A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,10
says, deadpan, “Although there is nothing of worth in aberrants.”
Everyone gasps and their eyes fly to me, watching me like I’m a rat feasting on the very last cracker in the box.
“I’d rather die, anyway,” I manage to say, quickly bandaging the wounds that those words so expertly reopened—the roots of a deep and ongoing pain that delve a little deeper within my heart. Savvy squeezes the hand at my side, lightly.
“You don’t mean that,” she says to me in French.
I don’t respond because, well, I very well might.
Mettingskew continues, moving on. “From here, each of you will file into color-coded categories based on your sponsors. There are only five choices, given the five honorable rulers, and if you don’t know the color of your sponsor by now then you should already be on your way to the fallen pit.”
Low chatter erupts, and a heavy anxiety settles on the room at the mention of the fallen.
“Once you come before your sponsor, the aid will draw blood from your arm and present it to him or her.” She glances to the boys who mostly don gold tunics.
“Should your sponsor find it, and everything else, satisfying, you will be on your way to your master’s residence. Should they not find you, or your blood satisfying…” As Mettingskew says this, she looks at me and me, alone. “...then you will be fed to Nightingale’s fallen reservoir.”
In this moment I carry all the weight of what tonight will bring. A daunting realization so strong that my knees struggle to keep from buckling here and now. What’s the point in even moving from this spot? In hours I will reunite with Zein, and he will either sentence me to death or to a life worse than death. Everything. Every little hope I ever found anywhere, was all for nothing.
“I will miss you, Wave,” Savvy says, because she knows that whether by death or distance we most likely will never see each other again.
“Me too.”
chapter 3
Despite the rest of the herd moving straight ahead through the towering wooden doors, my escorts veer me left again, separating me from the traffic.
“We don’t have much time, but we must prepare your beauty to standard… or try to, at least,” one of the dorm mothers says in an airy voice, giving me the once over. I’m used to it. I’m not exactly as pretty as the humans bred for beauty.
But she’s right. I can’t go to Distribution in a hospital gown with greasy hair. If I were to be presented this way, my dorm mothers would be in as much trouble as me.
At the end of the hall, we turn right, entering a darkened room lit ever so slightly by enchanted, flower-burning lanterns. Enchanted, meaning a type of magical mechanism put into motion by a gifted, pureblood vampire who is most likely either ancient or dead. The flower-burning lanterns are beautiful; their wicks constantly burning a never-ending supply of Cain’s Triltree flowers harvested out of thin air, with the hue of the lantern determined by the flower’s color. They are tripped by our entrance, and the room alights in shades of pearly pink and frothy green.
One of the mothers points to the center, motioning me to stand upon a surface of wet brick with two bronze fountains on either side of it. I remove my clothes and bandages and hold out my arms. From the second the dorm mothers draw the fountain heads out of their shells, it takes only two minutes to accomplish the task. One fountain head sprays perfumed and soapy water, while the other follows behind it to rinse off the grime. I would think that with this level of technology vampires would have also discovered how to heat the water, but apparently not. One of the women takes a single, long glance at my anklet. Before she can even take the first step, I make it clear.
“You’re not taking it from me,” I assure. If they want it, they will have to chop off my foot to get it, but I know the game. They aren’t allowed to rough me up because I am, for now anyway, a precious investment.
Her eyes meet mine from beneath her eyebrows, shadowy orbs measuring my stature, my competence. She looks about ready to challenge me, but then chuckles before shrugging. The other one just stares, unamused by my display, but she doesn’t try anything, either.
I’m given a small towel before they corral me into the next area. My mouth