“Dead. The emperor didn’t even turn it into a spectacle. He had them all turned by the vampires they worked for, and then ordered their bodies burned.”
I suck in a sharp breath, and Kaeso slices a glare in our direction. Maeva’s cheeks turn pink, and she wanders away to murmur to Brenin.
“Quiet,” Nyrant calls. “Groups are already assigned, and you’ll find your guardants waiting in your assigned area.”
Leon stands near the back of the hall, talking to Albion and another guardant near the gladians with bronze sigils.
As a gold sigilmarked, I should be with the other golds. But my sigilis still so small—even with its recent growth—if I was ever to truly become a Praesidium guard, I would never be given an important role. I’d have no chance to work my way up the ranks. I would be fodder, sent to the front lines.
Even if I understood how I used Antigrus’s power to create a shield, I can never let anyone see it. I trust the few imperiums who saw what I can do to keep their mouths shut—none of them would do anything that could hurt Tiernon. But I have to be so, so careful around everyone else. The silvery blue sheen associated with griffon power is too recognizable. And I’ve never heard of maginari gifting sigilmarked with power before.
I sprint and sweat and suck in deep, desperate breaths. When Nyrant finally calls an end to training, Leon crosses his arms. “I want to talk to you.”
I gesture for him to get on with it and he shakes his head. “I’ll meet you back at your room after lunch.”
“Fine.”
Kaeso walks past, alone. He was one of the few vampire gladians who chose to be friendly with the sigilmarked, but even his affable charm couldn’t bridge the divide after the emperor ordered the guard Rorrik distracted to be turned.
“Kaeso.”
He stops, his eyes wary.
“I just wanted to say thank you. For helping us at the Circus yesterday.”
His face turns carefully blank. “You need to thank me, to give mepositive reinforcementbecause I’m a vampire and we’re vicious loners who care about nothing but ourselves, is that it?”
I rear back, stung. “No. That’s not it—”
“I saw the horror on your face just now, when you learned the emperor punished sigilmarked whobetrayedthe vampires who trusted them. Vampires who had no choice but to rely on day-walkers to advocate for their best interests.”
Is he trying to convince me that vampires are somehow the victims in this empire—an empire formed by one of the First vampires Umbros ever created?
Kaeso sneers, displaying his fangs. Until now, he’s been extremelycareful to fit in with the sigilmarked. So careful to not be a threat, to be just one of the other gladians.
“Sigilmarked seem to think they’re the only ones who struggle in this empire,” he says. “As if mundanes aren’t barely surviving, and as if vampires don’t fight the call of the sun each and every day.”
My confusion seems to infuriate him, and he takes a step closer, his entire body trembling. Over his shoulder, I catch Maeva watching us, eyebrows lowered in concern.
“I was nine years old when I watched my father succumb to sun madness. Can you imagine what it’s like to watch the servants chain your father to his bed so he won’t sprint out the front door at dawn to burn himself alive?”
Bile burns up my throat. “No. I can’t.”
“The sigilmarked could save us from that,” Kaeso says. “But you refuse to. Andwe’rethe monsters.” He lets out a hollow laugh.
Another vampire who believes the sigilmarked could give them the sun. I open my mouth to repeat what Tiernon told me—that such measures are only temporary—but Kaeso is already stalking away. Maeva gives me a questioning look and I wave at her, signalingI’m fine.
For the first time since I watched Tiernon lose the sun, I truly pity the vampires. They’re held hostage by their need. Already, sigilmarked sell the kinds of tonics Bran favors—brewed by sigilmarked healers who give vampires stark warnings to use only occasionally and with great care due to the risk of madness.
Many of the novices remain in the training hall. The vampires stand in a group, ignoring the sigilmarked, who stare at them with open disgust. The divide is unmistakable.
We may have survived the Sundering, but the cracks are beginning to show. Just days ago, we made it through the naval battle together, fighting side by side. But the emperor’s choice toturna sigilmarked has done what three brutal challenges in the arena could not: it’s reminded the sigilmarked and vampire novices that we will always be enemies.
“Arvelle? What was that about?” Maeva nods in Kaeso’s direction and I sigh.
“He’s … upset. You know he was friendly with some of the others, and they’ve turned on him.” Kaeso was one of the few vampires whowantedto be friends with the sigilmarked. One of the few who wasn’t entirely convinced of vampire superiority.
Maeva lowers her voice to the barest whisper. “I’m not surprised he’s upset. I heard one of the vampires who was betrayed walked into the sun yesterday. The emperor is keeping it quiet, but apparently the vampire thought his emissary was his friend. The betrayal pushed him over the edge and into sun madness.”
