A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,22

with us? We don’t even belong to him.”

“I won’t let him kill us,” I reply, unsure of how I could fulfill that promise if Zein set his mind to it. “You, especially. Of all people, you don’t deserve it. Me, however—.”

“Stop. You can’t talk about yourself like that after what you just did for me and Katarii. I don’t know if I could have done that so easily.”

“It wasn’t easy. And your opinion is biased,” I say, flicking my thumbs over one another. Under my breath, I concede, “I may have told all those vampires to go screw themselves during my judgment.”

Savvy snaps her head up and scalds me with her reprimanding stare. She would be a good mother, if she weren’t trapped in Cain.

She squeals between gritted teeth. “Wavorly, what?”

I laugh, which causes her to laugh. And even Katarii, who has been obviously eavesdropping solemnly until now, chuckles. She finally speaks.

“Well... I’d like to hear about it, if you want to share?”

If she’s willing to wave her white flag, I guess there’s no reason to hold onto the broken eggshells of the past. I give her a slight smile and begin to explain—with fervor—how I made a complete and total fool of Zein in front of the entire panel of aristocratic vampires.

✽✽✽

Hours pass before any hints of an impending arrival. We started the journey on a bumpy, gravel road, but then we lifted off the ground and all around us were howling winds and stomach-churning turbulence. As we began flying, I grew more sick by the minute. To keep my stomach from unleashing itself on all the unsuspecting supply units, I decided to disengage from my two friends—I guess I can venture to call Katarii a friend, I don’t know. She seems easy enough to get along with now that she owes me her life.

We take a sharp downturn and my stomach lurches. I guess one upside to feeling sick is that I no longer feel the severe waves of hunger that have been developing over the past couple of days. I really could go for that bread and water in my rucksack that’s probably somewhere on the other side of Nightingale’s walls.

The meeting between immovable ground and the tough, creaky wood of the chariot has us all losing our seats, and within seconds the chariot comes to a dramatic halt.

A long and deafening quiet befalls the cabin until a couple of female voices come into earshot from the outside. I watch as the mechanic locks on the door next to me jerk back and forth until they are successfully wriggled out of place. The door-ramp falls outward, revealing the dark, violet shadows of night.

Glera looks from me to the others before standing, which encourages the other girls to do so in succession until I’m the last one seated. Cool, spring air swirls about the interior, sending heavy goose bumps up my arms and face, and dispelling my bout of motion sickness. A head of raven black hair curves around the opening of the door. It’s a woman, maybe only a few years older than myself, and given her rounded set of ears, most definitely human. She steps inside, and blinks repeatedly to adjust her eyes to the inky, moonless dark of the cabin. The first thing that catches my eye is her dress-like, near sleeveless robe. An open-necked ruby piece, displaying golden embroidered emblems of Cain—the upside-down triangle topped with a diamond—up and down its hems, and skirting the ground beyond her white-socked toes. Beneath the heavy material is an ivory dress, only noticeable where the neck of the robe opens near her chest. A bright maroon sash, wrapped two or three times around the conjunction above her ribcage, gives off a satiny sheen as its two swaying tails fall harmoniously to the ground. The style is strange, but the strangest accent by far is the burgundy ribbon that is tied loosely around the breadth of her neck. It’s essentially a token—indicating that this woman is undoubtedly one of Zein’s established supply units.

After her eyes adjust to the darkness, she calls out to us.

“Hello, girls. I’m number Z43329, Emi for ease. Welcome to the Sabbanthian province, our most honorable Lord Zein’s territory.” Her narrow eyes fall on me and she offers a slight smile. “Why are all of you still in there? Come on out, don’t be shy.”

As she turns to leave, the tension along my spine releases. Meeting female supply units always puts me on the sharpest