CHAPTER 14 - BLAKE

A few days earlier...

I slammed the double doors open, hearing them crash against the walls with a satisfying bang.

"What did you just do?" I roared as I stalked towards the long table where my uncle and brother were already seated.

My brother rose to his feet, nervously glancing across the table at my uncle.

"Back the fuck off, Blake," Marcus said. "There's no need to act like a barbarian."

"A barbarian?" I seethed. "A barbarian? Yet you had no qualms about betrothing me to one today, Uncle. We know nothing about this girl or where she really comes from. For all we know, one of the other houses planted her there themselves."

I glared down at the ancient vampire who sat staring up at me calmly from eyes as red as blood.

Viktor Drakharrow led our house. Even before that, he had been a force to be reckoned with as my father's strongest and most brutal general.

"There is no way one of the other houses would have sat on a secret like that for so long. Or that they would have parted with that girl so easily. You always knew you'd be assigned a second consort," Viktor replied quietly. "You have a little..." He gestured to his face.

I wiped at my face, my cheeks flushing. There at the corner of my lips. A few spots of blood. I brushed them away.

"Feed in a frenzy, did we, Brother?" Marcus laughed. "How unlike you."

"Shut the fuck up, Marcus," I spat. "I'd been out on campaign for days. I was hungry."

"Of course you were," Viktor said soothingly. "And you deserved to feed. Just as we all do."

I'd grabbed a House Drakharrow thrall on my way into the Black Keep. There was a group of them always around, always available. Viktor made sure of that. I didn't like to use them, but this time I'd been desperate.

Of course, with Marcus around, they didn't last long. This one had been pretty, too. I doubted I'd see that poor woman again.

I settled into a seat further down the table and crossed my arms over my chest. I knew I was being petulant. I couldn't help it. This wasn't how I'd expected my day to go.

When I'd found the woman–Medra Pendragon–I'd thought she'd be a fine prize for my house, certainly. But my future bride? No. I hadn't anticipated Viktor's play. But I knew I should have.

"You both know there is nothing I wouldn't do to maintain House Drakharrow's ascendancy," Viktor said, leaning forward. "I know you may believe I acted rashly today, Blake. Perhaps you even fear I do not have your best interests at heart. Nothing could be further from the truth." He paused. "What you brought back–what you found–was the greatest gift you could have given to your house. Perhaps the most significant discovery made in the last century."

I caught Marcus scowling. The bastard was jealous. Good.

I took a deep breath, trying to quiet my anger. "You really think she's important?"

Viktor exchanged a glance with my brother. "I know we don't want her getting into the hands of our enemies, that's for certain. You heard what they said."

I frowned. "Lady Avari was itching to get near the girl."

Viktor nodded. "And Lord Mortis. You heard him. Now the question is, do you think either spoke the truth?"

I glanced at my brother then back at Viktor. "You think they wanted us to destroy her?"

"Lady Avari? Yes. Absolutely. She believed I would. But first she wanted to plant the idea of the girl being an omen in the minds of the others."

"So that when you killed her, they'd question the wisdom of your decision," I guessed.

Viktor nodded.

"And Lord Mortis?"

"Perhaps he thought I would suggest we wed the rider girl to one of his younger sons as an experiment." My uncle smiled. "I doubt he was expecting me to do what I did."

"No," I said, glaring at him. "I doubt he expected you to use me as your pawn. But then, that's what we all are to you, aren't we, Viktor?"

Viktor frowned. "We all work for the good of our house."

"If you don't want the girl, I could take her off your hands, Brother," Marcus said with a leer. "That hair. It's quite unusual. I wouldn't mind wrapping my hands in it. Do you think she looks like blightborn women in other ways? Or is everything about her different? Right down to her..."

"She's mine," I snarled. "You'll keep your fucking hands off her."

"Oh, ho. The little lion cub doesn't want to share." Marcus laughed and put his hands up.

"Stop it, you two," my uncle said absent-mindedly, rubbing his temple.

