“I didn’t,” she said, and nodded at the scene behind me.

I turned back to see half a dozen vamps emerging from the inner room and crowding around the fey, who remained motionless. Pritkin mostly was as well, only he seemed to have retained a small amount of mobility, and you had to give him credit. He was using it to continue to try to force the knife upward.

Or he was until the big vamp pulled it out and threw it aside. “Heal him,” he told one of the new arrivals, gesturing at Aeslinn. “As for you—” He jerked Pritkin toward him. “Nothing but trouble, just like your father! We should have killed you years ago.”

Pritkin managed a small smile, and then used the rest of his mobility to spit in the creature’s face.

“Sleep!” the vampire snarled, as gray gunk slid down his cheek, because it looked like his captive had swallowed some mud, too.

Pritkin went limp—for real this time—and the fake arm he’d magicked up to fool one of his guards abruptly disappeared. It caused his body to sag to the floor, landing wetly, but the big vamp was taking no chances. He kicked the supine form with his shoe, then gestured for his servants to drag Pritkin back.

They did so, albeit cautiously, and one of them got a knee on his spine, just in case. I took an alarmed step forward, before stopping and feeling like a fool. This had all happened hundreds of years ago.

“What about the others, my lord?” an obsequious looking vamp asked, while practically bent double in a bow. “Should we kill them?”

“No. Put them back where the damned fey found them. We don’t need any more disruptions.”

“Won’t the king object?”

“The king won’t remember,” the big vamp said grimly. “None of them will.”

And they hadn’t, I thought, as the scene finally ended. But an arrow had. Probably because the guards had just seen their king stabbed, and knew they had let it happen. They must have expected to die for that, and quite likely would have—if the big vamp hadn’t made it all go away.

Only no, not a vamp, I thought, staring at the florid face. Something much worse. And, damn, did I feel out of my depth right now.

“Did you understand that?” the telepath demanded. “Do you know what they’re doing?”

“No,” I told her. “But I know someone who might.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Six