Ruler [Blood Magic, Book 3]

Chapter 44: Date Night

I knew what Keel wanted, but what was father's end game? I'm not sure I knew him well enough to take a guess. I'd seen the power struggle between Keel and Ephraim rage on and on, but what did it all mean? What part did I play? Probably the lead, always the lead, because all I ever wanted was to be in the chorus.

"Shouldn't I have a choice?"

"You do," Arthos said. "Decide to be with him. If we're correct, and I don't see why we wouldn't be, the power that you and His Majesty would have would render that contract null and void."

As Arthos was speaking all I could see in my head was the wet blood splashed from one end of the room to the other, dripping from the edges of the dining table. "No," I said. "I don't know who he is anymore."

"You beg for the truth, and then you can't accept it, and you wonder why he wanted to spare you from it." For the first time in our conversation Arthos' tone grew sharp as his patience wore thin.

"I didn't realize it would change him." The weight of those words bore down on my lungs. squeezing.

"It hasn't changed him. It's just changed him in your eyes."

I nodded, not in agreement, just lacking anything better say. Perhaps when I calmed down I'd see the wisdom in Arthos' words. Keel had said the same thing. But right now, all I could see was the blood. My world was bathed in it.

I'd been up for less than two hours when Arthos came knocking at my door telling me it was time to return to the royal chambers. I'd been dreading this moment since opening my eyes, and that dread had done an admirable job of chewing away any appetite I should have had, for food or blood. My feet acted as lead weights as I trudged back upstairs, their heaviness only eclipsed by the bowling ball of foreboding that had settled in my stomach. Who will be there to greet me tonight, I wondered, king or beast? How bad will the room smell now? Will the blood have dried and turned from dark red to brown?

When I arrived, I stood at the door for a long moment wishing my magical abilities came with a spell for X-ray vision. Since they didn't, I was forced to creak the door open an inch at a time to find out what awaited me within. I was fully prepared to slam it shut and demand Keel talk to me in the throne room if it was still covered in grue, but to my complete astonishment, the house of horrors had been transformed, as if by magic, back into Keel's house. How had they gotten all the blood out? It had been everywhere.

I stepped inside, noticing the noxious odor had been replaced by potpourri of cleaning solutions and furniture polish. Nose-prickling but much less stomach turning.

"Put on something that can pass for human," Keel said as I stood in the entranceway gawking.

I turned to him. Wait. What? What horror was he going to unleash on me now? Were we going to hunt down a bleeder to replace the one he'd murdered? Was that the next part of Nosferatu culture he'd indoctrinate me to?