Bitten Ch. 05

After weighing the options once Roland was given the order to get Rhys to meet with the rest of the rebels, he decided that this was going to be a mission he would need help with. He wasn't comfortable asking his brothers to take this kind of risk, so he needed to decide which side was most dangerous. In the end, it had to be playing himself. Roland would be in the least amount of danger, and they had no other half-vampyres they could send to help him.

Rhys spent a few days making an amulet that would make his brother Soren look like Roland, and then spent an entire night teaching him Roland's mannerisms and attitudes. Only once he was sure his brother had it down did he hand him the necklace. "All you need to do is get me to them, and go along with what they want. Act like you are all in. If anything bad happens, you stay in character no matter what!"

"I know, Rhys," Soren said with a shake of his head.

"No, I mean it," Rhys told him, staring into his eyes. "That means even in the worst of circumstances. Even if they kill me right in front of your eyes, you do absolutely nothing to stop it, and nothing to try and get me out. Do you understand? You only leave once it makes sense for Roland to, and not a second sooner."

Soren swallowed hard at that, and then nodded his head. "I understand, Rhys."

Rhys was watching his brother's face closely to make sure he was serious, and then Rhys gave another nod and got up to get ready. Virmarus showed up not too long after, as Rhys wanted Soren's face at the party so none of this could come back to them. He was relieved someone else with The Shell would be there.

"Will you be okay with drinking blood?" Rhys asked him.

Virmarus grinned at him before he glamoured himself to look like Soren. "I eat my weight in raw meat. Blood will be nothing."

"Dad!" Tierney cried as she ran over to Rhys. He immediately picked her up and settled her on his hip before he kissed her cheek. "You look so handsome, Dad!"

"Thank you, princess," he told her. "Now you be good for your grandparents, alright? I don't know what time I'll be home tonight, but you have school tomorrow, so no staying up waiting for me."

Tierney made a face at that and Rhys gave her a confused look. She let out a huff when she saw the look he gave her and said, "Do I have to go to that school? Can't Gramma just take me back to Haven and I can go to school there again?"

"Why don't you like the school here?" Rhys asked her, though he suspected he knew why already.

What his daughter said next was not at all what he had been expecting to come out of her tiny mouth though. "Noble children are highly overrated."

Rhys stared at her in shock before he heard choking laughter behind him, and he turned to look at his two sisters, Gabriella and Seraphina, who seemed to be having a hard time keeping it together. Finally, Seraphina said to him, "I swear, I did not think she was listening to me when I said that."

"Not that she's wrong," Victor, one of his middle brothers, added from his spot near Marius.

Rhys pressed his lips together in vague annoyance, though he didn't disagree with his siblings, and turned back to Tierney. "Why don't you like them?"

'They're mean," she replied bluntly. It hurt hearing that from his daughter far more than he could have anticipated it would be. Everyone around them was silent as they took that in.

Rhys pushed back some of Tierney's hair behind her ear and told her, "They used to be mean to me too, but you know, there will be kids there that will like you exactly as you are. So you find them and stick with them. When you meet other dhampyrs here, try and befriend them. They are going through similar experiences."

"Will we go back to Haven when you save the kingdom?" she asked him.

Before everything that had happened recently, he would have agreed immediately to that. Now, though, he knew he didn't want to leave Vasile. "Wherever we land, I can make sure you can go to school in Haven, okay? Or maybe we can make a better school here in dismantling the problems. Either way, you'll go to a school that is safe for you, I promise."

Tierney seemed to accept that answer and hugged Rhys tightly. Once he had put her down, she said, "Say hi to the princes and princesses for me!"

"We will," Rhys promised her before his mom took her down the hallway toward the kitchen for dinner.

"Come on, or we'll never get you out of this house," Virmarus teased. Rhys nodded his head and followed Virmarus and his siblings out to the car. Soren had already left so he could take a car from the Andras residence as Roland.

To anyone in attendance, even the royals, it looked like the entire group of Draven children were in attendance. In reality, they were, but the real Soren was over with Lady Josephine and her group as they talked over glasses of blood. Rhys was nervous about putting his brother in this situation, but he was still fairly sure he was the main target that night, so he was trying to look like he was at ease.

