4 MERIDIAN KEEP

Nothing could convince Xiaodan to change her mind. “No amount of sleep and rest will help me now, Zidan.” Her heartbeats had slowed, and she was perfectly composed, like she hadn’t been in a coma for four days running. “Whatever she did at Elouve, she took something from me. Possibly my sunbringing abilities, maybe more. And I won’t be whole again until I take it back.”

“Xiaodan—” Malekh began.

“There’s a reason she’s hiding out in the castle instead of invading Hallifax’s domain herself. There’s a reason she hasn’t shown herself in the last several days when she could have used my convalescence to strengthen her hold, make herself a much more visible presence to intimidate the kingdoms. She did not leave that fight unscathed either.”

“And how do you know all this?”

“I can’t explain it. I just do.”

Malekh made an exasperated sound. “And on the chances that you are incorrect?”

“If my assessment is incorrect, then I give you leave to spirit us out of the castle whenever and however you deem necessary—but not until we can confirm my words aren’t true.” Xiaodan smiled sweetly, and it was a beautiful sight to behold for Remy after the last few days of watching her pale, listless face. “I am sure that my strong, wise fiancé would be more than up to the task.”

Malekh only grunted. “If your fiancé was as strong or as wise as you like to believe, he would have taken you back to the Fata Morgana regardless of your theories.”

Even fresh out of a prolonged unconsciousness, Xiaodan was still clever about getting her way, and soon all three of them sat inside the carriage as it raced east with the rest of Lord Valenbonne’s army. The helhests were clearly impatient at having to match their pace with the slower and very alive horses that the soldiers preferred, but Malekh thought it prudent to remain with the humans.

The rest of the regiment kept themselves well away from the undead stallions. Remy didn’t blame them, because Peanut and Cookie looked like the exact archetype of cadaverous steeds that lich lords would ride into battle, coal black and red-eyed and massively skeletal. But the men kept an even farther distance from the mutations following after them, the beasts easily able to keep up despite their bulk. Save for Riones’s enthusiastic welcome, they were silent regarding Remy’s unexpected appearance, though that was better than their usual derision.

Malekh said they would reach the castle in another two hours at the rate they were traveling, and for the first time since being told what a helhest was, Remy wished the steeds could go a little faster.

“You could have gone with them,” Malekh added. He was staring out the window with his arms folded across his chest, not looking at Remy one bit again.

“What?”

“You could have gone with them. Your father clearly wanted you close by.”

“Is this your roundabout way of saying that you don’t like my company?”

“Don’t be absurd. I would not have been offended, had you chosen to ride with him.”

Remy looked down at his lap, unable to hide his grin. “I prefer it when you’re sweet like this.”

“Pendergast.”

“I’d be much obliged if you’d stop acting like I’ve had to turn down something better, because you’re both the something better I would have rejected, had I gone with my father. Did you know that Riones accepted the job I refused in Elouve? I wish him all the best, with no regrets.”

“If that is your wish” was all Malekh said in response. He continued to look out the window.

“I should fall asleep more often,” Xiaodan marveled lightly.

“Are you okay?” Remy asked her quietly. “Malekh is right. You’re in no condition to be confronting anyone, least of all my moth—the Night Empress.”

“I’m weaker than I want to be, but strong enough for anything else.” Xiaodan stretched, faint cracking sounds coming from numerous body joints as she did. “I would be lying if I said I was at my best. But something tells me I’ll never be at my prime strength again if I don’t confront her while she’s just as weak.”

“We are risking a lot on assumptions, Xiaodan,” Malekh said gruffly.

“You would have put your foot down right from the start if you didn’t think I had the remotest chance of being right.” Xiaodan reached to take his hand, and then took Remy’s with the other. “Thank you,” she said softly, “I know it wasn’t easy looking after me these last several days—incidentally, how long was I asleep?”

“Six days,” Remy supplied.

“What? I’ve been useless for almost a week?”

“Give or take a few hours, including when you woke up long enough to blast one of Eugenie’s mutated informants into nothingness.”

