“And as a true princess of the Vale, I would have political influence,” I realized. “I would be able to create change.”
“Precisely.” Geneva smiled. “Creating change from the inside would do a lot more good than a kamikaze mission to murder the queen.”
“But there’s no way Laila would listen to me,” I said. “She’s been queen of the Vale for centuries. Why would she give the opinions of a new princess the time of day?”
“You’re underestimating the queen,” Geneva said. “She’s respected by all—well, by most—of the vampires in the Vale. She didn’t get that respect by being a dictator who’s closed off to their opinions.”
“You know her?” I asked.
“In passing.” Geneva shrugged. “We met a few times during the Great War. Queen Laila can certainly be stubborn, but there’s a chance she might surprise you.”
“Perhaps,” I said, although I doubted she would. She was the queen of a kingdom that had murdered my family and the families of countless others. She’d enslaved me—she’d enslaved all of the humans in the Vale.
She might have the respect of the supernaturals, but she would never have the respect of the humans.
But I also couldn’t deny that Geneva had a good point. Killing Laila would only bring chaos upon the Vale. It wouldn’t set the humans free. And even if I somehow figured out a way to set the humans free, what would stop the vampires of the Vale from kidnapping more humans and enslaving them all over again?
There was no way to win.
Then it hit me.
What if I waited to kill Queen Laila until after becoming a princess of the Vale? And what if I framed it so no one ever found out it was me?
Then the throne would be empty. The Vale would need someone else to step up as ruler. Surely they would select one of their princes or princesses.
If I could successfully win Jacen’s heart and become his bride, that would make me one of the contenders for the crown.
It was crazy, yes. But if it worked… I would have the power to change so many lives for the better.
“You look like you have an idea.” Geneva rubbed her hands together, leaning forward. “Please, do share.”
“If a vampire king or queen dies, who steps up to take their place?” I asked her.
“Such a thing has never happened,” she told me. “The only original vampire who’s ever been killed was killed before the kingdoms were formed. His death was what spurned the creation of the kingdoms. Since then, the kings and queens have been kept safe by their people.”
“Until now,” I said. “Because I’m going to wait to kill Laila until after becoming a princess of the Vale. With your help, surely we can find a way to have her slain with no one knowing it was us. Then, once she’s gone… I can try to become queen.”
Annika
“That’s quite the plan.” Geneva eyed me up, her lips pursed with doubt. “You truly think you can pull it off?”
“With your help, yes,” I told her. “You said it yourself—you’re the most powerful witch in the entire world. Since I wear your ring, you’re bound to protect me and perform the magic that I command. And I know I’m only a human, but I’m strong. I’m determined. So yes, I believe I can do this. At least I’m going to do my best to try.”
“And what of your true identity?” Geneva asked. “You won’t be able to hide the fact that you’re a human forever.”
“I know that,” I said, since it was the biggest flaw with the plan. “But if I become queen, I’ll have political connections with the original vampires who rule the other kingdoms. I’ll just have to hope that when the time comes, I can strike a deal with one of them to get them to turn me with no one ever knowing the wiser.”
“The original vampires are always open to making deals,” Geneva said. “But you must be warned—their price will be steep.”
“I know.” I glanced down at the sapphire ring, aware that I wore the greatest bargaining chip of all right on my finger. “I’ll do what I need to do when the time comes.”
“And then, I hope that one day—in the future, of course—we’ll be able to work together to free me from this ring,” Geneva said. “I’m not quite sure how the spell can be broken, but anything can be figured out if enough people work hard enough to make it happen.”
“Assuming all goes well with us working together, I don’t see why I wouldn’t help you,” I told her, since it was true. “In the meantime, before we start on the plan, we have the issue of Camelia to deal with.”
“What about her?” Geneva asked.
“She has that mystical seeing crystal—the one Mike was holding when he was thrust from the cave,” I told her, a lump forming in my throat at the memory of my friend who had also been killed because of the supernaturals. “She told me about it before bringing me here. She looked into the crystal, asked it who could retrieve your ring, and saw my face.”
“The Omniscient Crystal,” Geneva said slowly, resting her hand on the similar crystal in front of her. It was the one she’d used to view the moments when Camelia and I had made our blood oath, and when Jacen had seen the dead body that looked like me. “It was too powerful in the wrong hands, especially since it kills any human who touches it. The witches first tried to shatter it, but the magic in the crystal was still strong. So they locked the pieces in here. Your friend Mike must have touched one of the pieces, and that was what killed him.”
“Yes.” I recalled how Geneva had warned me earlier not to touch the crystal. “Surely Camelia will look into the crystal and it’ll tell her that I’m still alive.”
“That’s a possibility,” Geneva said. “The crystal certainly has the power to do that.”
“Unless she doesn’t have the crystal anymore,” I said. “Unless someone stole it from her and returned it to the cave.”
“Is that merely an idea?” Geneva raised an eyebrow. “Or is it a command?”
“It’s a command.” I steadied my voice, standing straighter. “I command you to teleport yourself invisibly to Camelia’s room, take the crystal, and return here at once. Then, once you’re back, we’ll get started on turning me into a vampire princess.”
