Your Dark Gospel (Complete)

Chapter Two

Elira rubbed at the flecks of blood on her hands, accomplishing nothing more than smearing it across her freckled skin. She couldn’t help but admire the way the crimson stain gleamed like a ruby in the soft glow of the candlelit ballroom. The feeling of blood on her skin had never bothered her. Its embrace was always warm and welcome, and her people believed it was as a sign of devotion to wear the mark of a sacrifice, to bathe in blood split as an offering to their Lord.

Her father.

But as she looked around the high-ceilinged chamber, with its glittering chandeliers and gilded walls, she knew she was far from the blood-soaked temples of Bhaal’s followers. Elegantly dressed dancers spun across the marble floor, their faces concealed by ornately painted masks. They were oblivious to the world beneath their feet, deep within the bowels of the city, where at this very moment Bhaal’s most devout were preparing their evening sacrifice for her treacherous sister, Orin, to give to their Lord. A ritual they used to do for her—before everything went to hells.

She swallowed her apprehension and stepped into the light, commanding her slippered feet to carry her into the swarm of the crowd as though she belonged there. She wouldn’t think about Orin tonight; Orin was a distraction.

She crossed the dance floor, weaving her way through a sea of animals and monsters in elegant ballgowns and sparkling doublets. It was a whirlwind of glittering jewels and concealed identities. No one loved a masquerade more than the upper crust. It was their way of displaying their most vile behaviors and carnal lusts while suffering none of the consequences.
Elira smiled as she imagined all the ways she would like to punish them if they had been brought to her father’s temple when she had still been his favored child. It felt like the twist of a knife in her gut when she remembered that she was the one who would be punished were she to return. Bile rose in her throat, but she pushed her anger aside.

For now.

She tried to ignore the way her stolen corset pinched her breasts as she moved amongst the crowd. Her gown was a heavy pearlescent monstrosity, weighing her down and placing her at a disadvantage should she need to run. She hoped it wouldn’t come to that as she tightened the black velvet ribbon of her own mask, securing it over the shock of red curls resting on her shoulders. Surely no would recognize her like this.

Well, almost no one.

There was a particular set of eyes she hoped to catch amongst the seemingly endless stream of dancers and drunken revelry.

She’d let her hair down in hopes that its unusual brightness would be enough to draw him to her, but she was beginning to doubt her methods. Or perhaps Scerlitas, her butler, had given her bad information. She would flay him for it later were that the case. The last thing she needed was to waste an evening combing a ball for a vampire spawn that wasn’t even there. Of course, Scerlitas doubted her choice in Astarion, but that was no excuse to send her on a fruitless expedition. She had seen the desperation leaking off him in the tavern, tasted it on his skin. He needed her as much as she needed him. Scerlitas would see that she was right— that her plan would work.

Besides, time was running out. Orin and her spies were getting closer. If she was going to draw the spawn in, it was now or never.

A glint of silver hair caught her eye, and she hurried her steps, pushing through the kaleidoscope of chaos that was a ballroom. Her heart thumped against her ribcage as she focused on his tall shape, a black-horned mask concealing his face. He wore a sapphire encrusted doublet with a silk cravat cascading down his chest in ruffled layers. There was no doubt in her mind that she had found what she was looking for. She just needed to reach him before—

Something solid snaked around her waist, pulling her back into the crowd of dancers. She turned to see a gilded lion’s face leering down at her, the wearer’s exposed mouth pulled back in an exuberant smile as he spun her in a circle.