by Hayley Todd
My hands locked around his raised wrist, drawing it to my chest. He looked down at me and his eyes softened, letting Anton slide from his fingers. Anton scrambled away from Carson, watching him warily from the corner of his eye.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked, quietly. My words cut through the tension like a knife.
Anton looked up at me, his expression more together than it had been in the last scattered moments.
“Your imprint is under strain,” he replied, somber.
I stepped past Carson, reaching my hand out and helping Anton to his feet.
Anton dusted himself off and looked up at Carson. He spoke to me but his eyes never left Carson’s angry face.
“My powers aren’t as strong as my father’s, but even I can sense the imprint rolling off of Carson. For some reason, I can’t sense it from you unless I touch you. To taste that power though,” he cut off for a moment, reminiscing over a favorite meal. His eyes shifted to me. “That power is delicious. But it also revealed itself to me.”
Carson’s eyes were tracking him carefully, listening but obviously ready to pounce at any given moment.
Anton was quiet for a long moment but continued on without further prodding. “Your imprint is under strain,” he repeated, as though it made more sense this time around. There was a long silence, the words settling over us.
“Someone is trying to cut the strands,” he said, looking deeply at me. “And if broken, it will kill you both.”
Chapter Twenty
Carson and I exchanged a long gaze.
“It will kill you both,” his words echoed in the quiet room.
“What do you mean?” Carson asked. His demeanor had changed entirely from furious and heated, to worried and concerned. His emotions churned across his face and he seemed panicked.
Anton cleared his throat before speaking. “Someone is putting pressure on your imprint. Someone is trying to sever the ties. If the ties are severed, you both will die.” He looked awkward. He definitely didn’t want to be here. His eyes were locked on me as he spoke.
“Who would be doing that?” Carson hissed.
Anton shrugged. “I can’t feel them,” he replied. “I can only sense what they’re doing to the bond.” He rubbed his arm unconsciously, his eyes gazing deeply at my face.
“Your father would seem to benefit,” came Damien’s voice from the doorway. Carson and I leapt away, twisting around. My dad had his arms crossed and leaned in the doorframe, watching the scene unfold. Anton hadn’t seemed surprised by his presence.
Anton nodded. “He would.”
I glanced between them both. No one elaborated. “How would Henrick benefit from severing our imprint?” I asked, a desperate panic filling my belly. I could feel the imprint, the draw to be closer to Carson’s side. I could feel him. Or I thought I could. It was hard to separate my own anxiety from his. It had the effect of feeling the tension twice over, making me jittery.
Damien flinched, his gaze settled on Anton who seemed hesitant to respond.
“Tell her,” Carson growled at last, avoiding everyone’s eyes and staring along the dark wall behind us.
Anton’s eyes settled on me. He cleared his throat and was obviously reluctant to speak. “Imprints change the bodies of their hosts,” he began. “Two hearts beat as one. Two minds work together in perfect harmony. Physically, you are drawn together and the resulting...tryst...is enhanced. You can feel each other, even in the weakest bonds. If it’s unrequited, only the imprinter feels the sensations but they’re still there. Overwhelming emotion can divide between you or be hoisted only by one. And your,” he glanced at me, choking on the words at first, then trying harder to spit them out. “Reproduction is...changed...to only match the other. It is very rare to carry children that are not formed of your imprint.”
A grimace played across his face as he fell silent. The words were awkward and hung in the air like a tangible fog. Memories from that night where I had run into him played in my mind. He had been surprised about the imprint but definitely more stunned that it was mutual. It hadn’t been long after that that Henrick had gone off the rails, and kidnapped Will.
I narrowed my eyes on Anton. I could see that he knew it was coming before I even spoke. “You told Henrick,” I supplied. “You told Henrick that not only had Carson imprinted me, but I had imprinted him. You told him because your little plan to rule the world required children with me, and the imprint put a roadblock on that,” I hissed. The words cemented in my mind, making more sense as I continued.
The room was heavy and still, not a word spoken, not even a breath.
“Your father realized that no matter the time he waited, my imprint would not fade.”
“It has actually gotten stronger,” Anton squeaked before falling silent again.
I glared into him. “Your father knew that the only way to get his throne was to break the imprint.”
My dad gasped at last. “To break the imprint would kill them both, unless…” his face lit up with understanding and he crashed back into the interrogation room. We all watched him stomp up to the High Marshall and slam his hands onto the table, shaking the room and the ground beneath us.
“The ritual circle in the warehouse,” he hissed. “It’s a fertility circle.”
The man in the chair laughed, his voice rough. “Not exactly, vampire,” he growled.
Damien didn’t wait for another word. He reared his hand back and socked the man in the jaw. The man’s head rocked to the side and for a moment, he lay still, blood dribbling from his lip. Damien took a deep breath, hesitated, and when the man didn’t speak, he repeated the movement, cracking his head to the side again.
“What was it?” he growled and again, the ground beneath us bucked and rumbled.
Again the fist went back and again it collided with the man’s skull, rocking his head in a liquid, disjointed movement. “Okay, okay,” the man gasped, spewing bloody spittle across the table’s surface. “The circle is for a ritualistic spell,” he began, heaving for breath.