He felt even more at unease when he saw Vasile and his siblings enter the party, but he knew he should have expected that. When they got over to where Rhys and Virmarus were standing, the two of them bowed before Rhys said, "Your Highnesses. Good to see you all here and doing well."

Vasile bowed in response, hiding a smirk in the process. "Your Excellency, Your Graces," he responded, "It's good to be seen."

The royal siblings all followed suit, bowing and murmuring their greetings. Virmarus followed Rhys' lead here, though he took a moment to look over the man that he knew Rhys was enamored with. He didn't linger though, not wanting to seem like anything but Soren Draven there for a good time with his siblings.

As they were talking, Roland and Josephine made their way over to where their group was standing. Josephine curtsied to the royal family while Roland gave a bow, though it was nowhere as deep as it probably should have been. It was a subtle jab at the royalty that Rhys had taught Soren, and Rhys could see that it grated on their nerves, though they were trying not to show it.

"Your Highnesses," Josephine said.

"And Your Graces," Roland said to the Draven siblings. "So many titles to reply to each other by. It seems so impersonal, don't you think?"

"Well, no one is truly supposed to feel like they can be informal with royalty," Rhys replied to him.

"Not even you?" Roland asked. "I heard rumors that you and the heir to the throne were quite close in school."

Rhys gave him a tight smile, though inside he was proud of his brother for playing the part so well. "That was a decade ago. I won't pretend that Prince Vasile and I are best friends or anything." Then he looked at Vasile. "Though I am most grateful to your family for backing up my application to my job. It's been quite fulfilling."

Vasile nodded regally in response. "It was only the wisest course. Your record as an ambassador more than speaks for itself," he said. His siblings chimed in with their own compliments, though Viktoria kept silent.

"Well, of course as a fae-touched dhampyr, he had to prove himself, didn't he?" Roland commented. "Hard to do that here. When has a dhampyr ever managed to get into the government here, other than as... well, I wouldn't want to say in such high company."

Nikodemus looked at him, the challenge plain on his face. "Please, speak your mind, young Roland," he said flatly.

Rhys knew what he was talking about of course, and even though Soren was following what Rhys had already set up, it did kind of hurt to hear. But he motioned to Roland to go ahead, and Roland just gave a tight smile. "Well, he's pretty enough to be a whore for a royal family member, but not much else," Roland said before locking eyes with Nik. "Have you ever seen a dhampyr anywhere else in high places?"

Rhys swallowed hard, feeling more pain for his daughter than for himself right then as her words echoed through his head. Everyone heard his almost silent reaction to it though, as everyone in the circle had superior hearing, even Virmarus.

Nik never broke eye contact with Roland, however. "Dhampyrs have long been a valued member of vampyre society, as you well know. They've served as Generals, mayors, diplomats, barristers, judges. Need I go on?" he asked Roland.

"But have any of them been the advisor to the King? Have they ever been considered good enough to wed a King?" Roland asked him, then looked at Rhys. "Tell me, Ambassador, did your school days ever teach you you were allowed to reach for those high places in vampyre society?"

Rhys seemed hesitant to answer the question, but eventually he said, "Quite the opposite, actually. Get out while you can was the main thing I took away from school. And my daughter seems to be feeling similarly."

"Isn't she merely five years old?" Roland asked. "Her first year of school."

"She is," Rhys admitted.

Nik looked annoyed as he conceded the point. "Children can be cruel to each other, it's true, and much of the time it is a reflection of the attitudes and beliefs of their adult role models, but that hardly serves as proof positive that the only position for dhampyrs in our society is that offered by bullies," he said, somewhat defensively.

"I don't exactly see you or the nobles trying to fix that perception though," Roland commented. "In fact, your most successful dhampyr was sent off to be an ambassador far away from Arcasias. Strange, isn't it?"

He didn't wait for Nik's response though. Roland took Josephine's arm, whose eyes were practically shining with amusement, and the two of them took their leave of the group.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Rhys said to Nik with a squeeze to his shoulder. "I appreciate you standing up for my kind. It means more to me than I could explain, and to my daughter. She wishes you all well, by the way. She asked me to give you her warmest greetings if we crossed paths tonight."

Nik's smile was brilliant and happy at the mention of Tierney's greeting. "She's so sweet, Your Excellency. Please give her our warmest regards in return," Nik responded.

