Chapter 87 – A Little Break
The entire hall was still processing what had just walked through the door.
Short white hair, formal suit, red eyes, a well-hidden expression of annoyance. Long white hair, black dress, red eyes, a shy posture, but the two of them walking together toward the center of the hall.
Many vampires had set their glasses down on the tables without realizing it.
Others had forgotten they were in the middle of a conversation.
And all of them, absolutely all of them, had the same question written on their faces.
'Is that handsome girl really Matt?'
Against the pillar in the corner, Kaela's jaw was hanging open. She hadn't even noticed she'd shattered her glass.
"…That's Matt?" Kaela murmured.
"That's Matt," Celia answered.
"He's handsome."
"I know."
"That's worse."
"I know, Kaela."
Lisette, further back, was twisting her golden lock so fast she was going to hurt her finger.
"And the other one…" Lisette murmured. "The other one is handsome too."
"Lisette."
"I mean. She's like Matt, but…"
"Lisette."
"Softer."
"Lisette, shut up."
Rosalind, without turning her head, commented calmly:
"It's the energy."
"What?"
"The other one's. It's the same as the explosion."
Kaela closed her eyes and swallowed.
◇◆◇
In the center of the hall, Matt walked with a firm step. Noxx went at his side, her right hand caught in Matt's left hand, a detail too small for the nobles in the back to notice, but plenty for the ones in front.
The questions started dropping.
"Princess Matt, is it true you pulled two ego-weapons out of the cave?"
Matt, without stopping:
"Yes."
Silence.
"Really?"
"Yes."
Someone choked on their wine.
"When are you going to open your faction, princess?"
"Soon."
"When is soon?"
"When I say so."
"And your sister? Is she going to open a faction too?"
Matt stopped for a second. He glanced at Noxx out of the corner of his eye.
Noxx said nothing.
Matt looked back to the front.
"We share ego-weapons."
Silence.
A silence so heavy that even the orchestra at the back stumbled on a note.
"…I beg your pardon, princess?"
"Both of us. We share them, both of us."
Explosion.
"That's not possible!"
"Only one vampire can pass that cave's trial!"
"Ego-weapons choose ONE person!"
"They can't be shared!"
Matt didn't answer and kept walking. Noxx dropped her gaze to the floor, cheeks barely red.
The nobles shifted behind them, nervous. Some turned to argue with others. Some were whispering theories. And several, the most interested, were trying to reach the front to throw out the next question.
"Princess Matt! How does one join your faction?"
"It'll be official soon."
"Princess!"
"Soon."
A couple of matriarchs at the back nearly spat out their wine.
Matt kept walking and reached the foot of the dais.
◇◆◇
On the dais, Elyra was seated on the throne. Iris stood at her side. On top of Iris's head, a small gold crown with red details.
On the armrest of Elyra's throne, another identical crown, a little larger, resting there, waiting.
Matt let go of Noxx's hand.
Noxx took a step back.
Matt climbed the three steps and, standing before Elyra, with the realm's nobles staring at his back and the orchestra quieting down slowly until only the sound of his footsteps remained, bowed with both hands folded in front.
Rigid. Formal. Without looking up.
Elyra smiled.
Elyra smiled in that way that Matt already knew and hated in equal parts.
She smiled with pride.
"Ladies of the realm," Elyra said, her voice clear across the entire hall. "It is my honor to present to you today my heir. Princess Matt Nivea."
Silence.
"I know many of you have heard rumors. I know many of you have waited for this moment for years. Allow me to present my heir's accomplishments before we continue."
A measured pause.
"Matt, still within his first century of life, defeated the crowned beast of the northern mountains, permitting the expansion of our minor houses into that region. He personally explored the caves of Vhal'esh, where the red-stone mines that today sustain three of our houses were later established. He hunted down a group of illegal turned in the southern border. And he established the storm pact with the northern matriarch."
Another pause.
"Among many other things…"
Matt didn't raise his head.
Matt had his jaw so tightly clenched it nearly made noise.
And in the hall, though no one dared say it out loud, every single vampire had the exact same thought at the exact same time.
Those are Princess Iris's accomplishments.
