CHAPTER36
They’reall silent for an annoying amount of time. I expected them to be as excited as I am. As full of energy, ready to go conquer our foe.
But none of them move.
Until Ventos explodes.
He bolts upright from his chair, sending it toppling. With a roar, he grabs the table edge, hoisting it with every bit of strength in those bulging muscles. Winny is halfway across the room, but Lavenzia, who’s closest to Ventos, seems unsurprised and unbothered. The table falls back to the ground with a thud that seems to rattle the whole floor. I wonder, if he carries on, if we could end up plunging through the floor and back into the old castle beneath us.
“No!” Ventos roars. “No. I will not hear another word of this treachery.” He thrusts a finger in my direction. “You—You were alone with him. You had an opportunity to commiserate. You’re trying to make us turn on our own. To confuse us and—”
“That’s quite enough.” Ruvan slowly rises.
“You’re not going to let her spew this nonsense on your watch, are you?” Ventos balks. So much for whatever trust we’d been building. I sigh. No, Ventos is a hothead. I knew that from the start. He’ll be back to normal in no time if I give him enough time and space.
At least, I hope.
“You saw and heard what I did, Ventos,” I say calmly.
He stills.
“Do you think what she’s said is wrong?” Ruvan demands.
“There is no possible way one of our own would hatch a plan so nefarious.” Ventos shakes his head.
“There were a hundred years of power squabbling as the curse ate away at our people,” Ruvan says gravely. “Men and women who squandered precious time in pursuit of a throne. It is not so hard to believe that one of them might have turned their sights elsewhere. And Solos was not without enemies.”
“You only believe her because you’re bloodsworn. You told us it wouldn’t change you. That you saw her not as a true bloodsworn but as a means to an end. A necessity and nothing more.”
The words sting more than I want them to. They echo what Ventos called me long ago—a tool. There’s no reason for me to hurt this much. Ruvan owes me nothing.
No, I am his wife. The word still sticks strangely in my mind. But I find myself using it more and more to reassure myself.
“I believe her because what she’s saying makes the most sense.” Ruvan’s voice has dropped, becoming dangerously quiet. I see the shadow of the vampir lord that took me and became my bloodsworn. But now that ferocity is turned toward one of his own in my defense. It’s almost unthinkable.
“Could it be another vampir who crossed the Fade and got stuck there? Maybe it’s nothing nefarious and he’s just been surviving?” Lavenzia asks optimistically.
“If that were the case, wouldn’t he treat Ventos as a savior arrived and not torture him?” I volley back.
“Maybe he was worried after working with the humans for so long we’d see him as an enemy?” The question is weak and betrays how unsure Lavenzia herself is about the possibility.
“What about what he said?” Ventos stops his furious pacing, deciding to stay rather than storm from the room.
“What he said?” Callos asks.
“Before he escaped us, he spoke: You will pay in blood, like the rest of your forsaken kind. I will have the throne I earned, and my vengeance for Loretta,” Ventos repeats. I remember the words just as sharply.
“Who’s Loretta?” Lavenzia wonders aloud after the words have sunk into everyone.
“Pretty name, songlike, but I’ve never heard it.” Winny must deem Ventos calm enough, because she returns to the table.
“I’ve never read about any Loretta.” Callos shakes his head.
“Pay in blood, pay like the rest of your forsaken kind,” Ruvan repeats softly. Then, louder, “Why forsaken? Why ‘your kind?’ Does he not see himself as one of us?”
“Glad he doesn’t if he’s trying to kill us,” Ventos declares.
“It could be one of those earlier rifts you mentioned,” Callos says with a small nod toward Ruvan. “Perhaps he’s the leader of one of those early factions that fought for power following, or even before King Solos’s death but before order was restored in desperation. It could explain why he sees the throne as his.”