Rhys smiled genuinely at that. "I will. She hates to miss all the parties but I told her she has so many years yet that she will be able to take part in it all. Right now she just needs to be a child."

"She has a better chance of that once she's surrounded by cousins she can play with," Marius said.

"And maybe a sibling or two," Seraphina teased.

"Oh no, I always take precautions for not getting pregnant," Rhys joked.

"You joke, but fae can do all sorts of things," Marius pointed out.

Rhys just grinned at him, though the way his eyes twinkled at the comment told everyone that he probably could figure out having kids with a man if he wanted to. Vasile was looking elsewhere so hard that he might as well have been staring agape at Rhys. He was just glad that Roland had wandered off. He was completely unaware that it wouldn't have mattered, but he was still cagey about how many people knew about their connection just then.

He was about to say something to change the subject when the appearance of his parents took the necessity from him. He turned along with everyone else to bow to the Royal Couple and await their proclamation to begin the party. They each spoke at length about whatever charities they were supporting with this gathering before entreating the party-goers to enjoy the festivities before leading the first dance.

Everyone took part in the dancing, feasting, and blood. Rhys knew the beginning of all of this would be like any other party, and he was right. Vasile and him didn't spend a lot of time together at the party, mostly staying in each other's periphery. They spoke a few times, but it was only about the party itself or Vasile's governance lessons.

It was toward the end, as people were looking for after parties or rides to get home, that Lady Josephine sent Soren over as Roland to speak to Rhys. There wasn't much Soren really had to say to his brother to get him to come with, but they both went through the motions anyway in case someone was listening to them.

Vasile and his siblings were leaving the party together when he saw Rhys and Roland talking to each other seriously. He shared an alarmed look with Lukas, who peeled off from the main party to see if Rhys needed an excuse to get away from what was no doubt an uncomfortable conversation.

Rhys gave him an appreciative smile but told him that he would be okay. Roland put an arm around Rhys and smirked at Lukas before he said, "Don't worry, Your Highness, I'll take good care of your pet for you."

"He's not our pet," Lukas spat out at Roland.

Roland just grinned wider. "You'll have to prove that sometime then. Off you go."

"I'll be fine, Your Highness," Rhys said to Lukas, and something in his eyes told the prince to leave it alone. Lukas let out a low growl but then he turned away and went back to his family. Rhys knew Vasile would probably be worried, but this had to happen.

"You sure are popular with the royalty, Ambassador," Roland commented.

Rhys just nodded, opting not to comment on it. Eventually, Rhys agreed to come with Roland, and he followed the man to where Lady Josephine was. She took them in a car to her own home, where the others were waiting.

"Welcome Ambassador," Josephine said once they were in the study. "I'm sure you know who we are by now."

"Vaguely," Rhys admitted. "I have heard whispers, but no concrete name or plans yet. What I don't understand is why you want to talk to me of all people. I'm not a pure blooded vampyre, and I know your group hates that."

"Now, now," Josephine said with a wave of her hand. "Half-breeds have their place. Mostly as labor, but until the separate realms are fully segregated, bastards like you will happen. And right now, you in particular, could be very useful to us."

"Useful?" Rhys asked as he eyed the others.

Josephine motioned with her hand and one of the men there brought over a messenger bag and dropped it at Rhys' feet. He knelt down to look into it and found all of his letters to Vasile that had never been delivered. Rhys looked up at Josephine in surprise.

"You can keep those," Josephine said dismissively. "I already have copies. We know you're very... close to the crown prince. Maybe you two could be of help."

"For what price?" Rhys asked. "Your plan is to kill all the royals, so what incentive do I have to help you?"

Josephine smiled at him. "I'd be willing to let Prince Vasile live if he stays out of my way. You as well. All you need to do is get me into the palace, and then you two can disappear. Leave Avanær and never return, and you two can live happily ever after. What do you say?"

Rhys stood back up, putting the messenger bag around his midsection. "That's tempting, I'll admit. Even if Vasile felt the same way, and you should know he doesn't since he did nothing to stand up for me earlier, there is no way he would leave his family here to die. So I'll have to refuse."

"That's too bad," Josephine said, and then she moved so fast that Rhys barely had time to respond. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled his head aside. If he wasn't going to help them, then he could die here.

