Blood King Page 4

  An eerie quiet had settled over the inn. There were no sounds of other guests stirring in their beds or going about their business. Nothing but the soft creaking beneath Nero’s feet as he made his way toward the staircase at the end of the hall.

  The windows downstairs had been given the same treatment as the ones above, and only the soft light from downstairs illuminated his path down. Below, Adrius sat alone in a velvet armchair next to the fireplace. The woman from last night was gone, and the deathly stench had faded somewhat with her absence.

  The stains she’d left behind were still there, a dark reminder of her fate.

  As Nero approached, Adrius set down the heavy tome he’d been reading and leaned forward in the chair.

  “What are you doing down here?” he asked, his voice low with unspoken threat.

  “I need to make my way out to the parade,” Nero said.

  “The parade is not until tonight. You may leave later.” He opened his book once more to end the conversation.

  “If I’m supposed to do a job for you, I need to do it right,” Nero said. “I need to scout the parade, find out where the Ellery family will be. I need to get in position and make a plan. Unless my failure was your goal all along?”

  Lord Adrius scoffed. “Hardly. But I can’t allow you to leave during the day, can I? Considering that I can’t follow to ensure your intentions are pure, after all.”

  Nero’s fingers bit into his palms as he clenched his fists. “You have my sister. I’m not going to do anything stupid— aside from trying to complete this job, at least.”

  The vampire considered him for a moment, then sighed. “Very well.”

  Nero nodded, then slipped out the front door. He pulled his hood tighter around his face and continued through the streets to the main thoroughfare that led through the city. Crowds had already begun to gather for the street fair and merriment that preceded the parade, and guards kept a watchful eye over every corner. It was easy enough to blend into the crowd and slip through the carts and tents unnoticed. At least with all the festivities, the guards wouldn’t likely be searching for him today.

  As he passed by a cart filled with fresh produce, Nero swiped an apple. He bit into the crisp fruit as he continued through the city, taking note of the way the red markers on the sidewalks had been arranged. The parade would proceed from the Ellerys’ castle in the distance down the main road, all the way to the fountain at the heart of the city, which was where the firework display would begin.

  There were plenty of shadowed and obscured places for Nero to observe the parade unseen, but watching from a distance wouldn’t be enough. He’d need to find a way to sneak onto the most visible and heavily guarded cart in the whole parade long enough to steal a tiara and get away safely.

  What he needed was a distraction.

  Nero cursed under his breath as he tossed the apple’s core into a trash bin with more force than was necessary. Adrius hadn’t settled for merely giving him a difficult task. This was impossible.

  “Watch it!” A man slammed into Nero, shoving him aside with his shoulder. Following behind him, two more men carried a pallet full of wooden crates.

  As Nero watched them pass, his gaze lingered on the painted words on the side of the crates. The men carried the fireworks into a bookshop that overlooked the courtyard and closed the door behind them.

  That could work.

  He walked around the side of the building and hoisted himself onto a window ledge. He pushed up the window just enough to slip inside the small storage room filled with the musty scent of old books.

  “Take ‘em up to the roof,” one of the guards called out.

  “Oh, just leave it,” another replied. “The fireworks display isn’t for hours yet. We have time to relax.”

  “Agreed,” said another. “I picked up a bottle from one of the street vendors. Perhaps we should share in the interest of getting into a celebratory mood for the festival.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea? Given that we’re about to set off fireworks, and all?”

  “You worry too much.” There was a soft popping sound as the first guard uncorked the bottle.

  Nero waited in the shadows as the guards sat around the table, taking turns drinking from the bottle. Whatever it was they drank, its effects took them swiftly, and their easy conversation soon devolved into unintelligible words interspersed with fits of laughter.

  From the shadows, Nero scowled. He’d never set off fireworks himself before, but he tended to agree with the guard who’d been hesitant to participate in the drinking. Their altered state of mind seemed less than ideal for handling explosives.

