Kingmakers, The (Vampire Empire Book 3) by Susan Griffith Clay Griffith Read Free Book Online Page A

insane.
    This war would save them all.

    Prince Cesare sat in a spotless wooden chair in the corner of a dark chamber beneath Buckingham Palace. He was well dressed in an impeccable grey suit and shined black shoes. He was short and lithe, with close-cropped hair and a sharp face. His blue eyes stared hard with no movement. Cesare was a thinking creature, and liked any who might observe him to know he was always in thought.
    The only potential observer whose opinion mattered at the moment was mute. Across the room lay the body of Cesare's father, King Dmitri, dead for more than six months now. The king was thin and desiccated, having rotted away what soft fatty tissue he had possessed when he died. Now he was a leathery thing, empty eye sockets open and strained mouth agape as if struggling for one last breath. Cesare watched the human bloodmen slaves straightening the king's bedclothes. A dead human lay on the stones, his blood having been drained into a grate in the floor. An unfortunate victim was brought in every few days to be killed and drained, and then carted out by the bloodmen. It was an amusing fiction that Cesare maintained to imply that the king was still feeding. No one yet knew Dmitri was dead. With the exception of a few human slaves, only Cesare attended him, it was assumed out of extreme loyalty. The king's condition was to be hidden until it suited Cesare to announce his death.
    And certainly no one needed to know that Cesare himself had murdered his father.
    “How did you manage it?” Cesare asked Dmitri's body. “All these allies, all these clans with their pathetic quibblings. You were one of the kings of the Great Killing. Was it this much trouble? I'll admit, I have more respect for you now.”
    One of the bloodmen indicated the dripping sacrifice.
    “Yes, yes.” Cesare waved his hand. “Take it away.”
    The king's meal was dragged out and the door shut, leaving father and son alone.
    “I'm a war king now too. Perhaps once I get affairs settled here, I will visit the front. I may even lead an attack.” Cesare rose and crossed to his father's bedside. “Oddly enough, I've enjoyed these months we've spent together down here. But it will have to end soon. I'll have to use your death for my benefit. That's something I learned from you, planning, calculating, staying ahead of your enemies, and your friends too. Never trust anyone, as you trusted Gareth. And he deserted you in the end.”
    Cesare patted Dmitri's dead arm with cold comfort. “What to do about Gareth? I know I should kill him, but that would create trouble now when I need it least. I don't want some of the old clan lords getting their backs up about who is or isn't the proper heir. You always favored Gareth, but he is unsuitable to be king. There's something false about him. No one else notices, but I smell it. He's all artifice. I'm real, Father. You'd see that now if I hadn't killed you. I'm your true heir, and I will unite the clans in a way even you could not. You'll see. I mean, where is Gareth now? Here we are, in a war for our survival, and he is nowhere to be found. What sort of king would he make?”
    There was a solid pounding on the door. The prince exhaled in annoyance at being interrupted in conversation with his father. He shouted, “What is it?”
    “Lady Hallow to see you, my lord,” came the muffled voice of his chamberlain, Stryon, who always waited outside.
    Cesare said, “Very well,” at which the door opened for him to exit and then closed behind him. Several of his vicious retainers moved in front of the door. They had constant orders to allow no one to see the king except Cesare. The prince went quickly to his conference room, a massive ballroom with festering old chandeliers cluttered with bones. The floors and walls were clotted with dried blood from decades of feasting. Lady Hallow rose as Cesare entered. Her slender figure bowed with a rustle of her scarlet gown. The moonlight reflected in her blonde