“Is it so far-fetched? You already know I hold the most influence in the House. My support is one thing, but my word as a man at the side of his future bride would be quite another. There would be no dawdling from the cantankerous lords in the House who like to take three months to make a decision. And there is the other dilemma of Steward Thorwald. True, he is only a steward, but he is supported by the queen and has made many allies over the years.”
“So you’re offering me marriage, a political alliance to ensure I am given my birthright?”
“I am offering you marriage because you are a beautiful, intelligent, and beguiling woman whom I would be honored to marry. And whose right as the monarch of our land I would protect with my own life.”
He curled his large hand around hers and pulled it to his chest. She tugged, but he held her, opening his mouth to speak when someone’s footsteps sounded behind them.
“Your Highness.” The rough timbre of Mikhail’s voice rolled in the air.
Mina pulled her hand from Lord Rathbone’s, tucking her arms back under the coat. His coat. “Yes, Captain?”
“His Grace is retiring. Lord Rathbone, we request a private audience with you early in the morning.”
“Private?” asked Mina, frowning.
“Private among our party,” Mikhail clarified, meaning without the concubines and Lord Petrov.
“Granted,” said Lord Rathbone.
Mikhail’s steely gaze dipped to the ground as he gave a tight bow and retreated back inside.
Mina must go to him. He mistook what was taking place out on the balcony. Or did he? The earl had just proposed marriage.
“Captain Mikhail is certainly in earnest about your protection, Your Highness.” His tone was accusing. Knowing.
“The Bloodguard are devoted to me.”
“The captain most of all.”
His expression sealed his knowledge with a smile. “I believe I know the answer to my proposal.”
She smiled with sympathy. “I’m sorry, my lord. I cannot accept.”
“Too late, I see.” He smiled and swept her hand up in a parting kiss. “He’s a bit gruff for one as gentle as you, but I see that in your eyes, I’m already outmatched.” With a deep bow, he filed back through the balcony doorway, but she stopped him before he crossed the threshold.
“My lord?”
“Yes?”
“Steward Thorwald is not a dilemma. Neither are the lords.” She lifted her chin, the strength of her she-beast steeling her backbone. “Arkadia is already mine. I will claim it as their rightful queen.”
Then she would save Izzy and the rest of the world by showing Queen Morgrid what decimation truly looked like.
Lord Rathbone studied her a moment, his wide mouth sliding up into a scintillating smile. “Perhaps you’re a good match for the captain after all.” Then he was gone through the empty parlor.
With a deep inhale of the crystalline air, she enjoyed the righteous passion stirring her blood, willing her to take what was her own.
She walked back into the parlor and draped Lord Rathbone’s coat over the settee for she’d forgotten she still wore it.
“I know who he is, you know.”
Mina spun and gasped, her heart leaping into her throat, only to find Lord Petrov still sitting in his chair in the corner, staring into the fire.
“Pardon, my lord? You know who who is?” Perhaps this was the onset of dementia, sitting in a room all alone, divining strange things from the flames.
Then he turned his gaze on her, his eyes as sharp and intelligent as any vampire she knew. “Mikhail Romanov. I know him.” He smiled like the devil with a secret, chuckling to himself. “And he’s not a lowly lord’s son of Korinth.”
Heart hammering, she asked, “Who is he?”
“Sit down, my dear. I have a story to tell.”
Chapter Twenty
Mina seated herself in the chair opposite the former earl. The firelight danced across his face, illuminating his sharp nose and broad brow. He looked much older, though once more his keen gaze fixed on her with a vibrant intelligence.
“Once, long ago, there was a good king who ruled the land of Varis.”
His voice was husky with age. Mina didn’t realize he intended to tell her a fairy tale. Perhaps he wasn’t so lucid after all. Still, she remained seated, hands in her lap.
“His name was King Rodin. The people were at peace, and they loved him. Then one day, his twin sister returned after a long absence. She had left the kingdom the year before in spiteful anger and dabbled in the black arts. Still, King Rodin welcomed her home. In return, his sister, now a creature of the night, bit into his throat so viciously he fell prostrate before his throne.”
Mina gasped. He was telling her the story of their origins, the beginning of vampirekind. Not a fairy tale at all. He turned his piercing gaze on her, seeming to step out of the past for a moment.
“I know this to be true, my dear, because I was there when it happened.”
Mina wanted to ask him a hundred questions. So few vampires still lived from the early days. As a matter of fact, other than Queen Morgrid and King Grindal, Mina had never spoken to any of them.
“Please, my lord. Go on.”
With a dip of his head, leaning back into his chair, his arms draped languidly, he stared back into the fire.
“The stories passed down have all spoken of the Massacre at the Glass Tower. And indeed, it was a massacre.” His gravelly voice rolled dark and bitter with memory. “Queen Morgrid demanded loyalty on the spot. Anyone who fought against her was killed at once. I lost many friends that day.” His eyes misted. Sorrow pooled around him, like a cloak of mourning billowing down to his feet. “But there is one person the tales have all forgotten, mainly because Morgrid thought her dead.”
“Who is that?” asked Mina, breathless with anticipation.
“Queen Tamora, the good king’s young wife.”
“King Rodin had a wife?”
“He had a queen,” he corrected. “She was so beautiful and so kind. Ebony hair, lovely smile.” His brittle features softened by the firelight as he remembered. “Morgrid wandered the castle and infected one man after another with the blood madness, the ones who swore allegiance to her. Killing all the rest. She didn’t know that Queen Tamora had used the secret passages to get to the throne room to her husband. The poor queen held her husband’s head in her lap, thinking him dead.” Sharp eyes met Mina’s. “He was not. Morgrid had infected him with the blood madness and though savaged, King Rodin was a Varis. He’d absorbed his twin sister’s power into the blood they shared, giving him the same power of creation that she held. Had he lived and survived the blood madness, I believe he would have ruled the new land with justice.”
“But what happened?” Mina sat on the edge of her chair, her fists tight in the folds of her gown.
“The blood frenzy was too great. King Rodin didn’t know who leaned over him, her throat so sweet, her pulse pounding, beckoning him to taste. He bit her. She screamed as the king threatened to savage her. Then her knight stepped forward and chopped off the king’s head to save her. For the king would surely have killed her in the throes of the blood madness. Her knight was devoted to her and carried the queen away into hiding. And this is where the story gets interesting, my dear.”