we’d all passed days and nights until Father had rid the area of hunters in his rage after mother died.
Dread twisted in my chest. “Callie?”
Sorcha’s expression was heartbreakingly open and desperate. “You should be resting.”
“Callie, what’s going on?” I asked, but my littlest sister came out of the tunnel and rested her arm on the cave wall and I knew. I knew the terrible truth of what had happened since I left. “Sun sickness?”
She nodded, her skin an ashen hue more befitting a corpse. Hair that had once been vibrant and thick now hung in stringy clumps, dull and thin.
“How? You were fine. How is it so advanced?” I asked, rushing to her, but she backed away and snarled at me.
“Don’t touch me, Cashel. I can’t risk getting you sick too.” I frowned. Sun sickness couldn’t be passed by contact. It was transmitted by the exchanging of fluids. Mates often gave it to each other through sexual feeding. Or in the end stages, when the unfortunate victim of the illness was beyond sanity, they’d fight so hard they’d draw blood on themselves, and their caregivers.
“Callie, you need to lie down and rest.” Sorcha chastised her, but there was such sadness in her voice, it didn’t come through as an admonishment. “Let me give you some of Olivia’s blood. Why else did we get a donation from her?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “You’ve seen her?”
Sorcha nodded. “Yes. Her and that hunter. But she allowed me to take her blood. So, I suppose she’s not completely a waste of space.”
“Does she know Callie is sick?”
“No. I couldn’t risk her telling the hunters. She’s theirs now, brother. She wants to be one of them.”
I shook my head. No. She was mine. “She’s playing a part until I come for her.”
“You think so? Go see for yourself. She’s entrenched in their world. I saw it. I saw her in his arms, happy. She was happy without you. And, she told you the truth about him already. She loves him. Let her go. Haven’t you lost enough already?”
Pain and jealousy sliced through me, but I pushed them aside. I didn’t want to have this discussion with her. I needed to see what I could do for Callie. “How did this happen, Callie? How did you get sick?”
“I thought I was close…to a cure. I figured out how to isolate the infection in a sample from the first known case of sun sickness. Olivia’s blood didn’t do much to stop it, but after I spliced yours with hers, there seemed to be some progress. Until the hunters came for us. It’s like they knew you were gone. They attacked, but we escaped mostly unscathed. I got sick a few weeks later.” She lifted her shirt to show a gash on her side, mostly healed, but still angry and red. It should have healed completely within a few days, even if it had been a silver blade.
“Poisoned?” I asked.
“Likely. They’ve figured out a way to concentrate the virus. It’s faster and stronger. If we weren’t down here, I’d probably already have met the sun.”
“And you’re dosing her with Olivia’s blood?” I looked at Sorcha with understanding dawning.
“It’s all I have. She gets one drop a day, but…I’ve used everything we have except for this last vial. I don’t think I can get Olivia to give me more.”
“Come back to the manor.”
Sorcha’s brows rose. “Excuse me?”
“Anne has lifted your exile if you swear loyalty to her. Do it, then we can take her down.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Callie stood up a little taller. “Sorcha, yes. We have to. My notes. All my research. It’s all still down in my lab. The door is hermetically sealed and as secure as a bank vault. We can finish this. We can find a cure.”
“Are you strong enough to swim?” I asked, looking to Callie and praying she’d say yes.
She nodded. “It’s my last chance to survive this. I have to be strong enough for anything that comes my way.”
Sorcha pulled out a small vial filled with deep red liquid and I couldn’t help myself. My fangs elongated in reaction to the sight of Olivia’s blood. Once the cap was removed and Sorcha captured a glistening crimson drop inside the dispenser, my hunger blossomed into a nearly violent thing. But Callie got there first, snarling and vicious. She snatched the entire vial from our sister’s hand and downed it, sighing in relief before coming back to herself with horror on her face.
“That was everything we had,” Sorcha said, despair clear in her tone.
“Don’t worry. I’ve been instructed to bring Olivia back to Blackthorne Manor. We’ll have what we need close at hand.” I looked around the cave one last time, then asked, “Where’s Lucas?”
“He went to see a coven of witches about a cure.” Sorcha didn’t sound impressed.
“It was a last-ditch effort.” Callie’s voice was soft and resigned. “I told him it wouldn’t work. And they might owe us for saving them from the plague so long ago, but I don’t think he’s coming back. I think they’re keeping him.”
“I’ll add finding him to my list of things to do after this is over.” I didn’t want to tell her what I really thought. That Lucas had abandoned her to her death because he couldn’t deal with the reality of her situation. If that was the case, my brother would have hell to pay when I claimed my crown.
“Are we ready?” Sorcha asked. “Callie needs to rest…and I think it’s time we consider restraints.”
Callie’s expression crumbled into one of fear and acceptance. “It is. I could have exposed you to the disease, Sorcha. I’m so sorry.”
