“Shit,” I say.
“I'll help him and keep the Beaumonts quiet. You focus on Dominic,” Dad says. “It is my job, and you've had to do more than you should have ever had to do, Olivia.” He pushes past me and Riley to go lend his aid.
“Your father's back for good,” Riley hisses in my ear.
But I'm past that now. “I think we did okay on our own.”
“We have to rejoin the Convening,” Riley says. “We still have a chance.”
Or do we? I gulp, coming back to reality. It's rough on the edges, bleak and bloody. People died tonight because of Li and the Duke. Both were too power hungry for their own good.
“Attention!” Stella shouts, turning to the Convening as Riley and I push our way to the middle of the front row. “We need volunteers to clear and burn the bodies, and quickly.” She snaps her fingers at the human servants on the sidelines, and several men step forward as if they've done this job before. “Remove them to Area 6B on the west side of town. We'll provide you the map. Dispose of them before daybreak and use the service truck we have ready in the back.”
I look to Riley, feeling my eyes widen. We could be in the back of that truck in no time. But he just smiles and nods as Dad kneels down beside Walton. He keeps one eye on the dozen Beaumonts who joined the fight.
Riley and I rejoin our row and stand in the center. The High Council continues to deliberate over the two lumps on the floor, just inside the semicircle of podiums.
I have to listen.
Focusing on my hunger, which has grown since I controlled the Duke, I allow my senses to expand.
“...I worried about Li for the past two centuries,” Stella is saying. “She wasn't valuing our input. It was as if she was only tolerating us.”
“I agree,” Ursala says. “It was there in her mannerisms. Every time I had an idea, she would pick at her fingernails.”
“Were these two a couple?” Enrico asks, stepping aside and letting me see a torn and bloody pant leg. I gulp at the sight, because just that alone tells me of the brutality Li and the Duke endured before they finally died.
But the rest of the High Council feared Li. That's good for us. Yes. We have to make it.
Finally, after the human men move all the bodies and everyone looks away, Stella clears her throat and takes control of the Convening.
“Attention, everyone,” she shouts with her strange accent. “The Convening must continue for a short time before I dismiss us, for painfully obvious reasons. We have not lost a High Council member in four centuries, and we will follow protocol to elect a new leader. As the senior assistant leader, I will preside over the rest of the Convening.”
Doors slam somewhere as the bodies get cleared from the building. The acrid smell of Nightside blood vanishes, and I realize that despite the brutal killings, the High Council members are clean, with only Enrico having a drop of blood on the front of his suit. They are expert killers with loads of experience.
I'm not sure if I'll have the strength to fight again if they decide to attack.
“We will elect a new leader in a special session in one weeks' time. Until then, I am the head of the High Council. It appears as though Li was plotting to take complete control along with Duke Carrington, and the two may have been planning to betray one another. This is sad, considering that Li has ruled for over eight hundred years,” Stella says, shaking her head. “But we have one vital piece of business before we leave, and that is our new coven.”
I tense, and Dad and Walton rise. Walton's had his knife removed, and he cradles his thigh to hold in the blood. But no one offers sympathy other than Dad. Walton looks to him, eyes full of questions.
“We must decide the fate of several other people here as well,” Stella says, folding her hands before her and panning her gaze around the room. Everyone stiffens. Dad puffs out his chest, determined to take this like a man. He glances at me, and his look tells me everything. He'll die for me.
Emotion wells into my chest. Dad never abandoned us after all. He was doing his best. But I'm over it now. I'm a powerful Nightside and able to stand on my own.
I look at Dominic, who still holds the sword he used to kill the Duke. He waits, dark features expressionless, and he doesn't even look at Riley. What's his plan now?
“I have broken Trueblood law,” Dominic says simply. “But I am at peace now. If you wish to end my life, I understand. But know that I acted alone when I broke the law, and the rest of my coven was not even aware of my actions.”
That's a lie, because I know Addie and some others have hunted humans at the carnival. That was after tensions with the hunters rose, and they stopped caring about following the law.
Stella cracks what must be a rare smile. “Do you think that we would want to kill you after we cleared out the bodies? Do you think that we want to order another truck unnecessarily, or make an additional mess?”
Dominic's eyes widen as some laughter rises from the rows behind us.
Are we seriously going to live?
“I broke the law, Ma'am,” Dominic says, bowing his head. He lifts an eyebrow, though. Dominic might have met his goal of revenge, but he will not become a law-abiding Trueblood unless forced.
“But you also revealed our true enemy. I would say that we should reinstate you as a coven, but you will live under the direct control of the High
