I swallowed.
“No!” Caspian roared, and vaulted over the long wooden desk he’d been seated behind, sending piles of papers flying in his wake.
The guards were still hesitating a few steps away. Rans smeared his blood over the mysterious crystal, mixing it with mine. The crystal glowed, turning ruby red. I watched, dumbfounded, as he tossed the thing onto the moss-covered floor and crushed it with a boot heel. The ruby-colored light exploded outward as the crystal shattered. I felt it pass through me like a power surge.
Caspian slid to a halt at the edge of the dais. Everyone in the chamber seemed to have gone very still all of the sudden. I was still gaping, queasily aware of Rans’ blood smeared across my lips.
He straightened, addressing his next words to the Magistrate. The female Fae had risen in alarm with the others, but unlike Caspian she’d made no move to approach us.
“I declare that this woman shares my life-bond,” Rans said, his voice carrying to every corner of the chamber. “Her soul is now tied to mine. Killing her kills me as well.” He lifted his hands as though baring himself to attack. “There you are, then, mates. I’ve made it easy for you. Two for one. Anyone want to have a go?”
I stared at him. What the... what?
Nobody moved.
Eventually, the Magistrate sat down again in slow motion, her green eyes raking over the rest of the Court. The others followed suit, returning to their chairs—all except for Caspian, who still stood poised on the edge of the dais, his chest rising and falling fast.
His eyes glared daggers at us.
I swallowed hard, scrubbing at my face and mouth with the back of my hand. Unfortunately, my hand was bloody, too, and all of it was starting to dry on my skin. At least that meant the wounds from Rans’ fangs were already closed over, I supposed. Beneath our feet, the circle of blackened, dying moss and flowers continued to spread slowly outward.
“No one?” Rans taunted. “Really? Last surviving member of your sworn enemies, barging right into the seat of power on Dhuinne, and none of you want a go at me?”
A tendon jerked in Caspian’s jaw.
“If anyone feels like explaining what the hell is going on, that would be freakin’ awesome as far as I’m concerned,” I said.
The Magistrate didn’t even look at me. Her eyes narrowed, her attention staying firmly on Rans.
“Your continued survival is mandated within a clause of the peace treaty, vampire,” she said slowly.
“Yeah, see, I thought it must be something like that,” Rans muttered.
“The demons have already broken the treaty!” Caspian snarled, gesturing at me. “The proof stands right in front of us!”
Rans narrowed his eyes. “Oh? Well, it sounds like the peace is over, then. What a terrible pity. I suppose you’d better come down here and stake me through the heart. Just think, Golden Boy—all of your problems solved with a single blow.”
Somehow, I couldn’t believe that antagonizing the powerful guy who seemed to hate both our guts was that great of a plan—but then again, I was the girl who’d walked into Dhuinne with every expectation that I’d be beheaded for my troubles. So maybe I didn’t have much room to talk.
“That can be arranged, parasite,” Caspian said.
I tensed as Rans drew himself up straight and pushed me behind him, but the Magistrate’s voice rang out before Caspian could jump down from the platform.
“Hold!”
Caspian stood poised, his fists clenching and unclenching in poorly suppressed rage.
“Sit down, General,” the Magistrate continued. “This body will not respond to a single criminal act from half a century ago by committing an officially sanctioned treaty violation in open Court.”
I held my breath, trying rather desperately to drag my wits together and catch up with whatever the fuck was happening around me. I still felt like a wreck, though perhaps not as much of a wreck as I should have been. I had no idea what the Magistrate had done to me with her glowy magic hands, or how long it would last. But—disgusting though it might be—it made a sort of twisted sense that if vampire blood healed human wounds, swallowing it would give your health an even bigger boost than applying it topically.
Meanwhile, Rans still seemed intent on heckling Caspian into trying to kill both of us.
“Well, Golden Boy? You heard the lady. What’s it going to be?” he pressed.
Maybe possessing two X-chromosomes trumped species differences, because the Magistrate sounded like she was even closer to the end of her tether than I was—and at this point, that was saying something.
“You presume much, vampire,” she said. “Perhaps you would do better to enjoy your strategic victory without attempting to goad members of this Court into violence. You have what you apparently wanted—though I don’t claim to understand your motives. We cannot execute the part-breed now that her life is tied to yours.”
Caspian was still hanging onto his self-control by a thread, it seemed. A slow smile stretched his features... a smile I really didn’t like.
“Perhaps not,” he said. “But nothing prevents us from imprisoning the creature here for further study, Magistrate. As long as it doesn’t die, no harm comes to the bloodsucker, and by extension, the treaty.”
An icy wave of cold shuddered through my body, and I had to stop myself from cringing at the words. Rans’ hand shot out to hold me in place.
“By all means, try to take her away from me,” he said, biting off the words. “See if you can do it without killing me during the attempt.”
“Enough!” the Magistrate snapped. “All of this is uncalled for. You may leave here with the part-breed, as long as you do
