by Cege Smith
Angeline didn’t know if she should be impressed or chagrined that Connor had such intimate knowledge of the palace grounds. The gardens sat in the middle of the palace grounds but the rose garden was in the very back of the garden where the wall met the city outside. It was said to be the place where Alair Robart went to watch the sun rise and meditate on upcoming battle plans to deflect the rash of vampire attacks that were then sweeping through Altera.
She remembered reading in one of the family histories that Alair credited a morning meditation in the rose garden with devising the final victorious blow against his foes. She suspected that was where Alair and the Clan met to discuss the arrangements of the peace treaty, and where Alair paid for his throne in blood by giving his daughter Sophia over to the Master. She wondered if he ever regretted that decision.
High above Angeline’s head, a glass dome arched over the massive room and she could see the moon and stars twinkling in the evening sky. It wasn’t long now until midnight, and she didn’t want to be late. She decided the best course of action was simply to leave. If she tried to make excuses, Malin would either question them or try to leave with her. Angeline shook her head. She had to stop acting as if she had to justify her decisions to anyone other than herself.
Angeline’s personal attendant, Elise, was sitting at a table to her left. To Angeline’s eye, it appeared that the young woman had drunk her dinner and was mooning over one of the men bringing jugs of wine out to the waiting guests. Angeline caught her eye and gestured toward the small door that led back to the hallway. Elise’s face looked chagrined, but she nodded and excused herself from the table. Wobbling, she made her way to the door and stood there waiting.
Trying to make as little noise as possible, Angeline stood up. Malin immediately turned toward her and was halfway to his feet when she gestured for him to return to his seat. “I need a bit of fresh air. Elise will accompany me to the guard walk. I wish to speak with Rhone.”
“I will go with you,” Malin said.
“No need, I will be back shortly,” Angeline said with her sweetest smile.
Malin frowned but he didn’t stand up again. Angeline took that opportunity to quickly make her way back to the doorway and was through it before he could change his mind. Elisa was right behind her.
“What can I assist with, Your Majesty?” Elise asked.
“I will be retiring soon, Elise,” Angeline said. “I would like you to go ahead and turn down the sheets and build a fire. It’s going to be chilly tonight.”
Elise looked confused. Angeline had an attendant, Clarissa, who was responsible for taking care of her room, and Angeline could tell that although Elise wanted to say something so that she could stay at the feast, knew that it wouldn’t be appropriate. Elise curtsied. “Of course, Your Majesty. I will make sure that Clarissa has everything prepared.”
“Thank you, Elise.” Angeline stood still and waited to move until Elise was around the corner at the end of the hall heading toward Angeline’s rooms. With a start, Angeline realized that soon her things would be moved over to what had been her father’s chambers. She hoped that by occupying the place where her father lived for thirty years she would be able to soak up some of his presence. His shoes were big ones to fill.
She heard a door open and realized that she was standing in the middle of the hallway right out in the open. She hiked up her skirts and quickly ducked around the corner on the other side of the door, opposite the direction of her rooms. She managed to just get out of sight before she heard the outside door open to the hallway. She hoped that whoever it was would turn right and not left, otherwise he would find her there hiding just around the corner. Her mind raced to land on an explanation, but after a few moments when no one appeared, she felt brave enough to peek back around the corner.
The hallway was empty.
She frowned and pulled her head back. Directly across from her there was a window that looked out into the night. Judging by the moon in the sky, it was midnight. She needed to move. Angeline headed further down the hallway and decided to cross the deserted courtyard below to the gardens.
Angeline reached the staircase without seeing anyone else and was relieved. Any other night she knew it would be difficult to move about the palace at all without drawing the attention of a few servants, but tonight everyone’s focus was on the feast. Those who weren’t working were celebrating, either in the banquet hall or outside the palace walls at one of the many pubs and taverns in the city. It wasn’t a night for watchful eyes. It was a perfect night for intrigue.
She skipped down the stairs as she thought about fact that she was about to come face-to-face with the man that she should hate. Her feelings were in the opposite direction. As Angeline reached the bottom of the stairs she stopped. She had no idea what she was going to say.
The last time she saw Connor, they had just escaped the spirits of all of the people who had been forsaken by Alair Robart in his deal with the vampires. The people had lived on the side of the Solera Valley that was bequeathed to the vampires, and their spirits were bound to walk the earth and protect the boundary from wraiths. Those spirits had long memories, and wanted nothing but revenge on Angeline simply because of who she was and what she represented: a painful reminder of Alair’s betrayal.
Connor had managed to get her to a place of safety just as the sun was rising. Then he swore fealty to her and she promised him that she would stop at nothing to find the cure for both of them. In that moment of pure connection, they kissed. Angeline touched her mouth, remembering the crushing pressure of his lips on hers.
After that, things spiraled out of control. Her demon consciousness had been activated and Angeline didn’t even remember leaving him. Her demon caused her to escape into dawn’s light on the hunt and he wasn’t able to follow. She hadn’t even known if Connor meant what he promised in those last moments until she heard Malin confront him in the hall during her Ascension ceremony just hours before.
