Silver Under Nightfall (Reaper, #1)

by Rin Chupeco

Over the last twenty years, fourteen small but independent kingdoms had banded together to form one giant empire of semi-autonomous nations, to mount a better defense against the vampire courts. The royals of the house of Ashrai, the first to come up with the idea, served as Aluria’s figureheads, but the body politic was represented well enough at the Queen’s Council, where their most important lords converged at the start of each season like the world’s best-dressed mob.

“The dress becomes you, but it also encumbers you,” he said. “You are in unknown, potentially hostile territory, surrounded by Reapers, yet you chose to make yourself vulnerable because you are placing your trust in them despite their lack of the same in you. And that to me, is much more breathtaking than any gown you could wear.”

“Ah.” He could practically hear her mind cycling through the words, trying to find the least reprehensible of the lot. “Ah… twat?” “Was that a question?” “Twat.” She took a deep breath. “You twat!” She shouted at the trees, “You abominable twat!” “Fucking arse,” Remy encouraged her. “Swag-bellied cockchafer!” “Fucking ass!” She was pronouncing each word with a slow, delighted relish. “Fucking. Cockchafer!” “Yeast-infested quimswiller!” “Yeast-infested quimswiller!” “Foddle-swapped coxcomb!” “Foddle-swapped coxcomb!” And then again, at his urging, “… scum-sucking… cuntrabbit!” “A what?” Remy choked. She fell back, laughing. “I’m saving that one for a special occasion!”

He’d wasted years trying to garner the respect that no one had ever planned on giving him.

One of the horses had only three legs. From the way it was prancing about, the shortage was not an issue.

“Stop struggling, Pendergast. I’m inspecting you.” “Why—you’re looking to see if I’ve been infected?” “How smart you are, Pendergast.” The sarcasm was strong in Malekh’s harsh voice, his abruptness. “What would I do without such insight?” “I wasn’t bitten. You have no need to be concerned—” “But I do.” Malekh’s hand was on the side of Remy’s face again, turning it so he could continue with his examination. “I worked you too hard during our sparring. If there were any lapses in your fighting just now, then I am to blame, am I not?”

“I am not invulnerable, but neither are you. You cannot be angry at me for putting myself in danger, then dismiss my concerns when you do the same.” Malekh pressed his finger against the tip one last time and let go. He was perfectly composed as ever as he walked over to Xiaodan. Remy, on the other hand, was trembling, staring down at his hand like he’d grown a third thumb.

“Do you two constantly travel around, turning every dying animal into your fucking creature of the night?” Remy exploded, and then put a hand over his bandages because, hell, that did hurt.

“Why do you keep turning someone else’s compassion into a favor that you owe, instead of accepting that you are worthy of it?”

“That’s for sticking me into a pit full of infected children, you dandified sot,”

“You nearly died, Pendergast. You nearly well fucking died, and your first thought when you regained consciousness was not about how close you’d come to certain death, but about an old lover who’d used you for most of your relationship and worry for the people who murdered her? I am sorry that she is dead, and that we were unable to save her. But had I been in your place, I would not have given another thought to the mob responsible for causing her death.”

“Yes, it was.” Xiaodan reached out and lovingly brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead. “But I have found that there is someone else much more important to me than the treaty. I will find another way to seek peace between my kindred and yours. But you, Remy—I almost lost you. I cannot forgive them for

He was so enraged when he saw what they’d done to you, how close they’d come to succeeding. I kept the cooler head of the two of us, and you have no idea how surprising it is to be in that position when it is so often the reverse.” “Speak for yourself,” Elke said. “Channeling the sun out of every inch of your body while you swore that you would burn them all to a crisp if they took another step is not what I might call keeping the cooler head.”

Zidan never gets angry like this. With other kindred, he would have simply shrugged and slain them without a thought. But he never laid a hand on any of the Alurians. Said you were such a damn ass that even if he had good reason to, you would never have forgiven him.” Remy had nearly stopped breathing. “I—” “He thought at first that Elke hadn’t gotten to you in time, that your neck had snapped in the fall,” Xiaodan barreled on. “He didn’t know for sure until you were safely out of Elouve. And when you did wake, all you could think about was defending the city. He’s not jealous of anyone else. He’s angry that you value so many others over yourself. And yes, he does think that you care for him only because he comes with me in this relationship.”

“Remy,” Elke said gently, laying her hand against his shoulder; a comforting gesture, though not as heated as Malekh’s had been. “Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps you are worth saving? That you are worth the time to be kind to? Do you really want to stay to defend a city that has treated you so terribly?”

Malekh loved him. The arsehole really fucking did love him, just as much as Xiaodan did. As much as Remy loved them. He was wholly tempted to go back and grab Xiaodan, slam them both into the unused stall the noble was resting against, but his wounded shoulder and legs and exhaustion screamed otherwise. Additionally, he didn’t want to traumatize the horses. But—

Elke smiled. “You really do care for them, don’t you?” “For as long as they’ll allow me, yes.” Remy drained the glass.

“You’re not to fight them until Xiaodan gives the word,” Malekh said. “You are not to leave my sight even then.” “You’re not my fucking father, Malekh,” Remy growled. “And not even he cares all this much.” Malekh smiled, wide enough to reveal the points of his fangs. “You’re still human, Pendergast. You’re the most vulnerable of us, and also the most hotheaded in a fight. I already thought you dead once—let us not make it a habit.” “I know you’re saying that because you’re worried about me, and I appreciate it,” Remy said. “But the way you express this shit still pisses me off.”

The only true power within Elouve, it seemed, lay with old men who should long ago have been relegated to obscurity. Change only occurred when they allowed it, according to what they considered proper, never for those most affected by it.

No, he thought. Things may have changed for them where it concerned him, but it changed nothing for him where it concerned them. He set his shoulders and lifted his head, proud as ever. Whatever might come, he’d be by their side, and that was better than being without them.