I can’t kill Galen now; that would be foolish. I need to plot this wisely.
The noble cries, his hands slapping to his neck, “She… she fed from me!”
“Close the doors!” Galen shouts to his men. He whirls on the noble. “Drop your hands. Show me the bite.” The noble does. “Heal it.”
The noble gulps. Vampires, mages, and fae have accelerated healing, but we need to focus on it; it’s like a state of meditation, which is hard to do in battle.
“I said, heal it.”
“I… I can’t.”
Galen’s jaw clenches. “You,” he points to another noble, “Cut your palm and stop his bleeding.”
The noble does as ordered and covers his friend’s bite. Vampire blood has clotting properties, but when he removes his hand, the wound still bleeds.
“I feel faint.” In seconds, the nobleman collapses.
“Put pressure on it, as humans do.” Adrian steps forward. “You,” he orders the soldier, “go get a healer. He’s suffering blood loss.”
“Wait!” I step forward and glance at the child. She didn’t deserve heart stabbing… regardless of her being a monster. There are kinder ways to kill. “Try her blood,” I suggest.
“What?” the king exclaims incredulously.
“Maybe it clots as ours does.”
“You heard him!”
We wait with bated breath as one of the soldiers presses her blood to the wound. When he removes his hand, the bleeding slows.
The noble’s eyes land on me. “Hero! You saved me.”
Shit!Galen’s eyes dig into my side. “Thinking fast does not warrant the title of hero,” I respond humbly.
“Nonsense.” The noble staggers to stand.
“What the fuck was she, Adrian?” Galen roars so loudly he has to reach up and steady his crown. His outburst takes the attention off me, thankfully.
“She acted as a human, smelled as a human.”
“Clearly,” he jabs a finger at her, “she is not human!”
“You are very wise, King.” Adrian remains calm, but I can read his insult from here.
“Enough with the pissy mood because I called you back to the castle!”
Adrian dips his chin and adds, “It seems our nuisance has escalated into a problem.”
Galen flashes his fangs. “Solve it!” he roars. “Eject thosethingsfrom this castle!” He glares at the Shade and the girl. “If I hear one single word, a single mention, or a whisper of gossip over what happened, I will hang you from the vines on my walls. Do you understand? This will never be mentioned! The last thing I need are whispers of a plague, or whatever the fuck she was. Do you understand?”
We all nod.
Galen storms to the door. “And clean up this mess!” he hollers over his shoulder.
I stalk Adrian down the halls. Does he think I’ll let him go?
He soon reaches his office and waves me in; the door closes, activating a silencing spell. He unstraps his longswords, then sinks into his chair, head in hand. “I did not know he would kill her.”
I have no wise reply.