Her feet started to move again. No matter the time that had lapsed or what had happened in between, she was being drawn to Connor like a moth to a flame. She knew that she wouldn’t have tried to resist even if she had wanted to. Now more than ever, Angeline needed to have someone that she could trust close by. Connor had come to her. He would serve her. She wondered if there ever could be more to their relationship. She desperately hoped so, even though she how no idea how.
She and Connor had much to discuss.
CHAPTER FIVE
Connor waited in the shadows of the trellis that covered the far wall that formed not only the edge of the rose garden, but also the outer boundary of the palace grounds from the city. Connor wondered how she would react to him now that she had been back to her old life for several weeks. He had taken a risk attending the Ascension ceremony, and the confrontation with Malin proved only that Connor had gotten sloppy. It had been well over a hundred years since Connor had been in such close company with so many humans. He imagined that if his appetite still favored human blood he would have succumbed to the wild urge to rip a bloody path through the center of the city by now.
As it was, even though he was completely alone, he could still smell the fragrant aroma of thousands of people crammed together inside Brebackerin’s walls. The Ascension ceremony had drawn everyone out and they all wanted to see the new queen.
Connor heard the whisperings in the street. Eric Robart had been well loved by his people, but his daughter was still very much a mystery. From what Connor had gathered, Eric Robart had gone to great lengths to keep Angeline out of the public eye, and now that meant that although people were loyal to the Robart name, there was a great deal of uncertainty about the woman who now held the throne. Angeline was an enigma to them, and Connor knew that made her situation even more precarious.
Malin Baford’s name was also on the lips of many, and it seemed that on the whole, the people felt like the previous king had made a good choice in arranging the marriage of the Chief Advisor with
the Robart heir. Although he didn’t quite understand it, it seemed to comfort the people to have a man standing beside her. Connor was certain that bothered Angeline more than she would ever allow anyone to see. Eric Robart had done his daughter and his people a great disservice when he decided to keep Angeline and the citizens of Altera apart for so long.
Connor knew that he shouldn’t care. He had his own issues to deal with, not the least of which was trying to decide how to return to the coven empty-handed. By now the Master would know that Angeline had returned to Brebackerin, which meant that his opportunity to waylay the princess on her way home had failed. Connor’s sire, Monroe, knew that Connor was planning to bring Angeline in, had encouraged it even, so Connor’s sudden disappearance would likewise be unfavorably noted.
But Connor had a responsibility to Angeline, and returning to the coven may provide insight that would help them both. It was his fault that she was now cursed as he was, but for the moment it seemed that her demon was under control. Plus, life as a wraith allowed her to move about freely in the daylight and with her people. Connor’s curse meant that he required blood to live and feared the light of day. He still could taste Angeline’s blood on his tongue and his mouth watered. Hers was the first human blood he had drunk in over fifty years, and in the process he had passed part of his curse onto her when he brought her back from the dead. They were bound together from that point forward, the two of them. Theirs was a shared curse, and a bond of blood.
It was an easy enough task to compel one of the young serving women to hide the note in Angeline’s napkin at the feast. What had been more difficult was not succumbing to the desire to lower his mouth to the girl’s neck and feed from her. As she stood in front of him in the dark hall with her glassy eyes staring up at him, he knew that she would have let him do whatever he wanted to do. Compulsion would also have ensured that she liked it, but Connor was able to keep the beast within him under tight rein.
He stared up at the moon, closed his eyes, and willed Angeline to him. He heard nothing, but moments later felt the subtle shift in the air. As his head lowered and his eyes opened, he saw her there standing at the entrance to the garden. Her heavy black hair was pulled up and away from her face. She was pale, but her face wore an expression of utter calm. As he moved toward her, he made sure not to move too fast, for fear she would bolt and leave him alone in the darkness again.
As he drew with a few feet of her, her violet eyes met his. At this distance, he could hear her heart beating against her chest. It sounded like she had been running for miles. But then her chin came up, and the moonlight glinted off of the tiara set across the top of her head. She was just as he remembered her, but he could see the shadows under her eyes that indicated she wasn’t sleeping well, and her already petite frame looked just a bit thinner than before. A fierce wave of protectiveness rose in his chest. He should have come sooner.
When he was directly in front of her, he surprised himself as he dropped to a knee. He didn’t know why, but it felt right. “My Queen,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry for your loss.” He felt a gentle touch on the top of his head.
“Thank you,” she said. “Rise, Connor, and serve.” Her voice was tired, but lovely. He had missed it.
He got back to his feet and then offered his arm, gesturing toward the small bench a few feet away. “Let’s sit. I’m sure you are exhausted from the day’s events.”
She said nothing but put her fingertips on his arm and allowed him to guide her to the bench. He settled next to her, but gave her plenty of space. She seemed to be watching him carefully. He wished that he knew what she was thinking. He could use his ability to read minds to find out, but he had more respect for her than to try to ferret out her thoughts without her permission.
