majesty, but do we really have time to play his little games?”
“The real question is, do we have time not to?” Arrick shook his head, clearly disappointed in his first impression of Titan. “I expected this to happen.”
“You did?” I interjected as we pushed through the throne room doors, making our way back through the maze of hallways.
My father nodded. “He pleaded with us all; swearing in the goddess’ name that Baal wasn’t dead and none of us believed him. We said he was blinded by his thirst for vengeance.” My father took a breath, before continuing. “We turned our backs on him, refusing to aide him in his search. I thought he was going mad.”
“Do you think he’ll help us?” I kept the panic I was suddenly feeling from exposing itself. What would we do if Titan refused? Would our region and Noire be enough to stop Baal? I squeezed Arrick’s hand for comfort and knew we needed to come up with a plan B.
“I believe he will. He just needs to forgive me,” my father answered as we rounded the familiar hallway of our bedchambers. “Now, get ready for the feast.”
“Do we have to go?” I wasn’t really in the mood for celebrating anything. I just wanted to lay in bed and think of ways to either convince Titan to help us or come up with other options.
“Yes,” his voice was stern. “This feast isn’t just about celebrating. He wants to get a feel for us. It’s our chance to build trust.”
“Why doesn’t he trust us?” I knew I was giving him the third degree, but nothing was going how I expected. I had thought Titan would be jumping at the chance to help us kill Baal, but instead he was holding old grudges and wanting to throw a party. It didn’t make sense.
“Because!” my father suddenly snapped. I jumped back in surprise, swallowing hard at the mountainous vampire in front of me. His eyes searched my face, and he pulled back. “I’m sorry, Claire.”
“It’s okay,” I replied as my heart returned to a normal pace.
“In Titan’s eyes I betrayed him all those years ago. I know him well. To him, I am almost as guilty as Baal by refusing to help.”
“He can’t blame you for that. You thought Baal was dead,” I said, trying to plead his case and ease my father’s guilt.
“No… he can. If our roles were reversed and your mother had been poisoned, I wouldn’t rest until Baal’s body was burnt to ashes. Had Titan refused to help me, I would have considered it a betrayal. I just hope that he can forgive me.”
“He will,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure I was right. I didn’t know anything about him, and from what little I’d learned he wasn’t very forgiving.
“We shall see. Now, get yourselves ready. If Titan wants to feast, then feast we shall.”
“Okay.”
I gave him a weak smile and headed into my room. I didn’t like how things were going, but making Titan happy was our only option right now. If he needed to know he could trust us then that was what we had to do. I would do whatever I could to impress him, to show him that we wouldn’t turn our backs and that we wanted to kill Baal as much as he did. Sure, I thought he was being childish, but I could see how much it had to hurt when no one would stand by his side. When his wife lay poisoned by Baal and no one offered to help him fight his wife’s attacker. As much as I hated to speak ill of my father, I could see how Titan would consider that a betrayal.
I headed to a water basin that stood on a small, mirrored table and bent over to splash the cool water on my face. The stress of the evening was wearing me out, and it had only just begun. I needed a pick-me-up if I was going to paint a smile on my face and celebrate.
Patting my face dry, I turned to see Arrick inspecting more garments that had been laid out on the bed for us. An irritated sneer was creasing his otherwise handsome features. Since we were alone I didn’t hide my eye roll or my groan of annoyance. I was fine wearing what I had on, but like I’d already learned, when someone sets clothes out for you it usually meant you had to wear them. Not wanting