night. “I, Nicolae Amaros Noire, king of this region, pledge on this sacred night that we will stand against Baal.” He turned his face toward me and pulled his hand free before biting into the tender flesh of his wrist. “Do you Claire Zakarian, princess of your region accept my vow?”
The smell of his blood wafted into my nostrils and my mouth began to salivate. I pushed back my hunger and brought my wrist to my lips. I twinged as my fangs pierced the delicate flesh, and took every ounce of strength I had to not drink my own blood.
“I do.”
I offered my hand to his, and our wrists slid together as a ribbon of warm crimson dripped to the ground. As his lifeblood mingled with mine I could feel Nicolae opening up to me. I knew his every emotion in that moment. I could feel his honesty and loyalty. I had made the right choice in trusting him, and for the first time in a long time, he had made the right choice too.
A look of annoyance sprouted on Fox’s face, but was quickly masked as he pulled Nicolae away for a private conversation. Something wasn’t right about Fox, and I knew I needed to find out his origins if we were to continue to trust him. I couldn’t be feeling this way for nothing. Could I?
“Wow,” Arrick breathed the words with surprise in his voice.
“What?” I spun around to look at him and felt suddenly dizzy. The small amount of blood loss hit me hard and I began to wobble on my feet.
“Are you all right? Sit down for a second.” He guided me across the courtyard, away from spying eyes and listening ears.
I lifted my wrist and licked the wound closed. Small morsels of blood coated my tongue and teased my hunger. Would I last the entire fasting? I thought I had been doing a good job managing it, but maybe that’s why my rage was so out of control.
“Can we get out of here?” I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and allow my brain to process all the information I had learned. Maybe after some rest I could come up with some kind of plan for stopping Baal.
“Sure, just give yourself a second. Blood vows take a heavy toll even when you’re feeding normally. To do it during a fasting is borderline insane.”
“That’s what that was.” Instinctively I knew what had to be done, but I hadn’t known the term. “Does that mean he can’t break his promise?”
“Unfortunately, no. But it is a great show of respect that he will honor his words.”
I nodded. I was hoping that some magical spell would bind him to it, so that there was no chance he’d betray us, but at least I had felt his true feelings. He’d meant what he’d said and, for now, that was as good as it was going to get.
“Do you trust him?” I asked Arrick when I caught him eyeing Fox and Nicolae talking across the courtyard. They were obviously speaking of Evilyn because they kept glancing toward her. Of the few dozen vampires left, she was the last one still holding her Astraia flower. I wanted to go to her, but what could I say? Would talking with me only cause her more pain? Would I be able to talk to her without losing my temper? Doubtful. Perhaps it was best if I just gave her space and let her deal with her grief in her own way.
“I’m going to give you two a moment and check in with Naos. I’ll be right over there, okay?” Arrick pointed to a nearby root that spilled over the edge of the wall and then jutted back up; forming a twisted looking seat.
Robin took a seat slowly beside me, like the movement caused her great pain. I reached my hand around her to rub her back and my fingers brushed against flesh. I looked up, startled, to see Dmitry standing over her. His eyes were red and his once full lips looked thin. He pulled his hand away, but not his gaze; it bore into me with a mixture of emotions I didn’t understand.
I’d seen very little of Dmitry since my return. He had avoided me like the plague; leaving a room whenever I entered or sending someone else to speak to me whenever he had a question. He was yet another vampire I had to have a one on one conversation