"You could have wed her to Marcus. Why didn't you?" I demanded. Though if Pendragon thought I was bad, she'd have been in for a real shock with Marcus.

"I wouldn't have minded getting some of that rider pussy," Marcus agreed. "I could have made her beg for some highblood cock. And we wouldn't have had to wait so long to seal the bond either. I'd have made sure of that."

"Enough." My uncle slammed his hands down on the table. "Blake, you know I have other plans for Marcus. Once he has learned, that is, to show some fucking restraint ." He practically screamed the last words.

My brother and I both flinched.

Marcus had already had two consorts.

But he'd killed one. They'd been sisters. Twins. Daughters from a minor house. Marcus had become obsessed with them and taken both to mate without my uncle's permission. He'd been... severely chastised. As had both women.

The surviving sister was back at Drakharrow Manor now, our family's main estate.

She hated my brother, of course, so their connection was weak. She brought him neither power nor honor. I doubted she'd defend him in a fight. She'd been a mistake.

Just like Medra Pendragon was for me.

I knew Viktor hoped to mate Marcus with either Catherine Mortis or, failing that, Lunaya Orphos.

But as Marcus had developed a bad reputation for recklessness and bloodshed, few wanted to risk their daughters. Even in exchange for a potentially powerful alliance with House Drakharrow.

"Lord Mortis will never allow Catherine to become Marcus's consort," I pointed out. "She's too valuable for that."

"Chances are she'll take her father's place as the head of House Mortis," Viktor agreed. "But nothing is set in stone. Still, Lunaya Orphos would be a fine second choice."

"The girl's not even right in the head," Marcus complained. "I don't want an idiot for a wife."

"I'd have thought that would make her perfect for you," I quipped.

Marcus snarled.

In truth, I'd have hated to see Lunaya Orphos forced to marry my brother. She'd always seemed like a sweet and quiet girl. The exact sort that Marcus would walk all over.

"Let's focus on the Pendragon girl," my uncle said. "You'll keep her on a short leash, Blake. The binding ritual in the Black Keep was but the first step. Still, the girl doesn't need to know that."

"We could have learned more about her and more quickly by sampling her ourselves," Marcus complained. "Why not bring her here now?"

"You really are an ignorant fuckwit, aren't you, Marcus?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"You're my heir, Marcus, but your brother is right," Viktor said, looking as if he were on the verge of losing his temper again. "Do you know so little about riders and their blood?"

Marcus gave a sullen shrug. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Only one highblood can taste her and truly benefit from it," I said, leaning forward. "And it won't be you, Marcus."

"Blake is right. We don't want to dilute her power. The potential it has is too great to waste. If we're right that is. If she's really a rider." My uncle gazed out the nearby window. "If she is... Then she may give me the opportunity I've been looking for."

I looked at my uncle covertly. There were no dragons. And yet he refused to stop acting as if this girl's appearance actually meant something.

"Her blood will be useful at least," I conceded. "I don't see how she's important beyond that."

But I also knew my uncle had tricks up his sleeve that he would never tell us about.

"Why give Blake such powerful blood?" Marcus demanded. "Why not me, uncle?"

"Because it's a fucking double-edged sword, you big imbecile," I snapped.

My uncle looked at me. "You've paid more attention to your history lessons than Marcus has, I see."

I stood up. "I have. And I know just what you've done. Don't think I don't." Suddenly my fury welled up. "This would never have been allowed to happen if my father were alive."

Viktor rose from his seat. "You dare to say that to my face. When all I have ever done is try to hold this family together?"

"What you've done is tried to consolidate power. Hold this family together?" I gave a sharp barking laugh. I was taking a risk, speaking to him like this, and I knew it. Still, I couldn't seem to stop myself. "I'm not so sure about that. How is my dear mother doing, anyhow, Uncle? Have you had any word from her since she retreated to the Sanctum? Because I have not."

"When she chooses to speak to us, she will do so. I have no control over that, Blake," my uncle replied coldly.

The Bloodmaiden's Sanctum. Only a few women were ever granted access to the most sacred temple in Sangratha.

