Vengeful king, p.4
Vengeful King, page 4
Still, the sight of the prince of my homeland fills me with hope.
“Aye. On your feet, lass. I’m told ye poisoned thirty vampires at King Ronin’s party two nights ago.”
Two nights? Panic hits me afresh. I have to get to Heidi. I have to make sure Maisie is alright.
But I know there’s no possible way she could be. She’s off her medication with not a trace of it in her system now.
Panic drives me to stumble as I stand.
Thirty vampires? I thought only five were dead.
“No, Your Majesty! I was the bartender, aye, but I didn’t poison anybody. I served them whatever drink they asked for. I poured from the bottles tha were stocked for me to serve. I wouldn’t even know where to get poison in this territory.”
Prince Salem is massive, his short, trimmed gray hair making him look ancient, though I know he’s not more than a decade or so older than me. The lantern’s light catches on his one blue eye and his dark gray one tha announce to the world he’s mated with Queen Lilya—the wife he shares with the fae Prince Alexavier and the vampire King Destino.
King Ronin strides from out of view to stand in the spot beside Prince Salem, so I bow all over again, pressing my forehead to the dank floor. “You may rise, Miss Adeline. Tell us what happened.”
Desperation fuels the agony in my tone as I stand and wring my hands, begging either of these great rulers to believe me as I squint at the harsh glow of the lantern. “I only know what I saw, which was five vampires dead at a table. I didn’t even know about the other twenty-five. Were they found in the mansion?”
“Just outside,” King Ronin confirms. “Did anyone replace your bottles? Anyone supply you with liquor that wasn’t already at the bar?”
I wrack my brain. “Aye, someone brought a case so I could restock, but I didn’t think anything of it. I was slammed all night, so there were moments it got pretty chaotic back there.”
It’s then I know tha I am guilty, though killing off vampires wasn’t my intention.
My chin quivers, but this is no time for tears. “Then I am guilty. Maybe I didn’t know I was poisoning them, but if someone switched out the liquor and I poured it, I’m at fault, even if I didn’t know what I was doing.” I grip the iron bars of the cell, hoping the lantern highlights the sincerity of my need. “Do what ye want with me, only please send someone to find my girl! She was in childcare during my shift, but there’s no one to pick her up! I’ve been in this dungeon too long. She must be so scared! Please, Prince Salem. I’ll be guilty of whatever ye fancy, but ye have to find her! She’s only six years old, and doesn’t deserve to be lost!”
Prince Salem’s thick gray eyebrows shoot upward in time with King Ronin’s unedited stream of cussing. “Ye have a daughter? A girl who’s unaccounted for?” He slowly turns his chin to King Ronin in accusation. “It’s clear this lass isn’t guilty, and you’ve put her daughter in danger! Unlock this cell, Ronin!”
I’m starving, my stomach intent on eating itself, since it’s been too long I’ve gone without food. I’ve been able to lick the earthy runoff to keep myself from dying due to lack of water, but it’s not enough.
When King Ronin unlocks the cell door, I’m too beside myself with elation and agony to do more than wobble.
I don’t mean to stumble forward. Beneath the cold and clammy feel of my skin, I’m horrified when my foot snags and I pitch forward, landing with a sickening crack on the concrete.
More swearing, followed by the two rulers hoisting me to my feet. “I’m fine, just help my find my girl!”
Prince Salem hoists me up in his arms, carrying me like a child.
I’m steeped in humiliation when blood from my chin drips on his standard olive military shirt. It matches the one I used to wear when he was my commander years ago. I’m relieved he doesn’t recognize me, disheveled as I am.
“No! Don’t let me bleed on ye. I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”
The roar of Prince Salem’s voice shakes my insides with terror, but his anger isn’t directed at me. “When was she last fed?”
My animal circles in my chest, her tail twitching, grateful Salem’s giving voice to the injustice we’ve suffered.
King Ronin motions to the stairwell down the unlit corridor. “We can ask the guard posted at the entrance, if you like. I assume she was granted the customary two meals and water.”
