The kitchen was full of conversation today, but it was all meaningless chatter.

I’d come here in the hopes of seeing improved morale—after all, the rapist was dead.

Instead, I found women who were afraid of their own shadows, afraid of the words they might speak.

It was obvious by looking at them that they knew something was wrong in the castle, but none of them would give voice to that knowledge. They prattled on about this or that meaningless thing. What their vampires had done yesterday, what they were going to eat for breakfast, what gifts they’d been given in exchange for good service.

I couldn’t believe this was all they wanted to say.

I sought out the thrall who had opened up to me yesterday. She was in the same corner, though not curled up in a ball. She was standing tall, though her posture spoke of a brittle composure, and she wouldn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Hers were locked squarely on the floor, and she said nothing at all.

I walked over to her, and only when I was standing directly in front of her did she drag her gaze up to meet mine.

“Hello,” I said, smiling brightly at her.

“Hi.” Her voice was hushed, almost defeated.

“Are you all right today?”

She barked out a laugh that didn’t sound too good. “Depends on how you look at it.”

The room grew quiet, and I felt all eyes on us.

“What do you mean?”

She glanced around, at last meeting the searching eyes of the other thralls. “I don’t think I’m at liberty to say.”

“This is a safe space, isn’t it?” I looked around at the other thralls, waiting for them to confirm what I’d said.

Murmurs of agreement filled the room.

“You can tell us.”

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. “You won’t tell the King?”

I shook my head. “We don’t exactly have long conversations. No, I won’t tell a single soul. Promise.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “He died. Someone killed him last night. He was in his room, and I found him this morning. I screamed, and everyone came running, and they shoved me out of the room. No one has told me a thing since. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. It’s a miracle nothing happened to me last night. What if I’d been hurt too?”

Yeah, total miracle, that.

Silence hung over the room for a moment before everyone burst into a thousand questions.

“Do you know how he died?”

“Was he staked?”

“Did you hear it happen?”

“Oh my God, I can’t believe that happened!”

“What are you going to do?”

The questions kept coming, but I had to tune them out to allow myself to focus on the task at hand. This girl was...afraid. She wasn’t happy that her vampire had been killed, and I would have thought she would be. Instead, she was afraid of what was going to happen next.

Wouldn’t she be taken care of?

What did happen to thralls who lost their vampires?

That was a question I probably should have found the answer to before I’d set off on my quest, but I’d been so single-minded yesterday. The hatred I’d felt for that vampire had been so all-consuming that there hadn’t been any room for rational thought.

I couldn’t bring myself to regret my actions, though I did regret the feelings she was having just now.

“I’m sure it’s all going to work out,” I said at last, offering her a small smile.

She shuddered. “I don’t know. I hope I get Chosen again, but if I don’t, I’ll go to the herd.”

“Oh, honey.”

“That’s terrible.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“You’re very pretty. I’m sure you’ll be Chosen again.”

The other women kept talking, and they were starting to give me a headache. I wasn’t used to so much chatter happening in one room in such a short amount of time. The wolves had always been so quiet around me. They’d never included me in their conversations and had gone out of their way to avoid me.

Now, I was surrounded by a bunch of women who apparently couldn’t do anything but talk.

“Is the herd really such a horrible place to be?” I asked, frowning.

Everyone looked at me as if I’d grown a second head. “You really don’t know anything about the world you’ve jumped into, do you?”

“Uh...no, I really don’t.”

One of the higher-ranking thralls stepped forward, a look of pity on her face. “The herd is the absolute worst place to be. Any vampire can claim you whenever they want. There’s no safety there. No one to look after you. When you’ve been Chosen, you belong to just one vampire. They take care of you, make sure that no one else touches you, and overall, it’s a better place to be. The vampires high enough to be able to have their own thralls are generally more refined. Those who have to pick from the herd—they’re the young, unproven, or failed vampires. They couldn’t prove themselves in battle, or they haven’t had the opportunity yet. They don’t care how anyone feels. They just take what they want. Whatever they want.”

That implication was so obvious, I couldn’t have missed it if I tried.

I’d potentially set this woman up for more of the same—just a different attacker.

Anger pulsed through my veins.

I should have figured something else out. I should have done my research better.

Should have, should have, should have.

The words went round and round in my head, but they didn’t do me any good.

I silently vowed to kill any vampire who laid a hand on any of these women.

They were under my protection.