Blood & Amber Eyes: A Craving Crimson World Story

by Kate Bonham

  “I have my reasons, and they include trying to frame an old friend for the death of your father, hide away the fact you have an heir born outside of your marriage, and I’m sure there’s something else in there that we could bring to light.”

  “And where would this tribunal be held?” Hallec asked.

  “Here, of course,” Sehrenna said. “After all, you are the one being judged. Orphax, I assume you know how to raise your fellow Elders to come to action.”

  Orphax moved off, out of the court, and left us with Hallec who had taken on a harder edge to his expression. His eyes told me exactly what he was capable of now.

  “If we’re all to be party to this blasphemy, I am sure we need to include one or two more people,” snarled Veona.

  “Like?” Bastien asked.

  “Mae and her whore mother.”

  “Veona,” Hallec warned. “Surely that is not necessary.”

  “I believe it is, Hallec.”

  Hallec turned back to us, “So be it. I’ll have rooms made up for everyone involved.”

  “Sounds like you’re being the perfect host,” Sehrenna said, with a smile on her face. I see she got her father’s sarcasm and cheekiness.

  When Hallec and Veona moved off with the rest of their family, and the court was emptied of the other Lycans, I turned to Sehrenna.

  “Where’s Mae?”

  “She’s found her little sister and kept her away. I told her of my plan.”

  “How long do you think it will take for the elders to get here?” I asked Bastien.

  “Not long, they take this kind of thing seriously, but we will need to be on our guard. The Elders are elected because of their wisdom, and that’s because they didn’t get involved in petty crimes.”

  “Do you think Amabelle will come?”

  “If Hallec asks her to, she’d be here in an instant,” Bastien said. “But from what I just saw, Veona will rip her to shreds in seconds.”

  “After what she put Mae through,” I began. “Let’s hope so.”

  Mae

  “Kolten,” I ran to catch up to him. I hadn’t seen him since I arrived here with Sehrenna a few days ago. This was the first time Bram had let me out of his sight and I’d escaped down a hall to go exploring. Reina hadn’t been in her room so now I was just wandering around the compound of the mansion. “Wait up.”

  He turned, a smile appearing on his face. “I was wondering where you were.”

  “Under lock and key,” I replied. “I finally sprung myself, so take me somewhere fascinating.”

  “Sure, I got somewhere to take you.”

  I followed him down a few corridors until we came to a separate part of the mansion, one that looked like it hadn’t been opened in a while.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s part of the old Blackmaw mansion, Fenneck hated it, so he forbade everyone from coming here. It made a great place to hide away when you didn’t want to get beaten for being bad.”

  “Your dad did that to you?”

  “No,” Kolten replied. “He never did, but like I said, he’s not the man I thought he was, I lost my father when he became King.”

  “Yeah he seems a little… lost?”

  “That’s a good word for it.”

  Kolten turned on an oil lamp which lit the dark room. I could see drawings on the wall, with words written above lines.

  “Is this a family tree?”

  “Sure is,” he said. “Here, look at this.”

  I moved to where he pointed on the wall, under Hallec’s name. “Wait… that’s my name.”

  “Yeah, he had it written in when he found out.”

  “Wow, that’s pretty crazy. Now he wants no one to know about me.”

  “That’s my mother talking, but he’s listening for once so that can’t be good.”

  “My mother is due today,” I said. “I’m nervous, she’s never been a good mother, but this can’t end well for her.”

  Kolten sighed. “No, it won’t, but it also won’t end well for you and Bram. You’ve given them days to prepare a cover story, instead of confronting them in front of everyone before they had a chance to make up a lie everyone would believe.”

  “What’s the worst that can happen?” I asked, sitting on an overturned crate. “I mean, really, they lock us up?”

  “They sentence you to death because you are under Lycan law. The Watchers and Nosferatu can stick up for you, but usually, the Elders won’t interfere with a lot of what happens in a court, it’s been that way for centuries.”

  “Should I be scared, Kolten?”