“We were at Eugenie’s?”

“You don’t remember? You sunbringed him into nothing and then collapsed afterward. Or is it ‘sunbrought’? ‘Sunbrang’? I—” Remy stopped. Xiaodan had frozen, stock-still despite the moving carriage. “Xiaodan?”

She turned to him, her eyes filled with tears. “I still have it?” she whispered. “I didn’t lose it? I still have my…” She bowed her head, pressed her hands against her face, and, to Remy’s shock, began to cry.

---

XIAODAN HAD composed herself by the time Meridian Keep came into view, the castle rising up above an enclosure of trees like a big black vertical stain against the clouds hovering behind it. “I apologize,” she said. Remy and Malekh had taken turns holding her until the worst of her weeping had passed. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“S’all right,” Remy said.

“Have you ever had to live with something you thought was a detriment your whole life, only for it to become such an integral part of you that it felt like you were missing a piece of yourself after it was gone?”

“I’ve never had to contain the fucking sun up my short arse,” Remy said, “but I understand.”

Xiaodan laughed at that and gave him a light peck on the cheek. Then she looked down at her hands and focused.

“I’m trying, but I don’t feel anything,” she said, though she didn’t sound too upset. “Is it because I haven’t regained my full strength yet, or…? I should be able to. Eventually. I just need to figure out how.”

“We could learn quicker if we returned to Fata Morgana,” Malekh said, ever stubborn.

“You’re still not going to get me to change my mind, love. I need to be at Meridian Keep.”

The castle in question had seen better days. It must have been a beautifully imposing fortress once, befitting whatever fancy shit the Court of Beauty had been known for. It had graceful arches and high lofty towers even more majestic than the palace Queen Ophelia resided in at Elouve.

But the white ivory exterior had turned gray and bleak over the years, and thick rows of ivy had overrun the walls. It was an overgrown briar patch run amuck, and nothing about it suggested habitability. There were the remains of a moat surrounding the castle, the trenches long since drained of water. Thick roots grew from the ground, nearly as large as tree trunks, and Remy wasn’t sure he wanted to step into that tangle of branches and vines. They were more effective than the moat would have been had the latter retained water, blocking the approaching army from the castle’s entrance.

The severity of the infestation became clearer within yards of the main doors. The overgrowth did not come from the forests surrounding the structure, but from somewhere within the Keep itself.

“Seems to me that something else has occupied the castle after the Second Court’s demise,” Malekh said quietly.

“How did this escape our notice?” Remy’s father sounded disgusted. He turned to Riones. “Did Astonbury not send scouts here on occasion, should any more vampires return to reclaim the territory?”

The marquess winced. “I don’t think so, milord. The castle itself is in an isolated region of Aluria, with no nearby towns or villages to be threatened. He must have thought it best to leave it be.”

Valenbonne snorted. “Please. He thought to ignore Meridian Keep because it was the site of one of my major accomplishments, and he did not wish to be reminded of that fact. No use dwelling on his incompetence now. It would have taken years for the briars to overcome the castle like this. And yet we’ve been oblivious all this time.”

Xiaodan was looking up at the turrets, a determined look on her face. Already she was clasping her cloak around herself, as if bracing for the inevitable.

“What is it inside this place that you’re worried about?” Remy whispered quietly to Malekh. “I don’t think it’s just the Night Empress.”

“There was a reason the Second Court was known as the Court of Beauty. It was not a coincidence that most of its members were fair of face. The Night King initially created the Second as his personal harem. But in the years before it fell, there were rumors of Aughessy, the former Second Court king, and some of his clanmates using other methods to enhance their looks.”

“Some blood ritual?”

“No.” Malekh gave the grounds around them a pointed look. “The Godsflame was not the only feature that the Allpriory possessed. A sacred tree called the Fount once grew within the temple, purportedly blessed with healing properties. It was consumed by the Godsflame eons ago, and we believe it was what gave the fires its special abilities. Their similarities are… striking.”

