Chapter Twenty-Five
Skylar
The deeper I went into the palace, the more surprised I was. I expected modern and flashy and expensive. Not ancient and museum like. It reminded me more of a cathedral than a home. Expensive flooring, statues, tapestries, paintings. Everything was obviously luxurious, just not the kind I expected. Most of the vampires I met were fascinated with the trendy luxuries. Some craved the older finer things, but they were used to selling items when trends changed and upgrading to fit in.
The vampire queen didn’t need to fit in.
“What is she doing here?” A man in a guard uniform asked.
I couldn’t help but raise my brow. He was honestly dressed like a guard. Behind him, I saw several other guards in matching outfits. They were staked out in front of doorways, stairways, and in halls.
Madison hadn’t been lying when she said security was tight. If this was what I saw on a quick glance, what else was there. I risked a look around and quickly counted eight video cameras. And that was while trying to be discrete.
“She requested an audience with the queen,” Madison said. “I thought the queen might oblige her.”
The guard huffed. “Queen’s busy.”
“What do you want me to do with her?” Madison removed a blade. “Should I get rid of her?”
My heart pounded. I knew Madison was bluffing. I couldn’t feel any anger or malice in her emotions. The only thing coming through from her was fear. She was worried we’d get busted. Or maybe she was worried the guard would call her bluff. But after having a knife to the throat so recently, I was more nervous than I’d like.
“Throw her in the dungeons, let the queen figure it out at nightfall,” the guard said.
“You sure? She doesn’t have to know I brought her,” Madison said.
The guard chuckled. “I’ve always appreciated your dark streak but I have a feeling this little wolf might come in handy. I’ll let the queen know you call dibs if she’s not needed.”
Madison pouted. Honest to god pouted. The lip out and slumped shoulders and everything. “Fine. Ruin all my fun.”
She grabbed my upper arm and shoved me forward. “Walk.”
“No,” I said. “I came here for my mate. I’m not leaving without him.”
“If you want any chance at seeing him, you’ll cooperate,” Madison said.
“If she gives you too much trouble, I’ll forget that I saw her,” the guard said.
Madison kneed me in the gut. It wasn’t as hard as it could be, but it was enough to make me grunt in surprise.
“Let’s try this again. Walk,” Madison said, her tone commanding.
She’d mentioned that she was in talks to take her fighting into movies and after this performance, I was going to have to encourage her to follow that. If we made it out alive.
I made a show of gritting my teeth and glaring at Madison as I walked down the hall away from the guard. I wanted to say something to her, but everywhere I looked, we were surrounded by guards. How many of them were new shifters the queen had coerced to join her? How many were loyal and serving her willingly? I couldn’t ask those questions now. There was too much chance of someone overhearing us.
It didn’t take long for us to reach a dark, damp staircase that led to what I can only assume was the basement or dungeon. The house wasn’t all that old and while we called it a palace, I knew it was a mansion built for a human. At least that’s what I’d been told. What kind of fucked up human built himself a dungeon in his mansion?
“This is the best you could have hoped for,” Madison said.
I had to agree with her. I bought myself some time. We had no guarantee that the queen wouldn’t kill me. If there were spelled shifters guarding this space and the mages got through, I could be out of here very soon.
At least something was finally going right.
The staircase ended at a long dim hallway lined with cells. Literal cells for holding prisoners. “What the fuck? Was this always here or did her royal vampness have them installed.”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant,” Madison said coolly.
Her tone had adjusted again, alerting me to the fact that we weren’t alone. I couldn’t pinpoint any cameras down here, which was a little odd, but there were several guards up ahead.