Well, a fake vampire princess… but close enough.
“Done.” Geneva smiled, snapped her fingers, and she was gone.
Jacen
Three days.
That was how long it had been since I’d been introduced to the kingdom of the Vale as their newest vampire prince.
Laila, of course, had already moved onto the next order of business—preparing the letters that would be sent to the five other vampire kingdoms, inviting them to send two princesses each to the Vale as contenders for my hand in marriage. She’d called me to her quarters soon after sunset so we could go over what she had so far.
“Here’s the final version,” Laila said, handing the invitation to me. “Once you give it your stamp of approval, I’ll give the witches the go ahead to deliver them to the leaders of the other kingdoms.”
I took the invitation from her and read it over.
Her Royal Majesty Queen Laila of the Vale invites each vampire kingdom to send two princesses to celebrate the coronation of Prince Jacen of the Vale. During the extended celebration, the prince will get acquainted with each of the princesses, and will ultimately offer one of them his hand in marriage.
During their stay, each princess will be provided quarters of the highest standards, as befits a lady of her rank.
The princesses should arrive by sunset on Saturday, at which time they will be introduced to the prince.
More details inside.
“It looks great.” I handed the invitation back to Laila without bothering to look at the further details inside. What more did I need to know?
I’d thought that I would stop being a prisoner here the moment I learned to control my bloodlust and was allowed to leave the palace walls.
That was far from the reality.
Because as long as Laila ruled, I w
as bound to answer to her. And right now, Laila insisted that I marry a princess from another kingdom because the alliance would strengthen the Vale against the possible rebellion of the wolves.
Centuries ago, the vampires had settled upon this land, forcing the wolves who’d lived here to take up residence elsewhere in the mountains. The wolves hadn’t been able to fight back at the time—they didn’t have the numbers, But they did insist upon a pact with the vampires. A pact that they would respect the boundaries of the Vale as long as the vampires didn’t extend the kingdom further into their land. The vampires had agreed, and both species had lived in peace.
But the wolves were wild creatures who lived like savages in the forest. They’d seen the kingdom erected by the vampires, and they were jealous. They wanted the land as their own. Two of them had even managed to get past the magical boundaries and attack humans.
They’d been amassing their numbers—we knew that. We just didn’t know by how much. And while she hadn’t straight out admitted it, I knew that made Laila nervous.
The six vampire kingdoms all pretty much handled their own business. But if we had an alliance with another kingdom, we would be stronger. More ready to fight, if it came to that. And as the only unmarried prince in the Vale, the responsibility had fallen on me to make that alliance.
Of course, no one had bothered to ask me what I wanted. Not like I expected as much. They hadn’t asked me if I’d wanted to be turned into a vampire, either.
As a human, I’d been a swimmer training for the Olympics. I’d had more promise than any other swimmer in the country. It had gotten me noticed by the media… and by Laila. She’d identified me as a “strong specimen likely to take well to the change.” And so, she’d flirted with me at a bar and accepted my invitation up to my hotel room. We’d been in bed together when she’d attacked.
The last moment I remembered of my human life was her fangs piercing my skin.
The next thing I knew, I was in my bedroom in the Vale, standing over a corpse drained of blood.
I’d drank it all. I’d killed him. He was dead because of me.
My bloodlust was strong. So strong, in fact, that days after being brought to the Vale, I’d escaped the palace and slaughtered dozens of humans in the village.
If I hadn’t been a prince, the vampires would have killed me instantly. A loss of control like that wasn’t permitted in the Vale. But I was a prince, and Laila was eager to see my potential. So she’d locked me inside the palace walls and kept me guarded at all times until I’d learned to control my bloodlust.
It had taken me a year. One awful, anguishing year. But I’d done it. I gained control over the bloodlust, to the point where I was able to venture into the village, surrounded by humans, and not murder a single one of them.
It was that night, when I’d gone into the Christmas Eve celebration disguised as a human, that I’d met her. Annika.
The spunky human girl had made me feel alive for the first time since I’d been turned into a vampire.
After the vampire guards had shown up at the celebration—searching for me—she’d sneaked me into the attic of the place where she lived and worked—a bar called the Tavern. The attic was her own secret book nook, and we’d spent hours up there laughing and talking, with her having no idea that I was anything but human. It was the closest I’d felt to anyone since being turned.
So when I’d learned that the vampires were trying to bring her to the dungeons, I’d rushed to help her escape. I hadn’t told her at the time, but I’d been planning to escape with her. I hadn’t figured out the details of the plan—all I knew was that we needed to get as far away from the Vale as possible. There were rumors of an island that harbored humans who’d been exposed to the supernatural world. I’d wanted to get Annika there. As for me… I’d hoped to get to the Haven. It was the only place where I might be protected from Laila’s wrath.
We’d barely gotten past the borders before the wolves had found us. The commotion had gotten the attention of Camelia and the vampire guards—who were already out searching for us—and the witch and the guards had overpowered us. They’d come prepared with wormwood—the only plant that acted as a kryptonite for vampires—and injected me with it on the spot.
