“Older than I look.”
“Hundreds of years older?” she whispered.
“I was born after the war,” I told her. “I’ve seen two centuries come and go.”
She gaped at me, and I figured it was best I continue.
“King Malec created the first vampry. They are…a part of all of us, but they are not like us. Daylight does not affect us. Not like it does the vamprys,” I said. “Tell me, which of the Ascended have you ever seen in the daylight?”
“They do not walk in the sun because the gods do not,” she answered. “That is how they honor them.”
I snickered. “How convenient for them, then. Vamprys may be blessed with the closest possible thing to immortality, like us, but they cannot walk in daylight without their skin starting to decay. You want to kill an Ascended without getting your hands dirty? Lock them outside with no possible shelter. They’ll be dead before noon. They also need to feed, and by feed, I am talking about blood. They need to do so frequently to live, to prevent whatever mortal wounds or illnesses they suffered before they Ascended from returning.” I glanced at her wound. The fizzing had eased. “They cannot procreate, not after the Ascension, and many experience bloodlust when they feed, often killing mortals in the process.”
I gently dabbed the cloth on the wound, soaking up the astringent. “Atlantians do not feed on mortals—”
“Whatever,” she cut in. “You expect me to truly believe that?”
I met her glare. “Mortal blood offers us nothing of any real value because we were never mortal, Princess. Wolven don’t need to feed, but we do. We feed when we need to, on other Atlantians.”
Poppy sucked in a soft breath, shaking her head.
“We can use our blood to heal a mortal without turning them, something a vampry cannot do, but the most important difference is the creation of the Craven. An Atlantian has never created one. The vamprys have.” I lifted the cloth. “And in case you haven’t been following along, the vamprys are what you know as the Ascended.”
“That’s a lie.” Her hands fisted at her sides.
“It is the truth.” I frowned, looking at the wound. The astringent that remained no longer bubbled. That was good. “A vampry cannot make another vampry. They cannot complete the Ascension. When they drain a mortal, they create a Craven.”
“What you’re saying makes no sense,” she argued.
“How does it not?”
“Because if any part of what you’re saying is true, then the Ascended are vamprys, and they cannot do the Ascension.” Her voice hardened. “If that’s true, then how have they made other Ascended? Like my brother.”
“Because it is not the Ascended who are giving the gift of life,” I bit out. “They are using an Atlantian to do so.”
Her laugh was scathing. “The Ascended would never work with an Atlantian.”
“Did I misspeak?” I challenged. “I don’t believe I did. I said they are using an Atlantian. Not working with one.” I picked up the smaller jar, unscrewing the lid. “When King Malec’s peers discovered what he’d done, he lifted the laws that forbade the act of Ascending. As more vamprys were created, many were unable to control their bloodlust.” I dipped my fingers into the thick, milky-white substance. “They drained many of their victims, creating the pestilence known as the Craven, who swept across the kingdom like a plague. The Queen of Atlantia, Queen Eloana, tried to stop it. She made the act of Ascension forbidden once more and ordered all vamprys destroyed in an act to protect mankind.”
Her gaze dipped to the jar. “Yarrow?”
I nodded. “Among other things that will help speed up your healing.”
“I can—” Poppy jerked as I touched the skin below the angry red flesh. I spread the ointment.
“The vamprys revolted,” I continued as I scooped out more of the balm, somehow finding the willpower to ignore the warmth building in her. “That is what triggered the War of Two Kings. It was not mortals fighting back against cruel, inhuman Atlantians, but vamprys fighting back. The death toll from the war was not exaggerated. In fact, many people believe the numbers were far higher.”
I glanced up to see her watching me. “We weren’t defeated, Princess. King Malec was overthrown, divorced, and exiled. Queen Eloana remarried, and the new King, Da’Neer, pulled their forces back, called their people home, and ended a war that was destroying this world.”
“And what happened to Malec and Isbeth?” Poppy asked.
“Your records say that Malec was defeated in battle, but the truth is, no one knows. He and his mistress simply disappeared.” I returned the lid to the jar and picked up a clean bandage. “The vamprys gained control of the remaining lands, anointing their own King and Queen, Jalara and Ileana, and renamed it the Kingdom of Solis.” I took a breath to calm the fury. “They called themselves the Ascended, used our gods, who’d long since gone to sleep, as a reason for why they became the way they did. In the hundreds of years that have passed since, they’ve managed to scrub the truth from history, that the vast majority of mortals actually fought alongside the Atlantians against the common threat of vamprys.”
“None of that sounds believable,” Poppy said after a moment.
“I imagine it is hard to believe that you belong to a society of murderous monsters, who take the third daughters and sons during the Rite to feed upon. And if they don’t drain them dry, they become—”
“What?” she gasped. “You have spent this entire time telling me nothing but falsehoods, but now you’ve gone too far.”
Shaking my head, I placed the bandage over her wound, pressing down on the edges so it stayed in place. “I’ve told you nothing but the truth.” I leaned back. “As did the man who threw the Craven hand.”
She sat up, lowering her shirt. “Are you claiming that those given in service to the gods are now Craven?”
“Why do you think the Temples are off-limits to anyone but the Ascended and those they control, like the Priests and Priestesses?”
“Because they’re sacred places that even most Ascended don’t breach.”
“Have you seen one child that has been given over? Just one, Princess?” I pressed her. “Do you know anyone other than a Priest or Priestess or an Ascended who has claimed to have seen one? You’re smart. You know no one has. That’s because most are dead before they even learn to speak.”
She started to deny it.
“The vamprys need a food source, Princess, one that would not rouse suspicion. What better way than to convince an entire kingdom to hand over their children under the pretense of honoring the gods? They’ve created a religion around it, such that brothers will turn on brothers if any of them refuse to give away their child,” I told her. “They have fooled an entire kingdom, used the fear of what they have created against the people. And that’s not all. You ever think it’s strange how many young children die overnight from a mysterious blood disease? Like the Tulis family, who lost their first and second children to it? Not every Ascended can stick to a strict diet. Bloodlust for a vampry is a very real, common problem. They’re thieves in the night, stealing children, wives, and husbands.”