Page 9 of Besieger
“As far as I know, no.”
“Curious.”
Before tonight Silvio had never thought about it. The idea of making another vampire repulsed him. He had done a good job at transferring his curse to Emerick but it was completed out of necessity.I did not know what I was doing.His hands clenched into fists, the nails dug into his palms. He could hear an animal crying in the distance. Mouths overflowing with blood. The first time he tasted it…
The crackling of the fire and the splintering of the wooden logs reminded him of breaking arrows, his whole body burning.
The blood…
He had not found God in the desert, but he had tasted rapture. He had lapped at the blood overcome with a fever of greed.
Mine. All of you…All of youmine.
Silvio unclenched his fingers, his consciousness back in the present. In Prussia, in this drawing room in shades of opals and tanzanite, in the company of a being that was older than religion.
“Earlier…” he began. Slowly. His tongue moved inside his mouth, heavy against the wet flesh and sharp teeth, tasting nothing. “Earlier you said you had many children. How many has the All Father sired?”
“Two or more? Maybe hundreds. Maybe none. Who’s to say.”
Silvio felt like Ingenuar was sharing something private but he lacked the understanding for it. He was taken aback by how fast he got an answer, expecting for the first vampire to take his time counting the lives he had prolonged.
“Am I to your satisfaction, Silvio? Are you ready to accept my offer?”
Throughout the carriage ride Silvio had pondered over the letter. He had nothing but time, hours spent glancing between Dulior and Emerick, drowning in the silence.
He looked at Dulior, the wife he had never wanted. A long time ago Silvio had realized that she could teach him nothing.What little she knew about vampires was eclipsed by her ambitions for power and control within human society. She had kept to herself her visits and dealings with the Coven, until she was forced to share it with him. As a companion Dulior bored and exhausted him. The hatred he felt towards her had become as burdensome as her presence.
And for Emerick, what had Silvio givenhim? He could offer Emerick nothing under the watchful eyes of a wife, entangled in a web of lies and hatred.
“Very well,” Silvio did not know if he had to kneel or take the All Father’s hand. Would he be expected to sign a treaty, he thought bemused. “I will be your Regent.”
“You will need a title of your own,” Ingenuar stood up. He reached out and brushed Silvio’s shoulder and began fixing his coat. As if he was arranging Silvio for a big reveal though the whole Coven had already seen and made up their minds about him and his consort.
Silvio looked up at the creature before him, the distance between them now gone, letting Ingenuar to continue fretting with his clothes.
“I have been a Count all my life. I would like to try something else.”
“Yes?”
Satisfied with his work Ingenuar released him and took a step back.
“A Marquis,” Silvio announced, smiling. “You have theBasilissaand theSultana, and now you can have theMarquis.”
“Yours is not as interesting as theirs. Not as unique. But if this is what you want,” Ingenuar nodded, giving his approval. “And your consort? What would their title be?”
Silvio blinked, lost for words.
“TheBasilissahas herPatrikia, and theSultanaherEmir. Who will theMarquishave?”
These ranks meant nothing to him. They sounded foreign and unobtainable, coming from worlds he may have come across,written in books, or woven in tapestries. He opened his mouth and quickly closed it. He wanted to bestow a title that both of them would enjoy using and hearing others speak aloud.
Something endearing. Somethinghis.
“Comte,” Silvio said, softly. “His title will beComte.”
“I had an inkling you were not going to choose Dulior,” Ingenuar patted him on the shoulder and began to pace across the room. He moved his body as if a great weight had fallen off him. “You do not like her much, do you?”
Silvio shook his head.