Someone, way in the back, murmured something to the one next to her.
Another one hushed her with an elbow.
Another one gritted her teeth.
And still, no one raised her voice. No one corrected the queen. No one did anything except nod with the polite smile they'd had on since they walked into the hall.
Elyra continued, as if the doubt didn't exist.
"I know many of you must be wondering how it is possible that my heir and my daughter Iris share so many… accomplishments."
Elyra smiled again, very slowly.
"The answer is simple."
The entire hall went still.
"Iris and Matt, in the past, were one."
Absolute silence.
"A single body. A single soul. A single will. Until Matt's unique talent achieved what no vampire has ever achieved before."
Elyra made a gesture with her hand.
"Separation. Successfully."
The silence kept pressing down.
"And barely an hour ago, with this second feat that many of you felt, my heir has proven that this talent was no accident."
Elyra stood up. She descended the three steps and stopped in front of Matt.
Matt lifted his head just barely.
Elyra extended a hand toward Matt's hair. With two fingers, she caught a single white strand from the back of his head. And with a short tug, she pulled it out.
Matt frowned, barely.
Elyra held the plucked strand up high, so the nobles in front could see it.
And on Matt's head, exactly where that hair had been, another one grew.
Fast. Silent. Perfect.
Elyra smiled with pure pride.
"As all of you can see," Elyra said, her voice raised just enough, "my heir shares the same level of blood purity as Iris."
Explosion.
"Is that possible?!"
"Pure blood since the separation?!"
"The same as Princess Iris?!"
"Is it a trick?!"
Matt said nothing.
Elyra didn't either. She only smiled.
At the front, three vampires in gray robes with red trim pushed their way through the nobles. The official heralds. Their quills were already out, scrolls at the ready.
"Your Majesty," one of them requested with a firm voice. "Could you provide more details on the method?"
Elyra glanced at Matt out of the corner of her eye. With both hands, she placed the crown on his head.
The gold was heavy and a small shiver ran through Matt.
Matt straightened his back.
"Would you like to share the method, dear?" Elyra asked in a very low voice, only for him.
Matt smiled with a tired little laugh.
"It's a royal secret."
Elyra smiled too.
"An excellent choice."
Matt turned toward the nobles.
"It's a royal secret," Matt repeated, out loud.
A murmur of frustration ran through the hall.
"But princess!"
"Just a little information!"
"With that we could understand!"
Matt didn't answer.
And then, from the back, a young noble vampire in a red dress took a step forward. She was young, with an eager look in her eyes, and the kind of bad idea only someone with too much curiosity and too little survival instinct could have.
"Princess Matt, with all due respect…"
Matt looked at her.
"…is it possible that one of the factors for achieving this may have been being locked up for thre-"
ZOOK!
Something ran through the noble's chest from behind.
The tip came out the front, pushing through the red dress, with a dark stain spreading fast.
The noble's eyes went wide.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Behind her, a vampire in black, her hand still closed around the hilt of a slender sword that had pierced her heart, didn't say a word. She only held the position.
The noble dropped to her knees. Then over onto her side.
The entire hall went still.
Matt lowered his gaze slightly toward the fallen body.
'…What?'
Matt tensed on reflex. His hand almost dropped to where one of his weapons should have been, even though he wasn't carrying any. His back vibrated.
But.
No one else moved.
Not a single noble had drawn a weapon. Not a single guard had rushed in to intervene. The orchestra hadn't stopped. The queen hadn't blinked.
Matt understood, with a cold that crept up the back of his neck, that he was the only one who was surprised.
Elyra let out a soft laugh.
"Oh dear," Elyra sighed, with an elegance that made Matt's skin prickle. "It seems one of our guests needs a little break to recover."
No one laughed.
No one protested.
Elyra raised her hand just slightly. From the side of the hall, two guards entered with a stretcher. They lifted the noble's body with practiced precision, without hurry, without urgency.
On the noble's chest, the wound was already closing from the inside. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be, not with the blood purity she had. Only incapacitated.
The guards took her out through the side door without saying a word.
Elyra looked out over the hall, with a kind smile.
"Remember, ladies," Elyra said in a soft voice. "The rules of this party."
