won’t deny I had my hopes! The third trial has claimed better
women than you, Rena Vesten.”
She knew my name. Well, perhaps that was no surprise.
Everyone here seemed to know who I was. I was a famous face. I
was going to be the queen.
And suddenly I understood who she was, too.
The wild eyes. The blood on her face. The death and
destruction all around. Surely, there was only one person who could
have caused these things. There was only one person who would
have caused these things.
But how had she come to be here? She was supposed to be
locked away for her own safety.
Or for the safety of others, I thought, suddenly chilled. That hadn’t occurred to me when Cryder had told me her story. I had
never thought she might be dangerous. I had only thought how sad it
was, what had happened to her.
It was a shocking oversight on my part.
“You’re Cryder’s aunt,” I said. “Aren’t you? You’re the
queen’s sister.”
The woman raised her eyebrows. “My fame precedes me,
then?” “Cryder told me about you.” I wondered if it was a mistake
to engage with her. But then again, talking to her was definitely
safer than anything else she might have wanted to do with me. “He
told me you took the trials years ago.”
“Did he?” To my surprise, she sounded delighted. “What a
story to tell his poor, innocent girlfriend, about to sit through the trials herself! That couldn’t have made you feel very confident about the process.” She touched a finger to her chin, seeming not even to
notice the blood there. “But perhaps he didn’t want you to feel
confident,” she said. “Perhaps he wanted to see you fail.”
“Cryder would never sabotage me,” I said. “He would never
do anything to hurt me.”
“Is that what you think?” she asked “You think you’re
loved? You think the royal family cares for you, wants what’s best
for you? Poor, silly little girl. They don’t care about you. They don’t 88
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care about anyone.”
“They do care,” I insisted, feeling like I was about to go to
pieces. “They wanted me to do well in the trials…”
“Of course, that’s what they said,” she said, her eyes
narrowing. “They said the same to me. My sister sat there while I
went through the trials. She kissed my forehead before I went under
and said Moira, I hope you do well.”
“Maybe she meant it,” I said. “Giorgia is kind. She’s a good
queen. She would never wish anyone harm.”
“She wanted to be queen,” Moira said. “That’s all she cared
about. It didn’t matter to her if I lived or died, so long as I didn’t succeed in my ambition to rule. And you, little girl—they don’t care what happens to you. They want to use you. That’s all it is. They
want you to fill the role they think you should have in their
kingdom. But your happiness? Your wellbeing? They don’t care for
those things. Not an ounce.”
“You’re wrong.” But did I know that for sure? I wanted to
say that I knew with complete confidence that everyone here at the
palace wanted the best for me.
But how sure could I really be of that?
I had only met the king and queen a few days ago. They
hardly knew me at all. I didn’t think they wished me any particular
harm, but of course they had to put a premium on the safety and
security of their people. If it came down to what was best for the
town or what was best for me, they would choose the town. And I
wouldn’t even blame them. Any good ruler would prioritize the
needs of the many over the needs of one girl.
What about Drake? He wasn’t a ruler, and he had been a
good friend to me in the time I’d known him. But we weren’t
exactly close. Drake was much, much older than I was. I was a blip
in his life, relatively speaking. How much emotional investment
could he really have in me?
Cryder. Cryder loves me.
Yes. Of that I was sure. I couldn’t doubt Cryder’s love. He
had come to America to find me. He had saved my life, more than
once.
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And there was Cecile. My best friend. My sister. Looking at
Moira, taking in her twisted, wicked looking smile and the blood on
her face, I knew that the relationship I had with Cecile was one she couldn’t possibly understand.
Maybe she and Giorgia had been real sisters once.
But I doubted it. Cecile would never try to steal a throne
from me. She wouldn’t even take my hairspray without asking first.
I turned my mind from the question and back to the scene of
disaster that surrounded me. “You’re not supposed to be here,” I
managed. “Cryder told me. You’re supposed to be—”
“Incarcerated? Oh, that’s true enough. They tried to lock me
away, but I escaped.” She smiled again. That smile made the hair on
the back of my neck stand up. “I made it back to the palace. This
palace is my home too, you know. I grew up here. Just like your
precious queen.”
“Why did you come back?”
“Why did I come back to my home?” Her voice dropped to a
snarl. “I have more right to be here than you do, you silly human
girl.” “I’m not—” What could I say? I was human, wasn’t I? I didn’t know how much of my humanity remained, but I knew that I
didn’t have the strength or the speed or the natural immortality that the rest of my friends had. That Moira had. I was hopelessly outmatched here. I couldn’t hope to win in a fight against her. I
wouldn’t even be able to hold my own.
