“What kind of business?” the elf questioned.
“You’ll see.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
PARIS
“His Glorious Majesty, King Silvanus!” someone announced.
The ballroom of dancing vampires paused, the string quartet falling silent.
Dressed to the nines, the bloodsuckers gathered on the gleaming obsidian marble floor, bowing to their king while shooting me some quizzical looks.
My senses pinged with alert, my blood stirring, all of me ready to kill.
Silvanus asked them to continue, the musicians and dancers immediately getting back to business.
The king offered me his arm.
“What’s that for?” I questioned.
“Link yours with mine,” he said.
And touch you?“Why?”
“Because I said so.”
Refraining from an epic eyeroll, I did as he asked. Man, this felt so wrong, so alien.
Kind of awesome…
We walked in step, my skin crawling, my curiosity a series of whispers I quickly buried under a ton of concrete.
I took in the ballroom, ignoring the vamp death stares. It was absolutely huge with tall ceilings and grand paintings hanging on the shiny ruby walls. Eight golden chandeliers hung on golden chains, sparkling and expensive looking. A pain for my eyes like the rest of this damn palace. Too gaudy, too fancy, too soulless.
The best part were the flowers spread around the edges of the room, nestled in ornate gold vases. Lilies, jasmine, some white orchids.
My heart ached for my poor Oliver. Man, I missed him so much. He’d been such a tough little guy, only to end up broken because of this prick beside me.
Well, because of me tumbling into the mantelpiece, but whatever. It was Silvanus’s fault.
I thought my hellos at the flowers, grateful for their essence. Their colors and perfumes became richer, their stems thicker.
Man, I’d never get tired of that.
Thrall guards in their red clothes lined the room’s perimeter, joined by vampire guards dressed in even fancier black uniforms. They flanked the three doors and the four sets of huge, curved widows, hints of a starry night beyond the glass.
We arrived at an elevated platform with a black throne studded with rubies, two smaller chairs beside it. No rubies in those, just plain with black upholstery.
Elio stood beside the left one, his head dipped.
“Sit,” the king ordered, gesturing for me to take the right chair.
What happens now?I wanted to ask, parking my backside on the squishy seat.
Instead, I mirrored Elio’s perfect posture, folding my hands in my lap. I kept my eyes forward on the dancers, listening to the pretty music.
There were so many vamps. At least a hundred, maybe even more. And various mortals amongst them, every one of them beaming, proud to have made it to the palace on the arm of a fanged fucker.