Rhys let out a cry of pain as her fangs pierced into his artery. He needed to figure out something fast, or else he was dead. Soren was watching as Roland, but there was nothing he could do right then. He was following the rules Rhys had put down before they did this. He didn't look as gleeful as everyone else, but he did stand there against the wall with a smirk on. It was an act, though, because he was tensely hoping Rhys would get himself out of here.

Josephine's fangs ripped at his skin, and she was draining him as fast as she could. He grabbed at something under his clothes, forcing a necklace up and out of his shirt. When the pendant made contact with Josephine's breasts, she screamed and dropped Rhys. He rarely wore this silver pendant, but he knew it might come in handy eventually.

Rhys fell to the ground, his flesh torn and bleeding freely now. The other vampyres went towards him, and he grabbed onto the messenger bag before he forced himself to teleport out of there. Soren felt a rush of relief but stayed in character, putting on a scowl and letting out a swear that Rhys had gotten away. Rhys reappeared not far from the palace borders. The wards made it so he couldn't teleport inside, but he could teleport nearby.

He grabbed at his boots, pulling out one of his iron blades. He always kept them sheathed unless he needed them so he wouldn't get burned by them. Now, he brought the dagger up to his neck and held the iron against it. His skin sizzled against the iron and Rhys let out a scream as the iron burned the open wound closed.

That scream got the attention of the guards, and a couple of them came to find out who was there with their weapons out. When they saw it was Rhys, and that he was injued, they rushed to get him inside and to call the doctor.

The royal family had gone into their family room to sit after the party to wind down and have drinks. It was normal after events like this, though this time Vasile was worrying about Rhys being with Roland. Their chitchat was disturbed as one of the guards ran into the room, looking alarmed.

"Your Majesties!" the guard cried, taking only a brief moment to catch his breath before he said, "Ambassador Draven is here, and he's badly injured!"

The entire family sprang to their feet, save Viktoria. At a wave from the Queen, the guards brought a barely conscious Rhys into the room and set him on a chaise over by the fireplace. "Fetch the doctor, at once!" Veronika commanded as she pulled a bottle of blood from the cupboard, not even looking at the label before popping the cork with a sharp fingernail and gently dribbling a few drops into Rhys's slack mouth.

Rhys reacted to the blood, opening up his eyes more and letting Veronika put more into his mouth. It didn't take long for the doctor to get there. Him and his nurses made the royal family back up so he could work. They worked first to get a lot of the formal wear off of him, taking in how much blood had soaked into his shirt and tie. He wouldn't let them touch the bag around him so they worked around it.

"The-the pendant, it's silver," Rhys stammered out. "Don't... don't touch it."

The doctor looked alarmed for a moment, looking back at the King and Queen before he took a handkerchief and wrapped it around the pendant while one of the nurses unclasped the chain. He disposed of it into the pocket of Rhys' pants. It wasn't illegal to have silver in Arcasias, but it was generally frowned upon. Under Rhys' job though, especially with the Shell, some allowances had to be given, even if they were questionable to the everyday nobility.

"Get an IV going," the doctor told one of the nurses before he prompted the other to blood type Rhys and get a bag for a transfusion. "We need blood and saline."

The doctor let out a sigh and came over to the royal family. "He's lost too much blood. Unlike a pure-blooded vampyre, he can't just recover it by drinking. It would take longer and far more blood for him to do it. We'll have to do a transfusion, and he'll need to rest. On top of that, he has a bad burn from iron. It looks like he did it to himself in order to stop the bleeding. Quite ingenious, but I have no idea how to treat it. We need to get someone in from Fyrie who would help."

Vasile's mind went instantly to Sylvae, but he didn't know whether he should be the one to mention her. Luckily for Vasile, Rhys was still conscious enough to be listening to them vaguely. He turned his head to them, keeping his arm still for a nurse while he kept the other around the bag he hadn't let them take off of him, and said, "I know someone. I need a pen and parchment though."

The Queen brought him the requested materials from her writing desk along with a small lapdesk she sometimes used to compose poetry in the garden. Vasile watched, still in awe, as Rhys again wrote a message to Sylvae (hopefully warning her to pretend she didn't know Vasile) and folded it up into a bird that he sent along on its way with a breath before falling back onto the bed, clearly exhausted.

