SEBASTIAN
My entire body ached, as though I had been flying for nights on end. Every single fiber of my being felt the strain of pain, as if something had flayed apart my body from the inside out.
A deep, searing, endless agony began in my core, stretching through my entire being. I was mentally and physically exhausted, but there was no relief from this state. I had never known pain like this. My head pounded, my heart ached, and my blood moved sluggishly through my body.
What was happening? The last thing I remembered was leaving the dead vampire in his cell—he had admitted to killing Julieta and stealing Luna’s letters.
Where was my wife?
I jolted upwards as an urgent need to find her coursed through me. Or at least, I would have if my body had been listening to me. But it wasn’t. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even get my eyes to open.
Weak.
My body felt like it weighed a ton, and breathing was next to impossible as a vise clamped down on my lungs. Never had I felt this drained, this helpless.
Some part of me knew this was a symptom of blood loss, but from what?
Think. Listen. Pay attention.A voice spoke in the back of my mind, and I tried to obey.
I couldn’t open my eyes, but I could hear. I could smell. That scent…
Sunshine and golden wheat. I inhaled sharply. Luna was here, somewhere. My heart ached and my gums burned in my mouth. My fangs pricked my tongue, and a bead of blood welled up in my mouth. It wasn’t what I needed, though.
Pay attention.
Pushing beyond Luna’s enticing scent, I forced myself to take in my surroundings. Someone was talking. That voice. I knew that voice.
“For crimes against her Majesty, Queen Marguerite, Wearer of the Blood Ruby, you are hereby sentenced to an eternity of suffering.” My voice echoed through the dark square, although it wasn’t necessary.
Each of the forty vampires chained and staked in front of me could hear me perfectly well. Ash billowed in the air, mixing with fresh flakes of snow as Whiterose burned to the ground.
Most of the accused were silent, but one of them dared to speak.“We will never forgive you for this, Prince,” the one they called Roman said, his voice rough and weak thanks to the stake resting an inch from his heart—exactly where I wanted it to be.
Death was too quick of a punishment for a male like Roman Brollet and his followers.They called themselves the People of the Night.I called them murderers.
Our kind needed blood to survive, yes. But draining humans and leaving their mutilated corpses as some sort of twisted offering to Ithiar, the god of blood?
That was more than a few steps too far. Even vampires had morals. Codes by which we lived.The People of the Night broke them all.
By the time the last rays of moonlight shone on the ashy wasteland that was Whiterose, each of the People of the Night was in a tomb so deep, neither the sun nor the moon would ever reach them.
Mikael stepped forward. The witch’s long brown hair hung in tight locks that reached his waist. His dark skin mirrored the night sky as he bowed at the waist. “I shall perform the sealing, Prince.”
I nodded, but just then, a shout came from inside the tomb.
“Don’t do this!” Roman yelled. That he was still capable of speaking was a testament to his strength. “I vow to you on all that is dark in this world, we will exact our revenge on you. Ithiar will not look kindly on having his children silenced.”
Gods, I hated this. Two hundred years of cleaning up the rabble in Eleyta, and there was always more.Sometimes I wondered if I shouldn’t have let Mother Make me. If I should have died in the snow.
“Do it,” I said wearily, ignoring Roman completely.
Mikael nodded. “Of course, Your Highness.”
I stood back, watching as blue ribbons escaped the witch’s palms. Soon, the entrance of the tomb was sealed.
Roman’s voice haunted me for decades.
“My children,” Roman said, speaking in the lilting tongue of the people of Northern Eleyta, near the Black Sea, “we have waited over a century for this moment. But finally, Ithiar has blessed us. He kept us alive during our time of darkness, and now it is time for us to thank him for his continued provisions. We are gathered here, in the first known temple to Ithiar, to give back to the god who has guided us for centuries.”