“But you didn’t. No apologizing. We need to get you home and contained until we can get you cured.”
Together, the three of us left the protection afforded by our secret cave hideaway, and readied ourselves to return home to Blackthorne Manor.
Anne was nowhere to be found when we arrived. Only Martin greeted us at the door, his face drawn and haggard. He looked…almost human.
“Master Blackthorne, welcome back.” His tall, lanky frame and thin gray hair were frozen in the state they’d been when he was turned at seventy-two years old. Ancient and astounding for the time. When my father turned him, most men who reached fifty were considered old. “Mistress Sorcha, Mistress Calliope.” He bowed slowly with pain on his features.
“Martin, what’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“Her majesty is punishing me for my loyalty to your father.”
Sorcha’s posture went defensive and rigid. “How?”
“I’m only allowed to feed on dead blood.”
I could barely contain my anger. Dead blood was the equivalent of feeding a human spoiled food. Eventually, he’d be so ill he’d be confined to his bed. Useless to her. And then she’d be able to dismiss him…or kill him. “We’ll se
e to your needs. This can’t continue.”
“Thank you, sir,” he murmured.
Martin’s eyes locked on my littlest sister and fear flashed in them. “Sun sickness?”
Callie nodded.
“Oh, my dear. She’ll kill you if she finds out.”
“Where can we hide her so she’s not found by Anne?” Sorcha asked. “You know this house almost better than anyone.”
“The King’s rooms.”
I frowned. “We need the King’s blood for that.”
“We do.”
He turned away, walking slowly toward the sweeping staircase. The three of us followed with Callie held between Sorcha and me. “Martin, this won’t work. Unless you’ve got a stash of our father’s blood hidden somewhere.”
The man didn’t answer.
“Does he have Father’s blood somewhere?” I asked, casting a look of disbelief at Sorcha.
“No, you idiot,” Callie managed. “You. He has you.”
“She hasn’t been able to get inside.” Martin’s thin, papery voice floated through the hall. “It’s been driving her mad. The magic won’t work for her.”
Hope lit inside me. “But she has the crown.”
“Does she really? If the King’s rooms won’t open for her, she has nothing.”
We walked down the seemingly endless hallway that led to the intricately detailed door. Behind that door, so much had happened to change and shape everything. My father had assaulted Olivia, taken her blood nearly to the point of no return, locked us inside until he thought I’d bred her, and destroyed all respect I had for him. No one knew what hell others had experienced behind those walls. My skin pricked with unease at the thought of revisiting that space.
The tree of life carving stood out, calling me, but I hesitated. Did I want to go back inside that prison?
“Cashel, what are you waiting for?” Sorcha hissed.
It was the safest place for Callie. The only place Anne couldn’t find her. She couldn’t get inside without me. If it worked.
I took a breath to steady myself, let my fangs descend, and pricked my finger on one of the sharp points. Dark crimson sat on my fingertip, pure power humming through the single drop, the blood pulled toward the carving. Heat flashed through my hand the instant my finger touched the base of the tree. My blood flowed through each groove and filled every branch and root. Then, the door opened with a soft hiss.
We stepped inside, the air weighing heavily on my shoulders. Sinister and dark. A reminder of our father’s descent into madness, of his cruelty, and his fear of death. His fear of losing his seat of power. My gaze immediately fell to the floor in front of the fireplace where I’d lain with Olivia and shared a nearly painful intimate moment. Her fire and spirit, her unwavering willingness to give me her body. Everything in me felt twisted and cold. The memory of feeding from her was so strong, I could practically taste her blood on my tongue.
“Cashel?” Sorcha’s voice was soft and tentative, nothing like her usual tone. The room came back into sharp relief, my focus broadening as I took in my surroundings rather than tightening on that one spot.
“Callie, there is a bedroom at the end of the hall,” I forced through a tight throat. “It’s windowless, so no risk of you being seen.”
“Or of me breaking the glass and throwing myself into the sun.”
I hated the despair I heard in those words, but we all knew the truth of what sun sickness could do. We’d watched our mother fight to meet the sun.
“Correct. Also, there’s no way you can leave these rooms without me to open the door. You’ll be alone. You understand?”
She nodded. “It’s the safest option for me—for all of us.”
“I’ll bring you blood nightly. I swear it.”
Her eyes widened. “Not from the source.”
I shook my head. She was the tenderest of us all. Her heart couldn’t take killing if it was avoidable. Even during her adolescence, when her hunger first manifested, she refused to drink from the vein. “Not from the source.” She relaxed a fraction at the promise in my words.
“And not Olivia’s blood. We can’t risk using what we have. What if you don’t find her?”
That sent a wave of frustration through me. “Sorcha and Lucas found her once. If they can, so can I.”
“But do you really want to? What if she’s happy? She’s free. She’s alive.”
I clenched my teeth and fought my instinctive reaction to her questions. “She’s mine. I…I love her.”
