A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,95
control it. So, since then… it’s been interesting.”
“You love him,” I murmur.
She creases her brows while tediously picking at her long fingernails and nods. “I think so. And if that’s not rule-breaking enough for you, I don’t know what is.”
I can’t help but laugh, even though everything clashes within my brain.
Her face instantly falls to worry. “Seriously, Wave, if Lord Zein finds out, we—”
“He won’t.” I smile, grabbing her hand, saving her fingernails from her fidgeting. “I promise.”
Even though worry coats my tongue, I know the only thing I can do is give my support. How could I not? When I, too, am riding the thin line of the very sinful thing that she is.
“Thanks, Wave.”
I nod, craning my neck to study the ceiling arches, trying to change the subject for my own sense of wellbeing. “I can’t imagine Zein doing anything too harsh to Gemini, if he were to somehow find out.”
Savvy snorts. “You must really see a unique side of him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Apparently he has quite the bloody history.”
“You think?” My voice illustrates an eye roll. “He’s the youngest general of an army with a statue of himself decapitating an enemy in his foyer, Sav, of course he has a bloody history.”
Her gaze is as good as a trite ‘go-to-hell’ curse when she explains.
“Master Gemini told me about how he came to serve Lord Zein… how he became the youngest war general. There was a hearing, apparently, a long time ago, regarding Lord Amaorin’s older brother. Duke Amaorin. He was found guilty for allowing a supply unit to give birth to his child.”
“You mean, a demi-vampire?”
Seen as the lowest breed of vampire in Cain, demi-vampires are usually slaughtered or banished when they are found or birthed. Not strong or fast enough to be considered a vampire, and not enough satiating blood to be considered human. Half human and half vampire, essentially useless to Cain.
Savvy nods. “After the hidden child and mother were found in Duke’s basement by a servant, Lord Reginald Amaorin was forced to turn him over to the Elders, especially since the mother and the child turned up missing later.”
“How? Both of them would smell too human to—”
She shrugs. “That’s just what he told me. But the Elders had found the forbidden act of secrecy to be too much to let pass any other way… and so they sentenced Duke to death. He was a ruler of Cain at that time, too.”
“There were six rulers?” I ask, wondering where Zein fits into all of this.
“No. Duke Amaorin was a general of Cain. And Lord Zein was Lord Reginald Amaorin’s chief advisor at the time. There were only five.”
“Oh.”
“It was Reginald’s responsibility to perform the royal execution, since he’s the head over all the rulers. But when he couldn’t bring himself to kill his own brother, Zein stepped up from his cabinet to relieve him... so, I guess the Elders liked what they saw next, and appointed Zein to take Duke’s place.”
“So Zein killed him.” I take away.
“More like, mutilated,” she stammers, “He was apparently smiling when he—”
“Why are you telling me this?” I ask, suddenly nauseated.
“I’m sorry.” Savvy says. “I thought you’d want to know these things.”
I sigh, blinking through a wave of lightheadedness. I forgot that my blood had been taken earlier. “No, I’m glad you told me. It’s just, lately I’ve been having a hard time acknowledging that Zein is capable of such things, because...”
“Because you see him through the rose bushes, now?” Savvy finishes my sentence for me.
I peer at her and change the subject. “If you ever need cover to see Gemini, let me know. Even if it is... weird, I’m here for you.” I say it as if I believe that ‘falling in love with a vampire’ is a grave mistake. I should believe that. But I’m not so sure I do, anymore.
Her eyes shimmer with equal amounts of happiness and suspicion.
“Thanks, Wave.”
✽✽✽
Tonight, I awake from a different kind of dream. I was at the violet wall again. The inscription on the wall was in pieces, ‘the Elders’ written over and over, inked on the furniture, rug, and scribbled across every book. The blue-gold brooch, the patch, the bracelets, and the gun, bled dark and tarry ink that filled the entire room. As my lungs are forced to take in the damning liquid I am shaken awake by a soft, yet diligent hand. Long, straight white-blond hair and lavender-painted nails fill my vision, followed by opal, milky orbs.