And how far away was this primitive bathroom, anyway? I hated outhouses with a vengeance, not having used one since my time long ago with Lord Pippin. Now, every time I needed to piss, I had to use a stinking shithole. It was far from the highlight of my day.
I ground my molars together and glared at the last hut. It was tiny, a one-seater. The stench would be even worse, everyone and their brother having used it.
I sucked in a large lungful of oxygen and quickly sped inside, holding the lantern high in the air. My eyes instantly watered at the putrid smell, my nose crinkling with disgust.
Oh my fuck. This was revolting.
Brown shit was smeared all over the seat.
My boots were wading in piss.
And…there was no toilet paper. Of course.
“I can’t do it!” I whined.
But, hell, I had to go. I really had to pee.
I swiftly set the lantern down on the empty shelf, where the toilet paper should have resided and yanked down my pants. I hovered my bare ass far over the seat, careful not to touch anything. I choked on the sickening air while I did my business as fast as I could—but my bladder was damn full after holding it for so long.
Note to my queenly self: Drink less water.
I moaned as my bladder finally emptied, more than ready to leave this horrible shitter. I wondered if I could ask for a private outhouse in the future. Fuck, my own tree would work just fine, too, at this point. Even a bedpan would be a step up from this hell.
The door to the hut creaked open.
A vampire stood outside, staring in.
“I’m in here!” I barked, quickly standing and pulling up my pants. “Shut the damn door.”
From under his hooded cloak, he gazed at me. “Are you Gwynnore?”
“Yes, I am. You could have waited until I came outside to ask me that.” I zipped up my pants, buttoning them quickly. I turned to the lantern and started to grab it. “Am I needed for something?”
The quietest of whistles zinged in the air.
I flinched and grabbed my neck. “What the fuck?” My attention slammed to the stranger, my fingers gripping and yanking out a dart that had jabbed me in the neck. I flashed my fangs, snarling hard. I waggled the dart at the fucker, two seconds away from jabbing him in the eye with it. “What is this about?”
The man lowered a small tube from his mouth, pocketing it. He’d freaking shot a dart through the air with a hard push of air through the tube—primitive warfare, just like this shithouse.
The vampire simply smiled, baring his fangs.
I shook my head hard, darkness edging in on the outside of my vision. I sniffed at the dart, even as I drew one of my guns and aimed it at his head. I wobbled to the left, banging against the dirty wall. I slurred, “What is this?”
“Vampire’s Draught,” the man deigned to speak this time. “Queen Niniane wishes your company.”
My eyelashes fluttered shut. I swayed where I stood, rocking back and forth. I mumbled drunkenly, “She could have just asked…” My words fell off into nothing, my mind whirling.
I still pulled the trigger.
I managed to peek open one eye.
The vampire dropped to the ground, dead right in front of me, half his head now gone. But another vampire took his place, rushing right into the hut and slamming my back against the wall. The lantern tumbled to the ground, cracking and swiftly extinguishing in the piss. The sizzle of the fire going out brushed against my senses as I was disarmed, my entire body no longer my own—dead to this realm, like stone.
Limp as a noodle, I was tossed over the vampire’s shoulder. I groaned under my breath. That had hurt. I should have saved my piss for this asshole.
The wind whipped around our bodies.
The vampire was moving at a dizzying pace.
We raced from the area, getting farther and farther away from safety. I was weak, unable to move. I couldn’t even get my claws to unleash. I wanted so badly to rip into this bastard’s ass I was repeatedly blinking at—a lot of flesh there to tear apart.
I swallowed hard when we stopped abruptly.
“Get the bag,” my captor demanded brusquely.
I blinked again, stating stupidly, “A bag is good. I may throw up.”
My captor chuckled…then stuffed me in a bag made of red velvet, the cloth brushing against my frame like a dream. My mouth bobbed up and down while I sat slumped in confusion. I stared up at the vampire as he shoved my remaining limb—my right arm—inside the bag, too.
