Page 40 of Dhampira

Then he rose from bed and dressed for the day’s kill.

Vander’s voice echoed in my memory. You don’t know anything about Lorcan.

I knew enough.

“I won’t marry you,” I told him.

No response. I clenched my jaw. Apparently, every man in the Drakhold treated words like precious coin, doling them out only under protest.

The corridor twisted again, and we approached an archway flanked by two knights in heavy armor and crimson cloaks. My father’s serpent gleamed on their breastplates as they saluted. Lorcan paid them no mind. Just before we passed under the arch, his voice filled my head.

Don’t tell him your name.

Him? I looked at Lorcan, confusion buzzing in my mind. Before I could question him, we passed the knights and entered a dim, windowless antechamber shaped like an octagon. Identical black doors lined the deep red walls. The space was otherwise empty.

I stopped, unease pumping in sync with my heart.

Whispers filled the air, dozens of overlapping voices circling the chamber. Dread settled over me. Something bad was going to happen. Conflicting urges tugged at me. Stay put. Run. I couldn’t decide.

Lorcan went to one of the doors. With his hand on the knob, he looked at me over his shoulder. “Don’t dawdle.”

The whispers picked up, the voices multiplying. Hot breath caressed my ear. I startled, a tiny yelp escaping me as I spun, looking for the source. But no one was there. Light from the archway spilled over a few inches of the stone floor and then stopped abruptly as if it could penetrate only so far.

“Look at me,” Lorcan said.

I swiveled around to find him watching me with a dispassionate expression.

“You’re already late,” he said. “I wouldn’t advise making things worse.”

The door in front of him was an average size. Not the sort of grand entrance that preceded a ballroom where a feast might be underway.

“What is this place?” I asked. “I thought you were taking me to the betrothal feast.”

His expression didn’t change. “His Majesty will speak with you. Now come here.”

Come here, a whisper echoed. Immediately, others repeated it.

Come here.

Come here.

Come here.

Lorcan’s jaw tensed as he glanced around the chamber.

The whispers rushed over one another, tumbling and blending as they grew louder. A low, throaty chuckle joined the command, the timbre of the voice neither male nor female but somehow a mixture of both. A singsong voice joined the chorus, the words rising and falling from a high-pitched register to a bass that vibrated the floor.

Come here.

Come here, come here, come here.

I rushed to Lorcan, a hundred whispers snapping at my heels. He opened the door, and I scrambled past him and into a…study?

The whispers cut off at my back. I blinked as I took in surroundings that couldn’t have been more different from those I’d just left. The two-story room was bathed in purple twilight that streamed through a bank of tall windows. A massive chandelier spilled more light over bookcases crammed with books and scrolls. A table near one of the windows held an array of telescopes as well as maps weighted with chunks of sparkling crystal. Bundles of herbs dried on a small rack in the corner. Twin staircases with iron railings climbed to the second level, which appeared to house more bookcases. A set of stone steps led to a raised platform dominated by an oversized desk topped with additional telescopes and scientific instruments.

At least I assumed they were scientific. Derryton certainly didn’t hold such wonders, so I could only guess at the instruments’ uses.

Footsteps rang out, and Rasimir appeared at the top of one of the staircases with a book in his hands. He smiled warmly as he spotted me.