Chương 21: Tonight, House Vaust Hunts

The very next day, I sent Adrian to hurt Duke Vale where it mattered. Not his pride. I had already handled that. His walls, furniture, and advisers were equally unimportant. Those could all be replaced. Even the adviser I had reduced to violet ash would eventually be succeeded by another thin little rat with ink-stained fingers and far too much confidence in titles. No, I wanted something more useful… Vale's hidden assets.

Adrian and his team would locate the slave routes, release the captives, eliminate the slavers, and burn the ledgers only after making copies. He listened to my orders in his usual silence. Malcolm stood behind him, bruised, exhausted, and far too determined for a man who had nearly been choked to death in my office only a few days earlier. Malcolm now served under Adrian, an arrangement that was officially punishment but functioned just as often as training.

With Adrian involved, the distinction between the two had become dangerously thin. Celeste stood beside me, watching with the soft, thoughtful expression that usually meant she was preparing to interfere in someone's life for their benefit. Annoying woman, but also useful… I turned toward her.

"Contact Vera." Celeste's attention shifted to me.

"Have her come to the casino as soon as she can manage it without causing immediate hysteria. She will be safer here." Her expression warmed.

"You believe someone will target her."

"Duke Vale is proud, furious, and humiliated. Worse, he now knows Vera is under House Vaust's protection, something he never anticipated. Men like him don't suffer that kind of insult quietly, and they certainly don't retreat home to tend roses." Adrian nodded.

"If he cannot strike at you directly, he may target someone near you."

"Exactly." Malcolm went pale.

"Vera." I pointed at him.

"No." He froze.

"Don't make me regret allowing you to keep your legs. You will accompany Adrian, Vera will come here, and everyone will remain where they're most useful." His jaw tightened, but he lowered his head.

"Yes, Lady Vaust." Such restraint, perhaps there was hope for him. By midday, Adrian and his team had departed along the western service road. They carried no banners and received no fanfare from the Guild. There was none of the heroic nonsense bards adored, only a small and disciplined group of people who knew how to kill quietly, move quickly, and leave the correct buildings burning behind them. Celeste sent word to Vera through one of her more discreet channels. The princess arrived that afternoon.

Naturally, she didn't use the front entrance. That would've been too simple and far too likely to inspire gossip. Her carriage entered through the side gate, and she arrived veiled and guarded, though her royal escort wasn't permitted beyond the first floor. They disliked that arrangement. I enjoyed it. Royal guards possessed remarkably expressive faces when informed that the word "no" applied to them as well.

I sat in my usual chair upon the second-floor balcony, overlooking the casino while Vera occupied a seat beside Celeste. My daughter had brought out her matching chair and somehow produced a third for the princess, though this one was noticeably less throne-like. Below us, Vera's guards stood at the foot of the staircase with rigid shoulders and anxious eyes, watching as though they expected me to bite the princess in full view of the casino. Ridiculous… I had standards. The casino hummed beneath us.

Dice rolled, cards snapped against felt, and coins clicked across polished tables. A singer performed near the eastern archway, her voice threading through the music with the richness of dark honey. Nobles pretended not to stare toward the balcony. Merchants whispered over glasses of wine. At one table, a baron's wife was quietly losing enough money to make her husband faint, while the dealer displayed the good sense to look sympathetic. It was a pleasant afternoon, mostly…

Celeste and Vera had been speaking for nearly an hour. I hadn't joined them. There was no need. My hearing caught every word while I simultaneously listened to three gaming tables below, a servant arguing with a cook near the rear hall, and one extremely nervous merchant attempting to explain to his mistress why his wife's necklace was currently being used as collateral. Humans provided endless theater. Celeste leaned toward Vera, her voice gentle.

"You look tired." A faint smile touched Vera's lips.

"That's a polite way of saying I look dreadful."

"It's a polite way of saying you look like someone who hasn't slept."

"I have not."

"Because of Malcolm?" Vera's hands tightened in her lap.

"Because of everything." Celeste's expression softened. I continued watching the casino floor and pretended not to listen. Badly, apparently…

"Mother is listening," Celeste observed. Without looking toward her, I replied, "I'm always listening. It's a survival trait." Vera glanced in my direction, still not entirely accustomed to hearing Celeste address me that way. The title clearly confused her, though she was too polite to ask what it meant.

"I don't mind," Vera said quietly.

"That's because you're new." Celeste smiled.

"She means she's interested."

"I mean that I possess excellent hearing and the two of you are speaking near me."

