Crimson Covenant

by Samantha Whiskey

  The trend of brutal and beautiful seemed prevalent among the undead. And even Serge, the talem, had a thin, graceful beauty to him.

  No wonder they all followed Alek around, hanging on his every word. No wonder the guards had sounded so concerned for his well-being—

  A knock sounded on the door, stopping my racing thoughts. I knew it wasn’t Alek—I could feel a flicker of his essence across the estate—but my heart still foolishly hoped for him to be on the other side of the door when Avianna opened it.

  Which was ridiculous since this was his room and he wouldn’t need to knock.

  Serge stood on the other side holding a stack of wide, white boxes. He quickly bowed to Avianna. “Your requested delivery,” he said, his voice soft, calm, loyal.

  Olivia flashed Avianna a curious glance from behind Serge, but Avianna only smiled softly at her bodyguard. They seemed to have this silent form of communication I’d never be able to follow.

  Serge awaited Avianna’s nod before he stepped into the room and laid out four boxes on the massive bed. “Will there be anything else, Princess?”

  My eyes widened at the title. King. Princess. I’d fallen into a dark fairytale in the span of a few days. And why did it feel so…natural? So easy to fall into this midnight story complete with feeders and servants and immortal creatures so beautiful it was as if the stars themselves had created them?

  “No, Serge,” she said, already flipping the lids off the boxes. “These are perfection. Thank you.” She flashed a wink over her shoulder at the talem. He fumbled for a few seconds as if he too were stunned by the combination of her kindness and her beauty. Righting himself, he bowed again and shut the door behind him.

  “What’s all this?” I asked, eying the elegant fabrics spilling from the opened boxes.

  “I actually stopped by to help you get ready.”

  “Get ready for what?”

  Avianna smirked. “I’m sure my brother warned you not to go wandering about without a guard?”

  I nodded. “He said there were nobles here.”

  “For the equinox dinner in a couple weeks, as well as my return.” She rolled her eyes and continued to pull out…dresses. Immaculate dresses, the craftsmanship unlike any I had ever seen.

  “Where have you been?”

  “As the royal princess and only female of my line, I was destined to study with my aunt in Tibet. Learn from the ancients who protect our more delicate and rare histories there.” She gave a shrug like she hadn’t just expanded this supernatural world across the globe. “I needed training, protection, and study before being allowed to reside in my own home. How fucked is that?”

  I blinked at her switch from ancient to modern tone. “Totally fucked,” I agreed.

  She sighed. “But, I can’t truly complain,” she said. “My aunt is phenomenal. And I loved it there. There was such peacefulness surrounding the temples. I’m happy to be where I belong now, though. I missed my brother.” She quickly glanced at me, a red gown poised between her fingers. “If you ever tell him that, I’ll turn your blood into a cocktail.”

  My lips parted on a gasp, but she quickly laughed and waved me off.

  “I’m joking, obviously.” She shook her head. “My brother has already threatened to eviscerate anyone who even thinks of touching you.”

  Warmth flushed my skin, and I rubbed at the spot on my wrist that wouldn’t stop tingling. I was beginning to think I was allergic to something in this dark palace. Avianna’s eyes dropped to where I fingered the spot, and I quickly stopped. “Could he do that?” I asked, and she tilted her head. “Eviscerate someone?”

  Avianna pursed her lips, a gleam in her eyes. “I don’t know that he’s ever tried, but with his powers?” She gazed at me, her glance turning serious in the span of a blink. “I wouldn’t put anything past his abilities. Especially if someone dared to provoke him.”

  “Who in their right mind would provoke someone like him?”

  “There are always plots to steal the throne,” she said, unloading a smaller box of high heels. “But anyone who attempts to harm me or my brother will have the entire power of the Assassins to deal with.”

  I swallowed hard. I’d only met a couple of Alek’s assassin companions, but they were beyond terrifying. Not that he’d told me they were actually assassins. That had been Avianna. And Alek? The King? More powerful than any of them?

  I shivered at the thought.

