Throne of Blood and Moonlight

Chapter 26 Throne of Blood and Moonlight By Ruth Nalio

Stella…

I’d been wandering the halls since the three of us had finished our breakfast. Weston had told me not to go far from the library, that he would smell if I did and would come after me. He was writing a letter to my father. Anger filled me as a vision of him naked slipped through my thoughts. What the bloody hell was I doing? He was a flea-bitten mutt!

I wandered back into the library to find a book to take my mind off things. He looked at me the moment I entered the room. I could feel his eyes on me as I crossed to a bookcase. Heat swelled in my skin, knowing he was looking at me, knowing what it felt like to have him touching me. I could feel the scowl settle on my face. The bloody b@stard was in my thoughts and I wanted him out!

“Stella.” My name was a husky exhale behind me. I hadn’t heard him approach and whirled around to face him.

“You stay away from me you bloody mutt,” I said as I took a step back.

“Or what, you’ll bite me?” He said in a husky voice as he pulled his shirt collar to the side to show the wounds I had left.

“Just because I let that happen once does not mean I will let it happen again,” I warned.

He laughed. “Once? Princess, the way I remember it was many times.”

“You know what I mean, you filthy mongrel!” I fumed.

“All that we shared and you still insist on insulting me, I don’t get it, Stella, why?”

“I’ll always insult you, dog.”

He sighed and shook his head. “Do you not remember where this got you before?”

“There is nothing you can do to get me to curb my tongue, so you might as well get used to it, you bloody, tail chasing, fleabag.”

He had closed the distance between us in seconds and had my back against the wall. “Stella, I think I am beginning to like it when you call me such things.” He stroked the side of my face. I could feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest as his body pressed even closer to mine. His lips were but inches from mine as he breathed, “Insult me again, female.”

“Mutt.” I breathed as his lips crushed to mine. My arms shot up around his neck, my hands digging into his hair. His arms tightened around me, pinning my body tight to his. His tongue slipped into my mouth and brushed against one of my tingling fangs. Moans rumbled up from both of us as his tongue began to bleed. Suddenly I pushed him away.

“What? What is wrong?” He asked, concern seeping into his voice.

“What are we doing? You have kidnapped me so that you can use me against my father and we are kissing, and last night, last night…” I trailed off and covered my mouth.

“Stella, don’t think of it.” He soothed as he stepped closer.

“Don’t touch me!” I bit out. “I don’t wish to be touched right now, not by you or anyone else.”

“Stella, sweetheart, don’t blame yourself.”

“I am not blaming myself! I am blaming you! If you had just kidnapped the wrong Vampire none of this would be happening! It’s all your fault! You leave my head so muddled I don’t know what to do! I can’t stand you and yet when you touch me I can’t get enough of it. You say you are angered by my words and yet your reaction says something entirely different.” I stopped mid-rant, a realization taking hold. “You seduced me on purpose! It's a way to anger my father! You don’t want peace, you wish to push this feud into a full-blown war!”

“No! I never planned on any of this happening! I don’t want a war! I only want justice for the death of my father!”

“So you kidnap the Vampire Princess? That was a brilliant move, did your advisor come up with that one? If so, I think you need a new advisor because they are trying to get all of you killed!” I said in outrage.

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.” He said in a flat voice.

“Really? I have only lived with my father for the last twenty-two years of my life, I think I know exactly what I am talking about! He will never agree to peace now! By kidnapping me you have started something that will only end with death!” I snapped.

He clenched his jaw and glanced away. “It will always end in death.” He looked back at me then, “That is why my father is not here today. One of your filthy leeches killed him.” The bitterness in his voice was something I hadn’t heard before.

“Weston-“ I said softly and took a step toward him. “My father didn’t kill yours, if he had he would have announced it to all. Whoever killed your father has kept silent.”

“Once your father receives my demands he will find who killed my father and deliver them to me and then you will be free of me.” There was a hardness to him that I hadn’t expected as he stepped away from me and left the room.

“Weston!” I called out as I rushed to the door, my chest tight with regret.

He stopped but did not turn around. “I don’t care what you do, or where you go, just don’t leave the castle.” With that, he began walking away again.