  He hesitated, coming over to sit with me on another crate. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I think they know I’m not on their side when it comes to you, so I’ve been kicked to the side. I can’t tell you guys what they are planning but all I know is you guys need to have a Plan B.”

  “What about you? When this is all over, you’ll be stuck here.”

  “Yeah,” he said on a sigh. “But I’ve put up with this my whole life, Mae, that’s the difference between us. I know how to hide and I know how to handle their crap.”

  “But you shouldn’t have to, or Reina.”

  “Reina is smarter than you think,” he said. “She’s outwitted them on many an occasion, I’m surprised she comes from them to be honest.”

  I smiled, thinking she was more like me than I first thought and that made me happy.

  “Come with us when we leave,” I said to him. “You’re not the heir, so you don’t have to be here, and you can do whatever you want. There’s a big world out there for you to discover.”

  “No, Mae, you forget, you’re the heir, not Hadrian. This isn’t going to be as easy as dethroning Hallec and then leaving with a skip in your step. There’s so many in our pack that need guidance, a King or a Queen to rule over them. Packs look up to us, and there’s always been someone for them to look up to.”

  I felt bad as Kolten explained his life, and his world to me. I knew nothing about this. I wasn’t even a full Lycan, never had been, and now I was part Nosferatu and part Lycan.

  “What happens if I do get him dethroned. Who rules next?”

  “You, Mae,” he said. “You are the next born in that line. It’s on you.”

  That was a little too hard to hear. Never did I expect I would have to rule as a Queen of a pack.

  “But I’m Nosferatu as well.”

  “Yeah, I figured that may change things, but I’d looked over the law, I don’t think it matters. Blood is blood.”

  Blood is blood. Those three words sent a chill down my spine. My blood would be the end of me, I just knew it.

  ◆◆◆

  The next day

  Hallec stood close to his throne, speaking with Veona, who wasn’t happy. Orphax was standing with a few others by the side, which I could guess were the Elders. He didn’t look happy either. Hadrian, Melonia and Kolten stood behind Veona’s throne, but there was no Reina here. Perhaps she was too young for this court.

  Bram was close by, as was Bastien, and Sehrenna. She seemed on edge, which was the first time I had seen her rattled.

  “Bring her in,” Hallec announced. I turned to the opening doors and my mother stumbled in, frightened. Something in me wanted to protect her, but I knew she wouldn’t like me to, she’d been blind to Hallec for years, well, actually all of my life. I was the hindrance in her life, stopping her from being with him.

  “Hal?”

  “You address him as King,” Veona spat as she came forward. “He is King of the Blackmaw and you should address him as such.”

  Hallec came forward and whispered to Veona. She backed down and sat on her throne, but she never took her eyes off Amabelle.

  “Amabelle,” he said, keeping it incredibly formal. “Your daughter Mae has accused me of being her biological father, do you know why?”

  Amabelle was confused, and she looked around the room, finally spotting me and Bastien. When she noticed Bastien, her eyes widened, before
she turned back to Hallec.

  “You know why,” she said, suddenly. “She was born after we were together.”

  “How can you prove she is mine?”

  “She’s a… Lycan.”

  “And how can you prove you didn’t lay with another?”

  “What’s wrong with you, Hal? Why are you acting like this?”

  “My wife, Veona, was correct, you must address me as King Hallec.”

  She stumbled, unsure of herself, and I instantly felt sad for her. She’d loved him all her life, and now he was embarrassing her, humiliating her, and she was the only human here after all.

  “Father, I think she has spoken enough,” Kolten came forward much to Veona’s anger. “Let her speak what she has to speak and then let her go.”

  “She has put doubt on me as a King, son, why would I do that?”

  Kolten looked to me, then to Amabelle, before stepping back. But with his interruption, the Elders whispered amongst each other.

  “Amabelle, I repeat, how am I to know this woman is my own daughter when I have two who I have with my own wife?”

  “You know she is, I told you when she was born.”

  Gasps, and more whispers.

  “No proof, I see.”