  “Though, if Alek keeps refusing to feed, he’ll lose that edge he has over every other supernatural.”

  My head snapped up, my eyes widening. Ice slid into my veins at the thought of Alek being weak enough to be harmed. Cold rage pulsed in the center of my chest, my mind magnifying his whereabouts without me seeking him out. As if I could run to him, help him.

  He’s not in danger.

  I silently reassured myself, then clenched my eyes shut against the onslaught. Why did I care so damn much? If he was weakened, perhaps then I could escape this place.

  The thought curled my stomach. I’d only been here a few days, but already I felt more centered than I ever had. Could be in part to the priceless library I had full access to, the books which would help seal my years of hard work toward my doctorate. Could be because I felt at ease among the dark creatures I should run from. Could be because of the undeniable connection that pulsed in the center of my soul. Either way, I was exhausted from constantly fighting myself on what I should or should not be doing.

  “Why?” I finally asked, not exactly sure which plaguing question I was voicing out loud. “Why isn’t he feeding?”

  Avianna settled a mass of blue and white fabric along the bed before turning to me. She parted those red lips a few times as if she were battling for the proper answer. “Alek has the innate ability to keep things locked up inside him. I’m not sure even his assassins understand what is going on with him right now. But after that fight...” Her voice trailed off, and she shook her head. The fight where he’d come for me, saved my life by giving me his blood. But why wasn’t he replenishing himself? Especially when there was an entire community of willing humans dying for the opportunity?

  A flare of jealousy flickered in my blood, but I shoved it away.

  Avianna’s features shifted from concern to excitement as she hauled the blue and white gown off the bed. “This is the one for you,” she said, holding it toward me.

  “Oh, Avianna, I can’t—”

  “Alek loves blue,” she cut me off, practically shoving the massive amount of silk and tulle and beading toward me. “Trust me.”

  I held the gown carefully as if it would crumble with too rough a touch. “How old is this?”

  “As old as anything in this place,” she said, her tone downright joyful. “It’s perfect for your size. Now, hurry into it. Dinner and nobility gossip awaits.”

  “Dinner? Whose dinner exactly?” I hugged the gown to my chest.

  Avianna smirked. “Yours and mine,” she assured me. “We eat regular food as well, it just doesn’t…nourish us in the way blood does.”

  I blew out a breath, thankful I wouldn’t have to sit before an empty spot and watch a bunch of royal vampires feed on humans all evening.

  “Go,” she prompted, and I obeyed.

  An hour of Avianna fussing over my hair and make-up later, I followed her through the estate, Hawke—Alek’s appointed babysitter for me this evening—trailed behind us silently. Brutality rolled off him in waves, strength and power and a stealthiness that had cold chills rising on my skin. He was icy calculation with a deadly sense of mischief in his eyes that dared anyone to fuck with him. Almost as if he wanted it, lived for a fight. I swallowed hard, wondering why Avianna and I merited such a guard.

  My heart raced with each step we took toward the ballroom where the dinner would be served, and I smoothed my hands self-consciously over the gown. Sleeveless, with midnight blue beading along the seams of the plunging neckline, the gown fanned out after my waist in ripples of delicate blue fabric
, like a waterfall. The bottom of the skirts melted into a creamy white, the contrast in colors creating an almost mythical effect that swished with each of my steps. The back left my skin bare in a plunging V, but Avianna had been right. The dress fit me like a glove, hugging my curves and accentuating my chest. She’d curled my hair into a cascade of blonde waves, leaving my face bare except for a little kohl around my eyes. She left my lips as they were despite me asking if I needed lipstick.

  “You look like a dream,” she whispered in my ear, taking my arm and hooking it through hers. “Don’t for one second think otherwise,” she continued as we turned down another long corridor.

  “Dream or dinner?” I asked, surprised that I could joke with my nerves tangled in knots. And the messed up thing? I was more worried about what Alek would think as opposed to what he could or would do to me. Silly human indeed.

