Dark curls fell into her face, as the vampire bent forward. “I knew when you’d arrive,” she said, straightening. “I wanted to surprise you, Your Highness.”
Even though all of the formalities were still there, Rose couldn’t help but notice that something about this dynamic was different than what she’d seen with the princess before. In the short time she’d known Princess Myrinne, she’d only ever seen the distant, unknowable side of her—the side that wielded tradition like a shield. But there was something in her, now, as she interacted with Zosime, that seemed almost open. Her lips weren’t pulled into that tight, polite smile that Rose had seen several times. Her lips were relaxed and curved—as if she were amused by Zosime’s playful bow, as if she were genuinely delighted by Zosime’s surprise.
Disregarding the seven feet she usually kept between her and every other person, Princess Myrinne suddenly stepped forward and embraced Zosime, who laughed into her ear. “I’m glad you did. We’ve missed you. Haven’t we, Ligeia?”
Ligeia straightened, suddenly, casting a quick glance at them. A pink flush spread across her cheeks, as Zosime’s dark gaze shifted toward her. “Eh…yeah,” she said quickly, nodding. Her gaze swept downward, over the wet, red robes that clung to Zosime’s curvy figure. “I mean…whatever you say, Your Highness.”
Kara chuckled. She leaned toward Rose, her breath falling against Rose’s ear, as she whispered, “Someone’s clearly not over her ex.” She grinned at Rose.
Rose suppressed a smile. She didn’t want to make their awkward reunion any more awkward, after all. She pressed her finger to her lips and said, “Shhhh.”
Kara’s gaze shifted down, watching Rose’s lips curve against her finger.
Zosime stepped out of Princess Myrinne’s embrace, gazing thoughtfully at Ligeia for a moment—before turning toward Rose. The corners of her full, red lips curled upward, and she crossed the space between them, her flat, sandal-like shoes moving across the slippery rocks much easier than Rose’s had. When she reached Rose—rather than bowing, like everyone else—she grasped Rose’s wrist.
Rose glanced down at Zosime’s hand, which was wrapped tightly around Rose’s wrist—tight enough to hurt, actually—frowning at the awkward greeting.
Zosime’s skin was a deep, dark brown, and it was as soft and smooth as flower petals. It smelled of flowers, too. All kinds of flowers: roses, lilies, orchids.
“Is this right?” Zosime asked, still holding Rose’s arm. “The handshake, I believe, was what you called it—in my vision. You said it was how modern people greet each other. Oh! Right! You said handshake. I forgot about the shaking part.”
Rose squeaked in surprise, as the vampire literally shook her entire body.
Zosime stopped, her brows furrowing. “That wasn’t quite right, was it?”
Kara tilted her head to the side, squinting curiously at the odd exchange.
“Zosime!” the princess shrieked, her pale blue eyes wide. “What in the name of Light and Darkness are you doing to the Eklektos? Have you gone mad?”
Kara chuckled. “I kind of get the feeling she’s always been a little mad.”
Zosime glanced at Kara, a smile curving at the edges of her lips. “A little.”
“I’m fine,” Rose assured the princess. “It was…a very good handshake.”
Zosime’s thick, dark eyebrows arched with amusement. “Was it, really?”
“No. Rose is just being nice,” Erik muttered. “That was not a handshake.”
“Shut up, Erik,” Rose hissed at him. She smiled at the strange vampire.
Zosime returned the smile. “You told me that you didn’t like bowing.”
Rose’s brows furrowed. “Uh…I told you? When did I tell you that?”
“In the future,” Zosime said easily. “When you and I are good friends.”
Rose blinked in shock, not sure how to respond to that. “Oh. Of course.”
Elise smiled curiously. “So, you’re the one with precognitive abilities.”
Zosime’s dark gaze shifted toward Elise. “And you’re the lovely actress.”
Elise smiled in surprise. “That,” she said breathlessly, “was impressive.”
Ligeia glanced back and forth between them. Her gaze held none of the ire or annoyance it held when it was directed at Kara. Just…a hint of nervousness.
Princess Myrinne leaned closer to Zosime. “Whether she likes bowing or not,” she whispered, “it’s the proper way to greet her…considering what she is.”
