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  “Your Majesty, if you don’t mind me interjecting a thought: Kaylin is still weak from the attack a month ago, but he should be able to handle himself.” Check had been listening in, but now he moved forward.

  “Do you think he’s well enough to handle the Blood Oracle?”

  “Is anybody ever well enough to handle him, Your Highness?”

  As Check posed the question to me, I closed my eyes and once again found myself in the grips of the Blood Oracle as he sought to drain me dry, to feast on my blood.

  He was like an insect—long and lean and gangly, with limbs like hollow husks, except they were strong. Oh, so strong, and oh, so dangerous.

  Crawl scuttled, shifted without seeming to move. He was a vampire—a dangerously old and mad vampire. He had been sired by the Crimson Queen herself, and he lived in a prison because he had long ago forgotten how to listen to orders, how to keep from being a one-man scourge on those who still walked with blood pumping through their hearts.

  Crawl, the Blood Oracle, the seer of the vampires, the father of vision who foretold the future and who remembered the past. He was mad as a hatter, mad as a hare. Lost in a world of his own, he spoke in riddles, doling out dribs and drabs of information in return for the sacrifice of life, the sweet force of the veins.

  Locked in his prison, a world between the worlds, he waited for an opportunity to free himself. He’d been loosed on the town not that long ago by the renegade vampires Geoffrey and Leo, and he’d fed and fed, drinking deep and casting aside the bodies. But Crawl hungered for more; there was always the thirst, the burning need to feed, and so he had driven his way through the people of New Forest, as ruthless as a spider spinning her web for flies.

  People were chattel—food and nourishment. Our lives, our hopes and dreams, our desires were moot in the face of the Blood Oracle. He fed off pain, licked it up like a delicious syrup on top of ice cream or cake. He reveled in it, without care, without worry, without any shred of guilt.

  It had been so long since Crawl had been human—yummanii—that he’d lost any semblance to the people on whom he now fed. He was beyond the scope of most of the vampires, and even the Emissary and her brother feared him. Crawl could just as easily stake their hearts, cast them aside, and move on, as he could feast off their slaves.

  And the Blood Oracle had, three times, had me in his grasp. He’d fed off of me—the last time nearly killing me. Lannan had stepped in, brought me back at a cost that I could never forget. As much as he disgusted me, the hedonistic golden boy had been responsible for saving me, and I owed him a great debt.

  And now I was planning on turning my friend over to the monster. That’s what Crawl was: a monster, a creature, no longer anywhere near human. I knew he would ravage Kaylin’s mind.

  But . . . but . . . a small voice whispered. Kaylin is demonic. He can handle this journey, and he will understand why you did it.

  Kaylin’s soul was wedded to a creature as alien to the yummanii as was Crawl. When we had woken the night-veil up to consciousness, we had not only saved Kaylin’s life but opened the door for him to change. He would never be the same—could never be the same.

  And Crawl? Crawl would strip him down and sift through his psyche, but Kaylin was resilient. And he would come through intact.

  And if he’s the spy?

  The question raced through my mind. I didn’t want to think about it, but I already knew the answer. I knew what would happen. If Crawl told us that Kaylin was our downfall, I would leave him there. Let the Blood Oracle bleed him out, tear him to pieces, rend his soul even as he ripped at his body. Because if any friend of mine had turned sides, had voluntarily aligned themselves with the Indigo Court, they had automatically forfeited all protection, and my love for them would shatter like crystal.

  I looked up. The others were waiting.

  “Let them in. They’ll know something is up, but we have to lie. I’ll step out and call Regina’s day-runner in a moment, then we’ll leave for Lannan’s estate shortly after. Dusk will fall by the time we get there. I think I can convince Regina and Lannan to play along with us.”

  At that, Grieve gave me a dark look, but I merely stared back at him. I would do whatever I needed to, and he knew it. And I knew he supported me. Even if it meant handing myself over to Lannan again. Even if it meant sacrificing myself at the altar of the hedonistic vampire.

  “Open the door,” I said. And Check did.