“I was surprised to find you were here in the city,” she finally said. “Are you alone?”
She wanted to know if Searon and Caspian were with him, which would make sense. Connor had been forced into the uncomfortable position of appearing to bow to his Master’s son, Searon, and his conniving partner in crime, Caspian. Connor naively had delivered Angeline right to Caspian’s door, thinking that the old exiled vampire could help her control the wraith within her. Instead, the whole situation had almost derailed when the spirits of the Amaron Forest came for her, and then Connor had lost her.
“I am,” he said. “I assume that you found the Clan. Only their kind of magic could have been responsible for wiping Searon and Caspian’s memories of you. They both have returned to their old pursuits.” He wanted her mind to be settled on that account.
“And your memory?” Her tone was light, but he heard the unspoken question there.
Connor reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. The locket that he stowed there had been close to his heart ever since he’d recovered it from the ground outside of Caspian’s cave. He opened his hand so that she could see it. Her eyes widened and then she smiled. Then he carefully reached over and took her hand and turned it so that her palm was facing up. He set the locket into her hand and closed her fingers around it. He left his hand sitting on top of hers.
“Their magic could not erase the impact you’ve had on me, your Majesty,” he said. Connor had lived two lifetimes, and made so many mistakes, that he couldn’t risk not being as plain and honest about what he was feeling for this woman. He didn’t want to lose her again.
He saw tears well in the corners of her luminous eyes, but they didn’t fall. Her lips trembled. “Thank you for returning this to me. It means a great deal. Please, call me Angeline. You know my darkest secrets; I think the time for formality between us has passed,” she said with a shy smile.
Connor felt a rush of warmth. “Angeline,” he said. He savored every letter. He wanted to reach out and caress her cheek, but he didn’t dare. Not yet. “Are you well? Was the Clan able to cure you?”
It was the question he’d been asking himself ever since he found out that she had returned to the capital city. In her wraith state, there was no way that she would have been safe to be around her subjects. Connor had believed for years that the Clan held the key to the cure, and if they had cured Angeline, a cure for his own curse had to be possible.
Her face fell. “No, they did not cure me.”
Connor was confused. “How then are you able to be here?”
Angeline straightened her skirts. “When I...left you, I found myself in the Mangalore bogs. I was led to the abandoned city of Craven by a young girl who I know now was a Clan member. Malin was waiting for me there.”
Connor growled. “I am sorry that you had to find out about your fiancé’s allegiance in that way. It must have been a shock.”
A frown blossomed on Angeline’s face. “Yes, that would have been information that would have been helpful to know, but nonetheless, it appeared that the Clan wanted to ensure that I took the throne. Malin offered to mute the wraith part of my consciousness and lock it away in Craven, thus allowing me to return here.”
“And thereby assuring your cooperation in any matters that the Clan has in store for your kingdom,” Connor said. His heart was heavy. Not only was Angeline still cursed with the wraith; she was in an even more dangerous situation than he expected.
“I had no choice,” she said, her eyes flashing. “My father was dying and my people needed me.”
“I’m not judging you,” Connor said. He squeezed her hand. “It was an impossible decision. I would have made the same one in your position.”
“Why is it I feel like I can talk to you and not have to weigh every word I say beforehand?” Angeline said, staring at their hands. “I don’t even know you, not truly. But yet I don’t feel like I have to hide what I say to you.”
“It’s scary to open yourself to another in that way,” he said carefully.
“Yes.”
“Do you trust me, Angeline?”
“I don’t know why, and I don’t think I should, but I do,” she said, meeting his eyes once again.
; “I am yours to do with as you command, Angeline. Our goals are aligned, but more than that, I see you. I know who you are behind the tiara on your head.” Now he raised his hand and brushed it against the sheath of dark waves of hair falling across her shoulder. It was soft and he could smell vanilla and raspberry odors wafting from it.
“Have you compelled me?” she asked.
Connor smiled as he twirled one of the strands between his fingertips. “If I had, do you think I would defer to you? You’d be doing my bidding, not the other way around.”
“You could be saying that and all the while I’d be thinking I was operating under my own free will when actually I wasn’t,” Angeline replied.
Although she had a pensive look on her face, she hadn’t pulled away from him. He reveled in her closeness. She was stunning. “That just seems like a lot of work,” he said. “Didn’t your histories teach you anything? We vampires aren’t that smart.” Then he winked at her.
Angeline laughed. It seemed to surprise her, and then she laughed some more. It was like an explosion from inside of her. She wiped the tears out of her eyes. “It feels good to laugh.”
Connor slid closer to her and then took both of her hands in his. “You are in danger, Angeline. I fear that the Clan is going to make a move soon, and if you are still under the influence of the wraith, then you and the people around you are in danger.”
“Malin hinted earlier tonight that there was a way to banish the wraith,” Angeline said slowly. She looked away from him. “He said that in order to produce heirs, I could not be tainted.”
The idea of Malin touching her sent gnawing shots of jealously through Connor’s mind and his skin crawled. “Malin’s intentions toward you appear...conflicted,” he said tightly.