Used to fixing problems and cleaning up his master’s sses, Sir Roderick rushed over to Riona, fully expecting so minor inconvenience to solve.
Of course, that’s never how it works, is it? He tried holding her down to stop the seizure, but that went about as well as trying to stop a storm with a handkerchief. Desperately, he yanked the knife out and tossed it aside like it was a dirty sock.
Then ca the fun part: sickly, dark pus bubbled from the knife. The sll was horrible, clawing at his nostrils. Then, the knife lted away as if ice had t an open fla.
"What in the world was that...?" Sir Roderick muttered, trying—unsuccessfully—to suppress the urge to vomit.
He’d seen a lot in his ti serving the emperor and the previous emperor, including things that would make most people’s stomachs revolt. Yet this... this was beyond anything in his considerable experience.
"It’s a dark spell," Emperor Kaan said, as if that explained everything—because of course it did. The emperor, with his endless fountains of knowledge, had all the answers.
Despite Sir Roderick’s role as the master’s trusted aide and advisor, his guidance was often unnecessary. The emperor carried an air of quiet omniscience, a man who seed to need no one—not even his most loyal knight—for anything more than the mundane.
Sir Roderick couldn’t help but recall the emperor’s ruthlessness. Emperor Kaan had proven ti and again that he wouldn’t hesitate to dirty his own hands.
He had condemned the servant Emmanuelle with a single, calculated question, fully aware of the consequences. He had slain the would-be assassin without a second thought, though he could have easily ordered Roderick to do it.
It was an uneasy truth: Emperor Kaan wasn’t a man who rely ruled. He was a man who controlled, calculated, and commanded without question—a powerful vampire who wouldn’t flinch at walking through shadows if it served his purpose.
Eventually, Riona’s seizure ca to an abrupt halt when Emperor Kaan touched her and muttered so spell that no one else could hear—because, of course, magic is only impressive when it’s a secret, right?
As she regained control of her body, the first thing she groaned was, "Flo..."
It wasn’t exactly a coherent sentence—more like a sound of soone who might’ve been in pain... or just hungry.
Sir Roderick watched her closely, uncertain what magic the emperor had used to halt the seizure, but certain of one thing: Riona was still far from well. His fears were confird when she doubled over, coughing up blood.
"Easy," Sir Roderick reminded her, which, of course, was about as helpful as telling a shipwrecked sailor to ’just swim to shore.’
But, naturally, there was no ti for easy. Ti, like usual, was laughing in their faces. They were on a clock—and not a very generous one.
Riona couldn’t afford to rest. Either she’d have to bounce back quickly or force herself through the pain. The detour to reach Warren Zacharia made it extra urgent to get moving.
"Flo," she muttered that na again, like it was the magic word to solve everything.
"We won’t let him go, okay? We’ve promised. We’ll save him," Thorin said, launching into what could only be called the speech of the century.
He genuinely believed every word of it. I an, Riona was a vampire, right? And vampires had that magical self-healing thing going on. The perks of immortality, obviously.
"All you need to focus on now is healing yourself."
She was strong. She’d bounce back in no ti, right? After all, who needed actual ti to heal when you were practically a walking, talking supernatural healing machine?
"She can’t," Emperor Kaan interrupted, his words like a bucket of cold water. Thorin shot him a glare that could’ve lted iron.
Thorin shot him a death glare that could’ve killed a lesser man.
How dare you defy my beautiful, passionate reassurance to my one true love? he thought, seething internally. You’re trying to win her over, too, aren’t you? Well, guess what? This? This is not how you do it, buddy.
Before Thorin could open his mouth to verbally tear the emperor to pieces, Emperor Kaan continued, completely unfazed by the death glare.
He gently touched the wound where the blade had pierced her earlier, making Riona wince in pain. "The dark spell imbued in the blade was specifically created to counter vampires. It prevents her vampiric abilities from healing her."
"What? That kind of thing exists? It should be forbidden!" Thorin snapped, not entirely sure why he was mad at Emperor Kaan.
Maybe it was because, even in this ridiculously dire situation, the man still looked like he’d walked out of a portrait. Seriously, who had the audacity to be that dazzling while talking about illegal dark magic?
"It is forbidden," Emperor Kaan replied, annoyingly calm as always—an attitude that only fanned Thorin’s irritation further.
The emperor continued with the sa infuriating composure. "By vampiric law, anyone caught using such magic could be burned alive—lovely tradition, really. Makes an excellent example for others to avoid dabbling in the dark arts. But alas..."
He gave a small, theatrical shrug, the kind only Emperor Kaan could pull off. "You can’t exactly monitor what every citizen is doing behind closed doors. I’m just an emperor, not an omnipresent deity."
The smugness in his tone was subtle, but Thorin could feel it. Oh, Emperor Kaan wasn’t omnipresent? Could’ve fooled him with the way he always seed to have an answer for everything.
"Now what?" Sir Roderick asked, sounding like a man who’d just realized he’d forgotten his keys in a burning house.
It was almost laughable—ironic, even—that the emperor’s aide, of all people, had been the only one to genuinely care about Riona’s survival.
anwhile, Thorin and Puck were too busy glaring daggers at Emperor Kaan, dripping suspicion like it was their full-ti job. Sure, maybe the emperor deserved it (he did have that face), but this wasn’t the mont to indulge in it. Riona was kind of dying over here.
"I might know how to cure her," Emperor Kaan said, his tone calm. Too calm.
"Of course you do," Thorin shot back, rolling his eyes. Because why wouldn’t the vampire emperor—who was totally not a spirit or a god, nope—just happen to have a magical cure lying around? How convenient.
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