Though it was more of a slide down the glass, the screech hideous inside the silent room. My butt landed right next to the oldest vampire—the scariest one of all. I tilted my head and stared up into his ice blue eyes. “How in the world can that be?”
He hummed softly, his head teetering back and forth in thought. “You said you weren’t good with relationships. Perhaps it wasn’t really that. You are very headstrong, and the druid laws are more lax with females. The vampires in the stronghold obviously wouldn’t mesh well with you.”
A gurgle escaped my throat. “So we’re going to have a bunch of horny druids descending in here?”
He nodded, his nose scrunching. Even he didn’t like the idea. “I believe so.”
“Oh my God,” I groaned, closing my eyes. “I hate druids.”
Lord Belshazzar bumped his shoulder gently against mine. “They aren’t all bad.”
“Every single druid I have met has an ego the size of this mountain,” I growled. A disgusted shiver ran down my spine. “Do we even allow a druid to be our king?”
He rubbed his forehead again. “We do. It is the law that we follow the magic.”
I banged the back of my head against the glass a few times in frustration. “And I bet our people will love this.”
His sigh was profound. “Whoever is chosen will have an uphill battle.”
“How does this really even work, though? When he becomes an overlord, he won’t be able to help you with any rituals on the Original vampire amulet—only vampires can.”
“No, remember what Lord Cato said. Only overlords can wield it.”
Adelie muttered, “Fan-fucking-tabulous. A druid will get his grubby hands on our most prized procession.”
“The magic will choose well,” Lord Belshazzar assured. “It always does. Everything happens for a reason.”
I held up an instant finger. “Except for that one time it didn’t. I was listening earlier.”
“Not very well,” Elder Otto grumbled. “The match wasn’t ideal, but the king was. There is a difference.”
“This isn’t good.” I placed my face into my waiting palms, hiding from my misfortune.
“Uphill battle. But not impossible,” Lord Belshazzar reminded. “And with the overlords backing the new king—druid or not—our people will trust in us. Our pasts have won over the people, and that is how they remember us. Trustworthy and loyal. We wouldn’t back someone if we didn’t believe in them.”
I dropped my hands from my eyes and slumped onto my side. The chill of the ground was delicious against my fevered body. I growled in frustration. “I hope you’re right.”
Lord Belshazzar snorted. “Get up, Gwynnore. If the Unseen Gods saw how pitiful you looked right now, a candidate to the throne—”
“The Unseen Gods are only a myth,” I cut him off, bravery loosening my lips. “I can’t believe you believe in them.”
Though, I did sit up.
Ice blue eyes caught mine, sending chills down my spine. He rumbled, “I believe in a great many things. Live long enough, and you will too, candidate.”
One night in the old jail turned into two nights.
Then three nights.
On the fourth day, we were all a sight for sore eyes.
Though we had learned blood bags could be tossed into the room.
By females. Not males.
No men could enter the cavern who shouldn’t be here right now.
We weren’t thirsty anymore, but we were damn grumpy.
Thank goodness for the tiny shower in the bathroom.
Or we would have stunk too.
Lord Xenon rubbed at his chest and stared at the cauldron. “This is getting absurd.”
“It’s getting absurd?” Lord Otto growled. “It passed absurd two days ago. We’ve entered What the Fuck Land.”
I choked on a laugh.
I hadn’t known he had a sense of humor.
Cato prowled from one end of the room to the other. For hours straight. He rubbed the back of his neck fiercely, muttering, “It feels like there’s a whole damn legion of druids coming.”
Instantly, I sobered. All mirth was gone. “What do you mean?” Asshole.
Lord Belshazzar was doing a backbend, stretching his muscles…then he started walking on his hands and feet across the room, still in his backbend. Bored silly. It was the oddest thing to watch. He grumbled, “The power that’s holding the spell. It’s our magic. We feel it being pulled.”
Adelie cocked her head, eyeing him. “You know, Lord Belshazzar, you’re very limber.”
He snorted. Winked from his upside down position. “You have no idea.”
I waved my hands in the air, now playing the part that he had originally. “No one should be flirting right now.”
Because, damn, I was even starting to eye Lord Belshazzar’s ass. My hormones were going into overdrive the longer I waited to get laid after my Rest. Two hundred years and my pussy hadn’t seen any action. I needed to have a cock rammed so far up my— “Hey, do you guys feel that?” Adelie interrupted my daydream. She stood to her feet and gradually walked to the glass barrier. Her small hands pressed against the glass as she leaned forward. “It feels like…”
“Like a small earthquake.” Lord Xenon stepped up beside her. “I guess Lord Cato was correct. It is a legion of druids descending on our home.”
In a rush, we all plastered ourselves to the glass.
And waited.
I despised druids with a burning passion, but I was ready to get out of here.
As soon as they all came, we could leave this place.
The entire lot of us jolted on our feet when the door to the cavern jarred hard against its bolts.
“I’m thinking we don’t pick the idiot who doesn’t know how to turn a doorknob,” I muttered under my breath. “I mean, what kind of moron doesn’t understand how to work a door?”
Lord Pippin’s head tilted. “I don’t think that’s what is happening out there. Those vibrations aren’t typical for an earthquake. Perhaps a fight…”
I blinked. “You guys did call the stronghold and tell them we were going to have company, right?”
“They know,” he answered calmly. “They’re staying away from this section of the mountain.”
Suddenly, the black wooden door bowed in on its hinges.
Boom.
All of our eyes followed the door as it flew across the cavern, slamming into the bottom of the stage and scattering a chair in its wake.
“That’s one way to open a door,” Lord Xenon rumbled. “Can anyone see them yet?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “That was definitely druid power, though.”
The ground of rock beneath our feet rumbled, and we steadied our legs.
“I wonder if we’ll be able to fit them all in here,” Lord Cato muttered in amusement. “They’ll all need to enter so they’ll stop fighting each other.”
I cleared my throat. “Please tell me the spell does disappear for them. I’m not going to have some aroused druid nipping at my heels for all of the Challenges, am I?”
Lord Otto snorted. “No, it’ll disappear as soon as we break the spell.”
“Maybe you should break the spell when they enter,” Adelie suggested. “Because that’s going to be a lot of testosterone aimed at my girl here.”
Lord Pippin hummed deep in his throat. “I actually think that is a good idea.”