He inclined his head in agreement but didn’t comment further.
Instead, he handed her a matching necklace he pulled from a satchel she hadn’t noticed, his cool fingers accidentally brushing hers before he quickly drew back.
She searched his blue eyes for answers. She hadn’t felt any loss of her senses, and his eyes identified him as royal.
“Your touch doesn’t impair me the way Zarus’s does. Why is that?”
His attention sharpened.
Bollocks, she cursed silently. She remembered too late that she was supposed to be human. Alexei looked at her for a long minute, then finally answered.
“Zarus is a blight.” Alexei’s icy gaze hardened. “He needs adoration almost more than he needs blood. In his mind he is a god, and he wants to be worshipped as such, even if he manufactures it through abuse of power. He rarely listens to advisors, and his hubris damages his court. He recently provoked Prince Wrath, which resulted in…” He shook his head. “Zarus’s reign ended when he made that move. It’s only been a matter of when he is deposed.”
Camilla was surprised any predator felt a moral obligation to use their magic only when necessary.
“If Prince Envy defeats him, will you take the throne?”
“When His Highness defeats him,” Alexei corrected, “I will return to House Envy.”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
Alexei glanced at the billowing white sheer drapes separating the royal box from the chaos beyond, the chalices of alcohol-spiked blood, the mortals being seduced and bitten.
If he longed to indulge like his brethren, he didn’t let it show.
“I choose to be His Highness’s second-in-command. There is much to learn from the way he runs his court. One day I might decide to return here, but for now our arrangement is mutually beneficial.”
“Does Envy know you’re studying his court?”
Alexei’s smile broadened. “Of course. It was his idea.”
Trumpets blared near the fighting pit, three short blasts that made the hair along the back of Camilla’s neck rise.
Alexei shifted his attention to Blade, a silent conversation seeming to take place between them before the latter inclined his head and stepped into the shadows.
“Relax,” Alexei murmured, “Envy will not lose.”
Relaxing in a tower full of blood-drunk vampires while one of the only allies she had in this realm battled to the death wasn’t possible. If Envy didn’t make it…
Camilla wasn’t sure there was much hope that she’d find her way back to Waverly Green. Alexei might try to bring her to House Wrath, but what chance did he stand of getting them to safety if the demon prince fell?
She perched on the edge of her seat, staring down.
Camilla fixated on the white sand below, on the two gated caverns on opposite sides from which she imagined each prince would emerge.
A giant humanoid creature wearing a crudely made wolf head helmet that completely hid its face strode out, muscled chest bare, tattooed arms and thighs the size of an elephant. It had to be at least twelve feet tall and was built like a mountain.
Camilla couldn’t imagine anyone fighting it and walking away with their life.
Alexei scoffed.
“Canidae. Unoriginal as far as taunts go. But that’s Zarus.”
“How is it a taunt?”
It certainly didn’t seem like a taunt to her. It seemed like Death walking.
“Envy’s House symbol is a double-headed wolf. A green-eyed monster. Canidae, known as the Wolf of the Western Isles, was chosen to mock the prince.”
In one meaty hand it swung a flail that had two spiked balls attached via chain. It was positively medieval—a weapon made popular in ancient blood sports, of which she’d seen many gruesome paintings throughout the years.
Camilla supposed that was exactly what this was: blood sport.
The giant creature swung its weapon at the crowd, the cheers growing impossibly louder as it swaggered around the arena.
It thrust its unoccupied hand at the stands, taunting, daring someone to come and fight.
To her horror, she realized it wasn’t wearing a helmet—the creature had a wolf’s head with a man’s body; it was barking and growling as the crowd tossed someone over the wall, directly at the monster.
Without seeing its eyes, she couldn’t tell whether the victim was a human or a vampire, but she saw how terrified he was; a steady trickle of urine glistened down his leg, earning more jeers from the raging crowd.
Everything happened quickly after that.
In a blur of metal flashing and flesh shredding, the creature had beaten the male until he was an unidentifiable mass of raw meat, his dying screams bloodcurdling as they echoed up the tower.
Blood coated the male from head to toe; part of his arm hung off, severed at the wrist, dangling by a stubborn tendon. His left eye had been bashed out, oozing something foul-looking.
Camilla squeezed her eyes shut, fighting the overwhelming urge to vomit.
The creature had been aiming for the male’s skull, and she did not need to witness what happened when that killing blow connected with its target.
Silence fell, metal cracked bone, then the crowd went wild.
Vibrations from the seats below rattled her bones.
“It’s over,” Alexei said, leaning close. “The body is gone.”
Camilla’s stomach twisted violently as she stared down at the pool of blood that had just contained someone’s life. It was beyond horrifying.
Beyond a nightmare.
And it was only just beginning.
With blood still dripping down the smooth stone walls, Envy strode into the arena looking like an indolent royal out for a stroll among his adoring court, completely unconcerned with the giant storming toward him, flail swinging, gore from its last victim splattering the mixed crowd of vampires and their human pets in the nearest stand, its muzzle nearly black with entrails.
Camilla realized with sudden horror that the body of its last victim was gone because Canidae had eaten it. No bone, no flesh remained.
Still, Envy walked out, his body language bordering on bored.
The demon prince wore a crisp suit, a stylish waistcoat, and a pair of freshly pressed trousers tailored to him exceptionally well. Not ideal fighting clothing.
Camilla wasn’t sure whether he was brilliant or mad. Perhaps a little of both.
“What’s happening?” she asked, searching for the vampire prince. “Why is he fighting that creature?”
“Zarus will strike as soon as Envy is focused on Canidae.”
“Isn’t that against the rules?”
Alexei flashed her a grim look.
“There are no rules.”
The wolf-headed creature, Canidae, descended like a storm. The way it had been fighting earlier… it had been only halfheartedly.
Canidae focused on Envy with singular brutality.
Its footsteps shook the arena, its war cry the most terrifying thing Camilla had ever heard. It sounded like all hope had been lost, like blood and death had been its only friends for millennia. And Envy threatened to take them away.