“There’s a damned vampiric tree inside the castle?” But it made sense. There was nothing nearby that would justify the thickness of the roots and vines snaking out of Meridian Keep. “If it was in the Allpriory, then what the hell is it doing here?”

“Another mystery that needs solving.”

Lord Valenbonne only rubbed his hands together after being informed of the possibility, looking anticipatory. “And here I thought you kindred could no longer surprise me. I should have suspected that there were more secrets within their vile lair.” He ran the blade of his axe against one particularly massive root, looking thoughtful. And then, before anyone could stop him, he swung.

The axe cleaved into the thick bark. Crimson liquid spurted out from the fresh wound, staining the nearby ground.

“What are you doing, milord?” Riones gasped.

“Seeing if there is something to the story before we risk our lives any further. We may be allies now, Lord Malekh, but I make it a habit to confirm such matters with my own eyes.” Valenbonne examined the edge of his weapon and then smiled in satisfaction at the sight of the wine-red sap trickling down the blade. “ ’Tis true, then. I have heard of similar tales from the southern islands, where—” His mouth twisted briefly. “No matter. We cannot allow this to infiltrate Alurian lands. I should have burned that castle down to its foundations years ago.”

“You underestimate the extent of these unnatural woodlands, milord,” Xiaodan said wearily. “I have never seen one myself, but Malekh told me they are called bloodwood, capable of ensnaring humans and draining them of blood as a vampire can.”

“And how many of these exist that you know of?” Valenbonne demanded.

“Two. One at an old vampire stronghold, and one within the Whispering Isles.” Malekh gazed at Valenbonne. “You don’t look surprised by this.”

“You are right. Such rumors were why King Beluske turned his attentions to Tithe. He did not relish the idea of a vampiric outpost south of his territories.”

“He did not live long enough to see such a conquest realized,” Dr. Yost murmured. “His daughter was a much more benevolent ruler and spared the survivors, but the damage was already done.”

“I thought Tithe was overwhelmed by spates of vampire attacks and that Aluria had rushed to their aid,” Remy said slowly.

His father chuckled, but the sound was strangely bitter. “I am not one to trust those who put things down in books and claim them as history, lad. They’ve always been the finest liars I’ve ever known.”

“Do you mean to say that this… thing is self-aware, Lord Malekh?” Riones asked, looking back up at the castle with a faintly worried expression.

“If you ask whether it possesses a mind of its own, then no. But it does not need sentience. It hungers in the same way these mutations do—bereft of thought, acting only upon instinct.” Malekh pointed at something that lay half-hidden within the high tufts of grass, and Remy saw, to his revulsion, the carcasses of both a horse and its rider. The corpses must have been recent, for it had not yet been relegated to bone, but what remained was shrunken, the bodies drained of blood.

The marquess shuddered. “What benefit could vampires achieve by harboring such a monstrosity? Some means of defense, perhaps?”

“Most kindred avoid this creature entirely. Only the most desperate allow it succor on their lands. These vampiric trees feed on blood but can be redirected and harvested with some care.”

“Which means that these bastard Second Court vampires could have used it as a repository of sorts?” Lord Valenbonne made a sound of repulsion. “A means to keep them fit and fattened when their human supplies run low, and for their vanity. Perhaps you would oblige us with the best means to kill it without unnecessarily endangering the lives of my men, Lord Malekh?”

“Fire,” Malekh said shortly. “As large as you can make it, although that may not be enough. Chopping these roots will take too long, given their immensity. The ones that you see lying tangled outside the castle are part of its safeguard. The thickness serves as armor. If you wish to kill it quicker, we will have to venture deeper within its lair, where the bark is thinner and much more vulnerable. But…”

“But?” Valenbonne prompted, when Malekh did not speak for some seconds.

“But if the Night Empress is within the castle as we believe and she commands it, then it will likely defend her to the death.”

“What reason would a vampiric tree have to bond with my wayward former wife?”

“The bloodwood is given to compulsion just as much as any. A sentient being may bend it to their whim—what it takes from its victims to sustain itself can easily be transferred to a host of their choice.”