I snarled drunkenly, “I don’t think Santa Claus has a vampire on his gift list. Many children wouldn’t like my smile.” I grinned crookedly, fangs showing.
“What?” The vampire glared down at me, holding the edges of the bag close together so only a little light shined inside it. “I haven’t a clue who this Santa is you speak of. It is my queen who demands your time now.”
I slumped further on my side, my muscles not listening. “Look, asshole, just let me go. And I promise you, and whoever you have here with you, won’t die from my hand.”
Now…he may die from Bel’s. You know, since he liked killing everyone, for reasons unknown to me.
My captor snorted hard, completely amused. “At least you are worried. You should be where you’re going.” He jerked the bag closed over my head, tying it tight and cutting off any view. “Enjoy the ride. It will be the last time you have any peace. Trust me.”
“Like I’m going to trust someone who is kidnapping me,” I grumbled under my breath. The bag—and my person—lifted off the ground suddenly. I grunted in surprise and then shouted in pain as they dropped the bag onto something hard—like wood. My head bounced twice, and I barked, “Careful with the fucking merchandise! I doubt your queen wants damaged goods, you dumb fuck. She obviously sent you for me—alive—so try to keep me that way.”
I sniffed. I think I was bleeding.
I was absolutely going to kill him.
Whatever I lay upon wobbled beneath me.
My captor sighed. “Dart her again. She’s a nervous talker.”
“I am not a nervous person.” The wood beneath my deadweight body shifted. “There’s no need for another dose of the Vampire’s Draught. I can’t feel my tongue as it is.”
A hand pressed down onto my back from outside my velvet bag of seclusion. I couldn’t fight back when a sharp prick jabbed into my side, poking in deep.
A different man stated, “Done.”
I slurred, “Fuck you very much.”
My captor clicked his tongue twice, and a slap of leather was heard. “Get moving, you ugly beasts.”
“We should ask for better horses next time,” the second kidnapper grouched. “These are almost dead.”
“She gave what she could.”
I swallowed hard while my body bounced on the wooden cart. Hoofbeats filled the night air. I was being carted away to a mad queen.
I really did not like S’Kir very much.
8
KIMBER
“Where is she?!”
I’d never actually heard anyone yell loud enough to shake the walls, but Belshazzar did. In one of the few temple buildings still standing, he made the windows shake in their frames.
Not that I blamed him.
He was terrified that something had happened to her. And he was pissed the fuck off.
“We have soldiers everywhere looking for the queen, sire,” Drez said.
“I’ve got word out to Lord Knight Kane on the other side of the Scar,” Odom said.
He marched up to Odom. “You think that’s enough? She was taken from under your nose! I want everyone in this godforsaken place looking for her!”
“We can’t,” Staviz said. “We are fighting a war. We’ve spared all we can to look for her.”
The king grabbed his shirt and pulled him close. “It’s not enough. We need to find her!”
“Put him down, Bel,” Dorian commanded, stepping forward. “This is not your army, and you can’t rule
here by threat.”
I was impressed that Staviz didn’t react to King Belshazzar’s hostility.
The king released Staviz in the next moment and turned his anger on Dorian. “And whose fault is that?”
“Whose fault is what?” I snapped. “That this isn’t your army? Your Majesty, it wasn’t your army, even if you were the king of the vampires of East S’Kir. This is the druid army.”
He stalked over to me. “What gives you the right to talk to me that way, child?”
I stared him dead in the eyes. “You’re not scaring me, King Belshazzar. You’re confusing anger with fear.”
“Don’t presume—”
“Your woman is missing,” I hissed. “What good does it do you to stand here and argue with your brother and our generals?”
“They need to send more out to find her!”
“Do they?” I asked.
Odom was next to me. “Think about it. Savion was mad with power. Niniane is just mad. If she heard there was a vampire queen here, what do you think she would do?”
“Kill her!”