“What I am?” Rose repeated. She frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
Princess Myrinne straightened, her emotions, once again, masked so well that Rose wasn’t sure they even existed. “Nothing, my Eklektos. Nothing at all.”
“Yeah,” Rose said sharply. “Are you ever going to answer my questions?”
“Yes,” Zosime said, taking them all by surprise. “She will. In the future.”
Rose stared at her. “Do you just…know everything? That happens?”
“What’s wrong?” Erik said. “Afraid you won’t be the only know-it-all?”
Rose flashed a sassy smile at him. “Very funny,” she said sarcastically. Her bright blue gaze shifted toward Zosime. “I’m just curious about her power.”
“I know what I want to know,” Zosime said. “I see when I want to see.”
“It must be nice to be in control of your power,” Rose muttered bitterly.
“Yes,” Zosime said, “but you were right to refuse Alana’s offer of help.”
Rose stepped back, her face pale. “How…” she stammered. “That’s…”
“The past, yes,” Zosime said. “But for a brief moment, it was your future. And it wouldn’t have been a good one.” She smiled. “I’m glad you changed it.”
“I changed…the future?” Rose sputtered. Her brows furrowed. “What?”
“That’s enough,” Princess Myrinne said, exchanging a look with Zosime.
Zosime did a strange little curtsy. “Of course. I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Princess Myrinne sighed, “Let’s just head on into the kingdom, shall we?”
Rose glanced around the cave, which was empty, except for water. “Your kingdom is underwater, isn’t it?” she said. “I knew it. You’re freaking mermaids.”
Erik scowled. “They have fangs, not fins, Rose. They’re not mermaids.”
“Actually,” Rose said, “in the old legends of mermaids—or sirens—they were said to have led men to their deaths. They also ate people.” With an intrigued smile, she added, “So, maybe they did have fangs. It’d make cannibalism easier.”
He rolled his eyes, clearly not interested in her morbid theory. “Weirdo.”
“Maybe I’m a mermaid, then,” Kara said with an amused smile, “because I’ve definitely lured men to their deaths.” They had already started walking again, when Kara grabbed Rose’s arm and pulled her close, whispering, “And I eat you.”
Rose’s eyes widened, and heat flooded her body so rapidly that she wasn’t even sure what kind of heat it was. Embarrassment? Desire? Some weird mix of both? All she knew was that her face was a few degrees short of supernova, and the rest of her body wasn’t far behind. She shoved Kara away with her shoulder, but then, immediately had to grasp Kara’s arm, when she almost slipped on a slick rock. “Don’t laugh,” Rose grumbled, as Kara proceeded to do just that. She spun toward Kara, unable to hide her smile. “You’re being exceptionally terrible lately.”
“Am I?” Kara said. She held tightly to Rose’s arm, as Rose almost fell—again. Her mischievous smile only deepened. “Sounds like you need to spank me.”
Rose’s mouth fell open, but her stunned silence quickly turned to giggles. She tried to cover Kara’s mouth with her hand, but Kara caught her wrist easily. She glanced warily at the princess. “Apparently, I need to tape your mouth shut!”
Kara grinned and lifted her eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were into that.”
“Oh my word!” Ros
e couldn’t stop laughing, and by this point, her lungs were starting to burn from the lack of air. “You need to hush, you…” It was hard to think of a good comeback when she was laughing. “You dirty-minded Viking!”
Kara pulled Rose closer. “Dirty-minded Viking that you love dearly?”
“Dirty-minded Viking who’s going to get us all killed,” Rose grumbled. Her lips twitched, an amused smile breaking through. “But I also love her dearly.”
Kara smiled, her light blue eyes sparkling. She leaned in, stealing a quick kiss from Rose, as the others left them behind. Then, as they noticed the confused look Princess Myrinne shot their way, they hurried across the rocks to catch up.
When they reached the edge, Rose saw that there was a small waterfall—just a trickle, really—but there was also a ladder that led down to a ledge. Then, there was another ladder, leading down to the bottom. Princess Myrinne, Ligeia, and Zosime waited, as some of the other warriors climbed down the ladder first.
Rose smiled curiously, as she followed the direction of Ligeia’s gaze—to her ex-lover, Zosime. At that exact moment, Zosime turned and caught her, too.