Soon after I’d awoken, Camelia told me that the vampires had wanted Annika because she was a thief, and that now she was dead. She even had her corpse to prove it.
At the sight of Annika’s body, the illusion of happiness that I’d found during my time with her shattered. It had taken all of my self-control to not attack Camelia on the spot. All I’d wanted was to rush toward her and break her neck.
But I’d restrained myself. Because acting on that impulse—the impulse to kill her—would have gotten me nowhere.
And in that moment, I knew what I wanted more than anything. I wanted revenge. Revenge on Laila for turning me into a monster against my will. Revenge on Camelia for killing the one person I cared about since coming to the Vale. But mostly, I wanted revenge for Annika. Because she didn’t deserve to die. She deserved a life away from the Vale—away from creatures like me. She deserved freedom and safety.
But she would never get that. Because she was gone.
As I’d stared down at her lifeless body, I’d decided that I was going to take down the dictatorship that was the Vale.
But I wasn’t so naive to think I could do such a thing on my own. I would need help. And I certainly wouldn’t trust the help of anyone from the Vale. So I needed help from another kingdom that had the same mission that I had.
Laila had wanted me to wed a vampire princess to bring an alliance to the Vale. I had a different idea. I would meet the princesses, yes. But in my search to decide which of them I wanted to wed, it wasn’t an alliance for the safety of the Vale that I would be seeking.
It would be someone with the same goals that I had. Someone who would help me in slaying Queen Laila once and for all, so that together, we could bring fair leadership to this kingdom.
The easiest way to meet the princesses would be by playing along with Queen Laila’s “eligible bachelor searching for an alliance” charade. So I’d pretended that seeing Annika’s body had no effect on me at all. I’d said that I’d been simply toying with her and would have eventually drained her myself once I’d gotten bored with her.
Each word I’d spoken had felt like a knife in my heart, but I was doing what was necessary for my revenge.
Once I got it, they would have no idea what had hit them.
Jacen
Laila handed the invitation to Camelia. “Have the witches deliver these to the leaders of each kingdom,” she told her. “As quickly as possible.”
“As you wish, Your Highness.” Camelia gave Laila a small curtsy, glanced longingly in my direction, and hurried out of the room.
“She’s disappointed that you didn’t want to be betrothed to her,” Laila said once the doors closed behind Camelia.
“Camelia’s a talented witch,” I said steadily. “Her abilities are best used protecting the Vale. The Vale would benefit the most by my making an alliance through marriage to a princess from another kingdom.”
“Very true.” Laila leaned against an armchair, her eyes glinting with suspicion. “But last month when I first proposed this idea, you were dead set against it. I might even go so far as to say you were appalled by the idea. Now you’re eager to meet the princesses. What changed your mind?”
I stood still, searching for an explanation that would make sense. “It was the wolves,” I said, the explanation obvious now that I’d started. “When I went on my… adventures in the forest with the human girl, we fought the wolves, as you well know. The leader of the pack we encountered—Valerie—made it abundantly clear that the wolves intend to wage war on the Vale. They believe this land is their birthright, and now that their numbers are higher, they’re going to fight to get it back.”
“They wouldn’t care about this specific plot of land if it wasn’t for us,” Laila spa
t. “We—I—took it and turned it into the kingdom it is today. The wolves agreed to our pact, and we haven’t broken that deal—we haven’t extended further into their lands. They’re simply jealous that we were able to create a kingdom of such luxury when they could not.”
“Wars are rarely waged because both sides are acting logically,” I said. “But you must remember—I’d never seen a wolf before that point. I didn’t realize how strong they were. If I’d known, I never would have tested the boundaries by bringing the girl out there. Because when I was fighting them, the numbers were not on my side. The wolves would have killed me if Camelia and the guards hadn’t gotten to me on time.”
“And yet, you fought the guards once they arrived,” Laila said.
“The wolves had gone—they realized the numbers were no longer in their favor,” I said. “And that was before I’d realized that Annika was a thief. If I’d known she’d been stealing from the vampires, I would have brought her in myself. As it was, I was irritated at the guards for intervening on my personal affairs, and I’d lost some blood in the fight with the wolves, which only furthered my irritation. That was why I attacked.”
“Yet you claim not to have cared for the girl…” Laila said.
“I didn’t care for her.” I scoffed, as if the thought of caring for a human left a bad taste in my mouth. “I was attracted to her and intended to use her for my own pleasure. I never denied that. And in that moment, it didn’t benefit me to have her harmed.”
“No.” Laila shook her head, relaxing again. “I supposed it wouldn’t have. But I can assure you—that human girl will pale in comparison to the princesses you’ll meet from the other kingdoms. Just wait and see.”
“I’m eager to meet them,” I said, glad for the change of subject. “In the meantime, I’d like to learn a bit about each of the kingdoms. Which of them will be best for forming an alliance? If I know, I can devote more focus to those princesses than the others.”
The Vampire Prince (The Vampire Wish Book 2) Page 2