Darklight 5: Darktide by Bella Forrest

Author:Bella Forrest [Forrest, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nightlight Press
Published: 2020-02-15T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, the Hive was lit up for the festival celebrating the balance of light and darkness. The wildlings skilled with plants had encouraged the moss to grow brighter, and a group of determined decorators had brought in sprawling, leafy vines to hang around the central spiral of the Hive. Soul-lanterns dotted the edges of the chamber. Despite the harsh reality of our situation, the Hive looked enchanting. A distant whine began from the corner as an elderly vampire woman began to tune a stringed instrument. The tone as she carefully plucked the strings was bold but not unpleasant; the wooden construct came to life in her hands.

Had Dorian celebrated Helix in Vanim with Lanzon, Laini, Rhome, Kreya, and his other family? I stole a look at him where he stood near our crowd of humans, answering Roxy's questions about the festival. This day might be affecting him more than I thought. Did he need support in this time?

"It's an old festival, older than any of the records in this place, as far as I know," he said. His gaze found me in the crowd, his eyes beckoning me closer, and I moved toward him. "There is a ceremony, at the end of which as many as possible are meant to feed on several volunteers who have filled themselves to capacity with dark energy beforehand. To be one of these volunteers is considered an honored role in the celebration, as you become a symbol of the suffering necessary for vampires to drain darkness away and bring the light. Then, afterward, there will be more music and folktales and dancing."

Arlonne tossed her head of tight brown curls. "The elders could have let the vampires in the Coalition be those volunteers, since we all drained the hunters dry yesterday, but when I asked, they declined. We're bursting with energy, but they don't want to openly endorse our actions."

“They’re not going to let you share?” I asked, shocked. “After all that talk about their lack of resources?”

“Oh, they expect us to share it, all right,” Arlonne said bitterly. “Pyma has already told us who and how much and when, and it’s not going to be until after the celebration. I think they’re hoping people will pretend not to know where it came from.”

I lagged behind our group, mulling over Arlonne’s words. The elders wanted their Helix celebration, but they wouldn't give Dorian and the others a chance to feed half-starving partygoers. At this point, even if they did decide to change their minds about our actions and accept our offer of asylum in Scotland, I wondered if they would be able to make such a controversial decision public. As Brand and his group of supporters had shown, there were plenty in the Hive with more extreme feelings toward the Coalition and the mixing of castes than those of the elders, who seemed to mostly be acting out of a desire to protect the Hive.

Bright movement from the corner of my eye made me turn as two Hive guards escorted Juneau into the room.

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