  Hell, he was doing the city a favor by taking fireworks away from the drunk guards.

  With their raucous laughter and loud yelling, it was a simple feat for Nero to slip past them into the back room where they’d dumped the fireworks.

  He pushed the lid off the crate and looked down at the tubes of explosives. They were all different sizes and colors, and Nero had no idea where to start.

  “Alright,” a voice growled from the front room. “That’s enough of this. We need to start preparing for the show— the parade has probably begun, and we need to be ready for their arrival in the square.”

  Had it really been that long? Nero hurried to load his pack full of fireworks, along with the small box of matches sitting on top. He’d hardly have time to search for a strategically placed rooftop overlooking the parade, let alone taking time to figure out how to use the damned fireworks.

  But there was no time to worry about that now. First, he had to get out of there before the guards found him with a bag full of the city’s property. There were no windows in the room to escape from, and nowhere to hide. He could duck behind the crate, but the moment they moved it, he would be revealed. His only hope was to run and gamble on the guards being too drunk and clumsy to catch him.

  His shoes pounded against the wooden floor as he sprinted for the room with the window he’d entered through.

  “What’s that?” one of the guards yelled. “Is someone there?”

  “Get him!” one of the others yelled as Nero passed through the main room.

  Nero leaped to the side as one of them dove for him, just barely dodging his grasp.

  Another stumbled into the same space, purely by accident, with a jump that would have missed had Nero not dodged the first guard. His fist closed around the cloth of Nero’s cloak, and the force of it pulled him back.

  Nero rolled back to the ground, and the corner of his cloak tore away with a loud rip. The guard holding the scrap of fabric fell to the ground next to him and grabbed his leg. Nero kicked the man’s face with his other leg until he released his hold.

  Another guard reached for him, but he was too slow. Nero rolled away from him and jumped to his feet. After diving out the window, he rolled to his feet and ran. He could just barely make out their voices as he hurried away.

  “Should we alert the others?” one of the guards asked.

  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to let them know we’ve been drinking on the job,” another said.

  “Leave him,” the guards’ leader yelled. “We don’t have time to worry about a single troublemaker. We’ve got work to do.”

  Nero turned the corner. He never looked back as he raced through the streets, following parallel to the parade’s intended path. If the guards weren’t going to tell anyone to watch for a thief with fireworks, he might have a chance. He pulled the hood of his cloak tighter around his face as he ran. Hopefully none of them had gotten a good look at him.

  He climbed the ladder on the side of a building up to the roof. Below, the crowds stood on either side of the street. Cheers and laughter echoed as families waited for the parade to arrive.

  The golden light of twilight settled over the city in a hazy glow, reflecting off the gentle waves of the ocean in the distance and the river that flowed through the heart of the city. Nero raised a hand to shield his eyes fro
m the bright light of the sinking sun and looked down the main street. The procession of horse-drawn carts was small, still distant.

  Nero settled in against the stone wall and dumped the fireworks out onto the rooftop. Though the parade was still far, they would be here all too soon, and he needed to be ready. The tubes were filled with a rancid dark powder and a long string that looked similar to those on a candle, if a bit thicker.

  It seemed straightforward enough.

  Light the fuse. Firework explodes somewhere it’s not supposed to be. Repeat the process in different directions until the crowd begins to panic.

  A successful distraction.

  Then he’d just have to rush down to take advantage of the chaos the unexpected explosions would cause and steal the tiara.

  Easy.

  He nestled one of the fireworks into a gap on the roof’s stone wall and aimed it up to the sky. He leaned over the edge, watching as the parade carts traveled through the city, coming closer every moment. By the time they neared his position, it had been dark for some time.

  Cheers erupted from the crowd as the parade approached. The procession was led by a group of dancers in elaborate costumes wearing bright shades of Ellerly blues, reds, and silvers, waving streamers as they twirled gracefully down the street. The dancers were followed by a band, marching in time with the beat of the song they played. Behind them were several carts of notable people, as well as some with people dressed as animals and characters from popular stories. Children squealed with delight as they passed by.

