Page 131 of Envious Of Fire
His eyes swim, not quite focused on her anymore, though she keeps speaking. Whatever it is she’s telling him, it is news that has him in an entirely dissociative state of mind.
Like he isn’t here. Complete detachment. Disbelief. Shock.
Kaleb stares at each of them, worried. Did someone die? A loved one of Markadian’s? Do gods even die? Or did something terrible happen? Does it involve one or more of the directors? Do they have to cancel all their plans tonight?
And then: “Are you sure?” comes Markadian’s voice, now in English, and it is low, paced, and crisp with significance. He lifts his eyes to his sister. “Are you absolutely sure?”
Ashara’s face is harsh and tense, yet her words are soft. “It’s confirmed to be true, my dear brother. Without a doubt.”
Markadian lowers his gaze. He looks nowhere at all. It is difficult news for him, whatever she has said. Heavy news.
Kaleb fights every urge in him to ask what it is. He fears he would be overstepping. Meddling in the issues of gods. Putting his nose where it doesn’t belong. Forgetting his place.
Markadian’s head turns ever so slightly in Kaleb’s direction, yet still without looking at him. His eyes gleam with something disturbingly dark. “And … what about him?” he then asks. “Does he know?”
“No,” states Ashara.
Markadian shuts his eyes.
And then he laughs.
He laughs and he laughs and he laughs.
The walls begin to curl, as if made of soap, and a giant has started clawing at them with its big fingernails. The chandelier bursts apart, too, all the glass pieces floating in the air like teardrops. And Markadian keeps laughing and laughing.
Ashara says, “Brother, calm yourself. The House …”
At once, Markadian is silent, and the room snaps back into place like a puzzle.
His silence is twice as loud as his laughter.
Ashara comes close to her brother. “I’m telling you, it’s the right time, the perfect time,” she then urges him. “Let us turn this banquet into an opportunity. While we have the directors united under our roof. You and me, Lord and Lordess, to set a precedent for the history of our kind, a step toward true unity. Everyone is ready for it. Expecting it. Then once our region is settled, we meet with Lord Xiang of the east region, and finally unite our regions under one rule, as it should be.”
Markadian is slowly shaking his head. “Sister, one thing at a time, one bloody thing at a—”
“The event is tonight. The time is now.”
His movements are slow. The news still drags heavily uponhim, as if it literally sits upon his shoulders, crushing his perfect posture. “Are these our first steps in a conquest to take over the world? Got the Asias and the European sects in your belt, too?”
“Don’t be silly. Those Romanians and Italians andso help usthe Germans will never let go their iron-tight grip. But don’t for a second think it isn’t possible once other measures are first made.” She brings her face so close, lowers her voice to a near inaudible whisper. “I have friends all over the world. Vampire Emperors in Africa, northandsouth. Siberia. To the farthest wastes of Canada and the tip of Argentina. Australia. It is not so farfetched to think we can rule the world someday. Remember that story about the bat and the wolf and the bloody moon we made up every night during our dark days?” She cradles her brother’s face. “This news I brought you tonight, it’s nothing at all. Just a bump in the road we’ve paved over countless histories together. Rise with me. Take the next step. Everyone is ready.”
Markadian stares back at his sister, at first dead-eyed, with no joy in his face, no life, not even a breath.
Then he turns his face fully, lays his eyes upon Kaleb at last, still naked on the bed, sheets tucked around his waist. Kaleb, watching all of this, listening, feeling like he is ten steps behind.
Though Markadian looks at Kaleb, it’s as if he doesn’t see him, like he’s looking through him.
Then Markadian smiles. “How very less boring everything became in an instant.” He giggles, stifles it, then smiles wider. All the dots and smears of blood on his face spread farther apart when he smiles, making him appear demented. “An answer to every single one of my problems … in such a cute package.”
“Be easy on him. He is innocent.” Ashara leans in. “And … perhaps still useful.”
Those particular words twist Kaleb’s stomach. “U-Useful?” The word slips out before he can stop it, quickly presses fingers to his lips. “Sorry,” he breathes through them.
Markadian stares at Kaleb for far, far too long, unsettlingly long. Then he asks his sister, “What did you do with Tristan?”
Ashara smirks at the side of her brother’s face. “You’ll find this hilarious. It’s been so long since he’s seen me, he forgot my special talent. He tried to give me a dream … and thus gave himself a dream instead.”
Markadian’s smile cracks even worse, showing his bloodied teeth. “Funny,” he says.
