Dinner With a Vampire (The Dark Heroine #1)(107)
Author: Abigail Gibbs

He’s crying.

My lips parted and closed again as I gulped. ‘I’m sorry,’ I mouthed. ‘I’m sorry.’

The wind nestled in his hair as pride raised his chin slightly and exposed his neck, pulling taught the skin across his throat. His eyes stared into the sky and I followed his gaze to where two crows were circling, dipping and diving amongst one another, opening their beaks and shrieking.

I brought my eyes back down to him and in one blink, he had averted his gaze. He made no effort to wipe the tears away and I saw them plummet, falling and fracturing into tiny droplets on the stone steps. Slowly, they dried on his pale cheeks until they became nothing.

He did not turn back and with that, my tears fell uncontrolled; not withheld, not restrained but free to fall: not for my father’s sin, not for myself, but for him.

‘Do not look at my son,’ the King murmured, even the quietest of whispers audible in the still air – the chants had eased to a murmur at the King’s words. ‘Do not look at him.’

I spat blood onto the ground as Valerian pushed on the back of my neck and I was made to stare at the gravel at my knees. Fear, real fear, was beginning to rise again as the murmur of chants became a babble and the babble a chorus. But that was nothing compared to the sound my shattering heart made.

With the little lustre I could manage, I spoke. ‘Then who would you have me look at?’

There was no reply and Crimson grabbed a large chunk of my hair and wrenched my head back, straining my skin against my exposed throat not with pride, but with humility. I thrashed in his strong grip, fighting as he reached around and pulled the Queen’s locket from my breast, holding me still long enough to undo the clasp. He reached down and pulled the pendant from beneath my shirt. The locket fell away. The skin it had rested upon seared, naked without the cold metal resting upon it. I struggled, but the grip around me tightened and slowly I stilled, recognizing the hopelessness of fighting. Valerian was a thousand times stronger than I was and half the bloodthirsty court stood in front of me; if I tried to speak up the knife would be driven through my neck.

How can you prepare to die on a perfect Autumnal morning?

Yet surviving did not seem so appealing either. I was tied to a man who could not even watch me die. A man who will let me die.

I let my eyes fall on Kaspar’s back before raising them to the sky. Just before I closed them I saw the blurs of the two crows, continuously circling, around and around.

‘We won’t hurt you, you know.’

The bloodbath would not end here. They would kill my father; his junior ministers; anyone that was associated with him and I didn’t want to think about what they would do to my mother and Lily.

I couldn’t help them. I couldn’t warn them. In my mind I began praying to anyone or anything that would listen.

‘You do not need to do this, Vladimir. The girl has done nothing wrong.’

My eyes flung open and rested upon Eaglen. The crowd recoiled and I did the same, staring at his wizened hair and wrinkled hands, hardly daring to believe that I had heard correctly.

The King hissed.

It must have been coherent to Eaglen’s ears, because he chuckled with mild amusement. ‘No, you do not. You are blinded by anger and it is preventing you from understanding the irrationality of your actions.’

The King pushed through the crowd. His face was twisted with menace and he bared his fangs, sneering. ‘Stand aside, Eaglen.’

I stared, frightened for the old man, wise but frail. I didn’t need anyone else to die for my father’s actions, least of all somebody who – although I did not know why – was defending me.

‘No.’

The King seemed taken aback, as did the crowd – a steady stream of whispers flowed from the steps.

‘You do not need to die for a scum of a human,’ he spat.

Eaglen chuckled again and adjusted the cloak around his shoulders, impervious to the King’s foreboding glare. ‘I am an old man, Vladimir. Death does not scare me; I will die a martyr if you insist upon it.’

The taunting wit in his voice was clear and it only served to anger the King even further. He gestured behind him and hesitantly, Ashton and another vampire came forward. They lingered behind the King, seeming reluctant to get too close to Eaglen.

‘I command you as your King, and beg you as your friend, to stand aside.’

The King’s expression softened but hardened again as Eaglen closed his eyes, sighed softly and bowed his head.

‘I like to think I have been a loyal and faithful subject and mentor for each and every one of your many, many years walking this earth, but alas, this day, I cannot be.’

The King raised his hand and with two fingers, gestured first towards Eaglen and then to me, as he nodded curtly to Valerian. My eyes widened and realizing this was it, began to fight, managing to struggle to my feet within Valerian’s grip. He cursed, releasing my arms but wrapping one of his own around my middle. His other reached up, clasping the knife in his hand as he fought to reach my neck, my fingers scrabbling at his wrist and the knife, whatever I could get a hold of, leaving searing slashes across my skin. But the other vampire surged forward and together with Ashton, pinned my arms to my side. Valerian pulled me back to his chest and pressed the knife into the skin below my jaw. In desperation, I reached down and bit down, hard, on his fingers.

‘You little whore!’ he cried, dropping the knife. But instead of going to pick it up, he wrapped his free hand around my waist as Ashton brushed the hair from my neck. Blood, sweat and tears trailed down, following the curve of my skin; with complete disgust I tried to recoil from Valerian as his tongue darted out, lapping up each drop, hungry for the river he would find below my skin.

Vaguely, I heard the sound of Eaglen’s voice, calm demeanour gone and replaced with an urgent plea. ‘Carmen died for her, Vladimir! Your wife died so that one day, your son would meet Violet Lee. If you kill the girl, your wife will have died in vain. Hear sense!’

But the King did not even acknowledge Eaglen’s begging as he was pulled aside, others moving forward to help restrain him. The King nodded in approval, and then turned back to me.

‘Any last words, Violet Lee?’

I could barely see through my tears and I was too frightened to even swallow, let alone speak under Valerian’s eager fangs. But I stared at Kaspar until he turned my way and I could lock eyes with him.

‘Fuck the day I first met you. Fuck you and everything you have done to me. I hate—’