  A low grunt that almost sounded like a laugh came from behind us, and Avianna glanced over her shoulder, shock coloring her eyes as she looked at Hawke. By the time I followed her gaze, he’d schooled his features back to a lethal sort of stare.

  “Definitely dinner, too,” Avianna said, returning her attention to me. “Which reminds me,” she said, and slowed our pace to a stop just outside a giant set of wooden double doors. “Stay sharp in here,” she warned. “There are certain female nobility who’ve been dying for a seat at my brother’s side for centuries. One in particular, Cassandra, won’t hesitate to cut anything or anyone who stands in her way.”

  Cold trickled down my spine. Cold and that damn twisting irrational jealousy. Of course, gorgeous vampires wanted Alek. “I’m nothing,” I said, shrugging. “To Alek,” I explained. “Why would Cassandra or any of them come after me?” The truth coiled in my stomach. He’d said he’d wipe my memory, make all of this a barely recognized dream. Why should it matter if I was here right now or not? And why did I feel so...disheartened by that truth? The sooner I was set free the better...right?

  Avianna flashed me another pitiful look, and I tilted my head, prepared to push her further on the subject, but my senses heightened to the spot just behind us—like someone had taken a living flame to my spine. The heat curled and caressed every inch of my skin, a tug of need turning me around before I could even think.

  “Alek.” His name left my lips in a breathy whisper.

  Holy vampire King.

  A suit of black covered his body like a midnight storm—beautiful, terrifying, and utterly powerful. His eyes nearly glowed with their blue-gray tone, his dark hair swept back to expose every devastatingly gorgeous angle of his face. The strong jaw, his lips that parted as he took in every inch of me as well. He visibly swallowed, focusing a glare on his sister whose arm was still linked with mine.

  “I see you’ve found a new doll to play with, sister,” he said, his tone low and colder than I’d ever heard it. I stood up straighter, willing strength into my features where his words had stung.

  “Does that mean she’s mine, dear brother?” she challenged, and Hawke groaned behind us.

  Alek’s eyes flared for the briefest of moments, his power radiating and filling the corridor so much I could barely breathe.

  But it wasn’t terror that filled my veins at his primal display. It was curiosity and challenge and want and all things I couldn’t fathom but were there nonetheless. I should run the opposite direction. I knew that in my bones, but my soul begged to differ. It didn’t matter that I was surrounded by three ancient and insanely powerful vampires, one of which seemed to be having a silent argument with his sister at the moment. I didn’t cower, didn’t tremble.

  And maybe it made me a human idiot, but I stepped out of Avianna’s gentle hold and stopped an inch before Alek.

  King.

  Whatever.

  “I’m hungry,” I said, my voice only cracking slightly. I arched a brow at Alek’s surprised gaze and told my body to stop aching to lessen the distance between us. When he made no move, I glanced over my shoulder and pointed toward the double doors. “Food this way?”

  Avianna chuckled, covering her lips with her gloved fingers. She nodded.

  “Brilliant,” I said and shifted to push open the doors myself, but Alek moved faster than I could follow. Stepping before me, he opened the doors, and I swore Avianna and Hawke wore identical looks of shock.

  “Thank you,” I said, wondering if I should technically bow now that I knew he was the King of the vampires. I decided to simply walk past him. I hadn’t bowed when he’d brought me to his dark palace, and I suppose it would be awkward to do it now.

  I barely swallowed my gasp as the room unfolded before me—a grand ballroom bedecked in crystal and filled with creatures so stunningly beautiful my shoulders drooped. They moved with an ethereal grace I’d never master, and some spoke in hushed conversations in languages I couldn’t fully understand. Flames flickered from iron sconces decorated along the stone walls, and tables draped in black linens were positioned all throughout the massive room. A dais had been erected at the farthest wall of the room, a long table empty, waiting.

  For royalty.

  For Alek and his sister and his Assassins.

  Warmth flushed my cheeks as I scanned the room, searching for where a mere human would sit among the power in this room. I spotted an empty round table in the far corner and stepped toward that direction.

