Page 76 of Bloodgrove

“Sit.”

Will lowered himself onto the cushion beside the Red Hand’s armrest, but the man seized his arm and dragged him closer. Will barely managed to brace himself above the corpulent body, but his hand sank against the chest that was far too soft.

“Let me look at you, beautiful.”

A shudder ran down his spine. He would rather hear those words from a skeletal god with its tongue inside his most intimate place than from this man, whose gaze upon his niece was far too hungry.

The ball and its guests blurred into a distant roar. Elodie would not come to rescue him tonight, and Eric… Will glanced toward him. The ambassador watched the scene with an eagle’s eyes, though more as if Will were the problem here.

“What are you searching for about the king?” The Red Hand gasped for breath. His amused cruelty gave way to cold calculation. “What does an outsider want with such knowledge?”

Will went still and gathered his thoughts.

“I want to know whether he is real,” he admitted. There was no point in lying, not when this man seemed able to look straight into his soul. “No one sees him. Only you speak for him. I was worried about Duchess Ormonde.”

“You are forbidden from using the archives. I will tear out your eyes… if… I find you there.”

Will lowered his head, grateful at last to look away. Instead, he stared at the hand clamped around his arm. One of the gold rings bore the crest of House Ormonde.

“What did the vampire say to you?”

Will cast a wounded glance at Eric.

“We are all only bodies of flesh and blood to him. And he is flesh and blood entirely. All flesh and blood belongs to him.’”

The Red Hand went pale.

“Be careful, boy. Here, you are his child as well. And when I look at you… I see only flesh and blood.”

It was foolish, but Will wanted to spit in the man’s face. “I am a child of salt and storm. Your King has no power over me.”

For a moment, the Red Hand hesitated, searching for another point of attack, but Will stood firm. Even though he could not feel the second heartbeat, he knew the Albatross was in his blood. The seconds stretched, and Will lifted his chin, his silver braid falling over his shoulder and down across the lion’s pelt.

The Red Hand’s tongue passed over his cracked lips. “If you touch my niece…” His hand became a vise threatening to break Will’s bones. “I will finish what the vampires began. I will hang you here in this hall. I will let every guest drink from you. Every night. Until you wish you had died with that boy Saint.”

A fit of coughing shook his body. Servants rushed forward and tried to pull Will away the moment the Red Hand released him. But Will remained standing over him, looking down into his eyes as veins turned the whites red and his face darkened while he fought for breath.

“Because you cannot have her?” he said coldly.

It was only a suspicion, but it struck true. The man boiled with rage, which only worsened his coughing. His entire body convulsed with the effort.

Before Will received an answer, the servants led him away. Another cruel piece of the puzzle fell into place. He had met men like this before, and the revulsion sat deep within his soul. It was only a small comfort that he had seen with his own eyes that the Red Hand had not crossed that final boundary with his niece. That Elodie remained untouched.

But Will also knew there were many cruel shades between.

He would help Elodie kill this man.

Chapter 41

The icy wind bit into his cheeks, but for a moment, he forgot the lurking beast of the ball when he stepped out of the house. White flakes, large as feathers, sailed from the night sky and covered the harsh landscape in innocence. Will reached out a hand and watched them gather upon his glove.

“I have not seen that smile on your lips in a long time,” Elodie said as she stepped into the courtyard beside him. Will had assumed she had departed with her fiancé, but there was no sign of the man.

She imitated Will’s gesture, turning her red-gloved hand upward to catch several flakes. Yet as soon as enough had gathered to cover the leather, she grinned and licked them away.

Will laughed in disbelief. Inwardly, he still trembled with anger over what the Red Hand had just revealed, but it faded before Elodie’s radiant confidence. Her eyes held the sparkle of the girl who still dreamed of wonders, mingled with a challenging grin.

“Let us walk for a while,” she said, nodding toward the bridge that vanished into the darkness. The light from the gateway barely reached the gates, and the gargoyles atop the pillars wore white caps upon their horns. Without waiting for him, she crossed the cobblestones, the road disappearing beneath a white blanket. Nearly all the carriages were still waiting. The ball would not end for several hours.