I nodded. “He told me how she died.”

Stiff Arthur reappeared, dropping my hand, a wave of darkness flooding his eyes. “It pains me to come back here. Her memory, and that of my nephews’, infects every corner of this place.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I am, too. But, despite that, I am here—for you, and if there is anything I can advise on or assist with, you need only ask it.”

“Well, there is one thing.” I hesitated.

“Speak it, my dear, and it shall be done.”

“I want to free the prisoners, but I don’t know much about your law system—how things worked or where the prisoners are.”

“Why would you wish to free them?”

“Because, I…I don’t believe those vampires were imprisoned fairly.”

“Amara—” He scratched his chin, sighing.

“Look, just tell me where they are.” I folded my arms, making myself taller beside him. “I don’t care if you agree with me or not, I mean, why would you—you’re probably the one who put them all away. But I’m in charge now—”

“Not yet. You have not taken your oath.”

“Well, I will soon. And freeing those prisoners will be the first thing I take care of—aside from disbanding the Sets.”

“Disbanding!” He sat taller. “Amara, you can’t—”

“It’s. Not. Open. For negotiation.” I put a hand up between us. “You’re here to advise, not tell me what I can and can’t do.”

He blinked a few extra times. “And I endeavour only to advise, Princess. It is not my wish to govern you.”

“Yes, it is. I can tell from your authorative stance—seat—that you want to make me do what you think I should do.”

He sat back a little, becoming smaller. “I’m sorry, my lady. I did not mean to come across that way.”

“Just…can you please just tell me where they keep the prisoners?”

He exhaled. “Most are held at le Chateau Elysium, the Lilithian First Order in Paris, a few are in New Zealand and some in China. But while Drake still rules the vampire domains, we can free only those in Paris and the ones held here.”

“Here? There are prisoners here?”

“Of course—in the cellblock.”

“We…we have a cellblock?”

“Yes.” His lips spread, giving in to the dimples in his cheeks—his nephew’s dimples.

“Well, that’s great, then.” I sat back and pushed my hair off my face, catching the slight hint of my vanilla honey hand cream as I did. “We’ll get started freeing them after dinner.”

“So soon?”

“Yes. Why wait?”

“Because you haven’t thought this through.”

My mouth popped open. “What would you know about what I have and have not thought through! I have thought about this—for a long time, Arthur. And I—”

“Amara, the prisoners held here are the most vile creatures—locked away for their inhumane behaviour. These are the worst kinds of vampires.”

I softened. “What did they do?”

“Mostly, they are ones who massacred humans without need, disgracefully disposed of them or tortured them. Some of them are rapists, some, worse than that.”

“Really?”

“Yes, did you think we allowed vampires to violate basic human rights?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “We had laws, Amara. We had respect among our community—honour, principles—brutal crimes were punished.”

“But, when Jason kidnapped me, at the Masquerade, he said he was allowed to mutilate his kill any way he saw fit.”

Arthur smiled. “He was just trying to frighten you.”

“So, you aren’t allowed to mutilate us?”

“In some ways, we are, but there are limits. You see, fear makes the blood warmer, so scaring a human a little is deemed acceptable, but, in the cases we store below, what they did went beyond a little fear.”

“And Jason kidnapping me didn’t?”

Arthur swallowed. “Not according to our standards.”

“What about your own, personal standards?”

“My dear, it is purely because you are a friend and I care for you that I see what my nephew did as unacceptable. Had he raped you, I would have skinned him alive, whether you were a friend or not, but, other than that…I’m sorry, he did not hurt you enough to justify imprisonment. And don’t look at me that way—I had to see the same look on David’s face the day Drake made that ruling.”

I looked down at my feet.

“Amara?” He took my hand, his tone commanding I look at him; it was hard to see now with only a dim light on the distant horizon, while pale lamps stepped in where the sun failed. “Jason never had any intentions of—” He inched closer, swallowing. “He was never going to rape you. He—”

“Yes. I know.”

There was a shift then, in energy; I felt it. “How did you know?”

“He told me.”

“When?”

“The night of Karnivale.”

“You talked that night?”

“Mm-hm.” I nodded, realising I’d probably said too much. I just assumed he already knew. I could almost hear Morgaine’s disapproval.

Arthur remained silent.

“Arthur, you okay?”

His eyes narrowed, his brows pinching in the middle. “I’m glad he had the chance to tell you that—before he died.”

“Me too.” My lip quivered. I thrust my shoulders back slightly and sat taller, swallowing the gut wrench Jason’s death brought. “But, back to the issue at hand. The prisoners.”

“They should not be freed.”

“Says you. I’ve been told Drake’s methods were harsh and that he was unfair.”

“Then perhaps you have been misinformed,” Arthur added crossly. “Drake ruled our nation for many centuries with an iron fist, and with good reason. Vampires misbehaving draws attention, spreads unrest, and, like a plague, encourages others to do the same. The only way to control them is to own their fears—to be the very nightmare they run from in their sleep.”

“You sound pretty passionate about this?”

“I have served beside the king for my entire vampire life, Amara. We have fought for our freedom, our concealment and our community. To see a young girl become queen and make changes to all that we have spent centuries developing—” He sat forward and looked at the ground between his legs, breathing out heavily. “It’s just difficult. I can see you making the very same mistakes Drake made in the beginning.”

