I’m not trifling, I say. I’m trying to salvage our plan. A little help would be great.
While I’d love to reach out to Zev and Rune to aid me, I know they aren’t the most welcome in the vampire kingdom. It’s up to me and Darius.
Not that I’m exactly welcomed with open arms, but they certainly have done their damnedest to get me here. They also just watched me light the traitorous brother on fire, so I’m not sure anyone’s gunning for me yet.
“One of us will have to become king,” Emerus says. “If we don’t complete our duel…”
He’s awfully cocky for a vamp who was about to face real deadness, I tell Darius. His lips twitch as he tries to suppress a laugh.
Emerus narrows his eyes, and though I feel a push in my mind--like he’s trying to get inside my thoughts--I resist. The sexy brother glowers at me and I keep my face schooled in total innocence. Let him fester. I owe him nothing.
Darius stands and walks away from the center of the Pit, heading toward the woman carrying the crown. Everyone nearby shoots odious glares as he snatches the royal headwear, but no one tries to stop him.
“I have a simple solution,” Darius says as he turns back to his brother, but Emerus cuts him off before he can get to the point.
“You can’t just take the crown and expect our people to follow you after betraying our king.” His voice catches, and once again I wonder at his relationship with his father. Were they close? Is he as evil as daddy vampire was? I don’t get that vibe, but I can’t get a read on this guy and Darius has never gushed about family. Though I try to dig deeper into my mind connection with Darius, to see if I can pull the answer up the way I learned to speak Hungarian, the effort is in vain.
I squint, a sudden throbbing headache puncturing my concentration.
Darius quickly glances my way, a grimace on his face, and I can tell he’s feeling what I am. Knowing he must stay focused on the pressing issue, he shakes it off and he returns his attention to his brother.
“Our king,” Darius says with a solid dose of disdain, “betrayed many when he waged war against everyone who wasn’t a vampire. When he sent assassins after Bernie and Rain. When he let an unproven interpretation of an ancient prophecy destroy our kingdom. One of us will have to undo his many centuries of damage.”
Darius maintains eye contact with his brother for a long time, and I resist the urge to try and listen in. It’s clear there’s a battle of the alphas going on internally and I don’t want to get in the way.
Sometimes doing nothing, saying nothing, is the right course of action, albeit the much harder one to follow. I’m itching to make them talk, but I bite my tongue.
For a moment, the sheer insanity of all of this once again smacks me in the psyche. I should be tending bar and telling the regulars to go home to their wives, not playing chicken with the two royal princes of the vampire kingdom, but here we are.
The rest of the vampires might as well be mannequins, so still and quiet and oddly patient. Previous interactions had me thinking of this race as angsty and always on the go, but that might have something to do with them chasing and trying to abduct me. Now that we’re all standing around and dealing with the future of their kingdom, I don’t think any of them have so much as inhaled since this showdown between brothers began.
When the silence continues, I reject my commitment to staying out of it. Typical Bernie.
“Your numbers were decimated, and that is a tragedy” I say. “But your king was killed by an army of dragons and a guy who seems pretty eager to destroy you. We may not be natural allies, but we share a common enemy. Like it or not, you know we are stronger together. I’m not all that thrilled to be allying with kingdoms that have been trying to kill me and my baby, but sometimes you gotta make exceptions. So, are you going to be smart about this, or are you going to fight over your dad’s hat while everyone dies?”
Darius walks over to Emerus, and I suck in my breath as we wait to see what he will do.
“I am the first to admit I have mixed loyalties,” Darius says. “I am bound, by honor, by blood oath…” he glances at me, “and by choice, to Bernadette and her child. She has my heart, what is left of it.”
His words soothe an ache that has been growing in my soul since his first perceived betrayal. Really since the moment he drank that potion and our entangled spirits were torn from one another.
“What are you saying, brother?” Emerus asks.
I’m encouraged by his use of the word brother instead of, say, traitor. Perhaps we’re making progress.
Rather than answer, Darius steps forward, and I sense what he’s about to do before he does it. Still, the act itself is emotionally moving. It feels heavy with meaning and future consequence.
Darius places the crown on his brother’s head and then takes a knee, bowing. “I hereby relinquish my rightful place as the next king and bequeath this duty to my brother, Emerus of Vaemor.”
The sound of murmuring vampires is not something easily described. Their voices carry on a different wave. Not quite words, not quite music, something in between but entirely new. Still, it’s clear to all of us that what Darius has done is unprecedented.
Emerus, for his part, hasn’t breathed since the crown was placed on his head.
Like he forgot to exhale.
I, however, still seem to need human amounts of oxygen, and so I suck in a breath and exhale as if I’ve just emerged from the depths of the ocean.
I’m pretty sure Rune and Zev use real air to breathe as well, but they’re more inconspicuous than myself, which unfortunately results in me making an alarmingly human sound in an arena full of immortals.
All eyes turn to me, and despite being fundamentally opposed to blushing, I feel the blood rush to my cheeks.
“All hail King Emerus?” I say, my voice lacking in conviction as I try to navigate dicy vampire politics.
Color me shocked when a throng--I’m going with throng because they didn’t cover vampire group names at Julliard--of vampires echo my words.
“All hail King Emerus.”
Figuring it’s best to err on the side of kissing ass right now, I bend the knee, mimicking Darius and hoping women don’t have a whole different code of conduct.
Kneel! I say to Zev, who is stubbornly glaring at Emerus and refusing to budge.
Even my gentle fae is standing tall, his chin jutted out in uncharacteristic defiance.
Seems the other princes might be ready to form alliances but haven’t reached the point of allegiances. Fair enough. When Emerus finally nods his head, tension eases from my shoulders. Darius stands, and I hear the two brothers exchange some thoughts I can’t understand. Even though I can’t translate, I have a strong sense they’re speaking amicably.
In a show of good faith, I lower my wand.
Emerus raises his hand to draw everyone’s attention to him, as if all eyes weren’t already glued to the new king. Still, a little showmanship is probably a good quality in a leader. “Your proposal will be given due consideration,” he says to me. “I will honor the codes of knighthood and guarantee your safety in our kingdom. Then I will give you my answer.”
Consideration? That’s all we get?
Hey, didn’t you just make him king?? I ask Darius. Wouldn’t helping us out be the brotherly thing to do in response?