see right through her, through her and Garin’s familiarity.
“You…” Renald’s disbelief turned to anger. “It’s true then,” he spat. “It’s been true all along. You dare make a mockery of the king and queen by galivanting with this abomination. With this demon!”
She shook her head. It was all she could do.
“Yes,” the guard roared, scowling at the tears now flowing down her face. “Meanwhile you have the entire kingdom fooled, thinking you’ve been taken hostage because your father is fool enough to think you’d never run away. You’re a traitor! You don’t know half the resources wasted—even some lives lost—in search for you. You dare.” He struggled against Garin’s hold as his plump cheeks shook with fury. “You don’t deserve the title of Queen.”
22
Renald’s towering anger was a devastating personification of the village riots. Of all that Lilac feared would come from her ascension with her ability still in possession.
Disgust, disappointment, scorn. All that she should’ve been used to by now, but never would be.
She blinked in disbelief as the guard shook uncontrollably. Maybe he’d have a heart attack, she thought almost hopefully. Then he wouldn’t have to endure Garin’s fury.
On the other hand, the vampire seemed unaffected. “Oh, Lilac will become Queen, my good friend. There is nothing you can do about that,” he said mildly, keeping his iron grip on Renald. “I’ll make sure of it, if it’s the last thing I do.”
Renald stopped straining to get to Lilac, but the rage never left his expression. “’Tis a shame, then.” He locked cold eyes with the mortified princess. “Then, may your reign be forever cursed. The kingdom and clergy will see you for what you are. A wicked woman. A traitor. And a vampire’s blood whore.”
Garin opened his mouth to add his two cents, but Lilac silenced him with a blazing scowl. How easily, how quickly someone she’d considered family could turn on her. It made her insides burn with rage. She wanted to hear what else the bastard had to say—what he’d probably wanted to say, all this time.
Renald spat at her, and a foaming globule landed near her feet. “Was being forced to watch that stupid wolf die, not lesson enough?”
Hands guided by humiliation and rage, Lilac reached for her dagger and stepped forward to slash at the guard in one swift motion. She didn’t think twice.
Unexpecting her retaliation, Renald shrieked and recoiled against the wall. After a moment, he cautiously sat up, shielding his one arm defensively over his face while checking the rest of his body for injury. Only when he gasped and held a hand to his left cheek did Lilac realize where her blow had struck. A spreading splotch of blood painted a river line of red down his jaw and neck.
The mild injury seemed to be causing Garin more trouble. Jaw clenched, the vampire tore his gaze from the blood, now dripping down Renald’s arm as he tried to stop the flow. Garin grimaced at Lilac, torn between confusion and desperation. His hands shook.
Perhaps some of the tempest within Garin now stirred within her; perhaps it was the spellbinding forest that had ensnared her sense of right and wrong.
“Finish him,” Lilac demanded, not recognizing the madness in her own voice. “Then, entrance Sable and Jeanare.”
In a flash of black, Garin fell upon Renald. Sable and Jeanare stumbled backward at the sight, reminding Lilac that not all the humans had witnessed the inglorious sight of a vampire feeding. Before she could order them to, the pair retreated down the length of the hall and into the kitchen. Lilac trudged along, though there was no way to get away from the animalistic scream that followed. By the time she collapsed on the kitchen floor next to the hearth, eyes clenched shut and palms pressed against her ears, the gut-wrenching screams had ceased.
She jumped when a finger prodded her shoulder. It was Sable. To her surprise, sympathy instead of fear was etched in the deep lines of her face as she crouched before the princess. Her eyes were full of a strange compassion. From behind his wife, Jeanare eyed the princess, gripping the countertop for support. He looked as if he were about to faint.
“Princess Lilac?” Sable said, apprehension warping her voice into trepidation.
“Y-yes,” she replied grimly. She pressed her fingers to her temples, struggling to ignore the horrible gulping sound that echoed down the hallway. “It’s me. I’m her.”
Since leaving the castle, it was her first true encounter with citizens who knew who