“I’m sure he thought he had killed her, just as I had,” Naomi said in a firm tone. “She cannot be killed so easily, as we have all learned the hard way. But now that Rourke is mated, it must be like an ocean of salt has poured into the wounds Selene has been licking all this time. She will make him pay in ways you had not thought possible.”
A fine coating of fur sprouted along my arms as I pictured Selene harming him. She was going to be so dead when I was done with her. “That woman is beyond deranged. The world will be a better place without her.”
“There’s no doubt.” Naomi snorted. “I’ve been waiting to rid the world of her for over three hundred years.”
“Did you just snort?” I glanced back, laughing.
Naomi looked sheepish for a moment. “We are not allowed to be so… flippant at court. I have not left court, except to fulfill missions, in too many years to count. It feels… nice to be free.”
“Can vamps go rogue if they want to?” I asked. “A wolf can.”
“No, not really. There is no safe place for a rogue vampire. The Queen controls all the Masters around the world. If we turn our backs on our Queen, we will spend the rest of our days avoiding death by her hand or the hands of her followers. There are smaller courts, ruled by less powerful vampires, all Masters, but Eudoxia is the supreme leader. She has won the right of power. A vampire can swear allegiance to a greater court, but there is none greater than our Queen’s court. If we had sworn first to a smaller court, we could have moved up to the Queen’s court, but you can’t… What’s the word?” She appeared flustered.
“Demote yourself?”
“Oui, you cannot demote yourself to a lesser court. And because of our usefulness to her, she would be enraged at our desertion and stop at nothing to bring us true death. A vampire does not do well alone. It is in our nature to… cohabitate with others.”
“I’m surprised you can share this all with me so freely,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m happy to glean this information. I find it fascinating. But I think we’re coming close to the line. I don’t want you to get in trouble for crossing it because I’m too nosy.” I smiled. “I never thought I’d be friendly with a vamp, but you’re turning out to be okay, Naomi. Vamps aren’t as stuffy as I thought, barring your brother, of course. Is he a typical vamp? That’s how I pictured them all to act.”
Naomi stopped in her tracks.
“What?” I slowed when she didn’t follow me. “Did I say something that’s going to make your face slide? You don’t have to answer anything else if you don’t want to. I didn’t mean to be so intrusive. I know it’s important for each Sect to keep their secrets.”
She hesitated for a moment, shuffling the rocks in front of her. “It’s just… I could not be so free,” she said finally, “if it wasn’t for one thing.”
I waited a few beats for her to answer, but she remained quiet. “What?” I prodded. “Now that we’re closer to Selene’s territory your Queen has less reach over you? Are you too far away? Is there interference here?” I looked around the rocks, trying to spot the reason.
“Non.”
After another small moment, I replied, “What is it then?” Her face was a mask of intensity and it was starting to make me itch. “What’s wrong? You’re killing me here.”
“Your blood,” she said quietly, “seems to have severed my bond too.”
“Excuse me?” I gaped, stumbling over rocks, catching my footing right before I tumbled ass over end down the steep slope. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.” My fingernails dug deeply into the stone wall next to me, steadying me. I prayed I hadn’t heard her correctly. “Did you say my blood broke the bond with your Queen?”
There was a flurry of motion and Eamon landed next to us, scattering rocks and dust in his hurry. “We agreed you would not divulge that information!” Eamon raged. He’d obviously been eavesdropping, and likely Naomi knew it, which was why she had taken so long to answer my questions. “No one would have known. We would have figured out what to do with our Queen. You play with fire, sister, and I will not be part of this any longer.” He shot up into the sky.
We’d been stopped for so long, Danny and Tyler had tracked their way back up to us and it was clear they’d heard the entire back-and-forth.
It was also apparent Naomi had just made a major decision to come clean. She clenched her fists by her sides. “Eamon forbade me to share this knowledge, but he does not rule me,” Naomi stated, her voice stony. Her calm demeanor belied her eyes, which twitched side to side like a bird’s.
My blood was powerful enough to sever a Queen’s bond with her underling? Holy crap. Being able to break that kind of a bond was much different than swapping blood with another wolf. Naomi had likely been warring with herself whether or not to tell me, and by Eamon’s reaction, she’d finally decided to choose me over her brother’s wishes. With her bond being severed, she would either be killed or forced to rebind herself once her Queen found out.