I’d be offended that she doesn’t trust my housekeeper, except I know for a fact that the Mother trusts no one. Not even me.
“Tell us exactly what happened.” I cross my foot across my other leg and lean back as if I’m perfectly relaxed. I’ve spent the entire morning on edge, but it won’t do any good to let them know that.
Malfas is pacing uneasily, but he looks to Caelia. The one good thing about Malfas is that he realises Caelia is his greatest strength. She squares her shoulders, giving him a slight nod.
“We were at the castle,” Caelia begins. “There was a noise outside. Some of our men went out to see what it was, but they didn’t come back.”
It sounds so sinister, I almost laugh.
“How many?”
“How many what?” She looks at me with bewilderment.
“How many of your men?”
“Five or six.” She shrugs her shoulders indifferently. The lives of her protectors are meaningless. It’s strange. I don’t make a habit of keeping bodyguards around my house. I’ve never felt the need for it, knowing that I can protect myself.
But now with Farah in the house, it’s a tempting prospect. Especially if someone is going around picking off reigning royals.
“And they all died?” It’s hard to believe. It’s difficult to kill a vampire. It takes patience and endurance. And usually numbers. A vampire has to be ambushed and outnumbered to be slaughtered. So killing five or six…
“I didn’t see the bodies myself,” she says with a sniff.
“Forgive me if I don’t believe this little display of sensitivities.”
She glowers at me. As much as I prefer her to Malfas, I’m not about to fall for this wide-eyed innocent act. She’s a vampire, for god’s sake. She’s hardly blood shy.
“Fine. They were drawn and quartered.” She pouts at me before turning away from me.
“That would have taken some time. You didn’t think to help them?”
“And risk our lives?” Malfas turns, his eyes expressionless voids. “For them? No.”
“So, while you were cowering away in your castle, your men were slaughtered?” The Mother takes a sip of her blood, her expression controlled.
“Er, yes, Mother.”
“And how do you think you can be of assistance?”
“Sorry?” Malfas steps towards the Mother, dropping to his knees at the side of her chair, not understanding her question.
“How exactly are you going to help me find those responsible for Kirdem’s death? When you saw nothing. You did nothing.”
Malfas and Caelia both pull back, startled by the coldness in the Mother’s voice.
The Mother leans forward, her hand moving to Malfas’s cheek. She runs her nail down his cheekbone, digging into his skin. A trickle of blood drips down his face, but he doesn’t move.
I’ve seen her like this before and it never ends well. Malfas knows that too. He’s at a loss for what to do. He can’t explain himself without making her angrier. He can’t change the past and prove himself not to be a coward, but he can’t apologise either. He can’t show weakness because she’ll end his existence for that too.
“I should end you now,” she says. “I should take Wales from you.”
“Pl-pl…” He stops himself, knowing better than to beg. That would be his end.
“You have no respect for the lives I’ve allowed you to govern. They are not playthings. Toy soldiers for you to use as cannon fodder. They are my children.” She gets to her feet and closes her eyes for a brief second. “You are not welcome here. Return to Wales and await my instruction.”
Then, without so much as another look at anyone, she leaves the room.
“Everette,” Caelia says as they both turn towards me.
There is hope in their eyes. Terrible, fearful hope. They think I can convince the Mother to save them. But I know that I can’t. I can’t change her mind. Kirdem was always the one that could ease her anger, soften her temper. Not me.
“I think you better leave.”
“She’ll have us killed,” Malfas says, still on his knees. “You have to…”
“I have to do nothing. My loyalty is to the Mother. As should yours be. If she wishes you to die, you should do it willingly.”
Even as I say the words, I think of Farah and how I would fight the Mother for her. I think of how only a few hours ago, I had been tempted to do just that for the human upstairs.
“Everette,” Malfas tries again.
“Go home and await the Mother’s instruction.”
Caelia recovers herself quicker than her mate and gets to her feet. Her voice quakes only slightly as she says, “Come M-malfas.”
“I don’t understand. What did we do wrong?” Malfas whispers to Caelia as he takes her hand and gets up off the floor. “We have lived this way for centuries. We have always ruled this way.”
I follow them out of the sitting room and close the front door behind them. Then I rush up the stairs, panicked that the Mother might be in the room with Farah. It’s a fleeting, irresponsible fear, and it quickly dissipates when I find the Mother standing at the window at the top of the stairs, staring out at Malfas and Caelia’s retreating car.
“Don’t worry, Everette. I will not go near your little human.” She shakes her head just a fraction. “At least, not while I’m this angry.”
“Will you have them killed?” I ask, because as much as she implied it earlier, I’m less certain that she will actually go through with it.
“You think I’m so soft-hearted that I won’t?”
“No. It’s not that. I’m just not sure you want to have two realms without reigning royals right now.”
“True. It would most likely be a mistake.” She doesn’t say anything for several minutes. “A rebellion. How unoriginal.”
“It happens,” I say with a shrug.
“Every