Logan…

I was through hiding in the blasted cave and I knew just how to get out. The creature I’d fed upon had strengthened me and it was time that I put that strength to use. Heavy clouds had begun to spread across the sky and thick shadows lined the forest. I stepped out into the forest cautiously. I knew I had to pay attention and stay in the shadows. I could feel the energy from the brewing storm and knew the clouds would stay for at least a few hours, I hoped longer. The more distance I could cover the better.

I began to shoot through the shadows as fast as I could, avoiding any areas that looked even remotely light. I wasn’t going to get myself burnt again. I began to think of all the ways I could get into a castle I’d never seen before. Perhaps it would be as simple as telling them I was looking for the princess. I shook my head at that stupidity.

I could go up to the castle doors and beg for help, tell them I was lost and didn’t know what was happening to me. Tell them that I’d been bitten by something and it had made me sick and I didn’t know why. If they thought I was a newly changed Vampire they might take me inside and I could find a way to get to the princess then and get her out. But I would have to kill the Lycan who’d taken her. I would kill the bloody Lycan King while I was at it. If I played my part well enough, he would never see it coming.

I smiled to myself, imagining the blood of a Lycan staining my fangs, my first kill for the crown. What rewards would that grant me? If I were to return with the princess safe and sound would I be granted a high place in the king’s favor? Would he reward me with riches? The rest of the Vampires would finally respect and possibly fear me, the Vampire who’d killed the King of the Lycans without help from the rest of them. It was past time that the bloody b@stards started treating me like a Vampire instead of a bleeding pet. I could do just as much as the rest of them if I wished. I was as strong as most of them, as fast as most of them, and smarter than the lot of them. Perhaps I would become an advisor to Devin once he became King and took the princess as his queen.

Ember…

“Ember, come sit with me?” Aunt Lisa asked in a soft voice.

I walked over and sat next to her on the daybed. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t know what to say. She was grieving for her daughter, not sure where she was, or when she’d see her again. I was grieving for my cousin, not sure if she was smart enough to keep her mouth shut, not sure what horrors she suffered at the hands of a Lycan.

“Such tension. Tell me why you look such a mess.”

I closed my eyes. I’d forgotten to clean up after my fight with the others before going to my day room. I’d not expected Aunt Lisa to be in my day room. I sighed. “I got into a fight with a couple of maids.” I glanced at her to find her waiting patiently for me to continue. “I overheard them saying that Stella may have been trying to run away.”

She closed her eyes in a brief moment of what looked like pain. Then her silvery eyes flashed open and she gave me a sad smile. “Yes, I’d considered something of the sort myself. I don’t believe she would ever run away, but I have been wondering if she had simply been sneaking out of the castle to enjoy a bit of the night when she was captured. Devin said the struggle happened in the woods beyond the cave entrances.”

I nodded my head. “That would be something she would do; sneak out into the night without anyone with her. Uncle Sullivan really should have let her go out more, with many guards. She may not have been so wild had he simply indulged some of her wishes to be like the rest of us.”

“Yes, my daughter is a bold one. She has been since she was born. She was always sneaking out into the shadows of full day when she was a little girl.”

“Yes, I know it. I had to retrieve her a few times.”

“Yes, I remember you getting burnt once. I think that’s when she finally stopped trying to get out during the day. When she realized that we might be hurt trying to stop her.”

“Yes. She wasn’t happy with me for it. She blamed me for getting hurt, and said she was just going to play in the shadows.” I shook my head.

“She has always been quick to get angry at others. She gets that from her father.” She smiled at me. “As do you. I didn’t know your father, but I suspect he was as quick-tempered as Sullivan.”

“Yes, and he had the same soft spot where my mother and I were involved. He loved us dearly.” I looked at my hands folded in my lap. “He never wanted me to become a Vampire, but he wouldn’t stop me from talking to Uncle Sullivan. Uncle Sullivan didn’t become a Vampire until after I was five or so. He’d been my favorite uncle, favored over my Mother’s brothers and sisters.”

“Yes, because he, like your father, had a soft spot for you, and still does.” She put her hand over mine. “He worries over you the way he worries over Stella.”

“Yes, I know it.”

“But I don’t think he’s thought of how this is affecting you.” She added softly.

I smiled at her. “He is too wrapped up in his anger to think of how it is affecting any of us.”

“Ember, we all are.”