Throne of the Fallen

IF YOU GO around biting everyone you fuck here,” Envy said between clenched teeth, “rumors are bound to begin, Alexei. Do you think terrorizing the entire city of Waverly Green is conducive to winning the game?”

“No, Your Highness.”

The blond vampire delicately dabbed at the corner of his mouth with a black neckerchief, removing the last bit of evidence before the human staff at Envy’s newly acquired manor spied the blood. The move was civilized, wildly at odds with the blood dripping down his chin.

“For what it’s worth, I didn’t intend to bite him. I only planned to give him what he’d asked for. A night of passion.”

“All the same, keep your fangs and cock to yourself. If you need a snack or a tumble, leave Hemlock Hall. The last thing we need is for any overwrought human to associate our arrival with vampire attacks. Have I made myself clear?”

His second-in-command inclined his head, wisely keeping his mouth shut.

Envy had returned to his manor house to plan his next approach to Miss Antonius, only to find the vampire in the middle of the main corridor, fangs deep in a femoral artery. His human lover’s trousers were around his ankles, and he was moaning loudly as Alexei alternated between drinking from his leg and stroking his erection.

Vampire venom was intoxicating for humans, enhancing pleasure tenfold and causing most mortals to quickly lose all sense of reason.

The more powerful the vampire, the more potent their venom. And Alexei—once mortal—had been reborn into the vampire kingdom with the frosty blue eyes of royalty. As such his bite was wildly potent. In fact, a mere lick of his tongue or brush of his fingers could drive a lover mad before they even experienced his venom.

It had been a horrid day and Envy was ready to retire alone to his studio, where he could take out his frustration on a fresh canvas.

Instead, he found himself reprimanding his second as if he were a nursemaid punishing a child.

If they’d been in the Seven Circles, this wouldn’t have been an issue. The very realm itself thrived on seduction. Alexei could fuck—and often did—any willing lord, lady, or member of the house.

Even a certain goddess, Alexei’s most recent tryst. Envy had to admit the affair had its uses, no matter how much Envy disliked the female involved.

Alexei retreated to the other side of the room, giving Envy time and space to think. That was one good thing about a vampire: they could remain silent and motionless for hours, almost making you forget they were there.

Envy glanced out the tall window to the thick blanket of fog curling around the limestone manor, brooding along with the abysmal weather. Rain thudded against the glass, growing in intensity with his darkening mood.

Pride and Lust had a point—seducing Camilla seemed the clearest route to success. But if he took Miss Antonius to his bed, she would likely want more, crave it—most mortals who found themselves tangled in his sheets were tainted with his sin. They envied anyone who came before and anyone who’d come after. It was why he’d created his cardinal rule—he would spend only one night, ever, with a lover. Never more. His one-night rule had become legendary, along with the hunger of his lovers.

Often this was part of the fun, but with Camilla, it seemed too complicated to begin. Granted, Envy drew his power from provoking envy in others, and fueling his sin was critical now. He needed to store as much power as he could to win the game.

But he hadn’t allowed a mortal into his bed in decades, not since the last time had gone so very wrong, and felt reluctant to start again.

If a night of passion was Camilla’s price, perhaps he could leave the task to Alexei. It would be less complicated… but surely there was another way.

Envy abruptly flipped open the journal before him, staring down at the lines he’d written, the two clues he’d received over the last month with accompanying notes on how he’d solved them.

The first clue still made his blood boil—a taunt wrapped within a riddle, it had arrived while he’d been visiting House Greed a week after Wrath’s queen had taken the throne, nearly a month ago now.

He didn’t typically gamble in his brother’s House but was feeling petty. When Envy had turned over his cards, he’d realized the game was on. Twelve hunter-green cards, with one lone red card, all blank save for the solid colors.

Envy had been waiting decades and had almost given up hope of the game ever starting. Pulse speeding, his attention had shot to the clock, noting the hour that was almost upon them.

Midnight.

Hunter green. House Envy.

Red: a bull’s-eye target, he’d guessed.

Without delay, he’d rushed home to his throne room, arriving right before midnight. And there it had really begun, as his throne burst into flames on one side.

Just as in the painting he now needed Camilla to create.