  “How can I prove it?” she asked, her voice cracking with emotion. “She’s a Lycan.”

  “She is a hybrid,” Hallec corrected. “Thanks be to her Nosferatu boyfriend standing back there. I guess there is no real way to tell if she is my daughter.”

  “Enough,” Sehrenna yelled and stepped forward. “You have been brought before the Elders to address your suitability to being King of your people, not to humiliate a past lover and mother of one of your children.”

  “As I said, how can we be sure Mae is my child?”

  “There is a way,” someone from the Elders stepped forward. “I can perform a DNA matching spell.”

  “That’s the Alchemist Elder, Magnolia,” Bram said to me. “She is fair, but strict.”

  “Let it begin,” Hallec said.

  “He seems oddly confident about this,” I whispered to Bram. “He’s got a plan.”

  “Be careful,” Bastien said. “Ask for a witness for your side.”

  Hallec moved to the center of the room, and Amabelle was moved to the side. She had tears streaming down her face, but she didn’t sob loudly. I felt bad, if it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t be in this mess.

  I felt like this was all my fault and it sucked.

  “I want a witness by my side,” I announced. Magnolia nodded and ushered me over. I turned to Bastien who nodded and joined me in the center of the room. The hate radiating off Hallec was so thick I could have cut it with a knife.

  Magnolia pulled my hand up so my palm was face up, and Hallec copied me. She held her hands over both of our hands and closed her eyes. A purple mist coated our hands and I felt a pressure in the center, but I refused to show weakness so I stayed strong. Bastien’s hand was at my back, which is exactly where it needed to be because I was scared out of my mind. It took a little longer than I thought it would, but eventually Magnolia stepped back and the mist disappeared.

  “The claim is true,” she announced. “Mae is indeed the heir to the Blackmaw throne.”

  Veona gasped loudly, her eyes threatening to pop from their sockets. Kolten had a smirk on his face, but he hid it when Hallec turned back to look at his family.

  “So be it,” he said. “Mae will stay under my protection in this mansion and learn our ways.”

  “You forget,” Bram came forward. “She is a hybrid, she belongs to both Lycan and Nosferatu worlds.”

  “I wish for your claim to the throne to be looked at,” Sehrenna announced, cutting the tension in half. Everyone’s eyes were on her. Bram took hold of my hand and immediately I felt confident here. Hallec was not the man I thought he was and instantly I regretted meeting him. How had my mother fallen in love with such a man?

  “How can I be judged?” Hallec asked. “I am the rightful heir after my father’s death.”

  “You may be the heir to Fenneck, but this does not always mean you are rightful to the throne,” Magnolia replied. “Letitia, come forward.”

  I looked over to the Elder with a bright green robe on, her face was glittery as if she had on shimmer over her cheekbones. Her long brown hair fell over her shoulders and down to her waist.

  “She’s the Fae Elder,” Bram whispered in my ear. “She can read his memories to see if he deserves the throne, and whether he will rule fairly.”

  Letitia came over to him, and held her hands over his temples, closing her eyes, she focused. Hallec grunted in pain as we all stood around them and waited for Letitia to finish. My heart raced, waiting for the outcome. I didn’t want to see Hallec on the throne, it was a gut instinct, but the word of his illegitimate daughter wasn’t going to change that. I looked over at my mother, standing by the wall, her eyes full of tears as she looked longingly at Hallec. I understood the feeling, it was exactly how I would look at Bram if he chose not to acknowledge me. It would be heartbreaking. I had no idea how she was still standing in this room with his family. She was stronger than I thought.

  Letitia moved back, her eyes fluttering open as she recovered from whatever trance she had been in. “I need time to process what I have seen, come back tomorrow and we shall know.”

  Letitia was led out of the court room by the other Elders, and Hallec turned to summon his family. They were heading out of the room when I saw Amabelle move.

  “Hal,” she cried out to him. He stopped as he heard her voice. “Talk to me, tell me it wasn’t one-sided.”