Zosime raised an eyebrow. “Is something wrong,” she asked, “warrior?”
“Ah,” Kara said with an amused smile. “No first name? That’s cold.”
Ligeia shot a dark glare in Kara’s direction, before returning her attention to Zosime. Her gaze softened. “I just wanted to say: your robe looks very…wet.”
Rose pursed her lips, suppressing laughter. It was obvious that Ligeia had been thinking other things. Pretty. Lovely. Beautiful. But instead, she’d said…wet.
Princess Myrinne glanced back at Ligeia, her eyebrows lifting in disbelief.
Zosime, on the other hand, just nodded, as if she weren’t surprised at all. “One day, you’ll have the nerve to tell me what you really meant to say,” she said softly. “Until then, we should keep things professional in front of our princess.”
Princess Myrinne looked away, shaking her head. “You’ve been keeping things professional for the last three thousand years,” she said under her breath.
Ligeia’s gaze darted toward the princess, widening in shock. “Princess?”
Princess Myrinne blinked innocently at her. “Warrior?” she replied easily.
Elise suddenly let out a giggle. “I think I’m starting to like these people.”
Kara laughed at that remark. “It’s going to take a little more than that for me,” she said shamelessly, “but I am absolutely enjoying watching them squirm.”
Princess Myrinne shot an annoyed look Kara’s way, before following her warriors down the ladder. Zosime was last to go down—before Rose, Kara, Erik, and Elise—and she met Rose’s gaze for a brief moment, before following Ligeia.
“Don’t worry,” Zosime told Rose, her lips quirking up at the edges. Her brown eyes danced with amusement. “You’re going to like it here. I’ve seen it.”
Rose blinked. “Oh,” she said. “Thanks for the, umm, heads-up. I guess?”
—
Rose felt like crying in relief the moment her feet hit dry, solid floor. She didn’t think her torn, wet shoes would’ve lasted much longer in that ankle-deep cave water. But now, they were inside some sort of wall, headed toward what she thought was an entrance. It wasn’t a building, exactly. There was more cave than wall, at this point. But it was sort of beginning to resemble a man-made structure.
You know…if you squinted hard enough.
Colina, energetic as always, rushed back to Princess Myrinne’s side, the moment they got close. “Your Highness,” she said with a quick bow—which she somehow managed to perform perfectly, while walking. Rose lifted her eyebrows, impressed. “Would you like me to gather the royal family to greet the Eklektos?”
“Surely, they have better things to do,” Rose muttered under her breath.
Princess Myrinne glanced at Rose, before telling Colina, “Let’s hold off on that until tomorrow night, shall we? I think everyone’s eager to change out of their wet clothes and get some rest. Just tell the army to be ready for our arrival.”
“Nikonos is leading in my absence,” Ligeia added. “Speak with him.”
“And tell Galenos to have our rooms prepared,” Princess Myrinne said.
Colina nodded easily, as if they hadn’t just given her a whole list of things to do in a short time, and then bowed. She sprinted ahead, toward the entrance.
“She’s had a long trip, too, you know,” Rose muttered, earning a baffled look from the princess. “And why on earth do you want me to meet your army?”
“Yeah, no offense,” Erik said, as he followed closely behind them, “but I don’t think your army’s going to be impressed by Clumsy-Dork-Girl over here.”
Rose shot a peeved look over her shoulder. “Thank you, Erik.”
“Always here to help,” Erik said with a smile.
Princess Myrinne frowned at Rose, then back at Erik. “Your interactions with your warriors are just,” she paused, as if reconsidering her words, “unusual.”
“For the last time, they’re not my warriors. They’re just warriors,” Rose said, clasping her hand over Kara’s mouth before she could argue. Of course, she immediately blushed and removed that hand when Kara licked it. Avoiding Kara’s gaze, she added, “And even though Erik is an annoying jerk, he’s right about the clumsy-dork thing.” She laughed. “There’s literally nothing impressive about me.”
“Oh, you have no idea how wrong you are,” Zosime said, suddenly. Her warm, brown eyes danced with amusement. “You’re going to be very impressive.”
