On my heart, the smug satisfaction that flashes over Horus’ drunken face makes adrenaline rush through me.
This isn’t something that they will do.
This is something that they have done.
Why did Horus react to me talking about Dove?
Suddenly terrified, I tighten my arm around Freya and spin back to the food tables.
But Dove is gone.
I hiss out a furious breath, sweeping my gaze across the crowds.
I shouldn’t have allowed Dove the freedom to move further away from me, but he was wearing my crown.
To touch him would be to have a death wish.
“Where is my Blood Lover?” I roar above the music. “Who would dare to touch my King?”
The crowd turn to me in shock, as the musicians break off their song.
I don’t see the musicians, however, I only see the way that the dancing troop part to reveal the silver altar, inlaid with bone, beside the food table where I last saw Dove.
The altar, which serves as the platform for blood sacrifices.
The altar, which Dove is now stretched across with his arms and wings shackled down by iron chains.
“What in the name of the Void…?” I snarl.
Dove’s mouth is gagged with an iron bit that is burning the corners of his stretched lips.
My pulse pounds in my ears.
My heart hammers in my chest.
This masked ball was a set up.
Yet doesn’t Isis understand that I won’t throw myself into the Void, if my King is harmed? I will let the Void Devils through to damn every realm.
I will end the world.
Instantly, my fangs and claws elongate.
I start to surge forward, until I meet the eyes of the vampire who is holding the knife to Dove’s throat.
Something in me dies.
“Before you do anything rash, my King,” Heka’s bloodless voice carries through the hall, “this fae isn’t who he says he is.”
My tutor is the only unmasked vampire in the hall. He isn’t dressed for the event, which he never normally attends. Instead, he is wearing his usual pure white floor-length kilt and the diamond scarab beetle collar that I gifted to him.
The collar marks him out as important and valued in court. It should also mark him as belonging to the House of Sin, but Heka has never belonged to anyone or anything but the pursuit of magic.
“Heka,” my brow furrows with confusion, “you never accept invitations to these events. Why would you…?”
My tutor shouldn’t be here. He isn’t like the rest of the Blood Court. He doesn’t care about power, only his experiments.
He called melittle prince…
