Page 92 of The Vampire's Mercy

When we exited the ballroom, I asked him.

“Because I can do whatever I want,” he answered.

Uh-huh. “Like throwing me in everyone’s face?”

He chuckled. “Exactly.”

“Right.”

I’m getting out of here.

Freedom trumped answers to the weirdness.

Right?

We went down a black-and-red corridor, turning left into a room, the door opening automatically for him.

Inside, I came face-to-face with Father Frost.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

PARIS

The mage had a big white beard and twinkly blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles in a face of wrinkled light-copper skin. His blue outfit was like a body suit instead of the big blue robe of the proper Father Frost. A pink cloak swept at his heels, no trademark pointy hat on his head. Instead, this guy wore a pink beret on his white hair, along with white trainers.

So, yeah, not Father Frost at all.

The mage introduced himself as Roy Warren, a friend of Vaughn’s.

Ugh. Why didthatprick have to be here with us without Sarah? I’d rather her be here to remind me that I’d be going home soon.

Joke’s on all of you fuckers.

“Roy can help untangle some of our issues,” Silvanus told me.

He didn’t sound so sure. “Okay.”

Vaughn agreed with the king, throwing me a grin.

Creep.

At the center of the red room was a black table, a golden bowl filled with water sitting on it, a stick of incense burning beside it. Weirdly, the ribboning smoke gave off no aroma.

“If the thrall and His Majesty could please step forward and lean over the bowl.” Roy sounded like Father Frost. Jovial, warm, on the cusp of some ho, ho, ho’ing.

He pulled out a tiny golden bell.

Frostmass wasn’t a holiday I celebrated. The present-giving, the gorging on food, the drinking, the parties—all of it was a hard no from me. When it rolled by every late December, I hid myself away for the festive week, shutting the world away. Watching movies, waiting it out.

I mean, what was the point of it all? To celebrate love and family while your balls froze in the winter air? Pfft. What a crock of shit.

Okay, so I did partake in the gorging part. After escaping the academy purges, Pearl insisted we stuff our faces for a few days a year as a reward for surviving the year.

By Aidan, I miss you so much…

I leaned over the bowl, Silvanus on the other side, catching our reflections in the water. The smoke wafted past my face, still smelling of nothing.

“Thank you,” Roy said. “Now, keep your attention on the water.”