“I know this already. Move along.”
“Henrick asked some of the high witches to formulate a spell that would split a vampire imprint, and allow one of them imprinted to survive. He wanted to make sure there was an added fertility spell which would guarantee pregnancy.” He gasped the words as though they were his last hold on life, and they very well may have been.
Damien’s face flared with fury and he snapped his fist back, cracking it a final time into the man’s face. He had begun to swell up, his features growing purple and bloody.
Damien stormed out of the room, and rejoined us a moment later.
“He’s going to break your imprint and force you to give him an heir,” he growled from the doorway. His knuckles were bloodied and he was breathing hard. It wasn’t the look I hoped for when seeing my father. He was terrifying. Every inch of him exuded rage.
Carson has gone stiff at my side watching the entire exchange. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.
“You,” Damien growled, pointing a finger a Anton. He seemed to be trying to shrug away from it, his haughty confident attitude gone now. “Come with me. You,” he looked up to Carson. “Take my daughter to the tiara selection with her mother, Gabrielle, and Kellic. I will speak with you once you’ve returned.” With that, he turned and headed back down the hallway we had come through, his footsteps stomping into eventual silence.
Anton scurried out of the room after Damien, leaving Carson and I alone.
The moment the door clanged shut behind Anton, he turned to me. His gaze was filled with emotion as he reached out, tilting me head to the side and looking me over. The wound had healed but dried blood lingered along my neckline.
“You let him bite you?” he asked, through tightly clenched teeth. There was a pain in his eyes that I hadn’t expected.
“If I hadn’t, he wouldn’t have realized the imprint was under strain,” I responded, the words a strangle in my throat. I cho
ked them out, feeling a pit developing just below my jaw, along my esophagus.
He unexpectedly reached out, pulling me to his chest and running his fingers over my hair. “I knew something was wrong,” he supplied, and I could feel the words rumbling from his chest. “After you fought Henrick, I felt that something was wrong. I’ve mentioned my concerns to your father and he has been looking into it. I hadn’t thought to let Anton take a peak. He…” he trailed off; losing the articulation he had developed.
“You still don’t trust him,” I replied, filling in the phrase.
He pulled away, crystalline green eyes gazing into me. “I don’t want him to hurt you,” he supplied, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
I paused, the fight with Henrick filling out in my mind. Did he know what he had done? Had I already healed when he had found me?
“Did you rescue me that night?” I asked, trying to force conflicting pieces of the puzzle to meld together.
He nodded. “Anton found Will, partially drained of blood. He healed him. I found you. You were unconscious and had lost far too much blood to be safe. Your neck hadn’t healed but I gave you some of my blood and took care of that.”
“He bit me,” I said, mulling the thoughts over in my head.
“He drained you,” Carson clarified. His expression was troubled as he cradled me against him again. His warmth felt heavenly pressed closed to me, drawing my pain from me in droves.
“I know you’re upset,” he said finally, leaning away to see my face. “I can feel it.” He pressed his palm flat to his chest and then replaced it with me, pulling the limb free. He pressed my hand flat above his heart and I felt it thud hard against my palm.
It took me a long while to collect my thoughts into a cohesive statement. But finally I spoke. “I...I’m scared, Carson. And I’m confused.”
He nodded, pulling me close again. He pressed a kiss into my hair. “I know, love,” he replied, softly. “Let’s have dinner tonight. I’ll cook. We can hole up in my suite and eat and watch a movie.” He tilted my chin up to him, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. “Maybe we can choose a B vampire movie and make fun of all the things they got wrong,” he supplied with a soft smile.
I nodded, feeling the tension leak out of me at the thought. I beamed up at him. Only he would come up with a way to soothe my nerves in the middle of insane crisis. I looked forward to time alone with him though. We had been separated or paraded through one official activity after another since we had come to Damien’s home. I missed him even though he was inches away.
He seemed like he felt the same as he pressed a passionate kiss to my lips. For a moment I was enveloped in him and his warmth. I survived to feel that splash of heat across my skin. Then he broke away and gave me one last, gentle kiss.
“Wouldn’t want to keep Naomi and Gabrielle waiting,” he replied to my confused look and ushered me out the door.
Carson hadn’t exaggerated. We arrived to a room buzzing with nervous energy. As Carson swept the door open, I caught glimpses of my mother anxiously pacing in front of her door. Aunt Gabrielle leaned across the arm of a couch, lounging comfortably. Kellic had her phone out, sweeping through pictures of tiaras.
The moment I stepped through the door, my mother’s slender arms wrapped around my neck. I could feel her heartbeat pattering against my skin.
“There you are, dear,” she cooed, not releasing me. “I have dreamed of this day for twenty-four years. I hadn’t hoped in my wildest dreams that I may actually get to take part but I am so eager to spend the day with you!” She gasped the words out in one long breath, her chest expanding with the effort.
I patted her gently on the back, enjoying her scent wafting over me. She smelled like fractured childhood memories.
She finally pulled away, looking me over carefully. “I am so proud of you, my daughter,” she said, pressing her palm to my cheek.
