The Devil's Liege (The Mathias Saga Book 2) (3 page)

He rolled the piece of paper that would change Mathias’ life once again, took a piece of red satin ribbon from a drawer in his desk and tied it around the parchment. Then, he leaned back.

One day, he hoped, the boy could actually live without someone always trying to kill him.

* * * * *

Speaker Tallus was tired. All of the planning and scheming had taken its toll. Even, now, he was pacing. Always pacing. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to wear a depression into the floor. The walls of his chamber were covered in dark wood and full of bookcases. The focal point in the center of his sitting room was a massive burgundy leather chair. He almost never received visitors, so extra seating seemed so very pointless. Besides, he liked his chair.

He laced his claws together. The light from the fireplace reflected off them, making them seem to shine like glass. Interwoven, they resembled the underbelly of a large crab—alien and beautiful.

He didn’t like waiting. It was a necessary annoyance, but necessary didn’t mean pleasing. The messenger should have been there by now, shouldn’t he? If the deed was not done, he was not going to be happy. Too much was at stake for this to fail. He shuddered. He didn’t even want to think about the ramifications if it did.

He stopped pacing and sat down in his chair. He forced himself to stop dwelling by staring at the flames in the fireplace. The colors dancing in front of his eyes were almost mesmerizing with orange and yellow undulating amid red sparks. Within them, he could see the crowds of people cheering just because he graced them with his presence. It was going to be so perfect. Soon, they would know what it is like to be led by a real leader.

A short time later, he heard a faint knock at the door. This was it. It was about time. He sprung up from his chair and almost knocked it over with his wing in the process. He chuckled to himself. He needed to be in better control of his emotions. He righted his chair and headed over to the door. No need to let the underlings see him out of control. He opened it a crack.

“Yes?” Tallus asked. He had to still himself to keep his body from quivering in excitement.

The messenger bowed. The man was dressed in a black waistcoat and grey stockings, the standard uniform. His dark hair was contained under a grey velvet cap. This was not the one he was expecting. The messenger he knew had blond hair, but no matter. “Message from Master Tepes, sir.”

Tallus opened the door wide enough to accept the scroll he was being handed. He froze. The scroll was gold. His worst fear had just materialized.

He swallowed hard, accepted the scroll, and closed the door in the messenger’s face.

No sense in putting up appearances now. It didn’t matter if he acted rude or emotional. Vlad had beaten him. How, he wasn’t sure. With the way things were going, Tallus had a feeling that sheer dumb luck was involved.

He let himself drift back over to his chair. He knew, at this point, messengers would be carrying scrolls just like this one announcing the name of the new monarch. It couldn’t be anything else. Gold was only used for this purpose. His plan, his dream, was ruined.

He steeled himself and sat back down in his chair. Maybe, if he could publicly say the person Vlad chose was not strong enough to lead, then he’d have a voice. Tallus needed to grasp on to any crumbs he could. He stripped the red satin ribbon off the scroll and slowly unrolled the parchment.

As was custom, there was only one thing was written on the page: a name.

Mathias

* * * * *

Nothing like being stuck Father knows where with a sack over your head, having to pee, and your hands and feet tied together. It was just wonderful. Really.
The only reason Nossy knew there was a sack over his head was that he could feel and smell the burlap. Nossy clicked his tongue behind his fangs. At least the bag hadn’t held something rotten. It could have been worse.

If he could kick himself, he would. If only he didn’t have his weakness for pomegranates. That had been the end of it all. No more being trusting to everyone. No more Mr. Nice Bat. He’d been too nice. He’d always been too nice. He should have known better and not trusted his mother’s old advisor, Elias. But, it wasn’t like he’d had a lot of time to find someone else before he’d killed his mother. Still, though, he could have used Elias for a small while until he chose someone he knew he could trust. Instead, he’d been lazy.

But, Elias had seemed fine after her death. Maybe he’d wanted his revenge for Lilith’s death, or maybe all along he wanted the seat for himself. It was possible. He’d been a hell of an actor. Plus, Nossy had to admit because of his laziness, he hadn’t bothered to really look at Elias too hard. He’d chosen not to look because it had been easier.

“Damn Pomegranates.” He’d never look at them the same again.

He adjusted his legs as best he could. His wings were broken; the pain radiating from his back was a minor distraction. He knew that whoever was responsible would not kill him for a while, not with an investigation going on. Also, he had to imagine that there was a ransom. Nossy just hoped someone found him before it all went to hell. Or heller. If this wasn’t a form of hell, he didn’t know what was.

Now, he really wished he hadn’t ever invented the combination of metals and magic that prevented the blinking from working. It had been intended for keeping prisoners where they needed to be, but now, too many people knew how to use it. He adjusted his hands. Yep, he could feel the faint power of the spell. He was thoroughly and completely screwed.

* * * * *

As Mathias headed down the hall he found himself tired. He’d been looking for Vlad. It was hard to tell where the vamp had gone. It felt like he’d been going for hours. The castle was too damn big. Of course, the boredom and the fact that he had no idea where Vlad was probably had something to do with it too.

He was pretty sure he could trust Vlad. Mathias just couldn’t see him doing anything to hurt his old friend. Not after all this time anyway. It just didn’t make sense. That realization put Vlad on the short list of people Mathias could trust. Sure, he was nervous about it, but he felt relatively okay about asking Vlad for names of people who stood to gain something from Nossy being gone. That was the only way they were going to be able to narrow down who was involved anyway. And, well, if he was wrong about some of them, then oh well.

Then, he started noticing something. The more people he passed in the hallways, the more they bowed to him. This was something new. Sure, he was used to them dodging him, but bowing to him? What the fuck?

He paused in front of a little girl wearing a frilly pink dress. “What’s going on?” he asked her. She seemed harmless enough.