"Of course." Vera's gaze moved between us. She still carried fear whenever she looked at me, though not as much as before. Fear was sensible. Its absence suggested either trust or stupidity, and I hadn't yet decided which Vera was beginning to display. Even so, her presence on the balcony stirred an uneasy sense of possibility, and a sigh escaped me. Celeste immediately turned toward me.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"That was not a nothing-sigh."

"It was a future-problem sigh." Vera blinked.

"What does that mean?"

"It means I suspect Celeste is quietly arranging another emotional obligation for me." Celeste placed a hand over her chest in mock offense.

"I would never do such a thing."

"Seriously..." All I could do was stare at her. Her smile proved me correct. My attention shifted briefly to Vera before returning to the floor below. Why did I have the distinct impression that I would inherit more kin in the near future? The thought irritated me. From a practical standpoint, however, additional strength wouldn't be unwelcome. Three vampires posed a terrifying problem for most enemies. Five would be considerably worse.

House Vaust possessed wealth, influence, and a growing reputation, but numbers mattered once kingdoms began sharpening their knives. I disliked needing people. Celeste and Vera continued speaking softly about court schedules, palace servants, and which ladies within the queen's household could be trusted not to trade secrets for jewelry. Eventually, I asked the question that had been lingering at the back of my mind.

"So, Vera." Both women looked toward me. Celeste appeared surprised, and Vera looked almost alarmed. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. I arched one eyebrow.

"Don't appear so astonished. I'm capable of beginning conversations." Celeste opened her mouth. One finger lifted in warning.

"Careful." She closed it again, though her smile remained. My attention returned to Vera.

"Does your family possess any power?" Vera blinked.

"Power?"

"Magic, bloodline abilities, blessings, curses, ancestral gifts, or whatever decorative nonsense royals use to convince themselves they're more than ordinary people wearing expensive hats." Celeste concealed a small sound behind one hand. Despite herself, Vera's lips twitched.

"No," she answered.

"Not anymore." That word caught my attention.

"Anymore?" Vera glanced toward the casino floor, as though searching the crowd for anyone listening. The gesture was unnecessary. Anyone capable of hearing through our enchantments deserved to keep whatever information they managed to steal.

"The first king of Stonehaven was said to possess power," she explained.

"King Aric Stonehaven, the founder of our line. Every child in the kingdom learns his story. He defeated a great threat, united the mountain clans, broke the eastern warbands, and raised the first walls."

"Very heroic."

"Annoyingly so," Vera replied, then seemed to realize she had spoken the thought aloud. Celeste laughed softly. A smile touched my mouth.

"Continue..." Vera relaxed by a fraction.

"The stories claim he possessed divine strength. Some say he wielded light, while others believe he commanded stone and raised the walls of Stonehaven in a matter of days. One older version claims he struck a bargain with the mountain itself."

"Did he?"

"I don't know." Vera lowered her gaze to her hands.

"The official histories are rather polished."

"That means fabricated."

"Not entirely," she corrected quickly, then hesitated.

"At least, I don't believe so. Something about him was real. Too many surviving records agree on that much, even when the details contradict one another." I leaned back in my chair.

"Yet the power didn't pass to his descendants."

"No. If it did, it faded quickly. The second king possessed none of his father's gifts. Neither did the third, nor any ruler after him."

"That's unusual."

"Yes." Celeste tilted her head.

"What do you think happened?" Vera hesitated. That got my attention.

"I believe something is missing from the story."

"Something is always missing from royal histories. Usually crimes."

"This feels different." Vera's brow furrowed.

"Stonehaven flourished under Aric. The first king wasn't merely a warrior. He was intelligent, respected, and fair, assuming the oldest accounts can be believed."

"And after him?"

"Decline," Vera answered, her voice growing quieter.

"It began slowly, but each generation seemed to worsen, especially the men in my family." She stopped. Celeste leaned toward her.

"You may say it." Embarrassment crossed Vera's face before exhaustion replaced it.

"There's something wrong with all of them." A brief laugh escaped me. Her cheeks flushed.

"I know how that sounds."

"No, please continue. Insulting royal men is one of my gentler hobbies." Celeste smiled into her cup. Vera released a breath that almost became a laugh.

"They aren't merely foolish. Plenty of nobles are foolish. My brothers are hollow in ways that are difficult to explain. They possess arrogance without substance, ambition without discipline, and cruelty without courage. They speak as though greatness is their birthright, yet none of them can hold a thought long enough to earn it."

"A common royal affliction."