Sylvae was sitting at home working on a new potion when the fluttering note came into her room in a burst of colors. She snatched it out of the air and read it quickly before briefly rolling her eyes. Her cousin's woes seemed endless recently, she thought as she packed up her supplies.

She arrived at the palace around the same time that Virmarus did, looking like himself again. He stopped and motioned her forward, giving her a brief bow. They had met a handful of times now, and Sylvae still thought Virmarus got her cousin into too much trouble.

A guard came into the sitting room soon after. "Princess Sylvae Caimaer is asking entrance to help Ambassador Draven, as well as a Virmarus Corden. He says he runs the group the Ambassador is working for right now and he knows his subordinate was injured."

The entire royal family raised their eyebrows at the introduction of Princess Sylvae, shocked almost to the point where their reaction to Virmarus' assertion that Rhys was working for him was significantly delayed. Vasile, who knew all of this already, watched his parents for a reaction and noticed that they seemed unsurprised by Rhys' connection to both the Princess and Virmarus. Viktoria also displayed a distinct lack of surprise.

The two were led in by one of the guards. Virmarus was a large man, which made sense for the type of split Rhys had told Vasile he was. He had rich light brown skin, golden eyes of a werewolf, and deep brown hair that was cut short yet shaggy. His hair seemed unruly, like a comb wouldn't do much to fix it, and gave him a wild look. He was taller than Rhys and Vasile even, making Sylvae look even tinier by comparison. He had since shed his formal attire and was wearing simple dark pants, a black t-shirt, and a leather jacket.

Sylvae, on the other hand, was as resplendent and fancy as she had been when Vasile had first met her. Her gown was a green fabric that shimmered into gold as she moved, and the skirts looked like petals of ivy. There were two beautiful pink flowers at the tops of her shoulders and smaller ones sprinkled throughout the dress.

Virmarus bowed and Sylvae gave a curtsy. "Your Majesties," they both said. The royal family could tell there was some tension between the two, and Sylvae was purposefully not looking at Virmarus.

"I apologize for the intrusion, Your Majesties," Virmarus said to them. "Draven was wearing a small item that would alert me if something bad happened, and he used it earlier so I worked to figure out where he was."

The royal couple nodded in response and then Vortigern spoke into the ensuing silence following Virmarus' proclamation. "We weren't certain that the Ambassador had fallen into your clutches, Virmarus, but we suspected. We assume that his intelligence regarding the fomenting rebellion comes, at least in part, from your organization?" he asked confidently. There was only a hint of disdain in his voice, attributable more to the general mutual racism that vampyres and werewolves shared than to any particular dislike of Virmarus himself.

"My clutches? You make me sound downright evil," Virmarus replied, not bothering to keep the smirk off his face. "Yes, The Shell is the one who found out most of the information, but to be fair to the dear Ambassador, he did quite a bit of looking into things himself back in Haven."

"Evil, no. Reckless, yes," Sylvae mumbled, though everyone heard her. Virmarus didn't show any signs of being bothered by it. In fact, he seemed amused that the Princess didn't like him much.

The King seemed unsurprised at the confirmation from Virmarus, merely nodding at his words and then clearing his throat following Sylvae's utterance. It was considered polite in societies with extraordinary hearing to pretend that you didn't hear anything you overheard and the King was nothing if not polite. He continued to address Virmarus as if Sylvae hadn't spoken, "At least we can be reasonably certain that your organization is not behind this attempted coup if you're warning us about it. Please, see to your charge and I will have the staff ready the three of you rooms in the east wing?" That last was spoken as a question with a look and eyebrow raise for Sylvae to answer whether she would be staying overnight.

"Yes, thank you," Sylvae said before Virmarus could say anything more to the King's statement. "I would like to stay near my cousin as he recovers." Then she added once she got closer to Rhys and looked down at his pale and sweaty face. "If you insist on continuing your experiments in what iron can do to the fae body, I shall have to wash my hands of you entirely!"

Rhys gave her a strained smile. "I promise to quit this iron addiction as soon as this is all over."

"Gods hoping you live through it," she commented, then directed a glare at Virmarus before she started pulling out ingredients. From the amount she pulled out, as well as the cauldron that was large and heavy, it was clear her pouch was spelled, which drew Nikodemus' attention.