  Hallec turned around, his eyes cold and hard. “It was real enough at the time, but I was a fool, and I made a wrong choice. Mae should never have been born, and I should never have met you. I’m married, in love with my wife, and I have four children who I love. There is no more Hal, the man you knew is gone, Amabelle. Now, go home, you have no place in this court.”

  “But,” she dropped to her knees. “You love me. I know you do.”

  “I simply don’t,” he said quickly. “I do not love you, nor did I ever. You were someone I could be lost with, someone I could get what I wasn’t getting at home.”

  I watched as Amabelle broke apart in front of me. No one deserved to be told the one thing they had held onto for most of their adult life was fake. I knew he was lying, I knew he’d loved her at one point, whether he didn’t know or not. Amabelle sobbed, her heart breaking before me.

  “That’s enough,” Bastien said, moving closer to Hallec. “You’ve done your damage, now leave us.”

  Hallec’s eyes moved from Bastien to Amabelle, widening just as I turned to see her pull a blade from somewhere on her belt and hold it over her heart. She turned to me, her eyes red, and her cheeks puffy with tearstains.

  “I’m sorry, Mae.”

  Before I could run to her, she plunged it deep into her chest. Her mouth contorted in an O as she fell back, blood pooling underneath her.

  I ran for her, touching the blade for a minute before I realized I needed to leave it in her. I felt an ungodly scream emanate from deep within me.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” I sobbed as I held her close to me. “What did you do?”

  Her eyes were cold, and dark. Her body limp in my arms. I could smell her blood all over me, but it wasn’t out of hunger, it was out of disgust. My mother was dead.

  And it was because of him.

  I looked up at Hallec, who was surprised but held an air of authority in the room. He looked to me, and without a word, turned his back and left. Anger boiled within me, and I felt myself becoming very hot. I jumped up, just as Bram caught me around the waist and held me against him.

  That was when I broke apart in his arms, clinging to him for dear life. I let the tears come as I drowned in my emotions. She wasn’t a great mother, but she was the only one I had. Bastien moved toward us. “Take her somewhere, get her away from here. I’ll find you.”


  Bram pulled me away from the room, but I didn’t want to leave. I tried to stop but I had no energy. Eventually, I let him take me away from the court, away from the mansion and away from my only family I had left.

  No matter how much I didn’t want to be part of it.

  Bram

  Mae was finally asleep on the bed in the hotel room I’d booked at the Ritz. She was safe for now, but she wouldn’t be for long. They’d proven she was a Blackmaw in front of everyone, not just a Blackmaw, but the heir. I made sure the potion Magnolia had given me to put her to sleep was fully digested before I locked the door and left, returning to the mansion.

  Bastien waited for me outside, with Mae’s brother Kolten. It was curious he hadn’t been locked away with his family, but now wasn’t the time to question it. He was a good kid, I could tell. He’d already saved me before.

  “Where’s Amabelle?”

  “I’ve taken her somewhere safe,” Bastien said, a tinge of sadness to his voice. I knew he didn’t love her, not in the way a husband should, but he had a fondness for her. This was hard on him too. “Mae?”

  “Magnolia gave me a potion to make her sleep,” I told them. “Before she wakes, I want this bullshit dealt with finally.”

  “Agreed,” Kolten said. “They are locking themselves up, trying to figure out a way to get on top of this. I don’t think Letitia saw good things.”

  “How would you know already?” I asked him.

  “Because of his skills,” I heard a little voice say from somewhere close by.

  “Reina,” Kolten said, with a warning in his tone. “You shouldn’t be here and you know it.”

  “Relax, brother, I heard of commotion and I wanted to help.”

  “This is the youngest?” I asked, looking at the little brown-haired beauty coming toward us.

  “Yes.”

  “What skills do you speak of, little one?” I asked, kneeling down so we were eye to eye.

  “Why his Fae skills, of course.”

  I looked up at Kolten who looked defeated. Standing, I came up close to him. Sure enough, his eyes glittered just as a Fae’s did.

  “How is this possible?”

  “I’m not Veona’s son. Hallec has a tendency to sleep around.”