Crowns rested on their brows, but neither required the marker of royalty.
Enormous midnight wings hung from their backs, and the night air shimmered with darkness as their presence forced light away.
They were the night and power and strength itself.
Vivienne exhaled, her shoulders loosening for the first time since she saw the sliver of light. She didn’t know how they were here, and frankly, she didn’t care.
The king and queen had arrived.
For a moment, the royals stood still, their dark gazes sweeping over the crowd.
Then, someone gasped.
The air, which had been filled with feverish bloodlust only minutes before, shifted. Silence fell upon the village, and the distinct aroma of fear flooded Vivienne’s senses.
More shadows streamed behind the royals, and moments later, two more vampires stepped out of the darkness. Phyrra, the king’s spymaster, and another vampire that Vivienne didn’t recognize.
The king’s eyes darkened, his fangs flashed, and a deafeningroarechoed through the square.
Vivienne sagged against the pole.
Thank the gods; the prince would be safe.
They were Darkness
When the humans had dragged Marius out of the prison a few hours ago, he’d known it was the end.
Death had been creeping towards him since he woke yesterday with a fever. One moment, it felt like he was burning alive. The next, he was so cold, it was like his entire body was submerged in ice.
The girl who’d brought Marius’s food the first day never returned, and no one else came in her place. Not until a pair of sneering men appeared and dragged him out of the prison. He struggled, but the fever and lack of sustenance had weakened him so thoroughly that his punches and kicks didn’t make a difference.
The pair gagged him, tied him to the stake, and forced him to watch as they pulled Vivienne’s unconscious body out of a nearby well. Their cruelty towards his bodyguard and the words they’d thrown at her had been so vile, he’d known they would die that night.
As expected, the trial was a mockery of justice.
Marius tuned out the villagers, taking the time to make himself right with the gods. He prayed that Luna would come to termswith his death and that she wouldn’t blame herself for his demise. He was prepared to die with dignity when the shadows appeared near the stage.
Most people would be frightened by those dark wisps, but not him. Peace settled in his heart at the sight.
He lifted his head, his lips twitching upwards as his sister and her husband stepped out of the Void.
Time slowed as the royal vampires arrived… or perhaps, it was simply bowing to the power they held. The king and queen of Eleyta were darkness, and darkness was them. It was nearly impossible to tell where they ended and where the night began.
Silence blanketed the square.
More shadows appeared, and two more vampires came out of the Void. Victor and Phyrra, two of Sebastian’s spies, stood behind the royals.
And then, Sebastianroared. The sound was fury and power and death. It was infused with the strength of the night, a warning to all who heard it.
Bow before the king of the vampires.
Shivers ran down Marius’s spine at the sound, and he fought the urge to fall to his feet and beg the royals for his life.
Darkness swept out from the king and queen in a wave. Shadows coated the square, obliterating even the memory of light.
Chaos descended as time resumed its normal pace.
The villagers screamed.