Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 259: The Emperor Always Knows (Annoyingly)

Chapter 259: The Emperor Always Knows (Annoyingly)

Used to fixing problems and cleaning up his master’s messes, Sir Roderick rushed over to Riona, fully expecting some minor inconvenience to solve.

Of course, that’s never how it works, is it? He tried holding her down to stop the seizure, but that went about as well as trying to stop a storm with a handkerchief. Desperately, he yanked the knife out and tossed it aside like it was a dirty sock.

Then came the fun part: sickly, dark pus bubbled from the knife. The smell was horrible, clawing at his nostrils. Then, the knife melted away as if ice had met an open flame.

"What in the world was that...?" Sir Roderick muttered, trying—unsuccessfully—to suppress the urge to vomit.

He’d seen a lot in his time serving the emperor and the previous emperor, including things that would make most people’s stomachs revolt. Yet this... this was beyond anything in his considerable experience.

"It’s a dark spell," Emperor Kaan said, as if that explained everything—because of course it did. The emperor, with his endless fountains of knowledge, had all the answers.

Despite Sir Roderick’s role as the master’s trusted aide and advisor, his guidance was often unnecessary. The emperor carried an air of quiet omniscience, a man who seemed to need no one—not even his most loyal knight—for anything more than the mundane.

Sir Roderick couldn’t help but recall the emperor’s ruthlessness. Emperor Kaan had proven time and again that he wouldn’t hesitate to dirty his own hands.

He had condemned the servant Emmanuelle with a single, calculated question, fully aware of the consequences. He had slain the would-be assassin without a second thought, though he could have easily ordered Roderick to do it.

It was an uneasy truth: Emperor Kaan wasn’t a man who merely ruled. He was a man who controlled, calculated, and commanded without question—a powerful vampire who wouldn’t flinch at walking through shadows if it served his purpose.

Eventually, Riona’s seizure came to an abrupt halt when Emperor Kaan touched her and muttered some spell that no one else could hear—because, of course, magic is only impressive when it’s a secret, right?

As she regained control of her body, the first thing she groaned was, "Flo..."

It wasn’t exactly a coherent sentence—more like a sound of someone who might’ve been in pain... or just hungry.

Sir Roderick watched her closely, uncertain what magic the emperor had used to halt the seizure, but certain of one thing: Riona was still far from well. His fears were confirmed when she doubled over, coughing up blood.

"Easy," Sir Roderick reminded her, which, of course, was about as helpful as telling a shipwrecked sailor to ’just swim to shore.’

But, naturally, there was no time for easy. Time, like usual, was laughing in their faces. They were on a clock—and not a very generous one.

Riona couldn’t afford to rest. Either she’d have to bounce back quickly or force herself through the pain. The detour to reach Warren Zacharia made it extra urgent to get moving.

"Flo," she muttered that name again, like it was the magic word to solve everything.

"We won’t let him go, okay? We’ve promised. We’ll save him," Thorin said, launching into what could only be called the speech of the century.

He genuinely believed every word of it. I mean, Riona was a vampire, right? And vampires had that magical self-healing thing going on. The perks of immortality, obviously.

"All you need to focus on now is healing yourself."

She was strong. She’d bounce back in no time, right? After all, who needed actual time to heal when you were practically a walking, talking supernatural healing machine?

"She can’t," Emperor Kaan interrupted, his words like a bucket of cold water. Thorin shot him a glare that could’ve melted iron.

Thorin shot him a death glare that could’ve killed a lesser man.

How dare you defy my beautiful, passionate reassurance to my one true love? he thought, seething internally. You’re trying to win her over, too, aren’t you? Well, guess what? This? This is not how you do it, buddy.

Before Thorin could open his mouth to verbally tear the emperor to pieces, Emperor Kaan continued, completely unfazed by the death glare.

He gently touched the wound where the blade had pierced her earlier, making Riona wince in pain. "The dark spell imbued in the blade was specifically created to counter vampires. It prevents her vampiric abilities from healing her."

"What? That kind of thing exists? It should be forbidden!" Thorin snapped, not entirely sure why he was mad at Emperor Kaan.

Maybe it was because, even in this ridiculously dire situation, the man still looked like he’d walked out of a portrait. Seriously, who had the audacity to be that dazzling while talking about illegal dark magic?

"It is forbidden," Emperor Kaan replied, annoyingly calm as always—an attitude that only fanned Thorin’s irritation further.

The emperor continued with the same infuriating composure. "By vampiric law, anyone caught using such magic could be burned alive—lovely tradition, really. Makes an excellent example for others to avoid dabbling in the dark arts. But alas..."

He gave a small, theatrical shrug, the kind only Emperor Kaan could pull off. "You can’t exactly monitor what every citizen is doing behind closed doors. I’m just an emperor, not an omnipresent deity."

The smugness in his tone was subtle, but Thorin could feel it. Oh, Emperor Kaan wasn’t omnipresent? Could’ve fooled him with the way he always seemed to have an answer for everything.

"Now what?" Sir Roderick asked, sounding like a man who’d just realized he’d forgotten his keys in a burning house.

It was almost laughable—ironic, even—that the emperor’s aide, of all people, had been the only one to genuinely care about Riona’s survival.

Meanwhile, Thorin and Puck were too busy glaring daggers at Emperor Kaan, dripping suspicion like it was their full-time job. Sure, maybe the emperor deserved it (he did have that face), but this wasn’t the moment to indulge in it. Riona was kind of dying over here.

"I might know how to cure her," Emperor Kaan said, his tone calm. Too calm.

"Of course you do," Thorin shot back, rolling his eyes. Because why wouldn’t the vampire emperor—who was totally not a spirit or a god, nope—just happen to have a magical cure lying around? How convenient.

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