Rose frowned. “Do you always talk about the future so…nonchalantly?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Zosime said. “I can’t get worked up over everything, now can I?” Her smile deepened. “The future is ordinary. It happens every day.”
An unexpected laugh escaped Rose’s lips. “Touché.”
Kara watched the clairvoyant vampire with a curious frown. “It’s strange that you see it that way,” she commented, “because I’ve known a lot of vampires with precognitive abilities, who always felt quite shaken up, after their visions.”
“Some futures are worse than others,” Zosime said. Kara didn’t miss the fact that her gaze darted toward Rose, as she said that. That quirky smile returned to her lips. “But also, the ones you know haven’t been doing it as long as I have.”
Kara lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? And how long have you been doing it?”
“If I tried to answer that,” Zosime said—at the exact same moment that Princess Myrinne spun toward them, “the princess would interrupt and stop me.”
Princess Myrinne frowned in surprise. “I…will tell them myself. Soon.”
“When we’re inside the kingdom and can’t freak out on you?” Rose said.
“You’re welcome to…freak out on me,” the princess said with a baffled frown, “if you wish. Whatever that means. But our age isn’t relevant, at this time.”
Rose chased Princess Myrinne through a set of open gates—rusted, iron gates, from the looks of it. “But it is kind of relevant, actually,” she tried to argue.
The gates opened into another part of the cavern—one that was partially closed in by white, marble-like walls, and partially open. The half of the room that was closed in looked kind of like a platform, while the half that was still bare rock was filled with a shallow pool of water. A small, trickling waterfall soaked the rock walls, collecting on the rock floor below. But the floor they stood on now—which also reminded Rose of marble—formed a bridge over it, leading to a set of doors.
Princess Myrinne stopped, before crossing that bridge. She straightened, her posture perfect and regal, as she waited on the platform. Rose, on the other hand, was examining her torn, wet shoes, when the army came through the doors.
Rose looked up, blinking in surprise, at the hundreds of warriors joining them inside the gates. They didn’t march or move with the uniform precision of a modern army. But they weren�
��t unorganized, either. They stepped off the bridge and onto the wet rocks below, filling the rest of the cavern, as Princess Myrinne, Rose, and everyone else waited on the platform. Rose couldn’t believe the number of vampires she was seeing in front of her, all hidden in an underground kingdom.
“How is this possible?” Rose whispered—to an equally surprised Kara.
A small smile tugged at Kara’s lips. “I don’t know, but I’m impressed.”
“Hmm,” Elise murmured with a frown, “I was leaning toward alarmed.”
“Yep,” Erik agreed, “because if this is a trap, there’s no getting out of it.”
Kara tilted her head to the side, her smile deepening. “Sounds like fun.”
When the last warrior came through the doors, finding her place among the others, Princess Myrinne stepped forward. The warriors fell to their knees, bowing before the princess. Rose couldn’t help but wonder if it was difficult—bowing in leather armor. She glanced at Kara, resolving to ask her about it later.
“Thank you,” Princess Myrinne said, as they returned to their feet. “We couldn’t have fulfilled our mission without you here, guarding the kingdom, while were away.” She smiled. “But now, we have fulfilled our mission, which means,” she paused, just long enough to grab Rose’s hand and drag her forward, “I have the great honor of introducing the Eklektos.” For a moment, everyone was silent.
Then, someone gasped. Another person let out a surprised laugh. Then, every warrior in the room fell to their knees again, bowing before Rose, this time.
Rose grimaced. “Why are they doing that?” she whimpered. She tried to pull her hand out of Princess Myrinne’s grasp, so that she could go hide behind someone, but the princess held her tightly, keeping her in place. “What is this?”
“They’re showing you respect,” Princess Myrinne whispered. “Relax.”
“Relax,” Rose muttered. “Easy for you to say, you tiara-wearing weirdo.”
The princess looked at Rose, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Excuse me?”
Rose smiled. “I said, ‘That’s the wisest advice anyone’s ever given me.’”
Princess Myrinne just rolled her eyes. “All of those prophecies,” she said, so quietly that Rose almost didn’t hear her, “and no one ever thought to warn me that the Eklektos was sassy?” She returned her attention to the crowd of warriors.
The Reign of Darkness Page 14