“And if she was severely injured during our last battle,” Xiaodan added grimly, “this would be an easy way to rejuvenate herself.”

“Then let us act quickly.” Lord Valenbonne hefted his axe. “I have been inside Meridian Keep before and know the lay of the castle. The bulk of my soldiers will remain outside to keep watch, building bonfires, should we need to fumigate what hides within—or burn the castle forthwith, should it come to that. Some Reapers and I will enter; a dozen to man the lower floors, the rest to venture into the heart of where the Night Empress presumably lies in wait—and there, we shall kill two birds with one stone.” He paused. “None of the mutations for now, save Grimesworthy. They remain clumsy when fighting in close quarters, though Yost is working to refine that. Would you like to take command of our manservant, Remington? Your blood runs freely through his veins, as mine does.”

“Nothing would disgust me more,” Remy said sourly, and his father chuckled.

Malekh nodded. “Take heed when it comes to your Reapers,” he cautioned. “There is no telling if she is capable of compelling them against her will, even in her weakened state.”

“I shall take that into consideration.” Lord Valenbonne went off to issue more commands. Xiaodan and Malekh remained where they were, staring up at the castle. “We can still leave,” Malekh murmured. “It seems to me that Valenbonne is fit to handle this matter on his own.”

But Xiaodan shook her head. “She’s in there, Zidan. I can feel her.” Her eyes hardened. “Whatever it is she took from me—my strength, my sun—I want it back.”

Malekh looked at Remy. “And I suppose you feel the same way?”

“Not necessarily. Any situation in which I have to fight alongside my father makes me uncomfortable. The last time was not a pleasant one.”

“Pendergast—”

“I am fine,” Remy said, waving his concerns away with what he hoped was cheerful ease. “If Xiaodan says she needs to be here, then I’ll be here with her—and you.”

Valenbonne returned with the Reapers that were to accompany them inside, Riones among them. Grimesworthy lumbered behind them, much to Remy’s dislike. From the look on the other hunters’ faces, they shared the feeling.

Malekh drew out his saber and turned toward the entrance of the castle, where thick roots and vines barred their path. “Cut down only the ones that impede our way,” he instructed. “And brace yourself for any attacks.”

It took an hour for them to cut through the bark, the latter falling away to reveal darkness and even more unearthly tangles of bark and foliage. Occasionally a root or trunk would react poorly to their attacks, lashing out with sharp vines to stop their progress, and more than a few Reapers sustained some minor injuries before they were able to create a small clearing and step inside.

“It seems that Meridian Keep has no wish to entertain visitors,” Valenbonne murmured.

Any furniture left standing after Valenbonne’s attack on the castle years before did not survive the wrath of its latest occupant. Bits of broken wood lay on the floor, along with the remnants of whatever decor had once graced the place. Writhing vines and ivy covered every inch of the walls. It was like walking into the hollow of a monstrous oak rather than a castle. Even the stairway had been overcome, the roots assuming roughly the shape of the steps but leaving none of the original intact.

“Stay alert,” Valenbonne barked at his men. “No telling what surprises she has in store for us.”

They received no further resistance from the tree while they were on the landing. Now they traveled up onto the second floor and down a long hallway bereft of anything but more twisted roots. Malekh clearly viewed this as a bad sign, eyeing every piece of rubble they passed as if it would rise up and grab them.

Valenbonne paused to survey a broken picture frame, one of many that had once hung from the Keep’s walls. The portrait had long been ripped to shreds, and all that remained to be seen was part of a face, a scrap of cloth from which blue eyes looked back at them. “Kurdashev,” he said dismissively. “I would recognize that pompous gaze anywhere.”

They encountered more resistance here, but the roots were slimmer and easier to slice through. There was only one accessible chamber on the floor whose entrance had not been tapered over.

Remy heard the heartbeats long before they entered, a much more regular rhythm than Xiaodan’s. The walls seemed to shake from the volume of it, the closer they approached.

Within the inner sanctum, an immense cocoon hung from the ceiling, covered in more bark and twisted branches. It was ten feet tall and half as wide, and the heartbeats grew louder as they drew nearer. Something thrashed and twisted beneath its surface, as if it lay trapped within and was fighting to escape.

