Ruler [Blood Magic, Book 3]

Chapter 27: Demands of the Bloodline

"Why did you erase it?" I was standing at the white board looking over yesterday's list, but the final item - my big revelation - had been wiped away. Not so much as a single smudge of marker remained where I'd written it.

"I erased the surveillance video as well," Keel said. "You always talk about dangerous things, but those are nothing compared to this. This knowledge in the wrong hands would be catastrophic. You can tell no one."

Those four sentences were the most he'd spoken to me all day. When I'd shown up for the evening's briefing, there hadn't been one. Instead, he'd made me accompany him as he stormed his way to the lower level so he could eat. I'd stayed out in the hall, but from the noises, I knew he wasn't being kind. The longer I listened, the more my mind flashed back to those horrifying nights I'd spent in his head, and a rotten, corpse flower of guilt bloomed in my stomach; he was punishing me by taking it out on some poor souls who definitely didn't deserve it. We'd been making progress, and now... just more shrapnel from our entanglement. I swallowed back the bile rising in my throat. 

He didn't warm any as the night crept into the wee hours of morning. He tolerated my presence but did little to acknowledge it unless absolutely necessary. Between his stand-offish body language and his refusal of my blood and the shield, I judged it best to keep "in place, a step behind, unseen." There was safety in adhering to centuries of tradition. But that only ratcheted up my anxiety in other ways. Operating naked as we were, potential perps lurked around every corner, and my worry translated into unnecessary jumpiness and hyper vigilance. I hoped yesterday's blood had worn off enough that Keel wasn't feeling that in technicolor.

When the night came to a close, I expected the morning's magic work to be called off, but as soon as everyone had been dismissed Keel had ordered me into his chambers and the first thing I'd seen was the board.

"I promise I won't, Your Majesty," I said. My vow removed none of the displeasure from his face. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

My apology only seemed to make him angrier. He stalked off towards his desk leaving me by the white board. It gave me chance to take in the rest of the room, from the tangled sheets on the unmade bed, to the fresh mess of books and papers on his desk with the older lot unceremoniously relegated to the floor, to the torn mats in the gym. Keel kept his spaces military clean, the uncommon chaos spoke to his dire mood.

"Your Majesty," I said, his title hesitant on my lips, "may I ask you a question?"

He grunted and I wasn't sure if it was a yes or a no, but I steeled myself and continued, "Why am I still on your security staff? I thought-"

"The bond wants us together. It's strongest when we're together. So..." He'd been growling the words through his lips and eventually they became inaudible.

"But you're not happy about it." I said it softly, acknowledging the ugly thing that had hung between us all day.

Keel spun on me, anger giving his face colour rarely seen there. "Big picture, Sorceress Sarker," he said so loud his voice boomed just as it did in the throne room. "Right at this moment I could care less about the bond. You gave me a human lifespan. Do you understand what that means? Less time to build my legacy. Less time for an heir. Less time for that heir to acclimate to his future. Less time for everything. I'm not enthused at being the king who kills off the bloodline."

His ferocity made me take a step back. His red eyes burned with the same fury as his words. At that moment, no one would've taken him for anything but a supernatural creature.

I took a breath and told myself I would retreat no further. "That one sorcery book you gave me, the one written in by all the kings, are all those vampires your ancestors?" I made sure to keep my voice calm and even. Not escalating, listening.