Her grey eyes find me in the crowd as I get closer, and she watches me with that steady, unblinking stare that all vampires seem to have innately mastered. The gooey feeling intensifies into a full belly-flip by the time I’m standing before the raised platform where her throne is.
“Good evening,” Crimson says dryly.
“Um, hi,” I reply awkwardly, fiddling with the hem of my skirt. There’s a long, painful silence as we regard each other. Then I decide to just go for it. What do I have to lose? “Listen, I…”
But I’m cut short by another vampire, the one with long blond hair. He appears silently beside Crimson’s throne with a scowl.
“I did what you asked, my king,” he says grouchily, avoiding her gaze. “And I think I managed to smooth things over with the independent witches, although they were disappointed.”
“Thank you, Alin,” Crimson replies curtly, but before she can say anything further, the other vampire has slunk away into the shadows of the lounge. Crimson watches him go with a scowl.
I clear my throat, a little annoyed at being interrupted. I know I’m a human in a vampire clan, but I don’t appreciate that sort of behaviour.
Crimson’s eyes flicker back to me. “You were saying?”
Mustering all my courage, I step a little closer to her throne. “Myking…I’m sorry that I snapped at you the other night. I know you’re a…abusinessperson, and that you have a lot of responsibilities to manage. I shouldn’t have lectured you like that. It was inappropriate.”
I know it’s good to always admit wrongdoing and take accountability in disagreements, so I want to start with that. But it doesn’t mean I’m letting her off the hook. I need to be assertive.
I take a deep breath. “But, I want to let you know that I don’t agree with profiting off of illicit substances. I understand that that’s how you make money, and that I may have benefited indirectly from that, but I just can’t stand by and watch something wrong without saying anything.”
There’s a shimmer in Crimson’s eyes. It’s subtle, but ever since I drank her blood, I’ve been able to notice those sorts of things. Otherwise, she remains completely still. At least she’s not yelling at me, and she hasn’t fired me yet.
Emboldened, I continue, my voice a little stronger now. It’s difficult to say this, but it has to be said. I have to hold firm to my values. “And I respect your autonomy to make your own business decisions. But I want to let you know that, if you’ve decided to get into this business, I can’t continue to…”
“We’re not going to produce glow,” Crimson says.
“You’re…what?”
“I told Alin and the other vampires last night. The Night clan is not going to produce any magically-enhanced drugs,” she repeats, leaning back on her throne. “And I sent a team of my best vampires take out one of Cedric’s warehouses. They should be reporting back any minute now, but I expect they’ll be successful. That should disrupt his supply chain until I can find a morepermanentsolution to that problem.”
I stare at her, totally shocked. Out of every possible outcome, I hadn’t even considered this one. It takes me a moment to process. “Really? You’re just…you’re not going to do it?”
“You were right,” Crimson says, somberly. “It doesn’t make sense to supply a potentially harmful substance with addictive properties to our food source. Murad ran the numbers and at least five percent of users in the past six months have succumbed to magical comas and other significant ailments, directly related to the use of glow. Not to mention the number of living humans who are drained because theirability to consent to being bitten is inhibited while they’re under the influence of other substances. That cuts down on our supply of living humans to feed from, especially ones that are amenable to being bitten by vampires.”
She cocks her head, a few strands of dark hair falling into her eyes.
“It was a bad business decision, so I took your advice. No more glow. Not on the eastern coast.” She lowers her chin. “And trust me, what I sayalwaysgoes.”
There’s a warm, radiating feeling in my chest as I process what she’s saying. I find myself stepping up the platform to her throne. “Sir, I…you don’t know what this means to me…”
“Does it mean that you’re happy?” she asks. There’s a softness in her voice that takes me by surprise.
“Yes,” I whisper. “I’m very, very happy.”
Crimson smiles, looking at me like a prize that she’s won. “Then we should celebrate tonight. Anything you want.”
Looking into her eyes, the words tumble out of me. But as I speak them, I know I mean them with my whole heart. “You’re already everything I want.”
Someone clears their throat behind us. It’s a young vampire guard, who looks anxious at the prospect of interrupting Crimson and I.
“Excuse me, my king,” they say to Crimson. “Kai and the rest of the guard have returned and would like to report back on their mission. They’re waiting in the war room.”
“Excellent,” Crimson says with a nod. She stands, and takes my hand in her’s. It’s another unexpected gesture. She looks down at me. “Paige, I must attend to some business quickly. But it shouldn’t be long. Wait for me here.”
“Yes, sir,” I reply dutifully. “Is it the mission about…Cedric’s warehouse?”
“It is.”
