Crimson Prințesă's Arc

Chapter 9 of 10

Maria left the arena on unsteady legs. Pulling every heart in the hall had drained her. Her knees buckled at the top of the steps. Dawit caught her before she fell. He was her lover, and the keeper of Walachia's blood stores. He pressed a warm hand against her back. "You are done for tonight," Dawit said. "You proved enough." "No," Maria said. "They saw one sphere. I want them to see what comes for them." She walked to the balcony above the arena steps. Below, the city spread out under the moon. Vampires filled the market rows. Clan spies stood among them, waiting to carry word home. Maria gripped the stone railing. Dawit stood at her back and set both hands on her shoulders. "Take from me if you need it," he said. "I will hold you up." Her father followed her out. Dracula stopped beside the railing. His gold dragon medallion hung dark against his chest. He watched his daughter and said nothing. Maria reached out, past the balcony, past the market, past the whole city. She felt every heartbeat in Walachia at once. Thousands of rivers, all waiting for her throat. It was more than she had ever held. Her body shook. Dawit's grip tightened. She pulled. Blood answered from every direction. It rose from the crowds in thin red threads. It climbed from the towers, the rowhouses, the market stalls. She did not crush it this time. She lifted it into the sky. Red threads gathered into a churning mass above the city. The moon behind it turned dark red. A blood moon. Then Maria opened her hands. The mass broke apart and fell. Red rain drifted down over all of Walachia. It touched every roof and every upturned face. Not one drop was lost. Each vampire felt their own blood return, warm on their skin. The whole city stood still under the rain. Dawit held her steady as she swayed. "You are pulling from the entire kingdom," he whispered. "No one has ever done this." Maria's arms dropped. The red rain thinned and stopped. The moon slid back to silver. She had held every heart in Walachia and let each one go alive. She had done it with the whole kingdom watching. Dracula turned to her. "You have surpassed her," he said. "You have surpassed me. There is no one left in this city stronger than you." Maria leaned into Dawit, spent. She had made herself the most powerful blood bender alive. But she felt the cost. Her own blood had gone thin. Her hands trembled and would not stop. "Father," she said. "I can move the blood of the living. All of it. But I still cannot make it stand and fight for me." Dracula's face did not change. "Then that is the last thing you must learn," he said. "And the clans will not wait while you learn it." Below, the spies were already slipping toward the gates.