Delphinium, or A Necromancer's Home (TCoLaD Book 2)

Requiem

~ Hexday, 27th of Juvenis, 11831 ~

Renaud sat at his brother's grave. Heaps of flowers covered the entire headstone and dozens of candles lit up the evening. Two servants now had the sole job of keeping this clean, well decorated, and the candles lit every moment for a year and a day. If he had any say in it, it would continue on for longer.

"I am so sorry," he said. "I tried to find you. I looked! But you were not even there. That bitch Sabine took you for—" he could not even say the words. That his brother had been some sort of sacrifice for dark magic made him ill. What had he even done to deserve that! It had been he and his father that planned against the duc, not Jourdain!

Was it something Sabine had suspected, though? Had that been why he was taken? The fée had helped, so Elwin was involved, he was certain of it. And necrocræft was not illegal in Faery. She must have worked alongside Elwin and the other fée. Who were they to care about the legalities of Triumphe?

Had Síofra known? Had His Grace? Was it with the duc's blessing that this was done—or his command?

At least Sabine was dead. He had not been allowed into Spadille to retrieve Jourdain's body or to go to the trial of the one responsible. His father had gone alone, but he knew for certain that she had been hanged and then burnt.

"It seems I will be the comte now, as we wanted," he continued bitterly. This was not how it should have happened. "Cordelia will stay here, of course, and I will make sure your child will be cared for. I will raise her well for you... Father tells me to wed Cordelia, but she misses you so, and I never found her as attractive as you did. Maybe in a year or two if I still do not have a bride? It would be simpler. If only your child was a son, I would name him my heir for you, but Cordelia says it is a girl."

"You know the dead can't speak back?"

He stood, moving over to the grave as if protecting it. "Who is there? I demand you tell me. I am heir to Feuilles."

A man stepped from the shadows. He wore a cloak covering much of him that did not allow a clear description, but the hat he wore was a style found in the south of Bladeren and in northern Italaviana.

When he smiled, fangs appeared over his lips.

"We know who you are, my lord. I am Giacobbe. We are acquaintances of Remigius."

Remigius was his father's 'chef', a man skilled in poisons and stealth, a personal advisor in public and an assassin in secret. It had been he who created the new toxin that had not killed Pierre, but had been enough to fell the former chief doctor of Spadille's hospital.

"And what are acquaintances of the chef doing here at my brother's grave?"

"Paying our respects. We could not come during the day, as you can see. But he would have been our comte." Two more vampires stepped out behind Giacobbe, holding larkspur in their hands.

"You are citizens of Feuilles?"

"We are," one of the other vampires said. "Remigius helped us escape from our homeland and we have been in his debt since."

"Why do you speak so freely to me, then?" They could have waited until left and remained unknown.

"Because, as you said, you will now be our comte," Giacobbe replied. "You are of age. Your father is old. He dislikes the vampires as well as the fée. You may be persuaded to see our side."

Renaud nodded and allowed them to lay their offerings down.

"I am listening."

***
~ Iunday, 29th of Juvenis, 11831 ~