"According to the older servants, my father wasn't always so consumed by pride and suspicion. Age made him increasingly obsessed with legacy, just as it had my grandfather and the men before him. It sometimes feels as though the men in my family inherit less of themselves with every generation." That caught my attention. I studied her more closely.

"What about the women?" Vera met my gaze.

"They were mostly ignored, married off, sent away, or used to secure alliances. Some were intelligent. Others were beloved. A few were described as strange."

"Strange in what sense?"

"One great-aunt claimed she heard voices within the walls. Another refused marriage and vanished into the northern forests. A princess three generations ago supposedly drowned herself, though palace servants insisted she walked out of the river afterward and disappeared." Celeste's expression sharpened as one of my fingers began tapping against the armrest.

Voices whispering from within walls, bargains made with mountains, and a heroic king whose power vanished from his bloodline all pointed toward something buried beneath Stonehaven's history. The men diminished with every generation, while the women who might have held answers were married off, ignored, or disappeared entirely. There was no literal scent to follow, only the unmistakable trace of a secret someone had worked very hard to bury.

"Do you believe it might be a curse?" Celeste asked. Vera hesitated.

"Sometimes, when I'm feeling particularly uncharitable, I imagine the first king defeated some terrible enemy whose final act of revenge was ensuring that his descendants became increasingly stupid with every generation." Her words drew a laugh from me, while Celeste joined in with considerably more restraint. Vera seemed startled by her honesty and quickly covered her mouth.

"That was terrible."

"It was accurate, and accuracy is rarely polite." She lowered her hand, a small smile lingering.

"If a curse exists, I don't know what kind. No court mage has ever found one. Then again, court mages are employed by the crown. They're very skilled at discovering whatever the crown wishes to have discovered."

"Clever girl." A faint flush colored Vera's cheeks, and Celeste looked far too pleased by it. For reasons I preferred not to examine, that irritated me. Below us, one of Vera's guards glanced toward the balcony for what must have been the fiftieth time. I met his gaze directly, and he immediately looked away.

"If your bloodline contains something buried, Vale may desire you for more than political convenience." Vera's smile disappeared. Celeste turned toward me.

"You believe he knows?"

"Men like Vale rarely reach for a single prize when three are within reach. Royal blood, a political claim, and the possibility of a hidden inheritance would tempt him." Vera's hands clenched.

"But if no one has awakened such power for generations…"

"Then he may believe it can be forced." The possibility drained the color from her face. Celeste's expression darkened.

"Or bred for." Vera went even paler. That was probably the correct answer.

"Don't look so ill. We already knew he was vile. This merely adds creativity to the sewage."

"That doesn't help," Celeste murmured.

"It wasn't intended to." Vera closed her eyes briefly and gathered herself. When they opened again, something steadier rested behind her fear.

"If there's anything within my blood, I would rather let it die with me than allow it to become his." That was a dangerous sentence, but it was also a good one. Celeste reached over and took her hand.

"It won't come to that." I looked away. Why did people insist on making promises near me? Before I could offer a remark sharp enough to cut through the softness, the doors at the far end of the casino opened and Adrian stepped inside. Celeste and I recognized his footsteps before he came into view, though her head turned toward him first. At a glance, he appeared as composed as ever, dressed in dark clothing with his sword at his side and little emotion showing on his face.

Then I noticed the blood staining one cuff, the ash across his shoulder, and the hard set of his jaw. The day had clearly not gone cleanly. Three members of Adrian's security team followed him into the casino, but Malcolm was not among them. Celeste rose at once, while Vera stood more slowly, as though her body recognized the danger before her mind was willing to accept it. Adrian crossed the casino and climbed toward us. Several guests watched him until good sense encouraged them to look elsewhere.

His gaze went first to Celeste, checking her without a word, then to me, and finally to Vera. By the time he reached the balcony, the silence surrounding him had already turned my mood cold. I rose from my chair.

"Report." Adrian stopped before us.

"The slave route outside Westmere was real. We found a holding warehouse beneath an abandoned grain depot. Thirty-two captives were inside, mostly debtors, prisoners, and children taken from villages near the border. We released them." Vera raised one hand to her mouth. Celeste's eyes hardened.

"What became of the slavers?" I asked.

"They're dead." I nodded my head with approval.

"The ledgers?"

"They've been copied. We burned the originals with the building after clearing the captives."

"Efficient." His expression remained unchanged. Celeste knew him too well to be deceived by that.

"What happened?" she asked. Adrian looked toward her, then at Vera.

