The Cursed Vampire King

Chapter 3 The Bleeding Elder

Jewels caught the chandelier light at the Centennial Alliance Banquet, and private conversations filled every gap in the music.

They stopped when Kaelen and I entered. He rested one hand at my back and escorted me through the hall instead of leaving me to follow.

He had chosen a midnight-blue gown threaded with crushed diamonds. It fit like ceremonial armor and carried the Night Court's crest at the waist.

Across the room, Selene's pale gold dress looked thin under the same lights. Her smile held until she saw me wearing a queen's crest.

Rouge covered most of her pallor, though the skin around her mouth remained gray. Fenrir held her arm in a pose that might have passed for support from across the room.

Her fingers had gone white beneath his grip. Whenever her knees weakened, he tightened his hand and kept the pack's triumphant Luna standing.

Our assigned seats were twin thrones raised above the wolf pack's simple chairs. Kaelen drew out mine, bowed his head, and waited until I sat.

Several elders watched the small courtesy. Fenrir had walked ahead of me at every gathering we attended, and he noticed it too.

When the speeches began, Fenrir brought Selene to the center of the hall and kept one hand behind her elbow.

"My brave mate and brilliant Luna has delivered our people from extinction!"

Selene thanked the Moon Goddess for divine inspiration. She described sleepless nights, failed mixtures, and the moment a finished vial had cleared in her hand.

Every detail came from my laboratory notes. Her voice shook in all the places modesty required, and she never once looked at the healers who had mixed the batches.

Polite applause followed. Kaelen bent toward me.

"Would you care for wine, my Queen?"

I took the excuse and passed the dais on my way to the refreshment table. Selene was still accepting congratulations from two southern elders.

I waited until they moved away, then stopped by her shoulder and leaned close enough that the room could not hear me.

"Curing high-level toxins consumes the soul," I told her. "Be careful what your formula burns through next."

Her face emptied of color beneath the rouge. She knew exactly which warning in my notes I meant, and she knew the base had already begun to turn.

Selene opened her mouth. Before she found an answer, someone at the head table began to choke.

The Great Elder, her loudest and most powerful supporter, had stood to make a toast. His cup struck the table, and both hands went to his throat.

He fell across the table. Black fluid poured from his mouth with the foul smell healers associated with the plague's final stage.

Guests nearest him backed into their chairs. No healer approached, because every one of them recognized the substance.

The spray struck Fenrir's polished silver armor. Black streaks crossed the wolf crest on his chest and ran down onto the white marble.

The musicians stopped in the middle of a measure. Cups remained halfway to mouths, and the last laugh in the room ended as a cough.

Fenrir watched the black sludge drip from his chest plate. His hand moved once toward the ceremonial sword at his hip.

Then he turned to Selene. Pride had kept her upright for the speech; now she had to hold the dais to keep from falling.

"Luna."

He closed one hand around her arm and dragged her from the dais. Her shoes slipped on the polished floor, and the guests moved out of his way.

I returned to my throne beside Kaelen. Servants began covering the Great Elder's body while Fenrir's guards sealed the doors.

Fenrir had thrown away the only person who understood the cure. Now he would have to search the laboratory he had ordered his men to empty.