Chapter 10: Awake

Previously: Blood Sacrifice

 

Back at the Blue Palace, Selara wasn't adjusting very well.

 

While a hot bath and good meal had done her some good, she still had to face the harsh reality of her situation. News of her arrival had spread through court like wildfire. Everyone was whispering, and aside from Cassian, no one was happy.

 

To some, her presence was the ultimate slap in the face from the Empire. The Emperor's son felt their Queen was so far beneath him that he imported a paramour from home.

Viktoriyah tried to offer her comfort, of course. As the women walked past a throng of scowling faces, she said, "Pay them no heed. They're just angry Cassian didn't choose a mistress from Skyrim."

 

"Ah, yes," Selara chuckled. "The coveted position of whore. That's what I am, aren't I? I don't even like Cassian anymore yet here I am, willing to open my legs all because I need his money."

 

"Shall we retire to our chamber for a drink?" Viktoriyah suggested. "I just received a rare vintage that I think you'll like." 

***

 

When Selara next opened her eyes, everything hurt, and she was hungry in a way she never even knew was possible.

No, she realized. Not hungry. Thirsty. 

 

Not even in her lonely travels across Cyrodiil had she known such thirst. Her eyes, throat, and skin were all dry as sand, and her entire body ached, from the top of her scalp to the soles of her feet.

 

What the hell happened to me?

 

The last thing she remembered was drinking with Viktoriyah, then falling asleep, then falling into darkness. 

 

Now that she was returned to the light, Selara found she didn't like it so much.

 

"Hey, you. You're finally awake."

Selara turned slightly to follow the voice. Even though the words were spoken softly, they were louder than bells.

 

She saw a grinning Viktoriyah standing next to her, but there was something different about her. The healthy glow of the Redguard's skin was gone, and her eyes were now red for some reason.

 

They were no longer at the Blue Palace. Wherever this place was, it was like the Blue Palace's darker twin. Everything was dark, the walls, velvet chairs, the rugs -- even the candlelight seemed dimmer than it should.

 

 When Selara tried to speak, her voice was beyond hoarse and her throat stung. "Where am I?"

"You have had the honor of being sired in the vaunted ancient halls of Castle Volkihar, the royal seat of all vampiredom in Tamriel."

 

Selara blinked, her eyelids itchy and dry. "I'm... a vampire?"

 

"Yes," Viktoriyah said, beaming. "And a very lucky one at that. I was sired in the wild, my body left for the animals of the forest. I was awakened by the sun burning my flesh, and had to take shelter in the first cave I could find."

 

"You're a vampire?" Selara asked, bewildered.

 

"Oh, yes," Viktoriyah replied deliciously. "For a long time now. I was assigned to the Blue Palace as a spy, a role which I am so very, very tired of performing."

 

Selara was beyond horrified, but no heartbeat pounded in her chest. She wasn't sweating. She wasn't even breathing.

 

I am dead, she realized. To be a vampire was to die. The kind lady-in-waiting whom she erroneously trusted had killed her.

 

I was so desperate for friendship I forgot the first rule of court life, Selara remembered. Trust no one.

 

"You murdered me," she whispered, speaking to no one in particular.

 

"Did I?" Viktoriyah asked, head titled. "When I think of murder, the victim doesn't usually walk and talk afterward. They're too busy rotting in the ground."

 

"Then what am I?" Selara rasped, eyes burning with tears that never came. "My heart is silent. My breath is gone!" She trembled, distraught as she tried process the full implications of this new development.

 

"You are undead," Viktoriyah said simply. "Doesn't mean you can live a full, rich life... so to speak." 

 

"I can never go home," Selara said, once more to herself.

 

"Nor will you want to," a new voice entered the conversation. She was a stunning woman, dark of skin, black of hair, her opulent red gown shimmering in the firelight. "My name is Katarinya. You already know Viktoriyah. And the redhead over there is Sybille Stentor. She used to live at the Blue Palace too."