"Vale's men arrived during the extraction. There weren't enough to overwhelm us, but they created enough chaos for Malcolm to become separated from the group." Vera went completely still as the casino's noise seemed to fade around her, even though nothing below had truly grown quiet.

"I believed he was helping one of the captives through the eastern passage," Adrian explained.

"When we regrouped, he was gone." Vera's voice barely emerged.

"Gone?"

"I searched the area and found signs of a struggle. There was blood, but not enough to confirm his death." The color drained from Celeste's face. Even though I knew it was coming, I still felt my hatred grow for this man. Vera stepped forward.

"Where is he?" Adrian's jaw tightened.

"I believe he was taken." No one asked who had taken him because the answer was obvious. Vera's knees nearly gave way, but Celeste caught her immediately and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. My attention dropped to the casino floor, where cards still moved, dice continued to roll, and coins clicked across the tables. The world carried on with its small performances, unaware that something had changed. Duke Vale had reached for someone beneath my protection.

Perhaps Malcolm was not fully mine to claim, and perhaps that protection had never been formally declared. It was close enough. I looked back toward Adrian.

"Find him." His head dipped once.

"The search has already begun."

"Double the watchers and lock down the casino. No one connected to Vale enters without my permission. Send word to every contact we possess in Westmere, the palace, the docks, the prisons, and along every road."

"Yes, Mother." Vera lifted her head from Celeste's shoulder. Her eyes were wet and filled with horror.

"Lady Vaust…" I looked at her.

"He took Malcolm because of me."

"Probably." I didn't sugarcoat it. Celeste gave me a sharp look. I ignored it. Vera flinched but didn't crumble.

"Then I must go to him."

"No."

"He will use Malcolm to force me."

"That's to be expected."

"Then I cannot remain here," Vera exclaimed.

"You can, and you will." Her voice broke.

"You don't understand." The air around me chilled. Celeste's voice softened to a warning.

"Vera…" Fear had already carried the princess too far to stop.

"He will hurt Malcolm," she pleaded.

"He will kill him if I refuse to do what he wants." I stepped closer, and Vera froze.

"I understand perfectly. That's precisely why you will not give Vale what he wants before we know where he has placed the blade." Her body trembled. My attention returned to Adrian.

"How long ago did this happen?"

"Less than two hours."

"Then Malcolm is likely still alive." A broken breath escaped Vera.

"Vale will not destroy his leverage before he has the opportunity to use it. He's cruel, but he's not stupid."

"Comforting," Celeste remarked dryly.

"It should be."

"It's not." She rebuked me. A faint smile touched my mouth.

"Then I delivered it poorly." Vera stared at me as though she couldn't decide whether to hate me or cling to me. That was fair. I tended to have that effect on people. Not that I actually cared either way. Turning toward the stairs, I gave my next order.

"Prepare my carriage." Celeste's eyes widened.

"Where are you going?"

"To inspect the web." Adrian understood first.

"You expect Vale to send terms."

"Yes, though not here and not directly. He will use someone beneath notice."

"A servant," Celeste suggested.

"Or a beggar," Adrian added.

"Perhaps a courier, priest, or child." Vera went paler at the last possibility.

"Watch them all. No message enters this casino without reaching me." Adrian nodded. Celeste continued holding Vera upright.

"What happens if the message demands that Vera come alone?" I smiled.

"Then we will take a moment to appreciate Duke Vale's sense of humor." Vera's voice trembled.

"What if we cannot find Malcolm in time?" My gaze settled upon her. There were kind lies I might have offered. Celeste would likely have chosen one. Adrian would've remained silent. I didn't tell kind lies.

"Then we will make Duke Vale regret believing he had time at all." For a moment, Vera looked as though the answer might break her. Then something shifted, and although the fear remained, it hardened into resolve. That was how someone from her position should act in such a situation. Duke Vale had made his move by taking Malcolm, the commoner foolish enough to love a princess and valuable enough to be used against her. I was annoyed, naturally, but beneath that irritation, something darker had begun to stir.

Vale believed he understood ownership. He assumed taking Malcolm would force Vera to bend, because love made people vulnerable and therefore predictable. Perhaps it did. Love also made people vicious when something they cherished was threatened. My gaze passed over Celeste, still holding Vera upright, and Adrian, bloodied but composed. Then I looked down upon the casino, my house, and every soul standing within my territory. A smile curved across my lips.

"Close the doors." Adrian studied me carefully.

"To everyone?"

"Allow the current guests to leave, but let no one else enter." Understanding sharpened Celeste's eyes as my smile widened.

"Tonight, House Vaust hunts."