“Maybe,” Vitas answered. “One could hope.”
The king continued to chuckle as he stood up. “Such lovely naïveté. Truly. Also, impressive that you managed to get over that pile of rocks in one piece. I hear tell you are all pampered and lazy over in the west.”
Slowly, one deliberate step at a time, he moved around the group. He studied us, but it was the observations of a man who had forgotten how to do anything for himself.
“My men tell me the Breaker is among you.” The statement was threatening. “Here’s my deal to you. First, if the Breaker steps forward, I will release the rest of you. Second, if they do not, I will kill all of you. One at a time.”
“Why would you want to talk to the Breaker?” one of the soldiers asked. “The job is done. There’s no significance to the title.”
“That’s a foolish thing to think, druid.”
It was?
The king moved to the throne again. “So. The Breaker can step forward, and I will let all of you go back to your council, temple, king, whatever, or you can remain hidden, and all of you will die one by one. Including the Breaker.”
Roran spoke. “We demand to see the overlords.”
The cackle he unleashed was disturbing. “The overlords? Why of course! Why not? Old fops have nothing better going on right now. General Odom! Let them see the overlords.”
A man in a gray uniform walked to the side of the throne’s dais and pulled on a rope.
I fully expected a bell to ring, or a door to open. Something to summon these overlords to the room we were in.
Instead, the curtains lifted.
On the wall behind the throne were six vampire heads.
WHILEIDESPERATELY TRIEDNOT TO THROW UPagain, Roran laughed and shook his head.
“Six, your highness? You couldn’t just stop at the five overlords?”
“Of course not. Why would I? The person who betrayed me had to die too, don’t you think? And she makes such a lovely addition to those faces…”
He looked up and actually admired his work.
“Did you have to hang them up?” Carolee asked.
“Naturally.”
This guy was sick.
Leaning back in the throne again, he smiled at the general standing there. “Odom, thank you. You may lower the curtains.” He grinned, his fangs showing this time. “I find that as long as I don’t expose them to too much light, they need less care. You wouldn’t believe how messy they were when we finally switched from torch to light bulb.”
He steepled his fingers. “My restorer at the time couldn’t guarantee he could save them. Odom, where is Margulies?”
“Third floor, your majesty. Almost ready for his first dunking.” Odom’s voice was emotionless.
Dunking? Oh, gods…
“So, back to my offer. The Breaker or your deaths.”
I swallowed, staring straight ahead. I saw all three of the other masters wagging their hands at their sides to say nothing.
“The Breaker isn’t here,” Vitas said. “It’s too dangerous to take her out of West S’Kir.”
“Mmm.” He picked at the arm of the chair. “Shame. I’ll have to kill you then.”
He flipped his hand at the guard to the right. The vampire pulled out his sword and moved it into a strike position, eyeballing the three closest people—including Roran.
