The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith Read Free

to get a glimpse of the fearless sailors. Adele dropped her arm around her
brother's shoulders and followed his gaze upward, feeling a powerful
desire to climb the quivering lines alongside the sailors and scale the
dizzying main topmast swaying high above the airship to feel the clouds
on her face. She envied those simple men who shouted, laughed, and
even sang in the wind-ripped tops with only the sureness of their grip
separating them from a long but certain death.
    On the blustery quarterdeck, Lieutenant Sayid interrupted her
thoughts by touching the brim of his cap politely. "Your Highness, if you would please step to this spot between the carronades. I would be loath for
you or the prince to be struck by an inconsiderate falling airman."

    Simon immediately planted himself and stared up at the swelling sails,
forcing Adele to tow his rigid form against the rail. She began to say something to the young officer, but he was already engaged in another duty.
With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the hard mahogany gunwale, content
to monitor her restless brother in the gathering darkness.
    A maid appeared from below with Adele's heavy cape and a coat for
Simon. The weather was too warm for a cloak, and Adele would have
refused, but the maid was only following orders. If the poor girl
returned below with the cloak still in her possession it would create a
crisis that would envelop Adele's entire staff. The maid confidently
informed Adele that dinner was in exactly twenty minutes. Then, on her
way below, the servant exchanged light, bubbling words with the handsome Lieutenant Sayid. Adele watched them, fascinated by the mix of
hesitance and boldness; a young woman, a handsome officer. Such
charming simplicity.
    A sudden flash of moonlight reflected in the ostentatious diamond
ring on Adele's left hand and forced her to remember her wedding was
barely a month away. It wasn't so much a wedding as the starting gun
for the war, the signal that Equatoria and the American Republic were
one. All the linen, china, and warships would be bound to the same
household. Adele thought of the beautiful gold locket that held a picture of her Intended, Senator Clark. War hero. Vampire killer. Scion of
a great American house. Undeniably handsome. He had the open brashness of an American, which in another situation she might have found
attractive.
    Still, the young woman had generally refused to think about the
Impending Event because the thought of a stranger's weight on the
other side of her bed caused many sleepless nights bathed in a frightened
sweat and with a shortness of breath. She couldn't conceive of how her
Intended's war-roughened hands would feel on her skin, nor did she
want to. Her spy inside the Office of Court Protocol had confided to her
that the issue of sexual commerce was still under negotiation and,
although it probably could not be eliminated completely, it would at least be kept to the minimum necessary to conceive an heir. The marriage was a political necessity and, therefore, Adele's duty, but she
doubted it would ever be more than that.

    Adele reached up absently and through her heavy blouse damp with
perspiration she felt the small stone talisman hanging around her neck.
She wore it instead of the beautiful gold locket with a photo of her
Intended, which was buried deep in her luggage. Her revered mentor,
Mamoru, had given her the religious stone talisman for protection, and
it gave her a sense of solemnity and calm. But Adele kept it hidden; no
one could know that their princess wore such a superstitious item. Members of court already suspected that her youthful exuberance was a
dreadful portent of her failure as empress. Surely they didn't need to
know that she had a penchant for the occult and miraculous. The
"better" class of people in Equatoria put religion and magic in the same
category. Churches and mosques and temples still existed, and services
were still held, but