THE BLOOD RITE DIDN’T SEEM overwhelming.
At first.
I chose a black dress with a high collar and long sleeves. If Odom, Aiko, and Kane were truthful, this was not the time to show an iota of flesh.
I even found black lace gloves.
Aiko appeared at the door, wearing a black satin collarless shirt and black satin pants. They were both decorated with red and yellow embroidery on one side, highlighting massive flowers all the way down. His hair pulled back revealed well-defined cheeks and a strong jaw. His black eyes gleamed in the light of my room.
Aiko was gorgeous.
I shook myself out of staring. I had three men at home. I didn’t need to be looking for another for my harem.
Lords and stars, I had a harem. How did that happen?
“Good evening, Mistress Breaker. Are you ready?”
I smiled. “As I am ever going to be.”
Holding out an arm, he led me down the hall.
“Do you think there’s any chance I might be able to get some privileges outside the my room and the library?”
“You would have to take that up with the king, and I seriously doubt it. Not after you ‘made’ him kill one of his guards. One week. Just hang on one more week.” Aiko drew in a nervous breath. “Let’s just get through this rite.”
What kind of mess was I being dragged into? Why were Odom and Aiko so apprehensive about me going to this rite? Our duranki dance was sometimes unbridled, with couples disappearing just out of the light of the fires to find pleasure in the shadows, but somehow, I didn’t think this was anything like our dance of gratitude.
The huge dining room was emptied of chairs, and there were a few vampires idling there, but Aiko led us into the ballroom where the glittering masses were waiting.
The women were dressed in fine silks and sequins, none terribly confining or leaving much to the imagination. The men were all dressed in loose-fitting clothes similar to Aiko’s.
Odom was standing near the door, closest to the front entrance. He was sipping a red liquid I was sure wasn’t the wine everyone else had.
“Good evening, General,” Aiko said, pulling me by him. Odom inclined his head as we moved on.
There was a small line on the left of the room where we queued up. Aiko inclined his head to the front of the line, and I could see each of the people there moving forward and paying obeisance to King Savion.
My lips twisted. “Really?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
I had never bowed to anyone. I didn’t want to start now. I also didn’t want him to lose his shit and slice my head off.
“What’s the minimum amount of respect I can give King Asswipe?” I hoped my voice was low enough.
Aiko choked on the drink he had. “I would at least nod your head. If you see he’s irate, maybe a shallow curtsey.”
I weighed the option as we got closer, and once it was our turn, I went with his suggestion.
While Aiko gave him the full, deep bow, I merely inclined my head a bit to acknowledge him. He narrowed his eyes, but I didn’t see anything that indicated real anger this time.
I’d witnessed his real fury again the night before, and that was a thing to behold. The poor servant didn’t have a chance to even try to save himself. The sword was out, and his head was gone in a flash.
All because his fish had a bone in it.
The blood that spilled soaked into the stone, the stone seeming to absorb it, and other guards came and pulled the body to the entrance to empty the blood into the pool at the fountain.
None of this was how I imagined the vampires acting.
We moved away from the throne, and I felt a tickle in the air. It was a strange, paralyzing sort of sensation, but it washed over my skin.
The lord knight shivered. “They’ve brought them in.”
“Who?”
He walked me to a somewhat empty corner. “The enthralled. The ones that are at the center of the Blood Rite.”
I rubbed the pebbled skin under my sleeves. “Is that the tingle?”
His eyebrow quirked. “You don’t feel it as lethargy?”
“No, it feels like it could be but not quite.”
“That…is interesting, Mistress Breaker.” Glancing around, he raised his glass to his lips. “Druids are absolutely susceptible to the thrall. There are books and documents on it. You should feel lethargic with that much thrall going on in the next room.”
I shook my head and raised my own glass. “Nothing more than an unpleasant pull, really.”
“Curious.” He let out a breath. “There are only two more people in the line. Savion will mingle just a moment, but as soon as he’s off that throne, you’re going to feel the energy ramp up.” Once again, his cup came up to his lips to hide his mouth. “This is unrestrained hedonism involving blood, Kimber. It’s bad. I will do everything I can to keep you safe.”
Pursing my lips, I glanced around. This was going to be bad. I could feel it.
I’d made it another two days. I had five more to go. I could do this. I could survive this. I had to. Roran, Rilen, and Dorian would never forgive me if I got myself killed.
The thought of them brought a smile to my lips.
I couldn’t wait to be back in our bed.
But… Vitas slept alone now.
I would do this for Carolee and Firr, the soldier who died with her.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Savion called to the crowd around us. “Welcome all to the Blood Rite. We are set to begin in the next room. Shall we adjourn and begin?”
Ramp up was a complete understatement.
The energy shot high and heavy, filling the room. Fangs came into view and eyes burned red.
There was a thick air of anticipation and barely restrained naked aggression.
The body of people flowed out of the ballroom into the dining hall, following Savion.
I was horrified at what I found inside.
There were dozens of men and women chained to upright boards, held in the thrall that Aiko had mentioned. They were not under the control of their own minds, but of someone else’s. Naked, they couldn’t move from their spots, weren’t inclined to and encouraged not to by the blades at their throats.
The doors behind us slammed shut, locking a moment later.
Aiko pulled me close and pulled me against a wall with him.
“They close the doors to keep the scent of blood to the room as much as possible,” he whispered. He doesn’t want the servants driven mad with bloodlust. He locks us in.”
“When will he open them?”
“Tomorrow. We are locked in for the night.”
That was not something I wanted to hear.
I stared at the people in chains. “Who are they?”
“Random people. Grabbed off the street. Some criminals. Some dissenters. Some longtime prisoners.”
