His hands drifted off the trays he was readying, his lips parted as he stared. They remained like that for a moment before Will found his voice, “They have their reasons.” Kahli crinkled her brows at him.
“Wow. That was helpful.” Will didn’t respond. Instead he turned to the trays and finished preparing things to the Queen’s liking. The crazy Queen. Rising, Kahli stepped behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She spoke his name softly, “Will.”
Will jumped like he was being killed. Breathing hard, he rounded on her and clutched her wrists in his hands. Kahli’s heart raced, slamming into her chest like she’d run a mile. Part of her wanted to defy him and rip her hands away, but she forced herself still. He was acting like a spooked animal. Those eyes, the way he looked at her—they were normally cautious—but now they were beyond apprehensive.
Will snatched her wrists and held her firmly. Yanking her body closer to his, he looked into her face hoping she could sense that she needed to stop talking. There were eyes and ears everywhere, especially in the tasting room. Especially when Kahli’s blood was involved. He said nothing, practically ripping her hands off and staring at her. When she stopped asking questions, he released his grip and took the tray.
Will left the room without a backward glance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Cassie sat on her bed with her back against the wall, her feet tucked under her. Missy and Gene were absent. Kahli was staring at a book, pretending to read but she was really fuming. She’d been there for weeks and the others had been to feedings several times. Why weren’t they using her blood? The thought sent chills over Kahli’s skin. The reason had to be something horrible. When she couldn’t stand Cassie’s eyes burning a hole into the side of her face for another moment, Kahli slammed the book down and asked, “What?”
“Nothing. It’s just… you seem out of sorts. You’re quieter than usual. I can tell something’s bothering you, but you’re not talking.” Cassie was sweet. She just wanted to help.
Laying back on her bed, Kahli stared at the ceiling. “Okay. Let’s talk.” Briefly, she wondered if she should dance around the question, but she was too irritated to be cautious. Without another thought, she blurted it out, “How many times have you been to a feeding since we met?”
Cassie looked confused, like someone asked her to rewire the security gate on the front lawn. “I don’t know. Three. Maybe four times. Why are you asking?”
“Guess how many times I’ve been to a feeding?” Cassie shrugged. “Zero. None. Not once.” She pushed herself onto her side.
“So. Maybe she’s saving you for a special occasion, like a bottle of antique wine.” Cassie grinned, “I hear you’re a rare vintage.”
“Cassie, I’m serious. Everyone has gone several times—everyone except me.”
“It’s not like I want to go. You can take my turn next time. I don’t get why you’re mad about it. It’s not like feedings are fun.” Her hand touched her neck like she was remembering something.
“That’s not what I mean.” She had to reword this so Cassie understood her concerns. Right now they still felt like premonitions, little warning bells that flared to life with no logical explanation. But there had to be a reason. After all the vampires went through to get her and hold her, they had to have something planned. She wanted to know what it was. “I’m not jealous. I’m wondering why they bothered to catch me if they aren’t going to feed from me. I thought that was the entire lure of finding a wild human—that she could restore them to their former power?” Cassie was nodding along like she agreed, “Okay, so then why has no one had more than a few drops? Answer me that. Why would they hold back? It’s like they have something else planned…”
Cassie finally caught on, “Something worse… something where they want your blood to be pure.” Her brows pinched together as she thought. “They didn’t heal you with vamp blood either, right? They let you heal on your own when they brought you in? Then they did the same thing after the Purging.”
Kahli nodded, not saying anything about Will’s blood on her skin. It wasn’t like she could change that and she didn’t think that it counted. “What would they do that required me to be untouched? What’s the difference between a tasting and a feeding anyway?”
“Power,” Cassie’s eyes slowly drifted to Kahli’s. “Oh my god.” Her face went pale.
Kahli stared at her, “What? You can’t say that and then just sit there? What!”
“Power. Blood is power. It’s the essence of what commands them, what controls them. It’s not that the Queen wants to keep you pure, it’s something else. Something about your blood. Something about smaller amounts.” She tapped her nail on her front tooth while she thought. Glancing at Kahli, she asked, “What’d Will say about it?”
“Nothing.”
Cassie’s eyes widened. “That’s not good. He usually spills everything, unless it’s something horrible that he can’t control—like the Purging.” They were both quiet for a moment.
Kahli felt like she should know the answer, but it kept floating away. She shook her head. “Maybe they can’t handle straight wild blood anymore. Maybe they’ve grown accustomed to the watered-down version from their camps.”
“That still doesn’t sound quite right,” Cassie said, her eyes vacant as she thought. “If that were the case, the Queen especially would want to be building up your blood in her system. It would ensure her queendom, and silence any rivals. But she won’t take more than a taste. There has to be another reason.”
“There is, and I bet you anything Will knows exactly what it is.” She glanced at Cassie. “Is there a way to call him here?”
She shook her head. “No. Handlers only show when the Queen wants you.”
