Lord Pippin dropped his head back and groaned loudly at the ceiling. “Oh fuck. That is happening?” He sighed and fell to his back against the hard floor. “Good God, we’re going to be here forever.”
My confused gaze flicked between the overlords.
In the resulting silence, I finally questioned, “Did I do something wrong? Should I have used more blood? I could fix it if I did. I’ll slice my wrist if I need to.”
They couldn’t send me packing. I wouldn’t let them.
Cato grunted, his face smashed against the cushion. “If only the problem were that easy to fix, my darling.”
I lost my cool, hissing, “Quit calling me that crap! You have no right!”
Another grunt was all I received in return.
Lord Belshazzar rubbed at his forehead, resting the back of his head against the glass. “Allow me to explain further, candidate.”
He was still calling me a candidate. That was a good sign. The tension in my shoulders eased some.
He continued, “You see, honestly, the vast majority of the eldest vampires are here. The fact that not one of them has come is a clear indication of what is happening.”
I leaned forward, silently pushing him to expound on his words.
The old lord almost appeared hesitant to say. But he cleared his throat, and forged onward, “It means, Gwynnore, that your match is not a vampire.”
My shoulder slammed into the barrier as my legs weakened. “Huh?”
“Your match is either a human or a druid. Most likely a druid with the amount of power we had to push into the spell.”
I couldn’t stop blinking.
I was feeling faint, my head swimming.
I decided it would be best if I sat.
Though it was more of a slide down the glass, the screech hideous inside the silent room. My butt landed right next to the oldest vampire—the scariest one of all. I tilted my head and stared up into his ice blue eyes. “How in the world can that be?”
He hummed softly, his head teetering back and forth in thought. “You said you weren’t good with relationships. Perhaps it wasn’t really that. You are very headstrong, and the druid laws are more lax with females. The vampires in the stronghold obviously wouldn’t mesh well with you.”
A gurgle escaped my throat. “So we’re going to have a bunch of horny druids descending in here?”
He nodded, his nose scrunching. Even he didn’t like the idea. “I believe so.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, closing my eyes. “Ihatedruids.”
Lord Belshazzar bumped his shoulder gently against mine. “They aren’t all bad.”
“Every single druid I have met has an ego the size of this mountain,” I growled. A disgusted shiver ran down my spine. “Do we even allow a druid to be our king?”
He rubbed his forehead again. “We do. It is the law that we follow the magic.”
I banged the back of my head against the glass a few times in frustration. “And I bet our people will love this.”
His sigh was profound. “Whoever is chosen will have an uphill battle.”
“How does this really even work, though? When he becomes an overlord, he won’t be able to help you with any rituals on the Original vampire amulet—only vampires can.”
“No, remember what Lord Cato said. Only overlords can wield it.”
Adelie muttered, “Fan-fucking-tabulous. A druid will get his grubby hands on our most prized procession.”