He made his way over to Sylvae's side, obviously trying very hard not to be obvious as he watched her pull ingredients out of her bag and add some to the soup she was making before tucking the rest back into the bag. He was careful not to invade her space, but he was definitely trying to puzzle out how the bag worked.

She eyed him from the sides of her eyes as she mixed the cauldron and commented, "Do vampyres make magic potions as well, or is that mostly the fae and humans?"

Nikodemus shook his head negatively before responding, his eyes still on the bag until the very last moment before he spoke, then flashing up to meet her eyes. "No, Princess, vampyres and werewolves are magical in nature but cannot use magic outside of the realities of our physiologies, unfortunately," he said as he took in the emerald shade of her eyes with a pleasant shudder.

Sylvae looked thoughtful at that. "That bag is enchanted to connect to my herb room at the palace, into a collection of wooden shelves where I keep everything I have cut for use. That way I can travel wherever I need to to heal others. I'm second in line for the throne, but I don't foresee myself having to take it as my brother is more than capable. Therefore, I became a healer and put my time into learning the physiology of each type of creature in our realm.

"This potion will calm the burn of the iron, as well as take any remnants of it out of his skin. It will make it so it will scar far less. He'll still have a ragged scar here, but it should be fairly small once everything is done. I wish I could do more but iron burns are very serious. They're as bad as silver burns for your kind."

Nikodemus nodded along with her explanation, obviously enamored equally of the magic itself as the wielder. Sylvae explained what she was putting into it and why, mostly because she wanted more reason to talk to him. Near the end, as she stirred the bubbling potion, she mentioned, "If he continues this, I may need to see if I can make a potion to make him immune to iron for a little bit, though in this case it saved his life it sounds like."

Virmarus, on the other hand, had come over to sit down next to Rhys, looking closely at the wounds with a grave look on his face. Rhys had closed his eyes, feeling himself fading in and out of consciousness. He barely noticed the gentle touch from his leader, or the cold of the compresses Sylvae pressed into his skin after she used some bottled frost to cool the potion down.

The few times he did open his eyes, he looked up at Vasile, like every bit of him searched him out in his weakest moments. It wasn't something that he could hide from the rest of the family, as he was too out of it, but it wasn't like it surprised anyone. Vasile didn't bother to hide his concern for Rhys either. When Sylvae got the worst of the damage to Rhys' neck stabilized and began checking him over for other wounds, the rest of the Royal Family quietly slipped out, leaving Vasile and Nikodemus to be the only Valravyns still in the room and both of them were completely oblivious to this fact.

As they cut away the rest of Rhys' ruined shirt, Sylvae tried to take the bag from around his midsection and he gripped it in white-knuckled panic, opening his eyes to glare around himself until he saw Vasile reach for the bag. Then he relaxed and let him take it. Virmarus was obviously beside himself with curiosity as Vasile peered into the bag and then closed it with no change of expression, slinging it over his own broad shoulder.

Sylvae was curious too but left it alone, knowing that if her cousin wanted her to know, she would. "Could you two hold him up so I can wrap this bandage around him?" She asked the three of them, and then they all worked together so she could use a bandage to wrap around the potion soaked rags so it would stay where it was supposed to. She gave them a nod once she had it secured, and they got Rhys back laying on the chaise.

Once she cleaned off her hands and put a lot of her stuff away, she turned to Virmarus with an angry look, putting her hands on her hips as she did so. "And where, exactly, were you when all of this was happening to him?"

"Elsewhere, playing my part that I was asked to," Virmarus replied, crossing his arms in front of him. "I can play a vampyre but not up close to the rebels. They would sniff me out if I was too close. I stayed by Rhys all night as long as I could but he and Soren had to do the rest."

"If it weren't for you, he wouldn't even be in this situation," Sylvae argued, obviously deeply upset with Virmarus over this.

"Actually, no," Virmarus said with a shake of his head. "I asked him to do behind the scenes stuff, but he's the one who demanded to be on the frontlines here in Arcasias. So go ahead and thank the Prince here for that."

Vasile shook his head dismissively at Virmarus' words, not bothering to look up from watching Rhys' face for signs of a change in his condition. "Your conclusion is predicated by approaching that statement in a vacuum, Kyrios Virmarus. Your own intelligence prior to recruiting the Ambassador would have told you of our friendship in the Academy. Your decision to recruit him either in spite of or because of that intel is what ultimately led him to this situation. I'd wager it was a calculated risk," he said respectfully.

