Reign of Blood

Chapter Thirty-Three

That hurt more than she thought it would.

From Lorcan, she'd expected it. But she'd thought Evette would've been more understanding of her position. Annaliese couldn't drop a timeless war just because someone she cared about asked her to. If she so much as considered it, her subjects would revolt.

She'd been counting on the witches. Unlike the vampires, they didn't hate her.

As for Chronos, that was the part that had hurt the most. Surprisingly, somehow, she cared about what he thought of her. A new adjustment, of course, and she wasn't particularly fond of it.

He'd called her a tyrant. Then he'd called her Sylvester. Nothing hit her worse than that.

But if it was a bloodbath they wanted, then it was a bloodbath they'd get.

He'd told her last night that he wanted this to work. That she was stuck with him. Whose side was he even on?

Did she want him to be on her side?

Yes. She did.

"Squire," She called, with one thought on her mind. Fuck them all.

"Yes Mistress?"

"I've got some jobs for you."

"Anything, Mistress."

"First of all, I want you to release everyone in the dungeons." We'll see how Chronos likes that. He called her a tyrant. She could be nice. But he wouldn't like it when he saw what happened. Those prisoners didn't act out, because- like Chronos- she'd gotten to their heads. "Then, I want you to gather every vampire that can teleport and send them to my throne room. Send Nazreen too, but I want her on the dais."

"Yes, Mistress. Right away Mistress."

"Oh, and Squire? Once you've done all of that, I want you to wait outside of the war rooms. If anyone comes out, keep them busy."

"Of course, Mistress."

With a smirk, she left for her armoury, from where she decorated her body with intricate weapons.

Nazreen met her outside of the throne room, where she stood with a lost and puzzled look.

"A-Annaliese?"

"Nazreen," She nodded. "I've got a job for you, so I need you to listen carefully and put on that acting face. There's the one I'm looking for. But don't smile. We don't want people to think you're nice. There's the look. Don't drop it. In ten minutes' time, you and I are going to be standing on that big fancy stage in the throne room. Everyone's going to be looking at you, so I need you to put on that brave face and keep it there. You don't have to talk. You have to stand tall and look dark. Can you do that for me?"

"Y-yes?"

"Great. The vampires are going to think you're somehow behind this too, and then, we'll win you some of their respect. Now, you're going to see some scary people in the next few hours Nazreen, so I want you to remember that you're going to be a Queen and that none of them can touch you."

"W—what's happening?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about just yet. We'll get to that when the time comes. But the slogan is: welcome to the reign of blood. Good, isn't it?"

Annaliese was already sauntering off before she could think to answer.

Jaw clenched, Chronos stood at a shuttered window in the war rooms, cursing his brother out to hell. Sure, he loved the bastard, but would it kill them to listen?

By this point, it was absurd that Lorcan still thought he was always right. They didn't know Annaliese like he did.

He could feel that something was wrong.