The best I could hope for was to keep her distracted, on the
off chance Cryder and the others were still alive and were trying to do something that could help the situation. Maybe they were trying
to make it to safety. I would sacrifice myself if it meant that they could live. “What have you done?” I asked Moira. “So many
dead...It’s your doing, isn’t it?”
Moira trailed a finger through the blood on her chin as
casually as if she were wiping away a bit of chocolate, then sucked
her finger clean. I felt like vomiting. “You’ll have to forgive my
rudeness,” she said. “I was hungry.”
“Hungry? What do you mean, hungry?” The truth of her
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meaning struck me suddenly, with a burst of horror. “You killed
them to eat them? That’s what happened here?”
Oh my God. Oh, Cryder. Cecile.
I felt my knees begin to buckle and grabbed the column next
to me to hold myself upright. It was too much. Too much to take in.
This morning, Moira had been nothing but a myth, a cautionary tale
to prepare me for the intensity of the trials. I had pitied her, but I had never thought to fear her.
Now she stood before me, and I had never been more
frightened in my life. Not even when I had faced Bristol. Back then I hadn’t fully understood what I was up against. I hadn’t known the
full truth about the vampire world and my own place in it. But I
knew now what people like Moira were capable of.
And I knew that the blo
od of a royal—blood like mine—
would only make her stronger.
That was why Bristol had been after me. He had wanted my
blood for its particular potency.
Oh God. Where is Cryder?
If Moira had really come here to feed on the blood of royals,
then Cryder wasn’t safe. And neither were his parents.
Neither was I. But I had already accepted that fact. If Moira
decided to attack me, there would be nothing I could do to hold her
off. I would be dead, probably before I even knew I’d been attacked.
If only I could have somehow maintained the strength I’d
had during the second trial, when I’d had to fight that man on the
roof of the building. I had felt so sure of myself during that fight. So competent and capable. I had felt as though I could take on anything.
Could I really take on Moira, though? If I had those powers
at my disposal?
Something in me thought that maybe I could.
And now a strange feeling was growing within me. From the
day I had met Cryder, from the moment I had learned my true nature
and purpose, I had understood that I was something between human
and vampire. I didn’t have the immortality and the strength that my
vampire friends had. And yet, I would never be fully human, like my
friends at school. Like Cecile’s mother, who had been as good as a
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mother to me.
That had always felt like something to mourn. A great loss.
But now, looking at this wicked woman who had caused so
much harm and devastation, who was even now threatening the lives
of my friends and family, I yearned for power.
I wanted to be strong.
I wanted to be immortal.
I wanted to bring the full might of a vampire queen to bear
against her. I wanted her to suffer, to be punished for the things she had done. I wanted to exact a price in blood for the people who had
died here.
Moira was smiling at me. “What are you thinking, little
human?”
I’m not human.
“You’re thinking of trying to fight me, aren’t you?” she said,
her lips spreading in a grin that displayed her bloody teeth. “You’re thinking it might be a good idea to take me on.”
I didn’t answer. What could I say?
“I wouldn’t advise it,” she said. “Not unless you wish to die.
And I warn you, little human queen, I won’t make it quick. It won’t
be painless. My life hasn’t been painless, and I see no reason why
yours should be.”
My life hasn’t been painless. But I couldn’t bring myself to say the words. Arguing with Moira might push her over the edge.
And whatever she might think, whatever my instincts might be
screaming at me right now, I did not want this to come to blows. It was a fight I knew I couldn’t win.
“You needn’t die here,” Moira said. She raised a hand to her
mouth and picked something from between her teeth. I didn’t even
want to think about what it might be. “I didn’t come here to kill
you.” “Then why did you come?” I asked. My voice shook, and I
wished I could have spoken with more confidence. I knew she could
hear my fear, too, because of the way her smile widened.
“That would be giving away the ending,” she said. “You
wouldn’t want me to do that, would you? It would ruin the surprise.”
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“I don’t like surprises,” I managed.
“A shame. I feel surprises are one of the most exciting things
in life. Perhaps you’re just not looking at it the right way,” she
suggested, her tone friendly and innocuous now, as if she was just
trying to help me out. Maybe she was. She was crazy, after all. It
should come as no surprise to see her mood swing wildly from one
moment to the next.
“How should I be looking at it?” I asked. Keep her talking. I had no idea what else was going on in the palace, where my friends
were, what the guards were doing. I had no idea what Moira’s plans
were. But I knew that as long as she was talking to me, she wasn’t
hurting anybody else.