Virmarus grinned wolfishly at that, his canines sharp and extra defined. "So, you think I had specific designs when recruiting Rhys. What does that say about your dear Ambassador if I am, supposedly, able to trick him into becoming my pawn so easily? I'd call you paranoid, but that may be redundant."

Rhys' eyes had opened slightly as they all spoke, and his expression contorted to one that looked pained and upset. He let out a groan, which got all of their attention, before he said, weakly, "Stop! This type of division is exactly what caused all of this. Let's put the blame on my getting hurt where it is deserved. I knew I was in danger doing this. It's why I didn't let Soren play the part of me tonight."

He laid his head back down and closed his eyes again, before he added, "And stop antagonizing the royalty, Virmarus. I appreciate your anti-monarchy stance, but remember I was raised as one as well."

Vasile stage-mumbled "Perhaps I gave his 'intelligence' too much credit..." while throwing side-eye at Virmarus before turning his full attention back to Rhys.

Virmarus pressed his lips together in annoyance but Rhys laughed at that before he grimaced in pain from the movement of his body. Vasile felt fairly helpless when it came to assisting Sylvae in taking care of Rhys, but he managed to hook the leg of a nearby chair with one foot and sit down holding Rhys' hand while Sylvae chattered on to Nik about what she was doing with Nik peppering in questions here and there.

Once all of the medicine had been administered, and Rhys was getting blood fed into his body through the IV, he was carefully moved to a room with a bed where he could rest. Sylvae put a cold cloth on his forehead afterwards, because moving had been difficult for him. "I'll be in every few hours to check on you," she told Rhys and kissed his forehead before she let Nik guide her to the room she was being given for the night.

Once the doctors had left and it was just Rhys, Vasile, and Virmarus, the leader of the Shell sat on a chair by the bed and looked at Rhys seriously. "Are you strong enough to tell me what happened tonight?" he asked Rhys.

Rhys opened his eyes again and looked at Virmarus. He had relaxed back into the pillows and Vasile had sat down on the bed next to him, giving what physical comfort he could. After a moment, Rhys nodded slowly. It was a stiff thing to do right then, because of all of the bandages.

He gave a basic rundown on what happened once they got to the other home, careful not to mention names out loud. It wasn't that he didn't trust Vasile; he mostly didn't want Vasile trying to get any sort of revenge on them, or for anyone else to overhear them. "Basically, if Vasile was willing to sell out the rest of his family to be slaughtered, they would let us leave Avanær safely," Rhys finished up.

"Hard to believe they would keep their word there," Virmarus commented, then looked at Vasile though he still spoke to Rhys, "And there's no way your Prince here would give in to their demands."

"I told them as much," Rhys agreed. "This was the result. If I hadn't been wearing my silver pendant and could teleport, I'd be dead now. Not to mention my daggers."

Vasile sat through all of this in silence, seemingly simply offering Rhys physical reassurance, but his mind was racing. Would he have given in to their demands? Was there really a possibility of living out his eternity with Rhys? He definitely didn't feel like it was worth the price of handing over his family, but was there a way to give the government over to the people and keep his family alive?

Rhys was wondering similar things. He just didn't see an easy way to get the monarchs to put down their crowns and let the power go to the people instead. They were all very set in their ways. The easiest person to talk into it would be his uncle and cousin, but even then it would be a battle.

"Rest for now," Virmarus said to Rhys. "I won't be far off if you need me."

With that, Virmarus left the room and shut the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone. Vasile stayed quiet for some time before breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen since Virmarus had left. "You can't do this to me, you know," he said. "I understand that the nature of what you're doing is dangerous, but I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Rhys looked up at Vasile, the understanding there in his expression. He went to nod his head and then grimaced at the pain and stopped. "I know," he finally said. "It's similar to my thoughts when I heard their plans to take out the royal family. I don't really know how to make this less dangerous though. I do, at least, know I can't be alone with them as myself now. We need to figure out a way to dismantle the coup completely while changing what caused it, but I'm not sure your dad is ready for that..."

Vasile nodded somberly, silently agreeing with Rhys' observation. Politics were not discussed in family spaces among the Brosnya-Valravyn House. They were all aware of the public decisions that Vortigern made but vampyres were generally fairly self-governing and the behind-the-scenes machinations of the people in power were anyone's guess as secrets were best kept by not sharing them.

