Ruler [Blood Magic, Book 3]

Chapter 52: Unholy Matrimony

Since my conversation with my father and its aftermath with Keel I'd been experiencing an utter sense of unreality, like I could be unconscious and dreaming it all. War. A crown. A throne. Marriage to a vampire because a piece of paper my father signed guaranteed that wedlock would not only consolidate our power, but return my autonomy and win us some powerful allies. When I became queen, there would be no more locked doors, no more lessons - apart from those I chose to impart myself. But none of that changed the fact that this was ultimately an arranged marriage, replete with lands, treatise and citizens. The Nosferatu would become my people, and I would still belong to Keel, and it would all have to be consummated, and that's where my brain ran off the rails.

It was something I increasingly fantasized about, but felt in no way ready for.

But war was coming and we were the Nosferatu's greatest weapon - together.

Keel remained largely absent in the days following our engagement, while my father became my constant companion. He showed up at the door the night after the arrangements for my crowning were made and declared that we had fortifications to prepare and cast in advance of the coming battle, and His Majesty was wasting my talents by just keeping me sitting around on my duff all day, and that was going to end right now. The whole of him seemed imbued with a restless energy I hadn't seen in him before, but recognized in myself. So that's where it came from, I thought.

"There may not be any more time for formal lessons," he told me as we walked towards the stairs that led to the loading bay, "but this place still needs wards. And there's no reason you shouldn't be using your bond magic to fortify them."

"But that'll drain Keel," I warned. "Make him sick." My words fell between the dull thuds of our "kits" banging against our legs as we walked. The heavy, handled boxes carried an assortment of magical instruments and materials sorcerers required on jobs. Mine had been a semi-recent gift from my father, and together we'd been stocking it as part of my sorcerer schooling. I wasn't allowed to add any item or ingredient until I understood all of its magical uses, so my kit was nowhere near as weighty as the one Ephraim carried.

"I'm well aware of that and so is he. This is his compound and these are his people, and he's willing to make the sacrifice for the spell. The power of our conjuring will increase ten-fold if the magic is powered by three casters."

And so it was and so the perimeter spells were woven and cast, with Ephraim and me working side by side, and Keel contributing via the bond from afar.

My father picked me up every evening after that as we moved our preparations and casting from one series of corridors to another.

It should have been an exciting time, but things were so different, I struggled against the accompanying mental whiplash.

Evacuations of the non-essential and non-combat populace would begin immediately following the wedding and crowning, and the compound's Nosferatu were already deep in preparation for their departures. The declaration of war had stripped the last of the suspicion from their eyes regarding the sorcerers in their presence. That we let them stand nearby and watch us cast no doubt also helped. There would be no secrecy in how we were working together to protect their home and their lives. I'm not sure any of them believed we'd succeed, but stares of curiosity burned less than those of hatred.

My father also changed. The condescension and lectures I'd become so familiar with since meeting him in the parking lot in Niagara Falls had vanished, as had the looks of disappointment. More often I saw the opposite on his face now. Respect. Pride, and not just the begrudging kind, but the genuine stuff. I'd finally grown up in his eyes and he treated me accordingly. This revelation was born out by how he taught me magic now: blunt and matter of fact. Like Keel, he no longer spared me from the worst details of spellcraft or sorcerer history. If I would be queen, he explained, I would need to know it all. I would require that breadth of knowledge to make the decisions demanded of me.