  At the very end of the procession was the noble Ellery family. Lord Ellery wore a regal set of robes under chest armor emblazoned with a silver rose surrounded by a blue flame. Beside him, Lady Ellery sat demurely, with one hand resting in her lap and the other giving delicate waves to the crowd. Next to her, Morgana sat in much the same pose as her mother. The tiara on her head gleamed in the light from the oil lamps that lined the street.

  Aside from a few more grey hairs and a longer beard, Lord Ellery looked exactly as he had the day he’d had both of Nero’s parents killed. Just the sight of him and his family turned Nero’s stomach. They’d destroyed his life, and Neryssa’s. They’d taken everything from them.

  Nero’s fist tightened, and he stepped away from the ledge. He only had one chance to get this right, and now wasn’t the time to let himself be distracted by bitterness. He adjusted the tube and struck the match.

  Just as he touched the flame to the string, Nero caught sight of a familiar figure coming to a stop at the edge of the crowd. As though he knew exactly where Nero would be, Adrius’ gaze drifted up the building, and their eyes met.

  Where was Neryssa? Had he left her alone at the inn?

  Or had something worse happened to her?

  No distractions. Not now.

  As he stumbled away from the firework, he bumped the tube with his arm and dislodged it from the gap in the stone. The flame moved rapidly down the string, leaving Nero with no time to readjust it— not if he wanted to keep his hands intact.

  He rolled away from the firework just as it exploded with an ear-ringing bang and went sailing in the wrong direction.

  Chapter 5

  Red light streaked across the street and exploded into the side of a building. Dozens of sparks bloomed out from the point of impact. They sprayed to the ground below along with chunks of stone from the building. Chaos broke out in the crowd as people scrambled to get away from the explosion. The Ellery family looked around, eyes wide with terror. Guards took each of them by the arm and began to lead them away from the street.

  Amidst all the chaos, Adrius stood still, his lips curled up in a vicious grin as he stared up at the rooftop. Nero tore his gaze away from the vampire and slid down the ladder on the side of the building. He took off in a sprint, shoving past the panicked crowd, before he finally caught sight of the flowing blonde hair of Lady Morgana.

  Nero dipped down a side street and went around a building, hoping to cut them off. He checked to be sure his hood was pulled tight around his face and waited, body tense and ready to pounce. Lord Ellery passed by, followed by his wife and their guards. They were too focused on the royal family to notice Nero lurking in the shadows.

  He waited for them to turn down the next street before jumping out from his hiding spot and slamming right into Lady Morgana.

  She stumbled to the ground with a sharp gasp, landing hard on her palms. Nero fell to the ground with her. Making a show of how hard he’d tripped, he grabbed his leg as though he’d badly hurt it. As he rolled over in feigned agony, he swung his arm over and plucked the tiara from the ground, where it had rolled away from her head. With a single smooth movement, he tucked it into his bag.

  “Oh, m’lady! I’m so sorry,” Nero said. He jumped to his feet and extended a hand for her. “I didn’t mean to run into you.”

  She looked up at him, brow creased not with anger but with confusion. “Do I know you?”

  Before Nero could answer, a guard shoved him aside and helped Lady Morgana to her feet. The guard’s eyes met Nero’s, and for a brief moment, he thought Captain Reiner might draw attention to him. Instead, he placed his hand on the young woman’s back. “We have to keep moving, my lady.”

  As the pair disappeared into the chaotic crowd, Nero let out a shaky exhale. In the short encounter, neither of them had time to notice that Lady Morgana’s tiara was now gone, safely in Nero’s pack. He ran in the opposite direction, eager to get far away before they noticed its absence.

  Captain Reiner had noticed him, and from the look in his eyes Nero was certain he’d recognized him. Lady Morgana’s safety was far more important to him in that moment, but Nero hoped that later, when they were discussing the events, his name would not be mentioned.

