To Curse the Darkness by P.G. Forte Read Free Book Online

You are correct. I do remember her, and I laughed when I learned of her death. It is as ridiculous a practice to make all of your spawn Invitus as it is to make none of them so. One need only look to nature—to the bees, if you will—to see how a House should be ordered. There must be both workers and drones, both soldiers and slaves. That is what I have always done and it is what I shall continue to do. Most of all, I reserve the right to do what I judge best for my own House—without asking permission or suffering interference from anyone.”
    Emrys shrugged. “Your arguments notwithstanding, I still cast my vote with Quintano, as I wager most of us will.” He turned to Georgia. “And you, my lady? How do you vote?”
    â€œI vote with Conrad. Obviously.”
    Brockwell jumped to his feet. “No. You do not.” He glared at Georgia. “You have no place here! You have no voice here! You pollute this chamber with your presence.”
    â€œSit down,” Conrad snapped. “You will not threaten her or anyone else. Not in this place.”
    â€œIt does seem a little harsh,” Emrys murmured. “Is this chamber polluted then?”
    Brockwell overrode him. “This chamber be damned. I will do as I please—here or elsewhere. I do not recognize your authority over me. I do not recognize anyone’s authority over me.”
    Conrad glared. “Either you will take your seat now, or I will put you back in it by force. Georgia has every right to be here or to speak her mind. She has as much at stake in this as any of us.”
    â€œShe is not her own mistress,” Brockwell growled, sounding angrier by the moment. “As such, she has no stake. In anything. She is nothing but a pawn.”
    â€œPerhaps you have not thought things through sufficiently,” Conrad suggested. “Tonight’s vote is important, yes. I’ll not deny it. But it is only the start. There is but one way for the cult to truly end. We must approach it in the same way by which we eradicated the blood plague. We must destroy all knowledge of it—permanently, for all time. Everyone here today must agree to this plan. Our vote must be unanimous. There can be no exceptions.”
    â€œAnd that is why this preposterous notion will never succeed,” Brockwell replied, sinking back into his seat, a smug smile upon his face. “How is it you are so deluded? Do you actually imagine I will ever agree with this foolishness? I will see you dead first—and all of your House with you.”
    â€œPerhaps, after all, Emrys was not far wrong when he described us as vipers,” Georgia suggested. “If we cannot even discuss the possibility of change without resorting to threats and anger. But thus we prove Conrad’s point as well. It is our very nature as Invitus that dooms us in this modern world. Our lack of control, our thirst for blood, our propensity for viciousness: they are liabilities, yet it seems there are many among us who would extol them as virtues.”
    â€œDo not think to deceive us,” Brockwell snarled. “Do you imagine we are not aware that you will do and say whatever your master tells you to? That is why he insisted on including you here today—so that you might stand with him, and thus bolster his untenable position. But I am not seduced by your honeyed words. Nor will I allow this farce to continue any longer.”
    â€œYou are right on one count,” Conrad replied. “And on that one count only. Georgia stands with me and I with her. If you have a problem with her being here—if you have a problem with her at all—then you have a problem with me . And you will address your concerns to me, or you will hold your tongue. If you wish for a fight, I am happy to oblige you, though I would prefer to do so elsewhere. After all, I see no reason to bloody my own hall. I am told marble is deucedly hard to