“Do they know they’re here? What’s about to happen?”
He heaved a deep breath. “Some, yes. A few know. It depends on the depth of his sadism at the moment. He’s pretty whacked out lately.”
Savion walked to the large fireplace at the far end where there were two naked figures on either side of his mini platform there. “Ladies, gentlemen.”
I was choked by the raw need I felt in the room.
“Let the Rite begin!”
A cheer went up, along with hundreds of glasses in a high-spirited salute.
Aiko and I held our glasses low. We weren’t toasting anyone, and I wasn’t letting my wine out of my sight.
“This is the hard part,” Aiko said. “They’ll be around with gallons of blood and anyone can drink it. Anyone can also spike it or spike your wine with it.”
I took a small breath. “I never asked what would happen if I did take some of your blood.”
“A small amount would actually be good for you,” he said. “It would speed your healing, heighten your senses for a while, and be a boost in general. The problem,” he sipped his wine as a distraction to someone approaching. Clearing his throat, he went on. “The problem is not the blood. It’s what they put it in it. I have yet to be to a Blood Rite where something wasn’t spiked in the blood.”
“Who would do that?”
He shrugged and looked around. “Could be Savion. Could be one of the other Lord Knights. Could be another you ousted in the archery tournament.” His black eyes landed on mine. “This isn’t a court you want to cross. These are not kind people.”
“So how have you avoided this in the past?”
He thinned his lips, then suddenly smiled and nodded at someone as we walked across the room. “For a long time, I didn’t. I went with it. Poison can’t kill us, but it can make us violently ill.” He held a glass up to toast another person in the corner. “Do you know what the most disgusting thing is that can happen to a vampire? Getting violently ill after gorging on blood. We don’t process all of it at once like food. Twelve hours later, we still have half of what we’ve consumed. So if you gorged, and vomit…”
“It looks like a murder scene.”
He nodded tersely. “It also forces our bodies to slow the healing, and it is a horrible cycle. You gorge, you get ill, your body won’t heal, but if you take more blood, you get sick again. Over and over.” He inclined his head again with a pleasant smile. “You have to ride out the poison. If you don’t, you get stuck in a cycle. I’ve known three people to die from cyclical poisoning illness. Two deserved it. The third…”
“A friend?”
“A lover.” The word was clipped.
I touched his arm and said nothing for a moment. He led me through the crowd, nodding at all the right times to the appropriate people.
“So, why did you roll with being poisoned?”
“I was loyal to the king,” he answered, once again behind his glass. “I loved him. He was the man who gave me everything. Until he took the one thing that really mattered to me. Don’t mistake me—I was in love with Rosabeth, but her death was part of the court games. She just didn’t want to ride the poison out and kept taking blood.
“Kumi, on the other hand. Well.”
“Your sister.”
Nodding he took another sip of his drink. “She was loyal as well. She was also careful. Everyone knows that if you sleep with Savion, you best not let him father a child on you. You’ll be dead the day he finds out.”
“Because of the vision.”
Aiko’s nod was brief. “The day Kumi died was the day I first tried to think of a way to kill him.”
Kane pinged his glass against Aiko’s as they passed.
“I found my allies very quickly here. And just as quickly learned who wasn’t a friend.”
“So, right now, we’re trying to keep people from poisoning me,” I said, taking a sip of my wine. “It will kill me. I cannot ride that out.”
“Yes, that’s why you must stay with me.”
“And later?”
He glanced at me. “Then it is your turn to keep me from falling ill. The people you see, held up on pole slabs, may well have poison in their very veins. No one who knows is in here, and some who know aren’t even alive anymore.”
I cringed, my eyes stuck on one of the people chained to a board. “He’s sadistic.”
Aiko’s head turned slowly to me. “He’s insane. There is no compassion. There never was. Ask Odom. He knows. He’s been there all along.”
My gaze fell away from the victim. “They won’t feel this, will they? It will be fast.”
Aiko chuckled. “No, Kimber. It won’t be fast. It will be slow and painful and calculated like everything he does. The soldiers he kills in a fit of rage with a single blow are the lucky ones.”
Savior, I needed to get out of this place.
More and more of the bloodlust poured into the room. There was a fountain that normally ran with water—I knew it well enough from dinners—that was running with blood instead.
There were silver and gold containers standing in ice. There were bottles and chalices. Bowls and pitchers.
All with blood.
The vampires in this room were barely holding themselves back from turning this into unrestrained, hedonistic mania.
“What happens?”
“Everyone walks around pretending they aren’t getting blood-drunk while they are getting blood-drunk, and then all hell breaks loose in a while.” Aiko looked around. “We should be as far from the king as possible when that happens.”
For over an hour, Aiko nursed his one glass of blood while I nursed and protected my one glass of wine. We wandered through—I got fairly decent at trying to sound interested over the past few days and could keep up an empty conversation fairly well.
The courtiers and lords and generals were all starting to circle the chained, enthralled victims, examining them, testing them.
Choosing them.
Aiko slowly led me around them, pretending to check them out, but in reality, leading us away from the dais to the back corner of the room by the doors.
It was as far from Savion as we’d be able to get.
“How have you avoided these lately?” I asked quietly.
“I make sure I’m out of town, away from the castle. There’s usually a three-day warning which is plenty of time to make up an excuse.”
The king walked up the few stairs of the dais to stand in front of his throne. As he did, a hush fell over the attendees.
I wasn’t sure what exactly ‘blood-drunk’ really was, but I imagined it was very much like what Savion was right now—heavy-lidded, sluggish, off-center, and gleeful.
He raised his hand. “Ladies and gentle. It’s time. Let the blood flow.”
Slashing his hand down, the blades moved down and cut the prisoners throats.