“How many . . . are you?”
“Thousands, Niece. We arethousandsstrong, and every single one of my faithful parishioners is willing to be changed into a vamfeer for their god. For me.”
“They’ll know...it’s...s’you,” I slurred. “My mother and father will know...you’rebehind it when I don’t return.” But I didn’t know how long it would take before they would begin looking for me. Arnel was the king’s trusted brother. None of us had ever suspected that it could be my father’stwinbehind everything.
Arnel laughed again, the sound condescending. “No, they won’t, because I’ve already sent a dillemsill, in your name, asking for permission to stay here for the night. They know you’re behind my wards, which are as strong as theirs, and since I’m your beloved uncle and the king’s dear brother,andyou have an Imperial Warrior with you, they’ll feel you’re perfectly safe. I’m positive they’ll grant you permission to stay.”
A foggy memory stirred. I was supposed to connect with Kole again mentally this afternoon using my magic. And if I didn’t...
My eyes widened, and I winced when my head pounded more, but it didn’t stop me from warning my uncle what would ensue if he continued. “They’llknow, Arnel! I was supposed to...contact Kole...this afternoon. If I don’t, he’ll know something’s wrong.”
But Arnel just scoffed. “No matter. That’s fixable.”
Fixable?My heartbeat ticked up, and I tried to clear my head and fight again. But my movements were sluggish, my kicks laughably weak. “What you...do to...Royden?” My breath sucked in. “Is he...dead?”
My uncle scoffed. “Of course Royden’s not dead. If your Imperial Warrior died, I would have many questions to answer. And I wasn’t lying when I said he was inside. He’s currently unconscious in the dungeon. Tylen nulled his magic too, and with the help of one of my potions that your warrior breathed in rendering him weak and sluggish, along with my six followers all fighting to restrain him, we eventually bested him.”
Shock rendered me mute. Arnel had thought of everything already, and the depth of my uncle’s craziness hit me.
He’d initially tried to murder me when I’d been born, but when he’d learned that I’d survived and had returned to Whiteolf, he used one of his newly created potions to try to make me a vampire. When that potion had instead been ingested by Timith, he then sent his vamfeers to hunt me down.
But hunt me down for what?
“Why do you . . . want me?”
He laughed. “You’ll see.”
He didn’t elaborate beyond that, and some of the fogginess in my mind cleared. “Did you...place that mental block in...Verin’s mind?”
“Of course.”
“Why would she let . . . you do that?”
“Because she was devout. They all are.”
We reached the end of the hall, and he turned toward a closed door. My eyes widened, and even though my headpounded,I struggled again, kicking and attempting to bite him.
Hetsked. “None of that, Primelle.” He pinned me to him completely, his grip so hard I could barely move. Barely breathe.
But I struggled anew as nausea washed through me. Everything was spinning. The entire realm was a whirling cyclone, but if I went through that door...
“S’you...know...Verin’s dead?” I fought more, hoping to stall him, but he opened the door and crossed the threshold to a bedroom chambers as though my attempts were nothing.
“She is?” His footsteps didn’t slow. They didn’t even falter. “Last I heard, she’d been taken to the supernatural prison on the Nolus continent, but if she’s dead now”—he shrugged—“that’s one less loose end I’ll need to tie up.”
His words hit me like a ton of bricks. I stilled in his arms, and coldness swept through me. He spoke so casually of using and then discarding the servant who had worked in Gwen and Timith’s home.
But Verin’s warning hit me just as fast.“You’re all pawns in the game of night. I am merely a servant, but my liege will get to her eventually. Now that we know for certain who she is.”She truly was a devout God of Night follower, and her liege had been my uncle.
I was going to vomit.
I struggled anew, but my uncle stopped at the bed and tossed me into the air to land on the mattress. But before I could land, a whip of magic encased me.
A rope, which my uncle called with his telekinetic magic, spun around me, moving impossibly fast. Before I couldcomprehend what was happening, the rope cinched tight, locking my limbs to my body.
By the time I hit the mattress, my limbs wereentirelybound.
My uncle laughed. “That’s better.” He dusted his hands off. “And since you already are aware of vampires and vamfeers, I can see you’ve been busy. Tell me, did you find my book interesting?”
