What Aria saw would remain etched in her memory for the rest of her life. Her father, Ungern Zotova, Baron of Korotsk and a man of honor, who grabbed the other nobleman by the neck, slamming him against the wall and holding him down with his cane.

  “You were supposed to protect her!” Ungern exclaimed.

  The nobleman, despite the strong impact, did not let out a cry of pain; he simply let him hold his hands on him without protesting.

  “Are you afraid, Ungern?”

  “No, I’m not afraid. You can’t kill me.” the baron let go, then took two steps back and threw the cigar to the ground, which he put out with the sole of his boot. From his inside jacket pocket he took out a new cigar, which he brought to his mouth and lit with a portable steel.

  “Last time I didn’t get as much as I wanted…” the nobleman spoke, adjusting his collar, “and you know what happens when you don’t keep your word, right? You had a demonstration, but next time we won’t fail.”

  He began playing with his fingers, putting them in his mouth and chuckling at the end of each sentence. He also hunched over a little and his eyes continued to glow red in the moonlight.

  “You weren’t supposed to get to her. Why would I pass my mistakes on to someone else?” Ungern asked, “I made a mistake, I know, but it’s not easy to get close to the king.” a cloud of smoke rose into the sky, “I need more time.”

  “I don’t have time!” the nobleman exclaimed, almost shouting and keeping his voice higher. “We. Don’t. Have. Time!”

  Aria, meanwhile, was listening from behind the window and, the more she listened, the more horrified she was by what was revealed before her. Who was that strange gentleman? Was it B.K.? And then those eyes…

  “A vampire?” she wondered, “But my father wouldn’t have the strength to slam him against the wall, much less grab him by the neck…”

  She had read in the books in the library that vampires possessed extremely superhuman strength, capable of breaking a wooden door with just one punch. A human would never have been able to win a fight against them, much less if the human in question was sixty years old and had an injured leg.

  “We need a meeting. One. Away from everyone. And then… when we get close…” even though Aria was far away and the noble was obscured by the shadow of the tree, she could clearly see his nails lengthening into claws, “we’ll catch him! We’ll eat him! Mouse? Mouse where are you?”

  The noble got down on all fours, crawling around the garden in search of something, “Mouse?” and finally managed to catch what was a long-tailed mouse, which he gobbled up in one bite.

  “My God!” Aria said, covering her mouth.

  “You will have your meeting, but not before you tell me what you know.” Ungern didn’t seem to be as shaken as his daughter, continuing with business and smoking his cigar. In fact, he seemed even more relaxed now than before.

  “What did they tell us?”

  “Yes.”

  “We know something, yes. He has the chalice, no more. He lacks blood, no less. We. Need. Blood.”

  The four-legged friend burped and licked his lips several times. Animal blood dripped from his mouth and a smile formed on his face.

  “You will have your blood, but not right away.” Ungern said, pacing back and forth with his hands in his pockets. Smoke was coming out of his mouth between words.

  “The king has guards everywhere and it’s not easy to approach him. Plus, he’s a smart guy and won’t be fooled that easily. No… not by you stupid vampires.”

  Aria’s blood ran cold. The man her father was talking to was a vampire for all intents and purposes.

  What was she supposed to do in that case? Try to attack him and cut off his head? But she didn’t even have her sword with her and, as Anton had told her, a hunter without a sword was nothing but food for those creatures. Maybe she could get in touch with Liza, but she wasn’t sure how. She couldn’t scream or the vampire would kill her before she could finish screaming. Maybe it was better to stay hidden and see how the conversation went.

  “Stupid? We control, we plunder, we kill.”

  A squeak was heard in the middle of a hedge and immediately after that, claws sinking into flesh. The nobleman returned to Ungern to stand on his two-legged feet and straighten his blood-stained jacket. In his hand he held a lifeless mouse.

  “We can be lethal, Ungern, remember that.”

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  “I know, Boris. You don’t have to tell me every time.”

  “Good… good.”

  The vampire turned and scratched his nails against the wall.

  “Is there anything else?”

  “Yes. The night of the attack, your friend was killed by a huntress named Liza. Do you know anything about her?”

  “Liza…” he paused for a few seconds to remember if he had heard that name before; to help his memory, he decided to watch the moon moving quickly through the black clouds.

  “No, it doesn’t mean anything to me. She’s not one of the mountain hunters, so she must live here in Korotsk.”

  Ungern leaned closer to the vampire’s ear, but Aria could still hear his next words because her father didn’t lower his voice.

  “The huntress must die.”

  The girl skipped a beat. Her father wanted to have Liza killed? It’s fine to hate hunters, but going that far seemed like an exaggeration.

  “He collaborates with vampires and now he wants to kill a huntress? Is he really my father?” she wondered, a tear rolling down her left eye and onto the floor.

  “Kill! I like it! It will be done! If this Liza killed Kremel to save your daughter, maybe your daughter knows how to find her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, isn’t it obvious? Do you really think your daughter hasn’t tried to get in touch with her?”