When my father had died, my mother had announced her intentions to retreat from the world for a time.

We hadn't seen her since.

She'd been one of the most powerful women in Sangratha. Now she was simply...gone.

"Speaking of family loyalty, Blake," my uncle said. "You need to get your pup on a leash."

"He means Aenia," Marcus said, sneering. "Get the little bitch in check or we'll have to put her down."

I felt myself exploding.

I couldn't even remember moving but suddenly I was across the room with my hands around my brother's throat.

"Don't you ever dare threaten our sister again, Marcus. Don't you dare."

"Let him go, Blake," my uncle commanded. "Drop him. Now."

I dropped him just as I'd been instructed to. Marcus fell to the floor gasping.

"You bastard," he choked out. "Fucking bastard."

"If you harm a hair on Aenia's head, there will be hell to pay when Mother returns," I warned Marcus.

"Enough, Blake," my uncle said. "You took responsibility for the girl."

"I haven't forgotten," I said sourly.

"Good. Then deal with her. Before she becomes an embarrassment to our family. Or worse, a menace."

I nodded tightly, and began to turn away.

"And as for Theo..." My uncle continued.

I stopped. "What about Theo?"

Theo Drakharrow was my aunt's son and my closest friend.

"I've heard some disturbing news about your cousin," Viktor said.

For a moment, my heart sank. Was Theo considering vying with me for the house leadership? I imagined having to kill my cousin. The thought filled me with revulsion and horror.

"I've heard Theo has been embarrassing House Drakharrow again. Engaging in...disturbing liaisons."

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?" I exclaimed. "Marcus literally kills his own consort, but you're worried about Theo embarrassing you because he likes to sometimes fuck other men? The other houses don't have a stick up their ass about it so why do you?"

"The other houses might condone such unnatural liaisons. We are not the other houses," Viktor said coldly.

"No," I spat. "We're certainly not."

House Orphos mandated that their house leader take a male and a female consort. Such triads were believed to make their leader stronger. House Mortis left such decisions to the individual. I knew Catherine Mortis preferred women, but suspected she'd be forced to take at least one male consort–at the very least, for breeding purposes. Still, that didn't mean anyone batted an eye to her penchant for running wild with women.

"Keep your cousin in line. Next thing you know he'll be pursuing his trysts with mortals," Viktor said coldly.

I took a deep breath, trying not to point out the miniscule distinction between the average blightborn who Viktor so evidently disdained and the dragon rider blightborn he'd so freely betrothed me to.

"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting," Marcus agreed, but I could see him trying to hide a nasty grin. He was baiting me, hoping I'd snap again and draw Viktor's ire. "Absolutely no shame. No taste whatsoever."

"House Drakharrow rises above all other houses," Viktor lectured. "Do not forget this. We surpass them because we are more restrained. Because we are superior."

"You'd think we'd only mate with members of House Drakharrow then," I said coldly. "Like in the good old days."

"When sister married brother? Do not think I have not given it consideration," my uncle said, eying me with a frosty gaze. "Perhaps in the future, we will go back to those old ways, just as you suggest."

"If we're through here, I'd like to get back to Bloodwing," I said. "That is, if you have no further demands of me."

"Marcus can deal with Theo if you don't, Blake," Viktor said, not breaking his gaze. "But I don't think you'd like his methods."

Marcus cracked his knuckles. "A warning might be all our cousin needs. Let me do it my way."

"No," I said, clenching my jaw. "I'll deal with it. I'll take care of them both. Aenia and Theo. Leave them to me."

Viktor nodded. "Good. You're a good nephew, Blake. You both are. Together, this family will be the leaders this realm requires. Stay loyal by my side. Watch and learn."

I nodded. "Always, uncle."

I left the room, my heart beating fast.

Viktor was the most dangerous man I'd ever met, while Marcus was simply a menace.

Medra Pendragon had no idea what a close call she'd had. If she thought I was a monster, wait until she got to know my brother.

No, better that she never had the opportunity.