Page 164 of Brimstone

“What have you done?” The shriek came from Zovena. The female bore no love for Algat, but here was an opportunity to create a scene. She was hardly likely to let it pass. And she was afraid. I could scent it on her, the smell like soiled bedsheets and fever. She was afraid thatshemight be next.

“Today is a day of lessons,” I said. “Algat will be fine. But she should be careful where she trespasses.”

The Keeper of Records wobbled unsteadily, but within a moment or two she had regained her balance and was scowling at me again. Algat cuffed her chin, smearing her blood up her face even as she tried to wipe it away. “My apologies,” she rasped. “I only tried to make you seereason. The Hazrax does not count in this instance. It does not weigh in on politics. Nordoes it ever opt to cast its vote. This male would do both, and to the detriment of this court. If he will not swear fealty—”

“It wasMalcolmI wouldn’t swear fealty to,” Foley said softly. “I’ll swear it toher.”

Well, damn.

I hadn’t been expecting that.

We’d come a long way from him trying to kill me in the library, it would seem. I would never have dreamed I’d hear those words coming out of Foley’s mouth. He was earnest and clear-eyed as he gestured to the steps, asking wordlessly if he could approach the throne.

I nodded my consent.

The male dropped to one knee at my feet, pulling a dagger from the sheath on his belt. He held it up to show me.

Strange, sad eyes, with vertical, slit pupils met mine. “I was reminded recently that I was a wolf,” he said, smiling softly. “And wolves do not cower in dusty libraries, afraid of their own shadows. I swear myself toyou, Saeris Fane. I will carry out your bidding so long as there is breath left in me. And when I pass from this place and move on to the next, I will carry your banners there and storm the gates of heaven in your name if you wish it.”

He closed his hand around his blade and drew it free, staining it deepest, darkest crimson with his blood. I accepted the weapon from him and used its point to draw forth a bead of my own blood, which was still somehow the same bright red as that of the living.

“I accept you as my sworn male,” I told him. “I accept your loyalty and your service. In return, I offer you the protection of my house. I name you Lord of Midnight.”

Leaning forward, I gave him back his dagger. Foley accepted it, and as he did so I took the opportunity to deaden the airaround us so that when I whispered to him, no other would hear. “What made you change your mind?” I asked teasingly.

He huffed out an unsteady bark of laughter under his breath. “Well, I figured ifhe’sprepared to follow you,” he said, nodding in Fisher’s direction, “thenI’dbe a fucking idiot not to, wouldn’t I?”

Kingfisher snorted under his breath, but I could tell he was pleased. I was about to tell Foley he was wrong, that Fisher didn’tfollowme at all, but the thought never made it to my lips. A shout cut through the air, and then another.

“Whatnow?” Just a moment’s peace. Was that too much to ask for?

When I searched for the source of the shouting, I found that everyone in the hall was suddenly lookingup. It had been impossible to tell before, but the sections of the vaulted ceiling were actually panels, and they were peeling back.

“It’s here!” someone cried. “It’s here!”

What’shere?” I twisted around on my chair—mythrone—trying to figure out what was causing the commotion, but Kingfisher took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“The evenlight, Osha. Spirit of the gods.” He pointed toward the night sky, to the west, where a brilliant green, glittering wave of light was rolling across the heavens at tremendous speed.

“They are with us,” Foley muttered, pressing his index finger and middle finger to his forehead, between his brows. Many of the high bloods mirrored the motion, too. Surprising, that. Whether they had chosen this life for themselves, or it had been thrust upon them—undying, a perversion of nature, never to know the rest and peace of the afterlife—it stood to reason that they were beyond the sight of the gods here, in this unholy place. But there were still some among them who worshipped the gods. They bowed their heads in reverence as a wind ripped throughthe hall, and the pale green light tore overhead in a shimmering pennant that filled the night sky from horizon to horizon.

It was beautiful. Like nothing I’d ever witnessed before. Not even the aurora that had blazed across the sky after Lorreth had named Avisiéth had been this spectacular.

The evenlight in the torches throughout the hall flared, brightening anew. The fires burning in the grates strengthened, roaring violently up the backs of multiple hearths. It was as if, all throughout the Black Palace, the sources of evenlight that already existed were being powered up by the arrival of the shifting green banner in the night sky.

The high bloods forgot Zovena’s attempts to sow discord.

They forgot Algat, and the vampire with the golden teeth on his knees at my feet.

They forgot Tal’s showmanship, and the ever-present threat my mate posed, sitting beside me. As one, the Blood Court craned their necks upward, and they marveled.

Music filled the air—a frenzy of a piece, full of soaring peaks and crashing crescendos. High bloods flew around on the dance floor, whipping their dance partners around in the dervish, their coattails and full skirts flaring around them as they spun. Above it all, the firmament glowed, stars winking through the evenlight as if through a veil of thin jade silk.

Thralls topped off the high blood’s wineglasses, sacrificing a drop of their blood into each cup, and the vampires drank. The whole scene was a sight to behold—and one I would gladly have sacrificed in exchange for the peace and quiet of Cahlish, and the presence of my friends.

Te Léna and Maynir had remained at the estate, watching over Everlayne. Danya was still at the temporary war camp.Iseabail had stayed to continue in her attempts to scry for Ren. Lorreth insisted he come with us back to Ammontraíeth, but Fisher had refused, telling him to check in with the warriors at the makeshift camp instead. Carrion had balked loudly when I’d told him he couldn’t come to the ball, but he was the only person Hayden really knew at the estate, and I wanted someone there to keep an eye on him. It would be just like my brother to flee Cahlish in a pique of temper after the argument we’d had, and I was not about to let that happen. I was furious with him, sure, but not angry enough to let him be eaten by some hole-dwelling creature with razors for teeth.

We alwaysdidseem to have more water and food than anyone else.