“Look, what threat do they pose?” asked David. “This poor Derek was a prisoner for ten years under the abode of a solitary vampire. So there are five of them now, assuming we can bring them together. What could they possibly do? Clearly they want to know us.”

“And why is this so urgent?” I asked. “Because they know about us? The whole world knows about us. So they know we’re real and the whole world thinks we’re not real. You think they can persuade the whole world to take another view of us without revealing themselves? And why should these creatures reveal themselves to the world? And why ever would they put themselves in our hands if they are indeed a species whose blood is naturally replenished within a few hours? Why, we could keep them here forever as prisoners.”

Armand whispered under his breath that that might not be a bad idea at all.

“That’s just what Roland did to Derek,” said Allesandra. “And Arion here has drunk from the creature’s blood many times, and indeed the blood does come back over and over and over again. And Roland kept him as just such a fount of blood.” She was plainly outraged at it. “You cannot do such a thing, Prince. You wouldn’t.”

Marius shook his head in disgust and folded his arms. He muttered to himself under his breath. I realized something which perhaps I should have seen before. The Court had given Marius immense new life and purpose. It had taken him out of the limbo in which he’d been existing since Those Who Must Be Kept were destroyed. He had been gaining in vitality for six months, and I wondered now why he put up with me at all. Wouldn’t he have made the better monarch? I found myself strangely indifferent on the matter of a power struggle.

I turned to Arion:

“And what did you see in the blood of the creature?” I asked.

“Bits and pieces, nothing of great value, but it was Rhoshamandes who saw a strange vision of the great city before it fell into the sea. He explained it to me and to Roland. He saw the city teeming with people, filled with flowers and fruit trees, and giant translucent buildings beyond count. He said there was a ‘great one’ in the city and the Great One was…Amel.”

“We have to invite them now, before Rhoshamandes finds them!” said Marius impatiently. “We can’t let them fall into his hands.”

“Well, how in the Hell can Rhoshamandes find them?” my mother asked. She spoke up in her usual cranky voice. “But I have to say, if you’d executed Rhoshamandes last year you would have saved everyone a lot of trouble.”

“I agree with that,” said Seth in a low voice. He turned to me for the first time. “He should die for what he did and what he has done now.”