  Lady Morgana had recognized him as someone familiar to her as well, though Nero wasn’t too concerned about her remembering who he was. She hadn’t seen him in nearly a decade, and likely hadn’t thought of him much since. To her, he’d just been another kid whose parents had passed through the castle at some point during her childhood. They’d hardly known each other.

  It was Reiner he had to worry about.

  Nero shoved his way against the flow of the crowd, back toward where he’d last seen Adrius. Since no further fireworks went off, some of the crowd’s panic had died down. The area surrounding the building he’d hit had cleared out, with only a few people lingering. A young man, likely around Nero’s age, had been struck in the shoulder by falling debris, and his arm hung limp at his side. No one else seemed to have gotten injured at all, and as far as Nero could tell, no one had died.

  That was a relief. He had no interest in becoming a murderer, if only to prove Lord Ellery wrong about his family name.

  He paused at the spot where he’d last seen Adrius. The vampire was nowhere in sight now.

  He must’ve gone back to the inn.

  When Nero returned, he found Adrius sitting in the same spot, as though he hadn’t moved an inch the entire evening. He looked up over the top of his book and raised a brow. “Is it done?”

  Nero pulled the tiara from the bag and tossed it across the room. It landed at Adrius’ feet with a gentle clang.

  “I must admit, I’m impressed. I didn’t expect you to succeed.”

  “Give me my payment, and my sister and I will be on our way,” Nero said.

  “I’m not done with you yet.”

  “Why? I’ve done the insane thing you asked of me. I want nothing more to do with you.”

  “That is not for you to decide. I have one more job for you to complete in this city. Once that’s done, you’ll be free of it forever.”

  But not free of you, Nero thought bitterly.

  His fist tightened around the strap of his bag. How far could he push back against a vampire? He’d seen Adrius’ speed. He’d seen what he could do to a mortal who crossed him. He knew he couldn’t hope to defeat Adrius like this, but he couldn’t stay here and wait to see what the vampire made
him do next.

  It was time to use the money he’d gotten for the watch.

  Without another word, Nero stormed up the steps to the room he shared with Neryssa and shut the door behind him. Inside, his sister lay on her stomach on the bed. She kicked her legs in the air as she read a new book, this one not falling apart like the last. She looked up and grinned. “Welcome back.”

  He hurried over to her bed and crouched down until his face was level with hers, then spoke in a low whisper. “Gather your things. We leave as soon as the sun hits the sky. He won’t be able to follow us during the day. We just need to get to the door, and we’ll be free.”

  Worried lines creased her forehead. “Why would we do that?”

  Nero ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t stay here. I’m afraid of what he’ll make me do next.”

  She set the book down and sat up in bed. “What did he have you do tonight?”

  “I stole Morgana Ellery’s tiara.”

  Her face broke out in a huge grin. “That’s amazing! If you were capable of that, you should have done it long ago.”

  “You’re missing the point,” Nero said. “I could have hurt a lot of people.”

  “So?”

  “So?”

  Neryssa shrugged. “This city has treated us like trash our entire lives. Why should we care about what happens to them?”

  “Innocent people weren’t responsible for what happened to our mother and father.”

  “But the Ellerys were. They’re not innocent.” Neryssa’s face hardened. “You must have gotten very close to them to steal that tiara. Did you make them pay for what they did to our family?”

  “No. I took it and ran.”

  She scoffed. “Mother and father would be so disappointed to learn you didn’t even try to avenge them. I would have.”

  “That wouldn’t make it right.” Nero reached for her hand. “Please, come with me.”

  “I won’t leave with you,” Neryssa said, jerking her hand away from him. She stood up and twirled the skirts of a brand new dress. “Adrius has been kind to me. He’s been kinder to us than anyone else in this city. Have you considered that I don’t want to leave? That perhaps I’d prefer to stay with Lord Adrius, under his protection?”