Shadow's Claim (Immortals After Dark #13)(23)

Trehan just stifled a shudder. “Yes. By all.”

“You’d be banished—and then I wouldn’t have to kill you,” Viktor said smugly. “At least not pressingly.”

Trehan gave him the look that comment deserved.

“Just think, you’d be king of one realm at least.”

“That’s actually a negative for me. Ruling a rainy, backwoods swamp plane filled with Deathly Ones? What do I know about ruling demons? Or about rain, for that matter?” He waved to indicate Dacia’s stone sky. “And why would they accept a nameless vampire to govern them? Clearly, the tournament is not an option. I could never turn my back on my kingdom and abandon my house, not when the Dacians need a king.”

“There’s another who could rule us.”

Trehan drank deeply, keen to get to the mead. “Lothaire again?” Lothaire Daciano, the Enemy of Old, was a three-thousand-year-old vampire gone red-eyed and insane from bloodlust—a prime example of why Dacians refrained from drinking others.

Lothaire was half Horde, half Dacian. Wholly mad.

Did he have a claim to the throne? Undoubtedly. His own house had always ruled.

What he lacked was a grasp of reality. Though the cousins had intermittently kept tabs on him, they’d never revealed themselves to him. “You’d truly accept a red-eyed king?” Horde vampires drained their prey to the quick, becoming addicted to the power and madness that act brought. Lothaire was rumored to have countless memories rattling around in his head.

In fact, it was said that he used the cosa?ad to his advantage, drinking chosen victims just to get to their secrets.

“Perhaps I admire him,” Viktor said. “His bargaining is masterful. He would bring his fabled book of debts to the kingdom like a dowry.”

Lothaire’s book was also legendary. For millennia, he’d maneuvered Loreans into life-or-death situations, offering to save them—for a price. Rumor held that his debtors had vowed to do anything he asked of them when he called in the debt, and that he’d recorded their bargains meticulously.

“He’s probably the strongest vampire alive,” Viktor continued. “We could do worse for a king. Besides, I thought you’d be all for it, eager to end all our family animosity.”

“Don’t you tire of it?”

“Who are you talking to, Trehan? I live for animosity.”

And Viktor had plenty of cause for it. Trehan’s own father had killed Viktor’s. Of course, Viktor’s mother had slain Trehan’s. Throw in Stelian’s parents and Mirceo’s and they had all ended up dead eventually.

The blood vendettas of the Daciano houses were legion, inherited from their ancestors, with each generation adding new ones. “Then why would you even consider Lothaire?”

“Maybe I have no desire to be king either,” Viktor said. “Perhaps I only fight for it because I know I’d be better at it than any of you. Give me a vampire who’s actually more powerful than I am, and I’ll help guide him as he rules.”

From what Trehan had heard—and seen—of Lothaire, the male wouldn’t prove easy to “guide.”

Viktor viewed the invitation once more, this time with a look of lust on his face. “Zeii mea.” My gods. “Fights. To the death.” He actually groaned. “You could be in that ring. And with your clear eyes, everyone would think you’re a Forbearer.” One among an army of turned humans who didn’t drink from the flesh. Viktor smiled evilly. “They’ll believe you are weak, having no idea what you really are. Already an advantage.”

Trehan gazed down at his drink, lost in thought. The fighting didn’t factor into his decision whatsoever. If he chose to enter the tournament, he would win. Period.

Instead, his thoughts centered on another battle. Could I possibly win Bettina’s affections? On that score, he was much less certain.

“Come, Cousin, there’s more that you’re not telling me.”

Trehan quickly glanced up, the words falling from his lips: “She’s in love with another. With . . . Caspion.”

Damn it, what did she see in that demon? If those two had had some kind of relationship, then Caspion hadn’t been true to her, had been in a brothel this very night.

Viktor winced. “Bloody bad luck, Trey.” He sounded genuinely sorry for Trehan.

And yet tomorrow Viktor would plot to murder him all over again.

Unless I’m not here.

“He must die,” Viktor said. “Even Mirceo has accepted that.”

Mirceo had been Caspion’s sponsor into the kingdom, using all his influence to campaign for the demon’s acceptance. Mirceo had never expected Caspion to bolt, a first for the charming Dacian.

“You have other assassins under your command,” Viktor pointed out. “Get someone else to kill the demon.”

Trehan rubbed his brow. “By my hand or by my command won’t make a difference with her.”

“Is the demon entering the tournament? Then you could kill him in combat.”

“I haven’t relinquished Dacia yet, Cousin. If I decide to enter—”

“You’ll enter.”

“—then I will have spent my entire life in service to the kingdom, only to abandon it in a time of need, for a female who doesn’t even want me!”