Page 117 of Bite The Terror That Feeds

“I will rule without a husband. Fight me on this—and I’ll tell the others the truth.”

“And you think they’d believe you?”

“Sometimes all you need to do is plant a seed.”

He continued to stare, his white-blond hair pulled back in a bun. Both he and my sister had that bold hair color, while I’d inherited my brunette locks from my mother. She’d died after my sister was born, so I’d never had the chance to discover if I’d inherited her fiery wrath as well. “You think it’s wise to threaten me?”

“Your threat was far worse than mine. To marry someone to please everyone else…barbaric.”

“I didn’t marry your mother because I loved her.”

Now it was my turn to pretend to be stone.

“I married her because she would make a great wife and mother. A partner needs to support you in the shadows, to do all the mundane things that don’t matter so you can focus on your people. There’s no time for romance, Clara.”

There still needed to be something. Physical attraction, at the least. “When do you plan to step down?”

“After the vampires are vanquished.”

“We haven’t succeeded in a millennium. We probably won’t succeed for another.”

“I disagree.”

A rush of unease coursed through me, a disgust that had nothing to do with a bad meal. “Vampires drink blood to maintain their immortality. We must do something as well.”

My father had the best poker face I’d ever seen. There was no way to know what he was thinking at any given time. “The gods have bestowed this gift upon us. You know this—”

“If you die in battle, I’ll become queen. You need to tell me the truth at some point. It should be now—while you’re still here.” Cobra had been right about the sickness that decimated the humans, so wouldn’t he be right about this as well?

“Ignorance is bliss, Clara.”

A shard of ice pierced my body. Terror shattered my bones. He didn’t specify the truth, but he confirmed it. “A queen can’t be ignorant. How can I rule our people without knowing the facts?”

“It’s a secret for a reason.”

“And I’m the next in line to safeguard it.” My father might have a great poker face—but mine was better.

There was a long stretch of silence, a tension in the air sounding like the hum of a distant bee. Our forest had been a place of tranquility, of peace and good tidings. We possessed no money because everything was freely given without the expectation of compensation. We all had different occupations, different contributions to society. But now, I realized the peaceful foundation of our race was just an optical illusion.

“The time has come, Father.”

* * *

On horseback, we took the forest path east. It was the beaten path that most of the Ethereal took to the fields of meditation or the farmlands. But we took a detour, taking an invisible path through the grass and up the hillsides.

I followed my father but had no idea our destination.

Once we made it to a ridge, the path flattened out and we continued our ride. We were on the mountainside, the forest visible all around us. Some of the trees from below were so tall that the canopies were still taller than us.

Many hours later, we were several leagues to the north, adjacent to the widest part of the Litheal River, which turned into a shallow stream in the heart of our forest. We turned several more times, and then the grass, plants, and flowers disappeared.

We approached a mountain made of stone. Boulders were perched along the sides. Smaller rocks were ready to roll down at a moment’s notice. The hard gravel crunched under the hooves of our horses.

It was a wall of gray—and I’d never seen anything like it.

He dismounted his horse. “We proceed on foot.”

“What is this place?”