“Then you should let her go.”
“I can’t.”
Her sad eyes found me, the dark purple shadows under them betraying her illness. “I know.”
Then, I took my sister’s arm and led her to the back of the King’s rooms, where I helped her to bed. “We will cure you,” I said.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
7
Cashel
“Callie is worse every night,” Sorcha said, twisting the crystal decanter filled with blood around and around in the firelight. The liquid glowed red with every turn, but it wasn’t what I wanted. It wouldn’t soothe the ache in my belly or the itch in my veins to taste Olivia again.
“I won’t leave you here to meet Anne alone. When she returns, when I’m assured she won’t hurt you, then I’ll go find Olivia.”
“She needs to come willingly. If she doesn’t, that hunter will ruin everything.”
“That hunter has no claim on her.”
She filled a wine goblet and drained the contents in one swallow, then let out a long sigh. “That’s not how humans work, Cash. They love without strings tying them together. They don’t have mates like some of us do. They choose who they bond themselves to.”
“We have a choice.”
She shook her head and offered me a placating smile. “If you think that’s true, you haven’t met any mated pairs of vampires. I have. I’ve seen the made vampires whose hearts began beating again after finding their mate. They lost all ability to choose in that moment. Full-blooded vampires who are so connected to their partner that when the other is killed, they die right along with them. Their lives are literally entwined. You haven’t traveled the world and met enough of our kind.”
My chest tightened. “How did the full-blooded vampires know?”
She shrugged and poured herself a second glass. “Uncontrollable need? A change in who they were before? I don’t know.”
“You really think Olivia loves him?” I hated asking the question, but I had to put the words out there, make it a possibility.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t get into her head. Someone showed her how to hide. All I saw were glimmers of worry for him, anger at you. Fear.”
I had been gone too long. She probably thought I’d abandoned her. But it wasn’t safe to bring her back to the house yet. Not until I had earned Anne’s trust and could convince her to let me keep Olivia safe in my rooms.
“Well, look what we have here. The errant daughter.” Anne’s voice sent a chill through the room, pulling our attention from our conversation to the vampire standing in the doorway. How much had she heard? How much of my thoughts had she been able to glean from my unprotected mind?
She stood with one hand on her hip, the other toying with a beaded choker laced across her throat. To anyone who didn’t know her, she’d appear beautiful and glamorous, but to us, she was like a poisonous flower. She could kill us at any moment.
Stepping forward, I cleared my throat and said, “Mother, may I present Sorcha Blackthorne. My sister.”
Sorcha shot me a look of absolute incredulity. I knew the fact that I’d called Anne my mother had cut deep. But she didn’t understand the game I had to play.
Anne smiled, her fangs exposed, and held out a hand for Sorcha to take. My chest seized when I caught sight of the large oval-cut red diamond ring on her finger. My mother’s ring. The Blackthorne family heirloom we’d thought lost when our mother died.
“Wher
e did you get that?” I asked.
Anne raised her palm and turned her hand this way and that, letting the diamond catch the light. “Oh, after your mother died, I had it returned to me. Such a pity I’d lost it for so long.” She giggled, and a low growl rumbled in Sorcha’s throat. “Of course, I had to sterilize it before I touched it. Wouldn’t want to risk contracting that vile disease. Whores always carry disease.”
My sister leaped, her form a blur in the corner of my mind. “Sorcha, no!” I caught her in midair, knocking her back to the ground. “You will not harm her. She’s our queen.”
The hatred in Sorcha’s gaze was leveled on me. “You are a traitor.”
“So, where is your other sister? Calliope, isn’t it?”
“I’m afraid sun sickness took her during their exile,” I answered, keeping my tone calm and colorless. “And Lucas has been taken hostage by a coven of witches who seem to have a grudge.”
“Oh, well, then it looks like I have all the Blackthornes who matter. Lucas isn’t pure. He won’t be an asset aside from providing a pretty face.”
“Cashel, why—” Sorcha began, but Anne held up a hand.
“Silence. I think a bit of time in the well would do you some good, Sorcha. Think about where your loyalties lie. Because without me, you’ll die. I’ll ensure it.”
Three vampires I’d never seen before walked into the room, all stern-faced and strong. They wore all black with the exception of blood-red ties, and I smelled Anne all over them. She’d turned them. She was building her army of expendable vampires to do her bidding. “Take her,” she said.
Sorcha screamed and fought, her skin burning as silver shackles were placed around her wrists. They took her out of the room, her shouts of protest echoing off the walls as they went until finally, I couldn’t hear her any longer.
“Stop this. She’ll come around.” Forcible removal of my sister wouldn’t change the way Sorcha saw Anne. In fact, it would do more damage.
“Don’t dare to question me. I’m doing what a good mother does. Punishing her for wickedness. She’ll learn to behave, and then we can be a family.”