A Rip of Realms (A Shade of Vampire #39)(43)

We rode on in silence.

“I doubt he hated you or your brothers that much,” I continued after a few moments. I assumed that Tejus would have thought that would be the only possible reason the emperor would have been so reckless and stupid.

“I don’t know about that,” he replied calmly. “Perhaps he was just determined that the Hellswans would continue to rule—and he was right to doubt me. I became king for only a few days, and then handed the crown to Ash.”

“He wasn’t to know that!” I corrected. “How could he?”

I felt Tejus shrug. “He knew me. As much as I hate that fact, it’s true. Maybe he could see I wasn’t as power-hungry as Jenus, and wouldn’t hang on to the crown till the last, dying breath in my body. Jenus would.”

“Do you think Ash will?” I asked.

“I do.”

I agreed with him.

Ruby would have some difficult choices to make.



We trotted up the pathway to the palace gardens, gaining on Ash and Ruby till we were riding side by side. They were both silent, but the tension between them was gone—from the way Ruby was relaxing forward against Ash’s back, I presumed that the argument was over.

Before we entered the clearing of the lawn, Julian ran toward us with Benedict in tow.

“The Acolytes,” Julian panted, “they came—they’ve taken the kids.”

I jumped off the bull-horse instantly, looking Benedict up and down to check he wasn’t hurt.

“What happened?” I asked.

Benedict told us the story, his face pale and contorted with fury.

“Why did you leave us?” he demanded when he’d finished. “That’s the second time something’s gone wrong—and now all the kids are missing, probably being locked up by Queen Trina so she can bathe in their blood or something equally sick and gross.”

“I’m sorry, Benedict,” Ash muttered. “I thought that the danger would follow us, not the other way around.”

“Yeah, well, you should have thought a bit harder. Obviously, they knew you’d be gone, so someone is telling them what we’re up to—or they’re watching us. Jenus wouldn’t have tried it otherwise.”

“He’s right,” I replied, feeling sick. “This was premeditated. They must have known somehow.”

We all started walking back toward the palace. Now that there was a chance we really were being watched, I couldn’t help glancing over at the dense thickets of trees that surrounded the gardens—seeing things that weren’t there, feeling the hairs on my neck prickle.

“Get inside.” Ash hurried us along.

“The threat might also be in the palace,” Tejus replied curtly. “I suggest we have a word with Lieutenant Ragnhild—he’s the likely suspect so far.”

“Agreed,” Ash replied.

Ruby gave a short, indignant snort—I recalled that she’d been the one to warn Ash about the lieutenant. Why didn’t he listen to her?

“Yelena’s the only one they didn’t take,” Benedict announced, walking beside me. “She’s the only one I was able to get free.”

“You went up against Jenus?” I replied, my voice semi-hysterical at the danger my brother had put himself in.

“He was distracted by the villagers,” he mumbled. “And it was worth it—at least they didn’t take them all.”

I put my arm around Benedict, so relieved that he was safe. If Tejus or Ash thought I’d be leaving him alone in the palace ever again, they were sorely mistaken. From now on, we’d be sticking together no matter what happened.

“How is Yelena?” I asked. “Is she okay?”

“She’s okay. I think she’s just a bit pissed off she got syphoned again, and she’s worried about the other kids. Jenney’s with her now—she got hurt as well. The Acolytes are powerful. Jenney says they syphon harder than other sentries. She’s had to borrow energy off two other ministers just to be back to normal, and to me, she still doesn’t look that great.”

I nodded. It didn’t surprise me. If the book was right, then the Acolytes seemed to be linked to the entity—if they shared visions, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they could somehow tap into its energy as well now that it had risen, and all those animal sacrifices probably helped…

Sacrifices.

I stopped walking, a cold, sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“The kids—they’re a sacrifice!”

Everyone turned around to look at me. Ruby’s face drained almost entirely of color, while Ash and Tejus looked at one another, both expressions contorted with rage.

“What do you mean?” Benedict asked quietly. “They’re going to be killed? I thought that Jenus would just want them for their energy — like in the trials.”

“We’ll get them before anything can happen,” I reassured him.

I hope we can.

“We will march on Queen Trina’s kingdom at dawn,” Ash stated.

“That will be too late.”

Both Ruby and I looked at him, imploring Ash to do something sooner—not only were the kids in grave danger, but so were the rest of us if the entity took their collective power.

“They’re right,” Tejus agreed. “We should move out in a couple of hours.”