Chapter 12: The Crimson Banquet

I awoke to rustling silken and gentle commands.

Servants in the palace swept past me in a whirl of color, slamming open richly carved closets, holding out dazzling gowns, and smoothing perfumed-clad hands across my flesh.

The Crimson Banquet lay before me this night.

An evening on which silken-draped monsters quaffed wine fermented out of blood.

And I, seemingly, was to be shown as the jewel.

"No," I snarled when one of the maids attempted to place a heavy gold collar around my neck.

The head maid—a pinched face named Marla—clicked with distaste. "It's tradition, my lady. All gifts must wear the court mark."

"Gifts," I snarled in bitterness. "That's what I'm being now?"

She did not respond. Merely kept readjusting the collar.

When they'd finished dressing me, I hardly knew the girl I was looking at in the mirror.

A garnet-colored gown hugged me like a second skin, the corset covered in blackthorns, the hem falling around me like a blood puddle.

My hair twisted into an intricate coil, little rubies threaded through my hair.

The golden collar glinting around my neck like a sour promise.

Property.

Possession.

Scarlett, pet human.

Soft tap on the door.

I hadn't even had a moment to stir the strength to flee—Kael stood there.

His eyes narrowed over me, face unyielding.

Approving?

Angry?

Hungry?

"You'll do," he growled.

Fists bunched on my belt. "Is all you can see in me something to boast about as if I were some trophy?"

His lips curled. Not smiling. Not even in apology.

"Tonight you're a symbol," he stated, taking another step closer. "A warning."

"A warning of what?"

He did not reply.

He merely raised his arm.

A decision, masquerading as a command.

I despised myself for taking a second before slipping my hand into the crook of his elbow.

His muscles tensed at my touch, but he uttered not a word as he led me from the room.

***The Grand Hall was a cathedral of decadence.

Bone and crystal chandeliers, huge and heavy, swung from ceilings, casting light downwards onto rose-stained marble floors splattered with blood for centuries.

Tremendous tables groaned under the weight of sumptuous feasts—roast meats, fruit sugared to sweetness, gold-dusted cakes.

And silks and armor-plated vampires lounged and whispered, laughter as cold as a knife blade.

As soon as we entered, all the eyes in the room turned towards us.

Towards him.

Towards me.

To the collar flashing against my skin.

I wished to melt into the floor.

Vanish.

Shout.

But I locked my chin back, struggling to free my body as Kael dragged me behind him, every step a battle in silence.

Whispers following us like a tide.

"The prince's new toy."

"She's lovely. Fragile."

"How long until he breaks her?"

Kael had heard them too.

I could feel the tension seeping out of him like sparks from flames.

We ascended to the dais at the hall's end, where a throne for Kael waited before him—black stone with scarlet stitching.

He sat in it with contemptuous authority, his hand around mine closing hard for an instant before releasing me.

I stood next to him like a trained animal.

A decoration.

An owned thing.

I looked at what lay ahead and didn't even blink at the pressure of a hundred hungering eyes.

And then Varyn.

Kael's cousin.

The one with the wolf's smile, toying with its prey.

He strode to the dais, goblet of dark wine in his hand, bowing deeply in disdain.

"Your Highness," he began, his voice a sepulcher, "your treasure choice grows better each century."

Kael said nothing, his gaze slicing like a knife blade.

Varyn's eyes moved to me, his smile expanding. "Tell me, little rose.do you bleed as sweetly as you look?"

A thunderous growl trembles in Kael's chest.

A few of the nobles next to him stood up straight, their eyes locked intensely.

Was this what they had assembled for?

Velvet-clad blood entertainment?

"Repeat that," Kael's voice was so low the air around him appeared to solidify, "and I will rip your tongue from your throat, cousin."

The hall fell silent.

Varyn's eyes grew rimmed with sadistic mirth, but he backed away with a mocking bow.

"As you please, Your Highness."

The instant he stepped away, Kael's hand locked around my wrist beneath the tablecloth, his fingers aching.

"Look now?" he breathed in my ear.

"Why I must hold you close."

My heart pounded abjectly.

"You don't have to march me about like some prize," I spat at him.

He squeezed tighter.

"Better they see you at my side," he growled, "than suspect you alone."

I didn't know what scared me more.

The thought of these monsters wanting me.

Or the way Kael's jealousy awakened something ugly and humiliating in me.

The feast had no end.

Endless toasts and performance singers with shattered glass throats, dancers bleeding scarlet designs on the marble.

Endless reminders this world wasn't made for the frail.

A nobly-born woman of spun-silver hair appeared at one point and pressed a goblet into Kael's palm.

"Drink, Your Highness," she gasped, regarding me with contempt.

Kael accepted the goblet—but instead of drinking, he applied it to my lips.

"Drink," he commanded softly.

I did not move.

All eyes in the room are on me.

Every breath held.

I could refuse.

I could shatter this thin thread of power and humiliation keeping us bound.

Or I could play his game.

Show them I wasn't as weak as they believed me to be.

Slowly, my eyes locked on his, I lifted the goblet and drank.

The wine was full-bodied and rich, with copper and crushed rose scent.

Having consumed it, a single drop fell from the corner of my mouth.

Before I could flick it away Kael leaned in.

And licked the drop from my face.

A collective gasp shook the room.

And Kael smiled.

Not at them.

At me.

As if I was some mystery they couldn't penetrate.

My knees nearly collapsed.

For in that instant, no matter it all.

No matter the collar. No matter the court.

No matter the thousand ways in which he'd kept me captive.

I was strong.

Desired.

Wanted.

And it terrified the living daylights out of me more than anything.

When at last the feast had ended, Kael guided me in silence and unease through the halls of the palace.

But when he came to the door of my chamber, he halted.

Spun around to face me.

His scarlet eyes flared into mine.

"Never forget," he growled.

"You are mine, Scarlett.

And gods have mercy on whoever remembers it."

Without a word to me, he disappeared into darkness.

Leaving me shaking against the solid oak door.

And for the first time since that night, I'd been sold—

I couldn't tell if the cage was around me.

Or in me.

To be continued….