65 Magical Contracts

Ruby hugged her tightly with a lump in her throat. "Yeah. I'm here. We're going to go play in a castle together for a while, won't that be fun?"

The little fairy frowned. "But what about Mommy and Daddy? Won't they miss me?"

Ah, this was hard to explain. She would have to tell the truth eventually but didn't know how to soften the blow of death to such a young child. It was better to keep that particular dark secret from her for now so she didn't start crying and piss off the vampires in the plane with them.

"Of course they will," Ruby said soothingly. "They wanted you to go play at the castle with me while they were busy though."

Flora frowned but accepted her words at face value. "Oh. Okay. What are we going to play at the castle?"

"All sorts of things, don't you worry!"

She was actually very worried herself about how to entertain a small child in a castle full of vampires who would all likely be asleep aside from their guards. They would have to tread very lightly.

Ruby had to talk very quietly to the baby to keep her entertained for the rest of the flight. Eventually they landed in a grassy field that she guessed wasn't far from the castle.

Her guess was correct. They only had to walk about ¼ of a mile before Dorian roughly grabbed her wrist and dragged her through the barrier. She rubbed it to smooth away the sting of his touch and stared up in awe.

This castle was at least four times larger than the one Ash lived in and had surprisingly well-maintained gardens surrounding it. It must take multiple vampires to sustain a barrier this size.

Since it was after nightfall when they arrived, there were tons of vampires milling about. Many of them stopped to eye the newcomers distrustfully or pay their respects to Dorian. He may be ruthless but his coven seemed to worship him.

It made sense. Ruthless fae would follow an even more ruthless leader. Ash did say that he entire coven carried out the attack on the Mayhews.

A female vampire—they really did look almost exactly like their male counterparts aside from having slightly more feminine features and figures—lead them to what would be their quarters at Dorian's request. They were located at the very top of a turret, occupying the entire thing.

Ruby was surprised how much they managed to accomplish during the time she was on the plane. The stone walls had brightly colored draperies befitting a child. There were soft rugs on the floor, a television, and one large bed.

It looked like a normal bedroom if you ignored the fact that the room was round instead of square or rectangular. There was even a window overlooking one of the gardens.

She had no idea so she looked to the female vampire for confirmation. "I will see to it that dinner is procured. Please excuse me."

She bowed and left the room, leaving Ruby thoroughly baffled. They really didn't hold back on the five-star treatment, did they? Dorian must have ordered them to because of the terms of the contract.

Magical contracts could only be broken if one of the parties died. He had to keep his word or reap the consequences of his own magic.

Ruby sat down and made block towers with Flora until the female vampire came back with what appeared to be Chinese takeout. She had no idea where it came from but accepted it gratefully.

"Thank you. I just realized I didn't catch your name. I'm Ruby and this is Flora."

She figured she may as well be polite since she would be here for a while. It would be better not to get on these murderers' bad sides.

"I am aware. My name is Daciana. I only tell you this so you know how to summon me if you require anything. Do not attempt to befriend me," the vampire said bluntly before leaving as quickly as she had come.

Flora looked up at Ruby sadly. "I don't think Daciana likes us, Ruby."

She wasn't terribly fond of Daciana either knowing the role the vampire played in hurting Ash. Who would want to befriend her? How arrogant!

"That's okay because we like each other, right?" she asked in a silly voice as she reached out to tickle her cousin.

Flora giggled, the incident soon forgotten. The two of them ate their meal and watched a children's movie using a streaming service before it was time for the baby to go to bed. Ruby sang her a lullaby and tucked her under her beloved blanket, making sure she was asleep before daring to leave the room.

She hadn't been here long but felt suffocated already. She needed to be outside desperately.

Ruby made her way rather painfully down all of those stairs due to the ankle weights, passing many vampires on her way. She wasn't stopped until she was nearly outside.

"Where do you think you are going?" a male vampire asked menacingly.

"To the garden. I am allowed," she pointed out. "You're welcome to come with me if you think I'm lying."

He ended up taking her up on that offer, following stiffly behind her as she went to make sure she didn't try anything funny. Ruby had no intention of trying to escape because if she broke the contract she would die. Then no one would be able to take care of poor Flora.

She breathed in the clean night air and ended up sitting on a stone bench rather similar to the ones in Ash's garden feeling waves of homesickness wash over her. Ash. She really hoped he wasn't too terribly angry about what she had done.