Alin’s eyes shine. He looks over at me eagerly.
“Fine,” I shrug. “Alin, you investigate the potential costs and opportunity. Run it by Murad first for consultation, then send me the completed proposal.”
“I’ll get started immediately, Crimson,” Alin says.
Before we can discuss it further, the double iron doors to the war room open with a boom. Sabina rushes in, her long jacket billowing behind her.
Murad and Alin turn toward the disruption, and I rise from my throne.
“What happened?” I demand.
“Bad news, Crimson,” she says grimly.
One of our vampire guards follows her through the door. In his arms he carries a limp, pale body. I feel myself tense and then go still.
Freckles. Curly hair.
Cassandra.
She’s wrapped in bright red material.
Murad bends over the deanimated corpse, a hard sadness in his eyes. “Staked and drained. And in ared cape.”
“It’s obviously a message,” Sabina says.
“Where did you find her?” I ask.
“She was outside the mansion,” she replies. “At the gates.”
My fingers curl into fists. That’s too close. Much too close.
“Who was patrolling with her last night?” I demand, stepping down from my throne and surveying the attending vampires with a steely glare.
Thomas steps forward from his position at the side of the war room. He’s visibly quaking. “It was…me, my king. After we came back from our shift, she said she was going out again. She didn’t say where.”
I close the distance between us in a millisecond, grabbing him by the collar.
“You let her go on her own?” I hiss.
“I…I’m sorry, sir…she insisted on going! You know how Cassandra is…how shewas…”
I narrow my eyes. “Did she say anything about where she was going? If she was meeting someone?”
He shakes his head frantically, his fangs protruding in fear. I tighten my grip, pulling him closer.
“Youswearyou don’t know anything?”
“I swear on my grave! She left last night, and I didn’t see her again!”
Furious, I throw him to the ground. I address all of the vampires in the room. “Nobodyleaves the mansion alone, do you hear me? If anyone else is staked, their partners will be thrown in locked coffins as punishment. I willnotlose more vampires, and I willnothave Oanadisrespecting our clan.”
Thomas scrambles to his feet, staring at Cassandra’s body with wide eyes.
“Bury her,” I command him. “But get that fucking cape off of her first.”
“Y-yes, Crimson,” he says. He takes her body from the other vampire, and swiftly exits the war room.
Now I round on Sabina. I’m sure my tone is unnecessarily sharp, but I don’t care.