Silence.
"Only the rules."
Every noble nodded at once. Some more slowly. Others very slowly. But all of them nodded.
And the vampire in black, the one who had driven in the sword, pulled the weapon out with a clean motion, shook it once to flick off the blood, and returned to her spot among the guests as if nothing had happened.
The orchestra picked up softly.
The nobles began to move.
And Matt was still standing on the dais, crown on his head, without knowing what he'd just seen.
'That wasn't a spat.'
Matt had seen vampires fight among themselves. He'd seen duels. He'd seen insults that ended in blood and wrecked rooms.
He knew what a fight between vampires looked like.
This hadn't been that.
'She set this up.'
Matt looked sideways at Elyra.
Elyra had the same kind smile.
'…But why?'
Matt didn't know.
And he wasn't going to ask in front of anyone.
◇◆◇
"Princess Matt! How can one join your faction?"
"Princess! What type of vampire are you looking for?"
"Princess! What kinds of things do you like?"
"Princess! I brought you a gift."
"Me too!"
"I have one from House Ardent!"
Matt blinked.
The gifts started coming in. Boxes wrapped in red cloth. Wine bottles from specific generations. Pieces of jewelry. A small chest with what looked like pure mana stones, larger than the ones Matt had used in the ritual.
Everything was being set down on a side table that a maid had appeared out of nowhere to prepare.
Matt turned toward Elyra.
Elyra raised a hand toward a maid.
"Prepare a second seat on the dais," Elyra ordered. "For Princess Noxx."
The maid inclined her head and turned.
"That won't be necessary," Matt cut in.
Elyra stopped her with a gesture.
Elyra looked at Matt.
"Pardon?"
"That won't be necessary," Matt repeated.
And without any further explanation, Matt walked to the seat that had already been prepared for him on the dais, a little smaller than the queen's throne but elegant and made of dark wood, and sat down with a calm that was very far from what he felt inside.
Then he looked at Noxx, who was still at the foot of the dais with her hands folded in front and her gaze fixed above the nobles' heads, exactly as Matt had told her.
Matt made a gesture with his hand at her.
Noxx blinked.
Matt pointed at his lap.
Noxx got it a second late.
Color shot up into Noxx's cheeks all at once. Her eyes went wide. She looked at Matt. She looked at the dais. She looked at the nobles. She looked at Matt again.
Matt's expression didn't change.
Noxx swallowed.
And with the broken dignity she had left after an explosion, a new dress, and a debut as a fake sister, Noxx climbed the three steps and sat down, very slowly, on Matt's lap.
Elyra's eyes opened just slightly.
Matt saw it.
Matt knew that Elyra knew.
And Elyra knew that Matt knew that Elyra knew.
Because Matt, never, not ever, in all the time they had officially known each other, had let Iris sit on him, not even as a joke.
Iris had tried to take up his space in a thousand ways and every one of them had hit a dry "back off."
Not on the worst couch or in the worst meeting or with the worst exhaustion.
And now, with Noxx, he wasn't just allowing it.
He was asking for it.
Elyra smiled on the outside.
On the inside, Elyra was taking notes.
Iris, next to the throne, didn't move a muscle in her face.
'…'
Iris breathed once.
Iris breathed again.
Iris tightened her grip just barely on the glass she'd picked back up without realizing it.
'It's his day.'
'It's his special day.'
'I'm not going to do anything.'
Iris breathed a third time.
'…But when the party is over…'
Iris raised her eyes just barely and looked at Noxx sitting on Matt's lap, the skirt of her black dress arranged perfectly, her hands folded on top, her cheeks barely red.
'…I'm going to teach that Noxx girl a few things.'
Iris looked back to the front.
On the hall floor, the nobles were already approaching the dais with their gifts.
Kassandra, from the back, with her fan open against her mouth, laughed softly.
"Oh, Elyra," Kassandra murmured to herself. "With this heir, you're never going to be bored."
And the realm's nobles, arranged in a line that looked less like a line and more like a polite avalanche, began approaching Matt's seat, one after another, gifts in hand and eyes fixed on the two white-haired princesses seated in the same spot.