Valenbonne swore. “She’s inside that damn thing. Reapers, draw your weapons.”

The hunters obeyed, a faint humming noise overlaid against the heartbeats as their fire lances charged up.

“What now?” Remy’s father asked. “Do we wait for it to burst from its recesses like some demented butterfly, or are we free to stab into it without retribution?”

“The tree knows that we are here. It allowed us to breach its sanctuary, to make it this far. I will not be surprised if it was a deliberate trap.”

“What do you think, Remington?”

Remy blinked. “I—I don’t—”

“Come now,” Valenbonne encouraged. “In your years of fighting vampires, and then the last few weeks against the Rot, surely you have some ideas.”

Remy glowered, not wanting to be put in such a position in front of the other Reapers. “It would be much more practical to retreat immediately from here and burn down everything else as we do.”

“But then we wouldn’t know if it truly is the Night Empress hiding within her little chamber, now, would we? Don’t you want to be sure, boy?”

Quietly, from somewhere else, someone began to sing.

It was a familiar lullaby; one that Remy had been taught as a young child, a melody his mother sang often while he’d been in her womb. He had sung it himself when he paid his respects to the dead, or on the occasions he’d been alone and drunk and depressed enough. But the song had taken on a far less fond association the moment the Night Empress had used it to lull his mind, take over his body, and attack Malekh and Xiaodan. And Naji.

An odd lethargy was coming over him, his thoughts sluggish.

“Remy?” Xiaodan asked, sounding alarmed.

“I can hear her,” Remy rasped, staggering back. “I can hear her singing.”

Valenbonne reacted quickly. He turned, lifted his axe, and swung it hard against the cocoon, cleaving an inch or so deep into it. Again and again he attacked, the heartbeats stuttering with every blow until, finally, the husk broke in half.

There was a corpse lying inside it, a fresh kill drained of blood. The threadbare clothing it wore told them that this was another turned villager, though shrunken and drained of blood like the corpses outside. Even in death, the face was pulled back in a snarl of surprise as if its killer had come upon it unawares, its fangs protruding from a slack mouth.

It was not the Night Empress.

A snarl of frustration from Valenbonne; a curse from Malekh. “Where is she?” Remy’s father demanded, just as the vampire lord said, “She used her own people for sustenance.”

The song continued. Remy dropped his Breaker and clasped his hands to his ears, fighting back despite knowing the inevitable. Already it was burrowing inside his mind, that everything is going to be all right, let me take care of you, my sweet child—

“Above us,” Xiaodan said suddenly. “She’s above us. We must—”

There was a crackling of brittle branches from the ceiling.

Xiaodan disappeared, reappearing in front of Valenbonne just in time to block the hand about to claw at his face. She shoved back, the attacker crashing into the wall across the room, but easily righting itself as if it had taken no damage.

The Night Empress did not look as she had during the battle at Elouve. She wore her dark hair long and loose, though the locks were tangled up about her, matted and flat against her head. Her dark skin, the same shade as Remy’s, was stained with the same wine-red liquid from the tree. Her eyes were unnaturally golden, and her crimson robes muddied. She was still heartbreakingly beautiful, but she looked thinner, her cheeks hollower. There was a strange languor about her that reminded Remy of Xiaodan’s illness, like something was wasting her away.

Vines covered the lower half of her body, puncturing her flesh. They throbbed as if they were alive, moving with her, extending long enough to offer little restriction. Crimson liquid flowed within the near-transparent stems, funneling into her.

She ignored the other Reapers and vampires, turning to Remy. My love, she greeted in her voice but not through her mouth, the affection in her voice at odds with her horrific appearance. How well you’ve grown.

“No,” Remy rasped. “Don’t do this. Please don’t do this.”

“Your fight is with me, not him,” Xiaodan snarled, planting herself between Remy and the Night Empress.

The woman’s gaze moved back to Xiaodan, hate twisting her features.

