Page 31 of Bloodgrove

Will glanced at Elodie. She had slipped beyond the man’s reach, and despite the paint covering her face, Will knew she had gone pale. But she nodded.

Carefully, he approached, passing the vampires who had turned once more into forgotten dolls. He stopped beside the man’s feet, hidden beneath the folds of his vast garment, and looked down at him uncertainly.

“Kneel.”

Will lowered himself to the place where Elodie had been sitting only moments before.

“Beautiful. Almost like a woman.” The Red Hand examined him as though inspecting meat for purchase. With Elodie, he had shown some restraint, preserving the faintest trace of etiquette. Now his broad mouth lifted into a greasy smile that made Will’s hair stand on end. “What is your name, pretty thing?”

“William Frank, Your Highness.” He lowered his head as expected.

“Give me your hand, William Frank.”

“No.” Elodie had regained her composure and fixed her uncle with a sharp look. “You will not have his blood.”

The Red Hand laughed and waved her objection away. “Are you worried he is not strong enough? That his will would bend to my command?”

“Your Highness, no one can resist you.”

The compliment appeared to please him. He sank back against the cushions of the strange platform, which Will was slowly beginning to understand was a throne. “I do not yet see what you intend to do with him. I like that.”

Will’s knees ached, and he lowered his gaze, unable to continue looking into the man’s swollen face. At this distance, he could also smell the rot and inflamed flesh devouring his body.

“When you are finished with him, give him to me. I would make him my slave before the night is over.”

“I am not an object to be traded,” Will managed, his hands curling into fists against his pants.

“Hmm…” The Red Hand practically purred. “He looks so obedient. But there is a brat in him. My favorite kind. Do you look this angry—” He paused, wheezing for breath. “—when you have a cock in your mouth?”

Will froze.

Elodie sighed and rose. “Will, let us go. The Red Hand needs his rest before all this excitement makes his heart leap from his chest. Oh, I forgot—he does not have one.”

The Red Hand laughed deeply. “It was good of you to dispose of your father. Bold.”

Will scrambled to his feet and bowed hastily. He could not escape the dais and the vampires fast enough, and he had to stop himself from shaking off his disgust like a wet dog. His head roared, overwhelmed by all the information, veiled insults, and insinuations he was trying to piece together. The picture he held of Elodie gained new depth—black and unfathomably deep.

“Are we going to talk about that?” he asked as soon as they were beyond the Red Hand’s hearing. Even then, he cast one uneasy glance over his shoulder, and his entire body shuddered.

Elodie’s mask threatened to crack. “About what? What am I supposed to explain to a tourist?”

“I don’t know… the vampires?” Will backpedaled.

Elodie sighed and waved a servant over. Dark-red liquid swayed in tall crystal glasses across the tray. Elodie took the only one containing something clear. “Vampires are like humans with weak minds. If a mage drinks their blood, they obey. Keeping vampires as slaves is forbidden, but no one cares about the law when you are powerful enough.”

Will was about to ask his next question when Elodie raised a hand. “Do not expect me to explain my family history next. And be careful before you celebrate earning the Red Hand’s favor. He follows through on his threats.” Without blinking, she threw back the liquor.

“You played your part masterfully,” Will said. In the ballroom’s dim light, she looked beautiful, like a creature from another world trapped inside a display case too small to contain her. But he could also see her edges fraying, her composure slowly slipping no matter how tightly she gripped the reins.

“Thank you?”

“No one—not even Mr. Arcos—makes you as angry as that man. And yet everyone is watching you with respect and fear now.” Indeed, the whispered chorus around them had changed; there was reverence in it now.

Elodie’s shoulders relaxed, and her posture grew lighter, as though she had taken her first proper breath since speaking to the Red Hand.

“Thank you. But do not be fooled, thinking you understand what is happening here.”

“Never.”