Vasile's governance lessons had been coming along well in the past decade, but they were still only a fourth of the way through the process and he was still only scratching the surface of the knowledge his father had determined he would need to be crowned as Heir.

It was a long week for everyone close to the situation while they tried to heal Rhys from his ordeal. The blood transfusion had worked well, but the damage to his skin was extensive. Plus having already been poisoned by iron before, Sylvae had to work to make sure he didn't end up with an infection from everything.

She had to rewrap the wound often, putting new potion onto it after she checked to see how it was progressing. Rhys went through times when he was awake and alert, and other times when he was pained and out of it. It got worse when the potion needed to be changed. His skin would get clammy and chilled, and he would shake and mumble things that could be heard but didn't make any sense.

It was only around day four that his reactions started to go down. As the potion would wear off, he would grumble about it hurting, but his shaking had slowed down and he wasn't mumbling incoherently anymore. His skin wouldn't pale as badly or become near as clammy.

Vortigern stopped in to check on Rhys' recuperation every few days. He could see, each time, just how worried and upset his oldest son was. Looking at them, it reminded him of himself whenever Veronika had been sick or after giving birth each time. The love, the worry, and refusing to leave his bedside.

By day seven, he didn't need much potion at all. Sylvae made a salve for him to put on top of it to try and bring down the look of the scar. Where he should have had a scar from his neck being torn was just a scar that was in the shape of the blade. The scar itself was raised and just slightly red, but Sylvae promised that after a month or two with the salve, it would only really be raised.

It was a relief for everyone when he was finally out of the bed and dressed again. Luckily, his family had been in and out the entire time, and Alavara and Iona had brought clothes for him to wear once he was awake and feeling better. They were just simple soft trousers and a long sleeved dark shirt, but seeing him up and dressed again was like a balm to Vasile's heart.

The King stopped by once Rhys was seated comfortably and asked after his recovery. Once Rhys had confirmed that he was feeling much more human, Vortigern asked him what had happened.

Rhys put some thought into his answer. Sure, he could give the King the names of everyone involved right now, but would that actually help anything? They could throw the culprits in prison or even execute them, but that could very well radicalize others. It was important how they handled this, and Rhys knew that.

Finally, he said, "The people who are planning the coup here tried to get me on their side and to talk Vasile into helping them. When I told them no, they tried to kill me. I probably only escaped because of my silver pendant. I don't think they were expecting that."

The King looked infuriated by this. "It is unacceptable that you've been brutalized in this way. Speak the names and I will see to their punishment," he said.

Rhys glanced at Vasile, who was watching him closely as the King spoke to him, before he turned back to the King. "I hope you don't take offense to this, Your Majesty, but I can't give out the names. Not yet, at least."

Vortigern's angry expression was barely restrained, but he seemed to swallow his first thought before responding. "Very well, Ambassador. We will trust your judgement in this, but know that your safety is a priority."

Rhys seemed to let out the breath that he had been holding and gave a nod of his head. The shirt he was wearing didn't entirely cover up the scar he had gotten from the iron. "I appreciate that, Your Majesty, as I'm sure my family does as well. And I thank you for the use of a room to recover in. I didn't want Tierney to have to see me like that. She's having a hard enough time being away from Haven."

The King nodded his acceptance of Rhys' thanks. "Something tells me my son wouldn't have given me a choice in the matter, but you are always welcome under my roof," he answered simply.

Rhys knew that was true. He let out a short groan as he stood up. It was tough going from in a bed constantly to walking around again, but he had to get used to it. He went to thank everyone for their help and then met Sylvae at the front doors. Vasile lingered with them at the door, clearly wanting to say and do more, though they both knew they couldn't right then. The King was still with them and watching.

Rhys said a quick goodbye and then followed Sylvae out of the palace. She hooked her arm in his and they both teleported back to his house. He could do it himself but she wanted to make sure he got home safely and to see her aunt for a little bit before she went home. Having met Nikodemus, and feeling those fluttery feelings in her stomach, she now understood her aunt far more than she ever had before.

After spending some time with Tierney and the rest of the family, Rhys went to his room to rest. He would have to get back to work soon, but for now, he would make sure he was ready for whatever came next.