 

Selara didn't know what to say except, "You're also a vampire?" 

"Everyone here is a vampire," Katarinya told her. "Now, we must bathe you, and perfume your hair. The Lady of this Castle has very strict rules about cleanliness."

 

She helped Selara up and walked her over to large tub of ice cold seawater. The smell of salt was sharp, but to her surprise, she didn't even flinch at the cold. If anything, her body embraced it. 

 

Selara looked down at her arms and legs, noticing how pale and gaunt she was now, like a withered corpse. As though in a dream, she watched as the three vampires scrubbed her skin and hair, chasing away the smell of death.

 

"You'll also need a new gown, of course," Katarinya said, pulling a comb through Selara's long wet hair. "Personally, I think you'll look stunning."

 

"I'd take her word for it," Viktoriyah advised. "Katarinya was once Volkihar's foremost expert on fashion."

 

"I can never see my family again," Selara bit out, "and you two prattle on about fashion?"

 

"When I was first assigned to the Blue Palace as court mage," Sybille calmly began, "I knew I would likely never see family again. I was far from home, and tasked with enormous responsibility. I had to put not just a king's life before my own, but his family, and his nation's. And I was still alive at the time. But just because I couldn't see my family didn't mean I no longer loved them, or couldn't help them."

 

They dried Selara off and dressed her in a gown of vivid purple silk, perfuming her hair with lavender, jasmine, and juniper. Then Sybille handed her an ornate silver goblet. 

 

Selara drained it without hesitation, without thinking. It was sticky, sweet, and rich, warmly filling her mouth and soothing her throat. Only when she downed her second goblet did she realize it was blood.

 

She stared at Sybille in shock. "It didn't taste like that when... when..."

 

"When you were human," the red-haired mage helpfully finished. She showed Selara a mirror. Her skin was beautiful again, almost glowing even. Her reflection seemed ghostly, unnatural. The red eyes belonged to a stranger, and a dangerous one at that.

 

Vampires are killers, she suddenly remembered. They haven't just murdered me, they've turned me into a killer. 

 

"Your beauty is returning," Sybilled commented. "And such a beauty you are. It's so fitting that a Vantinian would be sired in this manner." She snorted. "I don't even know who sired me. I just woke up one night in Pinemoon Cave, surrounded by filthy bloodsuckers."

 

"I was sired on the way to the Reach," Katarinya chimed in. She poured herself and Viktoriyah a drink. "My whole family slaughtered and buried. I had to dig myself out of my grave. I would have killed to wake up in a place like this."

 

"Hear, hear," Viktoriyah seconded, raising her goblet. 

 

"You're going to love Volkihar," Sybille assured Selara, smirking. "Everything you could ever need or want is right at your fingertips."

 

"I want to rip out Cassian's throat," Selara stated bluntly. "I want to tear through the entire Imperial Family and I want to watch the Empress's life slowly drain from her eyes."

 

Sybille laughed. "Get in line!"

 

"If he had just run away and married me, none of this would be happening," Selara insisted. "Instead, he and his family led me on for years and ruined my life on a whim. They have doomed my family! I deserve vengeance! 

 

"You can't do that," Viktoriyah said firmly, humor gone now. "As a vampire of Volkihar you are bound to ensure the political stability of Tamriel."

 

"Then why turn me?" Selara snapped. The blood was warming her body. She was feeling, hearing, and seeing everything all at once and it set her ablaze. "You want something from me, same as Cassian did. But did you stop to think about what you could possibly do for me?"

 

"Oh, we did," Viktoriyah assured her, nodding. "The House of Vantinius has fallen. Your parents are dead, your extended kin are wallowing in poverty. Meanwhile, the wealth of Volkihar is limitless. If you do as we say, your family will have enough gold to last generations." She watched as Selara's eyes grew wide. "Not even the Emperor himself could do that for you."

 

Selara paused, her mind racing before she finally asked, "What exactly do you people want me to do?" 

 

 

Next: Alythia