I’m so betrayed by the lie tha I wish I had it in me to shout at him. It’s too many lies stacked on top of each other.
Shifters would be welcome in Drexdenberg. Lie.
There were plenty of new opportunities for us in Drexdenberg. Lie.
The vampires were excited to have the first one hundred shifters migrating over. Lie.
We’d be considered full citizens, with equal rights and pay. Lie.
The utter fictional invention of the warden feeding me two meals and giving me water is one push too many.
I fight with my insanity and manage to keep my voice relatively calm. “I’ve been starved down here! But I don’t care about tha. Just help me find Heidi!”
Prince Salem growls at King Ronin, who actually does look stunned at news of my neglect.
My commander carries me up the steps, and even lets me hide my face in his burly shoulder when the moonlight and the many lanterns scattered down the streets prove too much for my eyes.
Prince Salem stops at the entrance, his arms tight around me. “Are ye the warden in charge of prisoner care?”
“Yes, Prince Salem. What is it you need this prisoner for? She’s murdered thirty vampires.”
“She’s innocent, and ye starved her. Ronin, lock this lad up for two days and nights in the dark without food or water. See how he fares.”
Vampires can survive on far less food than shifters, but the point is clear.
There isn’t an argument on King Ronin’s lips as he escorts the stammering warden down the stone steps.
Prince Salem walks, carrying me in the moonlight until he locates a bench on the outskirts of a park and lowers me down on it.
He hands me his handkerchief, but I’m not crying. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with it.
“For your chin. It’s bleeding pretty badly.”
I hand the scrap of fabric back to him. “Thanks, but I’m dirty. I won’t mark up my ruler’s handkerchief with my blood. I’m not tha disrespectful.”
Prince Salem’s mouth pulls to the side, and then he tugs a canteen from his belt. “If ye need me to order ye to drink this, I will. I don’t care about my status as much as I care tha my people survive.”
“And tha’s why your people love ye.” I take the canteen and unscrew the top, making sure my mouth doesn’t touch the lip, so I don’t look like I’m putting myself on even footing with my commander.
He sits down on the far side of the bench with a heavy sigh, leaving a healthy three feet of space between us. “Tha shouldn’t have happened to ye. Sorry doesn’t do much, but I am. Sorry, tha is. The offer for the first wave of shifters to come over to Drexdenberg to live was supposed to be a grand step toward integration. It wasn’t supposed to get ye falsely accused and starved.”
Each swallow hurts my throat, but I take as much as my body will allow, wincing as the liquid splashes on the hollow of my stomach.
I screw the cap back on and hand it to him. “We knew what we were getting ourselves into.” Well, we suspected it was too good to be true. It’s on me for not listening to my gut.
“Ye brought your daughter with ye. Tha’s not common.” The unspoken question of why I would do such a thing lingers in the air between us, but I don’t bother answering.
Things were bad back in Jacoba for us. The move didn’t seem like it could possibly make things worse.
“My girl,” I remind him. “I have to find her. I have no right to ask ye for more help, but the authorities won’t track her down for me. If she’s not at home or at the childcare facility, I…” My voice catches, so I shut my gob before I can embarrass myself further.
When King Ronin trots toward us, all fancy in his black slacks, a light blue collared shirt and a dark purple suit jacket with a navy bowtie, Prince Salem snarls. “A carriage,” he says by way of a greeting. “I need to help her find her kid.”
King Ronin nods tightly. “I’ve already requested one. It’s on the way.” Prince Salem looks like he’s got something to add, but King Ronin holds up his hand. “Before you get all bossy, I’ve requested my personal carriage, so we can be assured it won’t be attacked on the way.” Then he turns to me, but I can’t look at him. My eyes fall to my knees as he addresses the crown of my head. “I cannot make up for how you were mistreated, but I can stay with you until we locate your daughter.”
“Tha’s the very least ye can do. When was her trial scheduled to happen?” Prince Salem growls. The man sounds like he gargles with broken glass. How anyone ever has the stones to go up against him, I’ll never know.