  As we neared the estate where Lannan and Regina lived, I shifted uncomfortably. We’d stopped on the way to pick up Ysandra, the last member of our inner Circle. She gazed at me, silently, and I had the feeling she knew something was up, but she said nothing.

  The others had been less than thrilled about the idea of visiting the vampire compound, but there wasn’t much they could do. They deferred to us now that we’d taken the thrones.

  I’d called Regina to tell her that we were on our way and to ask her and Lannan to wait for us—that we had something important to ask them. By the time we arrived she’d be awake and get our message.

  A few minutes later, we pulled into the compound. It was hard on Grieve and the other Fae, for they couldn’t ride in cars so had to run along beside the vehicles. My father had done his best to ride in my Pontiac one time, but it had jarred him greatly, and he’d hated every minute of it.

  I was driving Rhiannon and myself. The others followed in Kaylin’s car—if one of them was betraying me, not such a good idea to be alone in a car with them without my guards. I’d had to play some fancy footwork to explain why we were riding separately, but again, it seemed that making up stories on the spot was becoming a strong point of mine, even though it made me feel like a louse.

  As the estate—a magnificent mansion that rose three stories aboveground, and who knew how many below—came into view, I let out a soft sigh. The grounds were exquisitely kept, though they lay below a cloak of snow, and the borders of the estate were patrolled by armed guards—vampires during the night, and their day-runner guards during the day.

  We pulled in, and I turned off the engine. I glanced at Rhiannon. Even though we were half-Fae and had been transformed by our coronations, we weren’t affected by iron like our people. The magic-born blood in our veins helped prevent us from succumbing to the pain of the metal.

  “You know I wouldn’t do this if I could think of anything else.” I wanted my cousin, above everyone else, to understand how much this went against my nature.

  But she reached out, put her hand over mine. “I know. Cicely . . . when I burned that little girl to death . . . even though I didn’t intend for it to happen, the fact is that on that day, I realized I could never go back. I could never again be the person I’d been before then. No matter what I did, I’d always be affected by my actions that day. My anger had been my undoing.”

  “I’m not angry at him, though.” I bit my lip, hurt that she might think so.

  But she merely smiled. “No. You aren’t angry at him, not at all. And yet you are ordering that he undergo a painful and dangerous test. The reason you are doing this? Because on the day we accepted the crowns, on the day we created our heartstones and took the thrones, we changed who we were. We’ll never again be just Cicely and Rhiannon. We’ll always—forever—be affected by the choice we made that day. And every action we take will be affected by those choices. It is what it is.”

  It was then that I began to understand something about my cousin. I’d been worried she might not be strong enough to withstand the changes we underwent. But now I saw that Rhiannon had developed an inner strength. Yes, it was a quiet strength, but it was resilient. Rhia had landed smack in front of her demons long ago, and even though she’d run from them for a while, she finally had turned to face them, and to own them.

  I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed it gently. “Twin cousins, forever.”

  “Fire and ice.”
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br />   “Amber and jet. Summer and Winter.” With a soft smile, I unbuckled my seat belt and slid out of the car, meeting Check and Fearless as they raced over to my side. Rhia’s guards joined her.

  As Kaylin and the others fell in behind us, we turned to the mansion and—with a cloud looming over my shoulders—I led the way into the ambush we’d set for our friend.

  Chapter 5

  The maid who opened the door recognized me. She’d been there the night Lannan brought me back to heal me from Crawl’s last attack. When the Blood Fever had taken me in thrall, I’d needed sex—rough and wild and as feral as I could get, and only Lannan could offer me the intensity that would shake the fever loose from my system.

  She ushered us into the mansion. The great hall had taken on some renovations, though it still sported the sweeping staircase to the upper floors, nestled between two halls that ran the depth of the mansion. Large, luxurious rooms veered off from the hallways. We’d been in two of them. I’d been in one other room in the house—Lannan’s suite, though I doubted it was where he slept during the day.