She moved, and Xiaodan followed. Both reappeared at the center of the room in blurs and stuttered glimpses. Faint bursts of light sparked whenever they made contact, as if currents of electricity ran through them both.

“Start burning the vines,” Valenbonne barked. “Let no branch or root go unscathed!”

Malekh’s saber flashed, cutting down the branches and vines encircling the lower part of her body, every attack cutting more foliage from her.

The Night Empress lunged for him as well. Xiaodan blocked her path.

A sudden luminescence sprung from where their fists met, the room awash in a painful brightness that made Remy instinctively cover his eyes.

He heard a screech, and then more crackling as the vines around the Night Empress unraveled—

—and large bat-like wings sprouted from her back, filling the length of the room. The Night Empress rose, winds whipping through the chamber from the force, sending them skidding backward.

“Now!” Valenbonne shouted.

The Reapers aimed their fire lances at the Night Empress, shooting rapidly. The woman avoided their blows, but the walls behind her were set aflame by their efforts. She snarled and blinked out of view, only to reappear on top of one of the hapless Reapers. The man screamed as her fangs bit hard down on his neck, blood bursting in a fountain up from the wound.

Valenbonne was already running, axe swinging. The Night Empress released her grip on her victim and evaded her former husband’s attack. She was on him next, but Valenbonne managed to drive his weapon in between them just in time to ward off her bite.

And then Grimesworthy was by his master’s side, swinging his fists. They missed the Night Empress completely; she reappeared several feet away, fangs still bared, coiled to spring.

Snatching Breaker from the ground, Remy whipped the knifechain free and spun it in the woman’s direction. She turned and easily caught the spike but did not attack. Something in her monstrous expression softened when she found Remy’s gaze.

Child, the voice crooned in his head.

“Mother,” Remy whispered. “Please.”

My Remington, the Night Empress said, he broke my heart.

With a roar, Valenbonne attempted to strike her from behind, but the Night Empress glided out of range and released her hold on the knifechain. With a final wail, she shot out through the ceiling, destroying the barrier to swoop up into the sky. Bricks and stone rained down, and there was nothing they could do but watch helplessly as her form vanished among the clouds.

In her absence, the tree around them came alive, writhing and lashing out. One impaled a Reaper’s shoulder, and he screamed in agony. Vines wrapped around Remy’s foot. Their tips opened up to reveal jagged teeth on their ends as they tried to clamp down on whatever part of his skin they could reach. He drove one of Breaker’s scythes down on it and cut himself free, and he fancied he heard a shrill scream from somewhere within the castle in response. More of the vines began to envelop the other fighters, and there were cries from among the Reapers who were not as fortunate at avoiding their bites, the tree’s many incisors digging into their flesh.

The room was filled with smoke, making it difficult to see as the flames from the hunters’ fire lances began to spread. “Retreat!” Malekh commanded. He was a blur, reappearing behind some of the still-trapped Reapers and expertly divesting them of their vined opponents, pieces falling to the floor after several strikes with his saber.

“You heard him!” Valenbonne snapped. “Fall back!”

The fire had spread to the lower floors, and the soot burned at Remy’s eyes as they stumbled back down. Behind them, the ivy-encrusted stairs crumbled, and Riones had to take a flying leap to safety as the ground underneath him fell away, Malekh catching him easily at the landing. Remy looked up, spotted parts of the ceiling that had not already been demolished by the Night Empress beginning to give way. Years of overgrowth had weakened the structure; without the vampire tree’s strength holding it upright, the castle itself was crumbling.

They made it out without a moment to spare, the Reapers stationed outside dragging some of their injured comrades away just as a horrible, wrenching sound filled the air, an agonized roar of a beast that had just been slain.

They continued to run as the castle collapsed. Floor by floor it came crashing down, the sound like a terrible hurricane.

It was over in a matter of minutes; nothing remained of Meridian Keep beyond one wall left standing against all the odds, seated in rubble and detritus. But of the strange vampire tree, nothing remained; its roots and branches shriveled as the flames took hold, disappearing into the still-burning fires.