King Ronin’s hands find their way into the pockets of his pressed trousers. The sharp angle of his freshly-shaved jaw ticks as he pieces together a response. “I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it all this whole time.”
Prince Salem’s upper lip curls. “While my wife worries it’s somehow her fault? While this lass takes the blame for something your people did? While one of my kin starves in the darkness?”
King Ronin draws up his posture, which is always impeccable, but he’s so poised tha he somehow manages to improve even on perfection. “I did not order her starvation. I was trying to find the guilty party.”
“And did ye?”
King Ronin shuts his eyes. “Being that two more vampires were found dead in the same manner after this Miss Adeline was locked up, no.” His shoulders lower. “There’s no need for a trial. Miss Adeline is innocent.”
6
For Your Protection
Adeline
Then King Ronin turns to address me, one hand in his pocket and the other gesturing with his palm skyward. He’s dapper, and I feel like I just clawed my way out of a sewer.
“Locking you away, Miss Adeline, while it seems cruel, was for your protection. Because you were in the dungeon at the time of the subsequent murders, your innocence was proven with no legal fees at your expense. It seemed logical at the time.”
My blood boils at his reason tha actually sounds sincere and like his legitimate plan. I stand, which takes more effort than I’d like to admit, but it’s worth it to present myself as a person who can stand on her own, not as a waif who’s content to whither away because “it seemed logical at the time.”
Lalita growls at him, but I’m able to talk her down.
He must sense the rage radiating off of me, because he doubles down on humility, which is a strange color to see on the king. “I can see now how foolish it was. I suspected you were innocent, but I needed proof. Taking you out of the equation while the murderer was still out there proved your innocence. So you’re free to go.”
I don’t want to hear it. I can’t afford to lose my temper here, so I stand on unsteady legs. “I need to find my girl.”
Get me out of here before I shift and tear a hole in the side of the castle.
When I sway, King Ronin lowers me back down to the bench.
If anything happened to Heidi or Maisie, I’ll never be able to look myself in the mirror again.
King Ronin’s hands are gentle but firm, supporting me to keep my body from crumpling forward in a pile of limbs. When he manages to catch my eye, there’s genuine worry beaming out from him. He’s not a monster, but he doesn’t care about my family or me. Not really. I’m not a vampire, so I’m not an ally he’s fighting to defend. No matter tha I pay taxes here now. No matter tha I would bleed for Drexdenberg—the territory tha treats me and my kind like trash.
“I’m truly sorry, Miss Adeline. I thought this would be safest for you, and the quickest way to exonerate you.”
“My girl,” is the only thing I can manage as a fancy black carriage lined in gold trim jockeys up to us and pulls to a stop. “I don’t care about any of it. If anything happened to her while I was locked up…” There’s no threat in my voice, only certain doom.
I’ve failed.
“We’ll find her. I’m sure the schools have procedures in place for when this sort of thing happens. Now let’s get you into the carriage.”
Prince Salem stands, growling when King Ronin gives me his arm to lean on. “Ye let her get locked up for a murder ye suspected she didn’t commit? Tell me again how my people are supposed to want to come over to Drexdenberg.”
“Tell me what madness forced her to entertain such an offer with a child in her care. That darkness didn’t come from Drexdenberg, Salem. She left Jacoba for a reason that has nothing to do with vampires.”
He’s not wrong, but I don’t care what they think. Heidi. Maisie. They’re all I care about, and they’re lost without me.
The road we ride down is bumpy, and we stop only for King Ronin to buy me an apple, which I tear into without tasting the crispness I’ve been craving.
Heidi. Maisie.
I direct the way to the childcare facility I use whenever I have a weekend job. They’re two miles from our house, but they were the only place tha would take a shifter child in, under the strict stipulation tha they would watch her only until she first shifted. Then she’s out.