“Like what?”

“He made friends of vampires; an option, I’m afraid, is not viable for those in power. He tried to rule by love of his people, and while that is a noble path, there are lines. And you must draw them. Second, you have a good heart, Princess, but you must learn not to use it when making decisions about members of our society that cannot fit in.”

“That’s all very well, Arthur, but what Drake deems punishable, and what my kind do, are very different things.” I thought about Pepper. “Look, fact remains, I want to free the prisoners. Now, are you going to help me with that, or not?”

“I guess I have little choice,” he said to the ground.

My eyes narrowed. “Arthur, I understand how you feel—”

“No, Princess—” he looked right at me, “—you do not. You cannot possibly fathom the nightmarish ordeals it took to gain control over the vampires, or the devastation they infected upon this earth in a time before Lilithians were even a thought in God’s mind. I was there; I witnessed the terror—I helped write many of the laws that see vampires punished and, yes, our methods are cruel, harsh, but if you could only see what I have seen, you would realise why, by freeing those depraved brutes, you are about to make your first big mistake.”

“Well, I disagree. It’s a difference in opinion.” I folded my arms.

“No, it’s that you, my dear, are not listening.”

“I am. I’ve heard everything you, Morgaine and everyone else has had to say. But this is my decision.”

“Not entirely,” he said. “Not right now. Until you have made your oath, all your decisions must be approved by the House.”

“Fine then. Once I’m queen, I’ll free them. You can’t stop me.”

“I would not seek to stop you, but I would hope, after many conversations, you would see my point.”

I slumped in my seat a little then took a deep breath and looked at the starry sky. “I’m sorry, Arthur. I don’t mean to argue with you. It’s just that…I just don’t like people telling me what to do—telling me I know nothing.”

He reached across and patted my hand. “You remind me of my nephew, in that sense.”

“Which one?”

“David.”

I looked down at his hand on mine, softening away from spoiled-princess mode. “So, the imprisoned vampires are really that bad, huh?”

“Contemptible.”

“I just never imagined there’d be vampires that did things like that—horrible things.”

“They’re not so very different to human’s, Ara. If a human is capable of violence, then of course a vampire is.”

“Well, I was only planning to free the ones I thought were punished unfairly.”

“How will you determine that?”

“Go through each case, I guess. Maybe bring their lawyer back in, discuss each one with him.”

Arthur shuffled in his seat, clearing his throat. “That would be impossible.”

“Why?”

“Because the vampire who sentenced the prisoners we keep here is…dead.”

My stomach dropped. “David?”

“Yes.”

“Then—” Ouch. I hadn’t expected that. “Then, I guess I’ll have to assign someone else I can trust.”

“The Loslilian director of penalty would perhaps be best.”

“Who’s that? I thought Morgaine was head of, like, everything Lilithian.”

“No,” Arthur said with a smile. “Only in Paris. She was brought here purely to torture David. She would not know the finer details of Loslilian prisoners or punishment schedules.”

“Oh. So, who’s this director of penalty, then?”

“Bernard.”

“Bernard?” I said it quietly to myself. “Okay, well, I guess I’ll speak to him.”

“Very well. But not alone.”

“Why not?”

“He’s spent far too long trolling those dark corridors, my dear. He has little respect for anything or anyone. I’d not put it past him to be rude.”

“I can handle a person being rude.”

“That may be so, but I will not tolerate anyone disrespecting our princess.”

“Aw, how sweet,” I said, my lip in a false pout. But it faded away quickly with a question resonating from deep within my worry-spot. “Hey, Arthur?”

“Yes.”

“Do you really think I’m going to stuff all this up—you know, wreck everything you’ve built?” I asked delicately.

He rubbed his face with both hands. “No. I don’t. I just don’t want you to run in with guns blazing—trying to change every law you oppose, all at once. As you spend more time in the community of vampires, you will see, more clearly with each passing day, that there is good reason for everything we have done.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“That is all I ask.”

With the awkward first part of our conversation out of the way, I felt more comfortable to attempt a little probing. “So, you knew Drake pretty well, right?”

“Know him well, yes. He is a good friend.”

“But, you haven’t seen him—since the attack?”

“No. I’ve not even had word from him. I was told only that he was in Rome.”

“Does he know you’re here at the manor?”

“I don’t know. He would be aware I have taken my bi-annual leave, but he would not likely know where I have gone.”

“Won’t he think you should have stayed? You know, because of the whole Lilithian uprising and all.”

Arthur shook his head. “I have served my time. Friend to the king or not, I must take my leave.”

“Do you think he’s still alive? Like, after he was stabbed—do you think he survived it?”

“I would be certain of that.”

“How could he survive it, though—if it was my venom on the sword, how could he live?”

“There’s no saying it was your venom. It could have been a ruse.”

I nodded. “True.”

“Or, perhaps it may be that he is a very powerful being and cannot be killed. I have not only heard stories of his dark magic, but seen him use it.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Can I…can I ask what sort of magic you saw?” My eyes widened a little.

Arthur looked down at his open palm, as if he held something there. “I watched him turn a red rose black—suck the life from it—then restore in the same breath.”

“Wow. So, maybe he is evil? Maybe I should seek to destroy him?”

“What does your heart tell you?”