Blood Shaper

Guests at the dance stopped paying attention to Kay, both those who had been overtly staring and those who had been covertly watching, to pay attention to the arrival of their queen. Two guards in her livery proceeded her and two followed behind her, but every eye was on Alahna as she strode into the ballroom. She was the very picture of a regal queen, with a simple yet elegant presence crown on her brow and silvery jewelry that matched it drawing the eye with each movement. Bangles pooled at her wrists and flashes of anklets could be seen under the hem of her dress as she walked, turning her into a sparkling display.

Her dress was similar to Eleniah’s in style, with a closely molded upper portion and a flowing skirt, but where Eleniah’s dress clung to her until right at the ankle Alahna’s swirled and danced around her legs, sticking tightly to her and outlining her calves and thighs in one moment and swirling out into a dancing display of movement the next. The color of the dress changed as you moved downward from the top, with bright white shoulder straps descending down in a gradient into a turbulent dark color, making her look like a rumbling thunderstorm drifting across the ballroom. Each time the dress billowed out from her and then smoothed out against her body made it look like dark and ominous clouds were being born and dying before being born anew each second. The effect was simultaneously awe inspiring and terrifying.

“Should I have a crown on?” Kay whispered to Eleniah, trying to ignore the unworthy feelings he was experiencing from witnessing Alahna’s entrance.

“It all depends on where you are.” She whispered back. “Some places will look down on you for not wearing one, like you’re ashamed of your position or something, while others will look at it as you trying to say you’re superior to their leaders if you do. The Isles don’t really care, but if you pop one on after that entrance it’ll look like trying to catch up to her.”

“Which would be bad PR, even if she does blow me out of the water this time.”

“She’s had hundreds of years of more practice. You’ll get to that level eventually.”

“Damn she looks good though.”

Eleniah glanced at him with her eyebrow raised. “Does she?”

“You don’t think so?” Kay surreptitiously gestured at Alahna’s dress. “The effect to make it look like a storm is insane. The whole ensemble is making her look bad ass and majestic at the same time. Like a storm come to life that will capriciously choose your fate. Very queenly.”

“Like I said, a lot of practice. She does pull that off amazingly.”

Attendees swept forward to greet her, some moving in at a fast pace like they were racing to be the first to speak to her, others were definitely racing percieved or actual opponents among the other guests, making sure the got to the front of the line before their enemy, and some looked nervous, counting the people ahead of them to make sure they weren’t behind some predetermined cutoff.

Kay scanned the room, looking at a specific group of people in particular. Duke Karmondur made a poorly disguised face laced with malignity but his eyes held a faint trace of grudging respect. His cronies, conspirators, or allies, whichever they were, all had similar expressions, some better hidden than others, but they all had the same flaw of revealing their emotions through their eyes, a sure sign of their amateur skills at masking their emotions. Some were discouraged and downtrodden by Alahna, some lusted after her and desired her for their own, but most of them looked at Alahna with fear in their eyes, fear of a bigger predator that they couldn’t predict.

There were more nobles and a small handful of merchants or other influential people spread through the crowd that didn’t look at Alahna with wonder, respect, or love, and some of them were in the file Miri had read to him. Among them were political enemies of Alahna who opposed of some of her laws or policies, figures with grudges over this affront or that insult or a plot foiled, and actual enemies of the queen hidden among the ranks of the supposedly loyal, Duke Karmondur included. There were many examples of how to look completely normal and not give away your true emotions among the people who didn’t like Alahna arrayed throughout the room, but not everyone was perfect at the skill. Karmondur and his group were at the bottom of the pack, but a slightly curled lip here and there along with some twitching eyelids and hands curled into fists betrayed people’s feelings.

Making note of all of them, Kay waited until Eleniah and Miri indicated it was the right time to approach Alahna themselves. As a king, Kay should never approach those “lower” than himself at a social event, but Alahna was his nominal equal and his host to boot making it his job to make the first move toward her. They exchanged perfectly cordial greetings and both of them gave nothing away of the tensions simmering beneath their amicable masks. Using the opportunity of moving back to his original spot, Kay made sure to sweep by a few of the people he’d noticed.

None of the people he got near set off his senses including those he deliberately wanted to check and he wrote them off as being eldritch replacements. He hadn’t been able to test his System granted upgrades to his vampiric body to really make know that they were in the clear, but this wasn’t the time to start sticking people and see how they reacted to having some of his blood introduced into their system. His wasn’t confident in doing it stealthily either. He knew he could control blood within his range into making very delicate maneuvers, but he wasn’t sure how sensitive the skin of any of those he was suspicious of was. He knew he could probably detect something the size of a droplet trying to get beneath the skin, but was that normal, part of being a vampire, or a part of being at a higher tier?