  Alek’s hand darted out, gentle and warm on my bare elbow. I paused at his touch, and the entire room fell silent. Hundreds of eyes turned their gaze on us, on that familiar touch on my arm.

  “I will feed you,” he said, his voice not harboring any of that cold he had moments ago.

  “I’m fully capable of handling that myself,” I said, pointing toward that empty table. “I wouldn’t want to keep you from your guests.”

  “If that is where you’d like to sit for the evening, then by all means, we will sit there. But I go where you go,” he said, his eyes widening almost as if his words had surprised even himself.

  I swallowed hard, my heart racing against my chest. His eyes fell to my bare neck, and I saw the hunger there, the need. I stepped closer to him, an instinct flaring in the very depths of my soul to provide for him, take care of him.

  “Are you going to…eat?” I asked, my words a whisper between us.

  He inhaled sharply, almost as if my willing nearness had tightened the unexplainable connection between us.

  “Come,” he said instead of answering me.

  I obeyed, following him to the dais across the room. He held my hand with such gentleness as he helped me climb the stairs, and it wasn’t until we were seated that the chatter returned around the room. Avianna grinned as she followed us, taking a seat on my left, positioning me between her and Alek.

  Not going to lie, with the sharp gazes I received, and the downright gaping glares from some, I felt very much like the meat in a royale with cheese.

  Music filtered in through invisible speakers moments later, and soon the talem were in a flourish of serving. Some, like myself, had meals of roasted chicken and greens and fresh baked bread that crackled in my hand, and others were served goblets of thick red liquid that I had no problems identifying.

  Many visitors came to the royal table to pay their respects to Alek and Avianna, all with saccharine-sweet smiles and well wishes for the future.

  It all was…incredibly beautiful and dull.

  Not that I was wishing for the kind of excitement that came with a room full of vampires, but I’d never been the party type. I’d much rather spend time with a book and a good cup of tea. The thought of books had my mind racing back to that incredible library, to the invaluable additions the information had added to my research. Maybe I could sneak back—

  “Immortal life boring you?” Alek leaned down to whisper in my ear.

  Chills burst along the edges of my skin. Had he read my mind? Could he read my mind? “Of course, not,” I tried to lie. “I’m grateful for the meal and the dress—”

  “And yet you
looked more excited when I showed you my library of dusty books,” he cut me off.

  I opened and closed my mouth a few times. “Books excite me,” I admitted. “They always have. And those dusty books are the only thing keeping me from setting this place on fire,” I said, an eyebrow raised.

  The corner of his mouth ticked up, his gaze flaring with amusement.

  “Is that so?” he challenged, and the burning look in his eyes made my breath catch.

  Of course it wasn’t so. I wouldn’t stand a chance against one of these vampires, let alone all of them. And the idea of bringing any of them harm...sickened me. Churned the contents of my stomach and threatened to make an appearance all over the royal table.

  “Were your family readers?” he asked as if he sensed my twist in thoughts.

  I shook my head, releasing a breath. “No. I mean, maybe.”

  He tilted his head.

  “I never knew my biological parents,” I said, shrugging. “I moved from foster home to foster home until I was eighteen.”

  His dark brows furrowed. “Why?”

  I shrugged, my eyes finding the hands in my lap. “No one wanted me, I guess.”

  A low growl rumbled from his chest.

  “It’s fine,” I hurried to add. “Honestly, I made peace with that a long time ago. I’m perfectly content taking care of myself.” I rubbed at that tingling spot on my wrist. “Though, I’m a tad out of my element here, in a room full of immortals.” I tried to joke, but it fell flat.

  Alek stared at me, his gaze like a brand, and for a moment I worried he’d be like all the others who learned about my history and that he’d push me on it. Pity me. See me as damaged—

  “Come,” he said, his voice pure command as he pushed from the table. I took his offered hand without a blink, and followed him through the staring crowd and out the double doors into the quiet of the corridor. “We’re fine,” he said without looking over his shoulder.