  “Aria?” asked Ungern, “Her? And why? She wouldn’t even know how to hurt a fly, let alone play at being a huntress. She wouldn’t have the chops, but I won’t deny that she might know where this Liza is… lately it seems…” he stopped with his words, lowering his gaze and throwing the cigar in an undefined direction.

  “I’ll talk to her.” said the vampire, “Good morning, I’m Boris and I want to kill your little friend. How does that sound?”

  “Don’t be stupid.”

  “Or maybe, good morning, your father sent me and wants to know if you’ve been looking for a certain Liza… oh, by the way, I feel like feasting on her blood.”

  “Just kill her, I don’t care how.”

  The vampire bowed for an eternity.

  “It will be done.”

  Boris walked away with a cheerful laugh, disappearing into the shadows and leaving Ungern alone.

  Aria, on the other hand, didn’t know what to do.

  Her father had been in business with vampires and everything she had known about him up until that moment was being called into question. This man was no longer her father, he was something else. Making an attempt on the King’s life was crazy and doing business with vampires was even more so.

  What would the other hunters think about this story? How would Sonia react? How would Liza react?

  Would she be expelled from the academy? Or maybe they would kill her father for being a vampire collaborator?

  The more questions she asked herself, the more she understood what a mess she was getting herself into. What she had seen couldn’t be real… it was all so wrong.

  Then she saw her father walking away to go back to the banquet and, after taking two deep breaths to contain her anxiety, she turned to go back to the kitchen, but she didn’t notice that a boy had just entered the closet and was a few swords away from her.

  “Where can I find some wine?” asked the one who turned out to be the prince, a little unsteady and starting to rummage through the nearby crates.

  Aria remained still. The mask on her face was the only thing that didn’t make her scream in fear. She was afraid of being discovered and that the prince would tell her father. Plus, even though he wasn’t looking in her direction, the closet was so narrow that she couldn’t even try to escape.

  “Can you help me?” the prince asked, pointing to the boxes.

  Aria bent down and opened the closest box. Inside, she found folded cloth, mugs, and cutlery.

  “Did you find anything?” he asked again, waiting for an answer.

  Aria couldn’t say a word or the prince would recognize her. True, they had only met once and it had been several weeks, but the girl was so scared that she remained still and clumsy in her movements.

  “Why don’t you talk?”

  Aria shook her head. She thought about the fact that the prince must have so many women and that he met so many people during the ceremonies that he might have forgotten about her. Besides, it was Aria who had forgotten about the prince and his existence, until that moment.

  “I’m not allowed.” she said in a small voice.

  The prince narrowed his eyes at first, then came closer in a second.

  “Aria?”

  The girl stepped back and touched the window with her back. The prince moved forward and almost touched Aria, who took off her mask to reveal her face.

  “Aria, what are you doing here?” he asked.

  “I’m watching over my father. I’m afraid for his safety.”

  She admitted the truth; now she had nothing left to lose.

  “No, you don’t have to be afraid for him. There are guards everywhere and the accident that happened to us… well, it was just an accident.”

  “I know… but something tells me you can’t be careful these days.”

  “And you dress up as a maid for that reason?” he laughed heartily, then closed the chest and sat down on it, “And I was hoping to find wine… and instead I find you.”

  There was a few seconds of silence, rather awkward according to the girl.

  “So… I guess you want to leave now? I mean, you have my word that nothing will happen to your father. There is no safer place in Korotsk than this palace.”

  Even if she wanted to, Aria couldn’t leave. The King would give his speech after dessert and her job was to attend and report everything to Liza and Anton.

  “I guess to avoid suspicion I have to continue this cover-up.”

  “It makes sense… but I’ll still have to tell my father that you snuck in here, I think he’ll get the two guys fired at the-“

  “No!” Aria exclaimed, “Please, don’t tell your father!”

  “Why?”

  “Because if my father finds out, I’ll be in trouble!”

  “It makes sense…”

  The prince stood up and searched the shelves this time.

  “I wonder if there is any wine somewhere.”

  “So, you won’t tell your father?”

  “I can’t not do this. I’m sorry, Aria, but he needs to know that the guards didn’t do their job, my safety is at stake. Even if I told him that someone came in without telling him your name, he’d still want proof. My word isn’t strong enough.”

  “A dance.”

  The prince looked in her direction curiously.

  “I promise you a dance. But you mustn’t tell your father.”

  After those words, the prince stopped searching through the shelves and approached Aria again.

  “A dance, you say? Yes, I can accept that.”

  The two remained for a few seconds staring into each other’s eyes.

  “Good, so can I go?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Good.”

  “Good.”

  Aria stepped over the prince and put her mask back on.

  “Next time we meet, we’ll dance together.” she told her before walking through the door.

  “Then I can’t wait for the the sun rising.”