“No.” Odom shook his head. “Niniane won’t kill her. She was a shrewd woman once, smart, savvy. She knew the rules. Even in her madness, she knows that the way to destroy someone is through the heart.”
“If this is Niniane,” Aiko said, leaning against the wall, “she won’t take her back to the Stronghold. She’ll take her somewhere else.”
Belshazzar’s eyes flicked between Odom, Aiko, me and Dorian. “Gwynnore can handle herself.” He finally landed his gaze on Odom. “You’re sure this Niniane won’t kill her?”
Odom’s eyes flicked to mine, and then back to Belshazzar. “She’s insane. Savion made her that way. She won’t want to kill the queen because I believe she’ll think you’re just as cruel to Gwen as Savion was to her.”
“I would never—”
“Oh, we fucking know.” Dorian groaned. “But she’s not sane, Bel. He made her that way, and that’s the way she’s going to see the world.”
The king marched right up to Dorian and got in his face this time. “And how would you feel if she stole your female?”
Dorian leaned up, and the brothers locked eyes. “Like I wouldn’t know what the hell to do. Like I wouldn’t listen to the people around me, grab my sword and do something incredibly stupid like get my ass captured, bound in galena chains, cut and bled for Savion’s amusement.”
He held out his arm, and the white scar that ran from wrist to elbow shone bright. His fist clenched, and he pointed at me. “And it took her and the twins to rescue me from my moronic decisions.”
Belshazzar held still, his eyes cutting across Dorian’s features. King Belshazzar barked, “I’m going after her.”
“You haven’t heard a word I said. You’re a moron, Bel. I always said you were.”
Belshazzar tackled Dorian.
Odom and Drez grabbed Ophelia and me and pulled us out of the way, back to the wall where Aiko was standing.
“What the actual hell…” Ophelia gasped.
Belshazzar swiped his claws out, catching Dorian’s tunic and ripping it across the chest. Dorian’s fist connected with Bel’s jaw, snapping his head back, but not before Bel managed to punch him in the kidney.
The two men flickered.
I blinked and rubbed my eyes. It had been as if it were a mirror image of them—but not quite.
They rolled apart, but Bel didn’t wait very long before he balled his fist and went for Dorian’s jaw. The punch whipped Dorian around, but instead of falling over, Dorian used the momentum to swing him all the way around and land a kick right in Bel’s side.
They flickered again—Bel a dark red and Dorian a bright white. Were those…horns? What in the gods?
I shook my head. Exhaustion was getting to me.
Bel cartwheeled through the hit and, at the bottom, grabbed Dorian’s knee to pull him off the ground. Dorian fell back, and just as Bel was vertical again, Dorian shot his foot out and kicked Bel across the room.
It was a big room.
Bel hit the wall and slid down but landed on his feet. He growled, his eyes red. Dorian took a casual stance that I recognized as his barrage stance and motioned his brother to come at him.
“This is bad,” Roran whispered.
No one was going to get between these two, though.
No one was that foolish.
It was like two bulls going at each other—and I was shocked they didn’t pull the stone floor up.
Another flicker as they crashed together.
I could swear those were horns.
Bel aimed low for Dorian’s waist, and Dorian braced on Bel’s shoulders. They flipped over, slamming into each other, and Dorian somehow managed to land both feet in the small of Bel’s back, sending him flying again, this time on a collision course with a pillar.
Rilen flung his magic out to stop the crash of Bel’s face into the stone. Dorian whipped his head around and growled at Rilen.
“Oh, shut up. You know damn well that was too much!” Rilen snapped.
“Don’t interfere!” Bel roared and took off back to his brother.
Dorian threw his leg up and around and slammed it into Bel’s shoulder, dropping him to the ground. While the hit sounded painful, Bel threw his legs toward Dorian’s waist, wrapped around him, and tossed him away from him, impressively heaving him high and far.
Dorian regained his footing as Bel rushed him again.
Another flicker, flashing red and black, then gold and white.
What the hell was that?
