Yet when Barnabac’s call pulls my mind, I am obliged to answer.
I hate the control he has over me. There’s nothing I can do to defend myself from it, short of draining all of Sephania’sblood. Perhaps then, withonlyLoreblood pumping through me, my connection with my tyrannical master would be severed completely, at last.
I pray to the Damned for the day.
Barnabac scowls at me from his chair. “Speak, my son. You’ve been quiet for too long. I don’t like when you use your brain. It’s unbecoming of a soldier.”
From my chair, sitting across from him in the sparse tower room, I say, “Overlady Alacine is after the blood because it is a great weapon, Master.”
He quirks a bushy brow, pulling at the sagging skin of his neck. “The Mistress of Webs wants this girl for her own, does she?”
I nod, my beard brushing my chest. I’ve piqued his interest. Even though the Five Ministers are allegedly allies, no vampire is ever an ally for long.
“What kind of weapon, my son? How can you verify the veracity of the Loreblood’s potency?”
“Because I have tasted it, Master. It . . . awoke powers inside me.”
He leans forward, fully absorbed. “Such as?”
“My bloodrage became stronger, more virile.” I spill Sephania’s secrets like they’re common news. “My urges abated some, after meeting her.”
Barnabac lets out a snort of a laugh. “You always were one of my more lustful broods. What else?”
“That . . . is all,” I say, clearing my throat.
The overlord stands from his chair and stamps toward me. His red-veined armor clanks as he walks, and once he stands over me he frowns. When his eyes squint, studying my face for signs of deceit, pressure builds behind my eyes. The pressure becomes agonizing, making me clench my teeth until the forceof his compulsion has me sure my teeth will break if my mind doesn’t first.
“Don’t lie to me, Vallan Stellos,” he snarls. The pale affect of his face hardens, green veins pulsing on his neck through his alabaster skin. “I have other ways of making you talk.”
The pressure loosens and I sag in the chair, breathing heavily. Blinking up at my master, I croak, “I can sense when Sephania Lock is in danger, with appalling accuracy. It’s a curse, Master, not a blessing. I wish for it to go away. The bloodsight haunts me, makes me jittery when I was stoic and assured before.”
Barnabac tilts his head slightly, brushing a musing palm over his beard braid. “My poor boy. Thieved of your confidence, forced to care for this witch, are you?”
“Yes, Master.”
He nods and reaches out to run a hand through my mop of straggly hair. The Red Butcher surprises me with the tenderness of his touch, bringing his knuckles down my cheek in a light caress. “Do you recall your life before me, Vallan?” Something menacing colors his eyes.
“That was a long time ago, Master Barnabac.” I want to pull away from his lurid touch, but I can’t. His voice has gone softer, raspy, choked with something I don’t want to think about.
“That’s not an answer.”
“No, sire. I don’t remember.”
His shoulders stiffen when he nods, and then he loosens his body. I’m tempted to squirm where I sit, his fingers moving down to my beard, but I don’t. I force my gaze to meet his, craning my neck.
“I think it’s high time you remember, boy.” Abruptly, Barnabac seizes my beard. His voice becomes a growl, losing its softness in an instant. He wrenches my neck further back, pulling up on my beard.
My hands bunch into fists at my sides. The pressure of his call forces them down—forces me to obey.
With his free hand, Barnabac reaches down past the iron faulds of his armor, disappearing into the flap of his waistcoat. He comes out holding his thick cock, which I recall much more keenly than I do my past life.
I don’t react when Barnabac shoves his cock against my face, pressing hard against my lips.
“Open,” he orders.
Fighting down the bile from the smell of him, I do as I’m told. My master spears past my parted lips and grows larger in my mouth. He holds my beard and head steady until he’s fed himself inside my maw.
“Look at me,” he demands, and I do, my eyes leaking as he begins to thrust his hips, pushing his cock deeper into my throat.