Daft dummies don’t understand tha most of us don’t find our animal until we’re teenagers or older. It’s a traumatic event tha can trigger a child into shifting too early, and I do all I can to make sure Heidi talks about her stress so it doesn’t belt out of her in ways tha awaken her animal before it’s time. Once her animal comes about… there’s not much about controlling one’s animal tha I can teach the lass. I’m still scratching my head about how to keep Lalita calm.
When we finally reach the childcare facility, my hand is on the door before the carriage comes to a complete stop. My feet are unsteady but I stumble toward the long one-story building tha has cheery moonscapes painted on the door in hues of yellow and orange. The tall lamplight hides no secrets tha I’m a mammy unhinged, tripping over a tricycle I can’t command my brain to sidestep.
Prince Salem catches me, but it’s King Ronin’s voice tha offers serenity, however slim. “We will find her, Miss Adeline. And when we do, she’ll want to see you in one piece, not thousands of shattered fragments stitched together by desperation.”
Prince Salem snarls at the king. “Jays, tha’s heartless. She’s lost her daughter, and you’re telling her to calm down? Ye did this to her!”
King Ronin swallows hard, touching my elbow so I have someone to lean on. I’m just deranged enough to trust the support as we stalk through the entrance. “I’m not saying it for my sake, but for her daughter’s wellbeing. The child will no doubt be scared, going without her mum for this long. Best keep the trauma contained.”
We stop at the front desk, my hands pressing flat as the receptionist balks at my company. “Your Majesties!” She’s on her knees in the next breath, but I don’t have the patience for her genuflecting.
“Heidi Muttrend! My daughter, is she here?”
The woman, who has never once addressed me by name, stands and looks through the notebook she uses to mark the kids in and out every night.
Before her mouth opens, I know the answer.
“You didn’t come to pick her up, see, and we have a strict policy that no one can just leave their child here however long they feel like, yeah?”
“Where is she?” I shout.
Normally I don’t yell, especially not to vampires. I know my place in this territory, but I’m so deranged tha I can’t put calm to my terror.
Lalita claws at my insides, feeding off my rage.
The woman shrinks, fiddling with her pencil. “It’s a matter of policy, shifter. What were you thinking would happen? That we’d indefinitely take care of the child you abandoned?”
Agony strips my voice of any chance at composure. “Where is my daughter?” I thunder.
Tha’s when I feel it, the first signs my animal has found a way to break through the walls I’ve set up, which are mostly comprised of deep breathing and pushing my feelings down until I barely recognize myself. But this is too much for me to cope with. Lalita’s been dormant for so long, but she’s through with letting me defend my home, thinking she can do a better job.
Panic chokes me as the skin thickens at the small of my back.
I have to get a handle on myself.
Anger is a luxury, and I’ve given up on those long ago.
I turn to Prince Salem, clearly out of my mind as I grip his forearms in desperation. “Don’t let me shift. Please, Your Majesty. Help me!”
Most don’t care about their animal coming out, but no one has an animal like mine.
Prince Salem makes a show of breathing in deeply through his nose and releasing it through his lips. “Easy, lass. We’ll find her.” Then he stops short. “Your eyes are green. How?”
I shake my head, and he remembers tha I’m a few breaths away from shifting. Tha might not be a problem for most, but if I shift, I’ll go to prison for sure. My animal will destroy them all.
Then there will be no one to care for Heidi and Maiseline.
Prince Salem refocuses and turns with a glower tha’s famous for making grown lads pee themselves. He fixes his menacing glare on the receptionist. “What did ye do with the wee lass?”
The vampire has tears of fear, not remorse, rolling down her cheeks. “We turned her loose. She can find her way home from here. Everyone lives within walking distance. I’m sure she found her home safely.”
Fury fills me, and the thickened skin on the small of my back spreads up my spine. “We live two miles from here! She’s six years old!”
Prince Salem spins on his heel and stalks out of the building, leaving me to follow on shaking feet. King Ronin lingers to leave the woman with the threat tha she and the facility will be dealt with, and then jogs to my side.
His touch on my elbow catches me by surprise, but I don’t jerk away.