But Dorian was clearly done with this. I watched as he raised his hands and grabbed his brother midstride, lifting him into the air and suspending him there.
“Ilati, Arramulutu,” Dorian called.
He held his hand out for me, Roran, and Rilen.
I walked over to where he was holding Bel just off the ground. I had the feeling the king could break free if he wanted.
Dorian growled at us, “Tell him.”
I glanced over at Dorian for a moment, then back to his brother. “Savion shot me in the leg. We went to steal his weapons, and he caught us. He killed Mistress Carolee before I could stop him.”
Roran took over the story. “When the decoy party returned with Carolee’s head and body and without Kimber, Dorian lost his mind, and my brother didn’t do much better.”
Rilen nodded. “I sent him away. Because we had different goals in mind. But sending my twin away was the wrong thing to do because I couldn’t stop Dorian from taking a horse and plowing through the Spine like a lovesick idiot.”
“We all wanted to,” Roran said, softly. “But it wasn’t wise. And Dorian proved that. Because Savion shot for the heart.”
I stared hard at Belshazzar. “We rode through the Chasm to the Stronghold. We were hunted, then attacked. When we found Dorian, he was nearly dead. Dangling upside down over Savion’s blood fountain. He didn’t have to be there. Aiko, Kane, Odom, and the rebels had already gotten me out.”
“To go roaring in, brother, is not the thing to do. I know you don’t know me anymore, and you don’t know our world anymore. But I am your brother, and I understand what it means to be in love. You have got to trust us when we say that we are working on this. Gwynnore will be found, and she will be brought back here safely.”
“Niniane doesn’t want her dead,” Aiko said softly. “She wants you dead for what Savion did to her.”
The silence hung in the room for a long moment before finally, Bel’s eyes connected with Dorian’s again. “Let me down, you great pompous ass, before I break your hold the hard way. I’ll go along with your plan.”
His feet touched the floor, and he snatched Dorian by the neck. “But if there is an iota of harm to a strand of hair on her head, I will string you up by your balls on the highest mountain in S’Kir.”
Roran picked at a fingernail. “That’s Mount Gershorn, out by One League Falls.”
“I know where it is!” Belsha
zzar growled.
“Just making sure,” he answered. “I have rope, too.”
Rilen and I just shook our heads.
Lady Stormbreaker,
I am saddened to ask your favor again. I had hoped that after yours, and the general’s display in the dining tent, there might be hope for me to find a willing vein. Sadly, it doesn’t seem to have persuaded anyone to my side. Even with the promise of mutual satisfaction, those I may call are not to be found.
At your discretion and convenience, my lady.
Aiko Elkthorne
I studied the flower in my hand. It was a bloom from the Southling Caye that I had seen just a few times in my life, including the time my parents had sailed us down there in the summer. It was called a Gentleman’s Kiss, and the petals looked like someone kissing a carefully offered hand.
I knew he was asking me again because he didn’t want to take away from the blood Odom had brought for himself and his small contingent, and now had to share with the king and queen—
Well, just the king for now.
He didn’t want to deprive them of it. He didn’t want to be a burden. And I was fairly sure that he wanted to see me again because he was afraid that Dorian would put a stop to this soon.
This man was killing me.
I didn’t know how much longer I was going to be able to hold the dam in my heart. I couldn’t lie to myself, either—I would go see him because I was also afraid Dorian would put a stop to this, demand I use his vein or one of the twins.
Not that it wouldn’t be enjoyable, but… Aiko was…
Aiko was a safe connection to the other half of me.
I was having more trouble dealing with being half vampire than any of the people of S’Kir thought they were. The king and queen weren’t helping, and now Odom and his contingent were here as well. They were all comfortable and casual with their needs, and I was getting more and more twisted up in knots.
Aiko was a gateway to accepting that it was fine, that I was normal and healthy, if unexpected and unexplained, and that having to take blood and give it occasionally wasn’t disgusting or strange.
For more millennia than the Spine had been up, the vampires had given and taken blood.
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