Maybe that was the best I could hope for right now.
“You should be looking at it like this,” Moira said. “A
surprise means you don’t know the ending yet. A surprise means it
might be better than you hoped.”
It might also be a lot worse. But saying so felt like a jinx, like I would be putting ideas into her head. That was the last thing I wanted. “Where is everyone?” I asked. I tried to make the question
sound like a demand, like I was already royal, and I was ordering
her to give me the information I sought, but instead I just sounded
like a terrified little girl.
“Everyone?” she asked. “Everyone is dead. Look around
you, little human.”
“I don’t mean them,” I said. “I mean the king and queen. I
mean Cryder. My friends. Where are they? What have you done
with them?”
She shook her head. “Can’t spoil the ending, I’m afraid.”
“Tell me if they’re alive,” I said. I was begging now, and I
knew it, but I was beginning to feel insane myself. “Just tell me that.
Are they still alive?”
“I know you want answers,” Moira said. “Every living being
does. But we don’t always get what we want, do we? I wanted to
rule, and I got a lockup facility instead. You want to know where
your friends are, and instead you get to deal with me. It seems
unfair, doesn’t it?”
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“Just tell me what you want,” I said. “Just tell me that. What
do you want me to do?”
“What makes you think I want anything from you?”
“You’ve been standing here talking to me since I came out,”
I said. “You’re the one who approached me. You must have wanted
something.”
She grinned. “You’re a clever one. I might have known
Cryder would make a wise choice when he selected his queen.” She
wrapped her arm around my shoulder. I felt like vomiting, but I
forced myself not to. “Let’s sit and chat, shall we?”
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Chapter Thirteen
Moira led me into the throne room.
The moment I realized where we were going, I wanted to
struggle away from her. I wanted to break free of the arm that still pinned me to her side. It felt treasonous to be in this room with
Moira. Worse than treasonous. It felt blasphemous.
This room belonged to Giorgia and Samuele. This was the
room that was being gifted to me and Cryder. I hadn’t been here
long, but already I could feel the weight and the importance of this place. Already, I could understand what this room meant to the
people of La Oscurità.
And I was here with a murderer.
Moira walked across the room as if it were any room in the
world, as if she had no understanding of what this place meant to
anybody. She strode up to Giorgia’s throne—the throne that would
one day have been mine—and dropped into it like it was a cheap
recliner. I hated her in that moment.
Before, out in the foyer, I had feared
her, and I had felt anger
over what she had done to the people in this castle and the people I loved. But that was nothing compared to the anger I felt now.
Before, I had felt human anger. Normal anger.
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This was something else.
This was wild, pulsing, too big to be contained within my
body, and it ripped out of me in a feral snarl that I didn’t recognize.
A part of me, detached and stunned, wondered if I could have
possibly made such a sound.
She regarded me, then let out a soft chuckle. “You’re angry,
little one.”
I was beyond words. I felt my lip curl up, baring my teeth. I
was appalled at myself. I was behaving like an animal.
But she’s sitting in my chair.
It was more than just that. She was sitting in Giorgia’s chair.
Cryder’s mother. She had tried to get there by approved, legal
means, and she’d failed, and now she had staged a coup.
She shouldn’t be there. She didn’t deserve to be there.
I wanted to grab her by the throat—grab her by the throat
with my teeth—and tear her away from the seat she hadn’t earned.
“Hmm,” she purred. “I see what Cryder likes about you, girl.
You are strong. You are a royal. I’ll bet your blood is a real rush.”
She grinned, bloody lips parting, red-stained teeth showing.
I wasn’t afraid of her. Not anymore. I wanted to tear through
her. But how could I be feeling these things? I had never felt like this before in my life. I didn’t even know that I had these responses in me, that I was capable of this kind of violent reaction. I didn’t recognize myself.
What was happening?
But I liked the aggression. It made me feel powerful. It made
me feel like I had some measure of control over this situation. It
distracted me from the worry at the back of my mind, clamoring for
my attention, that something unspeakable had happened to my
family. No. I couldn’t allow my mind to go there. I couldn’t think
about Cryder and Cecile and the rest of them now. I leaned into the
anger instead, letting it fuel me. I hoped it showed clearly on my
face how close to snapping I was. I hoped Moira was afraid of me.
She should be afraid of me.
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That was insanity. Of course, she shouldn’t fear me. She had
no reason to. She was a vampire, and I was nothing but a weak,
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