Page 47 of Death Dance

FOURTEEN

They would pay for that.

Days flowed into one another, and when I wasn’t carving stakes, Ben chased me around the ship armed with a stick.

The stick scared me far more than Jeremy Breckenan ever could. When Emerick’s right hand man caught me, he taught me the consequence of failure in a rather painful fashion. My brothers observed, armed with suggestions on how I might avoid my next beating—and how Ben might better beat me.

They would pay for that.

After my sixth round with the stick, I did the sensible thing: the instant I was out of sight, I transformed into a cat and retreated to a safe space.

Hiding under my father’s bed might earn me a scolding, but as he’d opened the door at a scratch and let me in, I figured I would enjoy my extended lifespan while it lasted.

My father went back to working on his laptop, likely overseeing one of his many empires. “It’s convenient you showed up, actually. I have picked your dowry project. It went up for sale this week, and the offer I pitched was tentatively accepted. While the stones aren’t quite purple, it’s the only mine in the world producing tanzanite. That is sufficiently rare for the growth of your personal empire. I will need to do a great many reforms on the mine operations, but this is fine. I’ll handle that before I toss you the reins and you have your own operations. Before you complain, I do this for all my children. Now, the amethyst mine I purchased was on the cheap side. It’s not quite played out, but it’s no longer suitable for mass commercial sales. This is fine. It should have plenty of material left for the brood’s use. The sapphire mine will be your real money maker. Purple sapphires rarely make an appearance, and those will go to your brood while the rest of the stones will fund the rest of your operations. It should be a solid investment; the mine is a newer find and is nowhere near tapped out yet.”

I sighed at the thought of my father rampaging for more things I didn’t need, likely trying to make up for getting me to adulthood alive.

As I couldn’t hold a conversation while a cat, I wiggled out from under his bed, transformed, and sat at the small table with him. “My brothers joined forces with Ben, and if anyone knocks on your door, I’m hiding under your bed again.”

“Self-preservation is an important skill to learn and refine,” my father replied, his gaze locked on his laptop’s screen. “There is a diamond mine up for sale, but it would take a great deal of work to make the conditions humane. It’s a human rights disaster right now.”

“If you can’t fix it, find new work for the employees and close it,” I suggested.

“It produced a hundred carat red diamond last year.”

I whistled. “That’s impressive. But if it’s that bad of a human rights violation, closing it and redirecting the workers elsewhere might be wise.”

My father made a thoughtful sound. “There are six villages associated with the mine, and they’re all in poor shape. I suppose I can make that brother of yours earn his keep. He’s done village reforms before.”

“Which one?”

“The younger one. He’s a little too altruistic at times.”

I rolled my eyes at my father’s complaint.

Once I had opened my eyes to the truth, I’d put the rest of the puzzle that was my father together in record time.

My brother wasn’t the altruistic one; my father was, and he likely believed he couldn’t show that truth to anyone, himself included. I would worry about that problem another day. “If Eugene is willing to work on the reforms on these mines, then reform the mines and help the local communities. I will enjoy observing when Emerick’s head implodes because he needs to add my empire to his empire.”

While chuckling rather darkly, my father shrugged. “It’s just a little inconvenience. I’m sure he’ll survive.”

“I approve of this sort of evil, and I encourage you to engage in more of it. What has you hiding in here hunting for mines of all things?”

“I have no desire to observe young things making fools of themselves over a woman. If Breanna wishes to enjoy the show, that is her choice, but I decided I tired of it after an hour and left the young things to do as they do. Unfortunately for the young things making fools of themselves, Breanna is attracted to competency, and none of them are displaying it. Ben? Now he is displaying plenty of competency, apparently. You were, before you decided to flee, putting on a good show.”

“I see you have eyes everywhere on this ship.” I narrowed my eyes. “She’s eyeing Ben?”

“It doesn’t hurt that Ben asked for the best locations aboard to beat survival skills into you. I simply made sure members of my brood were around to offer rescue should rescue be needed. Breanna has been observing so she can learn what is expected of young vampires learning their trade. It seems Ben is her type.”

“Interesting. Is that going to cause problems with her team?”

“Everyone on her team respects Ben, and while they are young and amorous vampires, Ben holds higher rank than them. Social rankings among vampires can be quite tricky, but everyone is aware of Ben’s personal background. If he proves to be interested in her, the partnership will be respected.”

“But what about the matrons?” I groaned at the thought of having to deal with the matrons, who were already plotting and planning the end of Ben’s life as a single vampire.

“I have already taken the liberty of speaking with them regarding the situation. Should they hit it off, they will help to train Breanna, understanding her relationship with you. It will be fine. They’re more worried about your ceremony with Emerick at this stage—and your mother’s ceremony with Clarke. If anything, the ceremony with Clarke is an even larger draw than yours. For good reason. Clarke has been alone for a long time. Your mother will keep him on his toes, and he is emotionally available. I was not. And in truth, she was not either.”

“I sucked away all your emotional availability.” I snickered at the thought of having been a vampire in more than one way as an infant. “I’m fine with that. I just care about if Mom is happy. Oddly, I might even care if you’re happy. Eventually. I will indulge in some tormenting of your person just because I can.”