“There are coordinated Drakhyn attacks which seem to be targeting us. We have missing Vampyres to search for. We have training for Trials to undertake, and we have the Winter Event to prepare for if it is still to be held. There is no more time for a ball!”
“It’s a social gathering,” Marcus corrected as he checked the invitation. He gave a short laugh when Michael snatched it from him.
“Black tie?” Michael groaned when he saw the attendees. “This is madness.” He looked up at his father. “Zahra cannot attend this. She is not ready, and can you imagine Cornelius or Delilah, what they would say?”
“I know,” Salem agreed with his son’s sentiment. “I will talk to Zahra, but I agree she is too fragile.”
Michael read the invite again, and then he grinned wickedly. “Who’s telling Tegan?” he asked. “Not it!” he called, and Marcus did the same, both smiling smugly at Salem.
“Can we make Sloane do it? It is his parents after all.”
“The invite is from Prime Castor Rorik,” Marcus chided him with a tut.
“Pfft, it has Cornelius and Delilah written all over it. Another ploy for who knows what political gain.” Salem stood. “Where is the dress?” he asked Marcus.
“In your rooms. I did not trust Tegan to find it and not destroy it.”
“Very wise,” Salem agreed as he headed for the door. “I’ll visit with Zahra first,” he added as he left. He walked along the halls quickly, acknowledging the Akrhyn he passed on his way to his daughter’s room. He knew Tegan was on patrol, because he had met her in the food hall just after lunch as she was heading out. It pained him that she was still formal with him, more so since she had been pressing for Salem to make enquiries of the Vampyre Court. Salem had sent a message, but he had received no reply. He feared no reply was not going to appease his daughter. Tegan was fierce like her mother, relentless too. He was truly surprised she had not convinced Cord to take her there. He had no doubts she would have asked him. Perhaps Cord also feared the reasons the Court was quiet.
As he approached Zahra’s door, Salem hesitated. It was hard to take, his daughter’s silence. Zahra was so naturally demanding, seeing her sitting there in silence was unnerving. Unlike the Akrhyn in the halls of the Headquarters, Zahra had been shielded from being on patrol. She had never been confronted with the harsh reality of what Drakhyn did to their victims. Now? Now she had a first-hand taste, and Salem blamed himself.
He knocked lightly and opened the door without waiting for a reply. “Hey, sweetheart,” he greeted her as he went into the room. Today she was in grey polka dot sleepwear pants with a lemon tank top. Her hair was scraped away from her face with a yellow headband. Her knees were drawn up to her chin, and her head rested on them as she stared unseeingly out of the window.
“How are you feeling?” Salem asked gently. The Pure Castors had healed her of her wounds so that no scars remained. They had told him that due to the way the Drakhyn had removed the child, Zahra’s best chance of being fertile in the future was to let her body go through the loss naturally, as if she had miscarried. As he failed to comprehend what they were saying to him, Tove had explained that her body would naturally remove the pregnancy, and Zahra would bleed for some days to come until her body had adjusted to what she had lost. Again, Salem had felt so helpless, but he had been in the room when the healers had told Zahra, and she had nodded once when they asked if she understood.
Salem was still questioning whether he would ever understand anything again. If he was floundering, how would his seventeen-year-old daughter be faring? He pulled out a chair and sat across from her, but her head did not move to look at him, nor did she give any sign that she had heard him. “I just wanted to see how you were. Have you eaten?” His eyes fell on the tray of food, and he could see she had not touched anything. He held in his sigh as he considered her options. “We have been invited to a social gathering. It is entirely inappropriate, but the Great Council will be in attendance, and there are too many things happening that I need answers to, not to attend.”
He watched her, and when she remained staring out the window, he continued. “Although you are invited, I will send your apologies.” Salem’s eyes watched for any movement. “You are still indisposed, and I think you are not ready for the questioning that you will no doubt be under.” Her eye twitched, and he knew he was getting to her. “It is inevitable that Akrhyn are talking about it, and not all are as well-mannered as we are, and some are just malicious,” he added, thinking of Cornelius and Delilah.
“Others know?” Zahra whispered.
“Of your abduction, yes.” Salem decided it was best to be truthful. “There are others who know about your loss too.” Zahra’s eyes closed, and he saw the tears fall. “It was unavoidable given the number of Akrhyn who sought to get you back and then heal you.” They sat quietly for a few more minutes before Salem stood and kissed his daughter’s head. “Do you need anything?” he asked. She shook her head, and he took the stilted talk as progress. He rejoiced that she was speaking again. “We need to talk about it soon, Zahra, but not yet.” With another kiss on her head, he left her in her room.
Outside, he took a moment to deal with his own sadness before he headed to Sloane’s room. He tapped lightly on the door and heard the call to come in.
“Salem?” Sloane looked at him in surprise before he looked around the room. “Tegan is not here. Michael has target practice, I think.”
“I am here to see you,” Salem told him as he closed the door. He watched Sloane drop the clothing that he had been folding. “Are you going somewhere?” Sloane smirked as he handed Salem the message he had received and waited for Salem to read it. As Sloane resumed his folding, Salem dropped the note on the bed. “Sometimes, I wonder where their true intentions lie,” he admitted quietly.
Sloane snorted. “Their intentions are for me to besafe, and where better than with them.” He looked around the room. “This has been my home for so long now. I think they forget that.”
“Do you think it is because of what has happened with Zahra?” Salem asked as he sat on the chair in the room. He took note of Sloane’s hesitation before he continued. “You have always been very open and honest with me, Sloane, sometimes more than I needed to know,” he added ruefully. “I would hate for now to be the time where that changes.”
“I do not think my parents are focusing on that. I think they play a different game,” he said honestly.
“And what do you think about the betrothal to Zahra?” Salem leaned forward as he watched the young male intently.
“I do not know,” Sloane admitted. “It’s a lot to take in.” He gave a small laugh as he stopped what he was doing. “Maybe I am best placed to return to my parents’ home for a few weeks until things are more settled?”
“I understand,” Salem told him softly.
“What would you do?” Sloane asked him suddenly. He sat on his bed, and he looked at the Principal Elder, the man who had practically raised him along with his own son.
Salem looked surprised as he sat back and thought about it. “I do not know that I am the best person to ask.” He scratched his head as he thought about it. “I am her father, and I am biased.” He smiled as he looked at Sloane. “But I also care very much for you.”
“And you were kind of in the same situation with my aunt, were you not?” Sloane looked at his feet. “You know, the whole ‘do I, don’t I’ scenario.”
Salem huffed out a laugh at the young Akrhyn’s usual bluntness. “And there are the uncomfortable statements I am used to,” he muttered as he looked over the room. “Simply put? I cannot tell you. I know the two of you do not care for each other really, which has been demonstrated many times when you are in the same room together.” Salem tapped his fingers on his legs. “You avoid each other, or you simply ignore one another. I admit, and I am ashamed to do so, I always thought it would be you who broke the betrothal.” He looked at Sloane somewhat sheepishly. “I was obviously wrong.”