I couldn’t help but smile.
She surprised me by turning to Carson and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for taking care of my child,” she whispered. A tiny grin appeared on his lips, gone after one second, but she took the acknowledgement as his thank you and began dashing about the room, collecting her belongings.
Gabrielle made her way from the couch to the door, a purse slung over her hip. She was looking better, healthier, her color a bit more visible.
Kellic had been ready when we entered, her purse already tucked neatly under her arm. She waited beside the door, still flipping through a virtual catalogue on her phone.
My mother had a long garment bag draped over one arm and her purse hanging from the other. She was the last to get ready but met us at the door and nodded to Carson who held the door open, letting us pour out.
Damien waited for us outside. A big black SUV had been parked along the drive, the man in the driver’s seat waiting with doors swung wide. As we approached, my father pulled my mother into his arms and kissed softly into her hair. “Stay safe, my Queen,” he whispered.
I felt as though I were intruding on a private moment. Gabrielle was now perusing over Kellic’s phone as she droned on about this metal and those jewels.
Carson touched my arm, pulling me aside. He waited, not speaking until my parents separated and Damien joined us.
“Carson,” Damien greeted with a nod. Then his eyes swiveled to me. “My daughter.”
I ducked my head to him in response. He seemed pleased with this and turned back to Carson, continuing.
“Evelyn and Liam will be accompanying you to the boutique. I’ll have a troop of guards following as well but they will remain outside. I am trusting you,” he gave Carson a pointed stare, “with the lives of my daughter, wife, sister in law, and niece.”
Carson dipped his head forward, “I will protect them, my king,” he replied, seriously.
Damien gave him a once over before turning back to me. “May I have a word with my daughter?” He asked. Carson gave an acquiescing nod before stepping closer to the car and assisting my mother, aunt, and Kellic to finding their seats.
Once he too had climbed into the passenger seat, my father stepped closer to me. When he finally spoke, his tone was so hushed that even I strained to hear him. “Anton will be staying to help me find potential magical hotspots that elicit your bond’s energy. He can sense it in the air now from having drank your blood.” His eyes evaded mine as he continued. “You have a strong bond with him.” He said it as a statement, not as a question.
I nodded anyway.
His eyes centered on me for a long moment. “Do you love him, Kyra? I will not condemn you to the same fate that I have been avoiding all your life through my ignorance.”
I placed a hand gently on his arm and he only flinched for a moment. I truly considered his concern, the thought seeming to have been absent from me. I was unused to having a parent be there to contemplate my life partner. But I did love Carson. He was the other half to my whole. “I love him, dad,” I said. My jaw was tight and the words were as much an admission to myself as they were to him.
My father nodded, knowing already what I would say. “Carson is my most trusted friend,” he replied, looking toward the SUV. “If I had suspected that he wished you any ill will, he would not have been a part of your life. I trust that you will take care of him, as much as he will take care of you. The two of you are more compatible than even an imprint can prove.” He seemed thoughtful, looking around the expansive property silently.
“I am sorry that your change has been under such duress,” he apologized. “It is of my own making, but I regret that I have not been around much to assist you in your transition. If there were anyone else I would trust with this task, it would be Carson. I’m glad that you have found one another and have each other. I couldn’t have asked for a better man for you.”
His words surprised me. I had anticipated some sort of “The Talk” or maybe chastisement on giving everything I had to this man. Instead, my dad was...encouraging us?
I smile
d, gently, touched by the gesture. I threw my arms around his neck and he froze for an instant at the touch before returning the gesture, wrapping his arms around my back.
“I love you, my daughter, and I will always be here for you. I’m glad to have Carson to watch your back,” he mumbled, half of the words obscured by my hair. He took my arm and walked me grandly to the door of the car, ushering me into the seat beside Kellic.
“I love you too, dad,” I replied. He cast another grin at me, shot his eyes to my mother who smiled in response and shut the door, trudging back up the steps to the manor.
The vehicle was silent as we made our way towards our destination. My mother had located a boutique in the next city over, Tibbetsville, that sold a variety of tiaras along with other jewelry. Kellic had already perused ninety percent of their inventory before we had left the property.
Tibbetsville was nearly an hour away and the drive there was mostly uneventful. I thought over my father’s words, watching the scenery swirl past outside my window. I rested my hand against the corner of Carson’s seat, his warm palm immediately finding mine.
We remained silent, each of us considering our own woes.
Kellic tried to get me invested, showing me an image of myself in the silver dress we’d picked out and swiped to rest various different tiaras onto my head. The tiaras were beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and Kellic had excellent taste but my heart just wasn’t in it.
I stared out the window, wondering where Henrick was, what he was planning, and what he’d done to Will. I missed Will. My heart ached thinking back to our last training session. He hadn’t been able to accost me for unfair dueling tactics since and it was the last true memory I had with him.
Will had always been one of my biggest supporters and to not be able to share this new life with him caused me great pain. I wondered what he thought of creatures of the night and the things we had once been so ignorant of. We had been naive children in the face of things we never imagined existed and moreover, hit so close to home.