“So, let’s make the Queen want me.”
_________
Before she could come up a plan, there was a knock at the door. It opened and another vampire stood there. He was thin and tall, gangly like most of them. His pallor was chalk-white, his eyes black as crow feathers with hair to match. “I am here for Kahli. Please see Mariam and dress for dinner. The King beckons you. I will return for you within the hour.”
Kahli’s eyes went wide. When the vamp closed the door she turned to Cassie, “The King? Why would the King want me?”
Cassie’s gaze locked with hers. “The Purging. You made him look like a fool.”
“I thought he got over it, since he didn’t do anything.” Kahli thought she was home-free. The week had passed and the King didn’t do anything to her. Kahli thought she was in the clear.
“A week, a day, an hour—vampires have screwy concepts of time—especially smaller units of time. The Queen went after another vamp nearly two months after a comment was made at court. This might be old news to you, but it probably feels like recent trauma to the King.”
“Should I go?” She remembered Cassie’s warnings, and Will told her the same thing—stay away from the King.
“I don’t think you have a choice,” worry pinched her face. “Kahli, there’s something you need to know.”
But before she could tell Kahli what it was, Mariam pushed through the doors, “Come now. The King isn’t someone we want to upset.” Mariam stood, her body taking up most of the doorway. She glanced between the two girls once and then turned on her heel, indicating Kahli should follow by snapping her fingers.
Kahli shot a quick glance at Cassie and followed Mariam, hoping that Will would find her before the hour was up.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“These were here last time,” Mariam scrubbed the runes on Kahli’s side with a bristle-brush filled with foam.
Her skin was going to bleed if the woman kept scrubbing, “Mariam, leave it. You’re going to scrub my skin off. It’s a tattoo. It won’t come off. The color fades when it dries off.”
Mariam huffed like it would too come off, but they were running short on time. The bath hall was nearly empty. It was strange. Kahli looked up and down at the empty tubs filled with steaming water. There were at least a dozen girls in the palace. At any given time, about half were in the bathhouse.
“Mariam,” Kahli asked, taking a towel and wrapping it around her wet body, “Where is everyone?”
She shrugged, “Got me. I haven’t seen a few of the girls for a couple of days. It’s not like them to not show up. I was thinking of telling William to look into it. Wouldn’t want them to be covering up a cold or some illness that could have been treated.” Kahli nodded as Mariam spoke, but her mind was drifting back to her roommate’s empty beds, and the lack of women in the living room. She didn’t really notice it until now. The girls were usually together and Kahli was alone or with Cassie. Kahli assumed they were in the bathhouse or that she just kept missing them, but Mariam’s words made her wonder if something else was going on.
Mariam dressed Khali in a silk gown. The supple violet fabric flowed to the floor. When the corset strings on the back of the dress were cinched up tightly, Kahli could barely breathe. Mariam set her in front of the mirror. Kahli didn’t recognize the girl looking back at her. Over the past few weeks she’d changed. The haunted green eyes became vibrant and no longer looked as savage and desperate. Her skin was smooth, her hair tucked into neat curls on top of her head with loose strands flowing down, framing her face. That moment broke her. It fractured a piece of her mind that had lied dormant, waiting to make her escape.
Kahli’s eyes drifted to the objects on the table under the mirror—a silver and gold brush with white bristles and an equally ornate comb with an intricate design that extended onto the long slender handle that ended in a dull point. Mariam used the comb to do Kahli’s hair, pulling back one section at a time until her red mane looked perfect.
Before she could thank Mariam, the vampire that appeared in her room earlier was standing across the bathhouse. The gleaming pale tiles stood in stark contrast to his dark suit, “The King requests your presence.”
Warnings were flashing through her mind, although she didn’t know why. The vampire who brought her to the King was a servant, biding his time—hoping to get enough blood to survive. From the translucent pallor of his skin, Kahli thought he looked ill. She followed a step behind the man, winding through the massive palace until they stopped before a large set of double doors. They were recessed into an archway made of stone. The golden handles gleamed as if they’d never been touched. Kahli’s heart was in her throat. She constructed a faulty plan on their silent walk through the building, all the while secretly hoping Will would intervene, but the boy was nowhere to be seen.
The vampire abruptly stopped and stepped to the side. His pale hand pushed open the door as he bowed. Kahli watched him, her eyes darting between the open door and the vampire staring at the floor. Was he a guard? A messenger boy? Would he wait at the door to retrieve her when the king was done? She felt sick. When he was done doing what? Kahli still felt like she held too many puzzle pieces to understand what was happening. She had the parts, but failed to see how they fit together. Living within the palace walls required survival skills that differed from the set she attained in the wild. There were no fanged beasts, lurking in shadows waiting to pounce on her. Instead they were in plain sight, smiling, waiting to use her body and her blood. Death would not be an option. They would do everything in their power to keep her alive. Which is why, if things went the way she was dreading, she would act.