Eventually the flood of people going to greet Alahna turned into a trickle, and guests began to spread out, some eating, some dancing to the music the musicians had finally struck up, and others coming to speak to Kay. Among them were the fish baited in by Miri’s deviousness, all of them clearly expecting something from him, if not directly. He did his best to give something that could be interpreted as a slip up, a mistakenly mentioned topic or need Avalon had that some enterprising noble or merchant could fill, but a lot of them weren’t mistakes. Avalon was still a growing country and there were many things that could be better. He wouldn’t let anyone screw his people over if he could prevent it, but he had nothing against people making a decent profit while providing things Avalon needed or wanted. And he definitely had no qualms against tricking people into doing things he wanted.

Kay made sure that ever part of each person’s party got within a couple of feet from him, so he could try and feel for their aura, or scent, or whatever it was about the taint of dangers from outside this world carried that he could detect. Guards, servants, spouses, paramours, or subordinates, they all got close enough for him to sense, and no one set off his triggers. His fangs stayed up and out of sight, except at one point where he got thirsty for blood and covertly slipped some into his drink when no one was looking.

When there was a gap between interested parties, Miri sidled up to Kay. “There are a few people who’s servants I approached that I would list as highly likely to try and take the opportunity I presented. That they didn’t take the bait is an interesting indicator.”

Careful to not look around too obviously, Kay scanned the crowd around them. “It would be too suspicious to try and lure them over again, right? And we’ve already ruled out me approaching people. Part of me wants to start turning people just to have less obvious minions that can do this kind of thing for me.”

Miri looked at him with interest. “Is that an option? Worth considering in the long run if this continues to be a problem. But to answer you question, maybe, maybe not. It depends on why they’ve decided not to approach you and whether they identified me as suspicious. As I’m your only mobile asset at the moment, things to hinge on me being discreet and not getting caught or suspected.”

“That’s… are you sure you’re not a spy?”

“The skills and practices I learned in my original training to live a life of espionage are still applicable in many things that aren’t actual spying. Manipulation is a useful skill in almost any occupation.” She looked up into his eyes, an impish glint in her eyes. “Many people believe that I left that training and decided not to be a spy or assassin because I didn’t want to live a life that was full of lies, never telling the same person the same story, and never living in one place for more than a short time. That isn’t untrue, but the main reason I decided not to continue that life was because I want to be appreciated.” She grinned, her whole face lighting up with mischievous joy. “If I was a spy, how many people would know my accomplishments? One, two? And how many would know I successfully pulled off a masterful plan or acquired important intelligence? They would have a pseudonym or a codename for me. Me, Miri, would have nothing to her name until my eventual retirement into some quiet place, or death. This, here?” She gestured around with one finger. “They know nothing about what I’ve done or what I can do, but you? You know exactly what I’m achieving, as does Eleniah. I’m being useful and the people I’m helping are right there able to appreciate my utility and what I can get done.”

“That’s still only two people.”

She grinned. “Not by the time I’m done. When it’s time, everyone in your circle will be able to appreciate me.” After a dramatic pause she gave curtsied to him. “I’ll retrieve some more refreshments, and see if I can figure out why some of the obvious targets aren’t moving as predicted. By your leave, your majesty.” Without even waiting for his permission, even though she’d asked, she slipped into the crowd and vanished from sight.

“Oh.”

Kay glanced at Eleniah.

“I get what Alahna’s guess is. She’s definitely going to be annoyed.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Or not nothing, but it’s not your turn to figure it out.”

“… I’m not going to argue with you about keeping secrets from me. The argument itself will be a waste of time and you know better than to keep actually important secrets from me.” He turned around to look at Lauren. “Lauren, you need anything? You guys want some food?”

Kay could hear the wry smile in her reply. “No, your majesty, we ate before coming and we’re high enough tier to go without any food for a single party.”

“Your loss, it’s quite good. Well, if you don’t want anything, leave one person here to tell Miri where we went.” He turned back around and took Eleniah’s arm, pulling her gently with him.

“Where are we going?”

“To dance. I have a lovely partner with me and I want to practice the dance moves she so graciously helped me learn.”

Because he was watching where they were walking to avoid running into anyone, Kay missed the blush that graced Eleniah’s cheeks. Too bad for him, because it was quite fetching.