  To either side of the staircase spiraled massive, heavily pruned junipers, sculpted into coiling snakes that gazed over the hallways in their glistening green finery. Marble benches and tables made of heavy dark wood lined the walls at intervals, and the floor was polished tile, gleaming so brightly that I could see my reflection in it. I’d hate to be on the cleaning crew for the Regent’s mansion—it was expected to remain spotless and meticulously groomed. As were most of the vampires making their home here.

  I motioned to the maid as another servant took Luna, Ysandra, Peyton, and Kaylin’s coats. Pressing a note into her hand that I’d prepared while still in the car, I whispered, “Please, give this to the Emissary now—before we’re shown into her office.”

  The maid glanced at me, quizzically, but simply curtseyed. “I’ll be back for you in a moment,” she said to everyone. “Please be seated while I make certain the Emissary is prepared to receive you.” She tapped away down the hall, her kitten heels tattooing a quick beat against the floor.

  We waited a moment—then two, before she returned. “Please follow me.” And she led us down the left hall to the office of the governing Regent.

  Behind the heavy double doors, Lannan and Regina were waiting for us. Regina was sitting behind the desk; Lannan was sprawled in a chair next to it.

  Twins with hair as golden as sunlight, spun straight and silky, the pair were as depraved as they were gorgeous. Regina was statuesque, curving in all the right places, and she wore a red pantsuit with a black corset beneath the blazer. Her hair was swept up into its usual chignon, and sparkling rubies studded her ears. Lannan, on the other hand, had hair that swept past his shoulders, and he wore black leather pants, tight and formfitting—showing off every attribute he had. He had on a brilliant blue button-down shirt, open to the naval, and an ornate black leather vest.

  They were true vampires—not Vampiric Fae, but truly the living dead. Their eyes were black as pitch, but no stars swirled within, and they ruled the town, even though there was an ostensible city council.

  As a pair, they were stunning.

  Lannan stared at me, his eyes taking me in with one sweep. I blushed—I couldn’t help it. He was obsessed with me, and I’d been bound to him by a contract until I was chosen to transform into the Queen of Snow and Ice. I’d knelt at his feet, forced to grovel and beg him to humiliate me. Vampires had glamour, and most of them didn’t care what their chosen subjects felt. They were top-of-the-food-chain predators, and they knew it and used it, although there existed a delicate balance between the governments of the Vampire Nation and those of the yummanii and the magic-born.

  “Your Majesty, please be seated.” Lannan stood and gave me an exaggerated flourish of a bow. While technically showing respect, I knew he was goading me. Ever since he’d fucked the Blood Fever out of my system, his obsession with me had grown.

  “Brother . . .” The cautionary note in Regina’s voice echoed through the room. While Lannan might be Regent, his sister was the Emissary, and her word held sway over everyone in the Vampire Nation, save for the Crimson Queen herself.

  “I’ll behave myself. Don’t get your bun in a twist.” Lannan motioned for us to sit down. “Please, be seated.”

  I paused, wondering how this would unfold. My note to Regina had asked her to please find something to occupy the others while Rhiannon, Grieve, Chatter, and I talked to her in private.

  But Regina was smooth. She stood. “I have official business to discuss with the Courts of Fae before we all make ourselves comfortable. My servants will escort the rest of you to the drawing room, where you will find tea and refreshments. While you are there, perhaps Luna can look over the arrangement on the piano. I’ve attempted my hand at a composition. While I’m pleased with it, I would welcome your input on ways in which to strengthen the intermezzo. Your musical eye would be highly appreciated here.”

  Luna blinked, clearly surprised. “Of course, Emissary.”

  “Thank you. I respect your skill.” Regina smiled at her, a cunning beautiful grin that was hard to resist.

  I blinked. “You play piano?” I don’t know why this surprised me. But after I thought about it, it seemed like a skill I’d expect Regina to have.

  “I have played for well over two hundred years and am fairly accomplished, but I’ve never before attempted my own composition.” She smiled at me, her fangs showing ever so slightly.

  Luna looked a little puzzled, but she motioned to the others. Warily, they edged out of the room, following the maid.

  Once they were gone and the door closed behind them, Regina turned to me. “You needed a private audience?”

