A distinct gasp and a hissed, “What?”
The eyes disappeared, and a moment later, the doors swung up and open, and a woman holding a more modern gun from S’Kir appeared. “Truly? You come in the name of the Breaker?”
“We do,” Aiko answered.
All five men gazed hard at me.
Like I didn’t know to keep my mouth shut.
“Come. Come in,” the woman said, motioning us forward. “We’ll decide if you’re lying inside.”
We filed down the stairs, with Aiko leading the way and Dorian bringing up the rear. It was pitch black in the shadows, and the only light came from the doors. It was set up in such a way that all could see us, but we could see no one in the dark.
The woman shut the doors behind us, plunging us all into the dark. A light appeared on the ceiling, lit with electricity. It wasn’t bright, but it was more than enough for the dark, small room.
We were surrounded by men and women—vampires all—holding guns on us.
The woman at the door walked around us and stood in front of the whole group. “Who are you? And what do you want?”
“We’re here on behalf of the Breaker,” Dorian announced. “And we seek Queen Gwynnore.”
Glancing around, she voiced the collective question. “Who is Queen Gwynnore?”
“My female,” Belshazzar said.
“Another queen?”
“My queen, my female, being held by your Queen Niniane.”
“Niniane is not our queen. She is a madwoman who assumed the rule of this place after the death of Savion,” the woman said. “Our queen is the Breaker.”
The silence after that proclamation was deafening. The five men surrounding me all had different reactions: Dorian rolled his eyes; Belshazzar was annoyed; Roran, Rilen, and Aiko were all stunned in their own ways.
“Excuse me, please?” I asked. “Could you say that again?”
“It was declared that the Breaker should take the place of the king after his death, as Niniane assumed his throne,” she said. “How do you not know this?”
“We’re druids from Western S’Kir,” Rilen said. “We wouldn’t have heard of it because Niniane’s soldiers are too busy destroying our cities and countryside.”
“You are not all druids.” She stared at Aiko and Belshazzar.
“Look, can you all figure this out later?” the king rumbled. “Niniane took Gwen, and we need to get her back. As fast as we can.”
The group exchanged looks. I wanted to know more, but I was also not in the position to question anyone about what was going on.
They wanted me to be queen? What the hell?
As far as they knew, the Breaker was a druid, and there was no way that I could be a queen of the vampires.
My head snapped around to Belshazzar as I remembered that—he had said he was king of the druids in his world.
Could a druid—half druid—rule the vampires here?
A man in a military uniform that all of Savion’s soldiers wore stepped forward. “The queens—both of them—are missing. We don’t know exactly where Niniane is. She is not in the Stronghold. We still get communiques from her, through her loyalists, but no one has seen her for a week.”
“It makes sense that she’s not in the Stronghold,” I said.
Aiko nodded. “She’s too paranoid about staying in a public place where people can hunt her down.”