Her red hair was pulled back into a severe bun. Her blue eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Honestly, she reminded him on one of those ballet dancers in a Degas painting he’d seen in art class back when he actually went to human school. She lowered her eyes from his. “What can I help you with, my liege?”

Mathias froze. His mind blanked out the whole “liege” thing. This was, in no way, what he was expecting. He shook the cobwebs out of his head. “Why is everyone bowing?”

“That is what one does in the presence of their king, my lord.”

Oh. Fuck. Who in the hell decided this was a great idea?
He forced himself to not show externally he was freaking the fuck out. Last thing he wanted to do was to scare the shit out of this kid. He patted the girl on the head, being careful not to catch her hair in his claws. He didn’t grow them long like Nossy did, but they were still longer than a human’s nails and wicked sharp. “Thank you. You may go now.”

She curtsied and scurried off. So, someone had let him in on the joke. It wasn’t funny. Who in the hell thought it would be a good idea to make him king?

* * * * *

He hurried through the halls until he came to Vlad’s office and knocked on the door. It was as good a place as any to check. He’d been just about everywhere else.

“Enter,” the voice said from within.

Mathias grunted, opened the door, and closed it behind him softly. No sense in making any more noise than he was about to. He had to admit, he was doing a better job at controlling his anger. Then, he walked over and stood in front of Vlad’s desk— waiting.

Vlad sighed. “I wanted to tell you before the message went out, but there just wasn’t time.”

Really? There wasn’t time? Mathias threw his hands down and flapped his wings hard. Once. So that they made a smacking sound. “I swear, you keep doing this shit and expecting me to think it’s all okay?”

And they wondered why he had anger issues.

Vlad’s eyes clouded a little. Then, he sighed again. “Mathias,” he motioned with his hand toward the chair. “Please sit.”

Mathias did only because it was easier than fighting over that too. Why couldn’t they just leave him alone?

After he was settled, Vlad pushed an old piece of paper toward him on the desk. The parchment was so old, it was very yellow.

“What’s this?”Mathias asked.

“The family tree of sorts. The list of those who are eligible to rule.”

Mathias glanced at it again. It consisted of a long list of names and lines indicating how they were related. His name was at the top of the list, but there was new ink drawn straight from his name at the top to his name at the bottom. “Okay. Where is the part that says I’m the only choice?”

So, he was at the beginning and at the end. As far as he was concerned, that meant nothing.

“There are rules about the number of years you have to set aside before you can rule again. Nossy, Stuart, and you all have eligible states,” Vlad said.

Mathias tapped at the paper. “Well, sort of. Nossy was already ruling…”

Vlad nodded. “So, that left the choice between you and Stuart. Who do you think the people are more apt to follow?”

He did not want to think about that at all. His past had nothing to do with what was going on now. He wasn’t even the same person. Why couldn’t they see that? “I don’t understand why it had to be now. Nossy’s just missing isn’t he?”

Vlad nodded again, calmly laced his fingers together, and rested his hands on the table.

Mathias had a bad feeling that this was going to be yet another complicated situation.

“We’d know if he’d been killed,” Vlad said. “We had to claim the throne before those that apparently want the rule had a chance to make their move.”

Mathias grunted. “So, now Nossy is a liability and they want to kill me?” One of these days, he was going to show himself to be one crazy motherfucker. Then, all of this shit would stop. But, for now, he had to wait. He still didn’t know enough about all of these laws and shit to know what he was doing.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

He stared at Vlad. Sometimes, he really couldn’t believe the man. Jesus Christ. “And this was the best option?”

Vlad nodded.

“We are so screwed.”

* * * * *

If someone would have told him that a little over a year ago he’d be king, he’d have laughed in their faces. He still remembered what it was like to sleep on the streets on the remnants of a cardboard box just so he wouldn’t be sleeping on the cold concrete. It wasn’t pretty, but he’d survived.

Mathias was sitting in his room, staring at the floor. It wasn’t every day that he had to deal with something this bizarre. If he had the ability, he’d tell Vlad to shove it. Well, technically, he could say it, but it wouldn’t do any good. Once Vlad made up his mind, that was that. If there was one flaw that vampire had, that was it.

Still, he had to wonder what the man was thinking. He wasn’t exactly king material. Mathias still remembered digging through garbage bins outside of restaurants just in case something was edible. What the hell did he know about being a king? If you asked him, his answer was, “Jack and Shit.”

Okay. Yeah. Sure, he’d ruled a long time ago, back when they still slaughtered animals for a big feast after a won battle. He knew nothing of modern warfare. If human movies could come up with guns that could vaporize a vampire, what had the vamps come up with?

Not to mention that he never followed politics. It never interested him. On top of all of this, he had no training. Then, there was the Nossy mess. It all weighed heavily. His best option? Probably digging in Nossy’s journals. If, he could find the latest one that is. The last time he’d done it, it hadn’t turned out so well, but what choice did he have?

* * * * *

Stuart tapped his claws against his lips. “You didn’t expect him to be happy about it did you?”

Sometimes, Stuart could not believe how stupid Vlad could be. Mathias did not need this extra stress. He’d had enough to deal with already, at least in Stuart’s opinion. Now, Vlad had to add something else.

Vlad shrugged. The red velvet coat he was wearing rumpled. The wrinkles seemed lighter somehow than the rest of the jacket. Stuart supposed it was the light bouncing off the pile.

“I suppose I just thought he’d take it better,” Vlad said.

Stuart shook his head. The elder vampire just didn’t understand. He couldn’t tell if he really was that pointless or operating in a permanent state of denial. Stuart straightened his silk jacket around his waist and tied the sash. “Really, Vlad? Come on. The kid’s what, sixteen? Almost got killed what, nine months ago? Jesus.”