  “I did, but we needed to bring the others, to have them here on the estate, in case you agree to what I’m about to ask.” Here I paused. What I was about to ask was turning me into a traitor to Kaylin, but once again, my heart told me there was no other way.

  Lannan searched my face. “What weighs so heavily on the Ice Queen’s heart?” Again, his words were punctuated with just a hint of snideness—a soupçon of snark.

  With a glance at Rhiannon, who nodded, I launched into what we had learned, and what we needed to ask. By the time I finished, Regina was staring at me, jaw slightly open. Lannan was shaking his head.

  “That crown truly has changed you. How does it feel, now, to be on my side of the tracks? To play the sadist—for you know that’s what this will end up being, should we agree?” He let out a faint snort. “Sweet Cicely, you truly do have a heart of ice now, don’t you?”

  I wanted to slap him but held myself in check. A quick glance at Grieve told me he was close to doing the same. My wolf shifted and growled, and I knew Grieve was pissed out of his mind.

  Regina, however, simply sat there, as pale as porcelain. She folded her hands together on the desk. “You’re truly serious about this? You would have us take the night-veil to Crawl? To let the seer peer into his heart and future to see if he’s loyal?”

  I bit my lip, wanting to hang my head. But Lainule had taught me well, and I forced myself to meet her gaze. “Yes. We have to know. Then he can test our other friends. There is far too much at stake to risk putting our trust in anyone unless we know for sure that trust is warranted. We know you will not side with Myst—it’s inborn in your nature to go against the Vampiric Fae.”

  And truth was I was right.

  Eons ago, Geoffrey, before he had taken the name Geoffrey, had attempted to turn the Fae of the Unseelie Court. He had taken Myst down, drank her to death’s door then fed her his blood, hoping she would turn when she died and come back to life. But Myst had not died.

  Instead, she regenerated at a vastly increased rate of healing, and along with her own dark powers, she now possessed the powers of the vampire, along with others that had developed out of the unholy union. The whole idea had
been a conspiracy between the pair, but once Myst found herself growing more powerful than Geoffrey, she had cast him aside as she turned others of her kind.

  The Vampiric Fae fed on life force and body, as well as blood, and they evolved into the Shadow Hunters: ruthless killing machines. Worst of all—the Vampiric Fae could breed. With no more need for Geoffrey’s help, Myst turned against the vampires, creating her own empire. And eventually I had been born, her daughter Cherish, and we came to the New World in search of land in which to breed, and conquer.

  Now, the Vampiric Fae had grown strong, and they were rising, not only to fulfill a long-prophesized war against the vampires, but to spread their disease throughout the land. Turning the magic-born and Fae as they went, they set out to enslave the yummanii and the magic-born as their cattle, and to destroy the balance between Summer and Winter.

  Regina glanced at Lannan, who gave her a subtle nod. “We can do this thing,” she said, “but it will require a price. You know the Blood Oracle requires a sacrifice of—”

  “Of blood. I remember. I will pay it.” I hated the thought of seeing him again. He’d almost killed me. He’d had more of my blood than I ever wanted to give him, and the thought of coming into close contact with him again gave me the creeps. What if he managed to catch hold of me again? What if he tried to finish the job he’d started?

  Grieve must have caught my fear because he stood. “I will go with her. I will not allow her to go there alone.”

  I turned to him. “You can’t. We can’t afford to chance both of our lives. The Barrow must have guidance.”

  “You are the heart of the Barrow, so if anyone remains behind, it must be you.” Grieve’s eyes gleamed in the dim light of the shadowed room. Outside, the snow fell silently, blanketing the already whitened lawn.

  I turned to Regina. “He’ll demand my blood, won’t he?”

  She nodded, a solemn look spreading across her face. “None other will do. I know the Blood Oracle too well. He is . . . unswerving. You escaped him. Now he thirsts for you—to drink you up and leave you a shallow husk. Like all spiders, his thirst never abates. But once we caught him after Geoffrey and Leo set him free, we keep him on a short leash. There is no way to fully guarantee your safety, but we will do as much as we can to keep you from harm.”