by Anna Santos
“Myra is alive.”
“Myra is not a member of my family. She is your cousin on your father’s side.”
Jessica pondered for a while. “She spied for you,” she whispered, sharing the epiphany she had in the crossroads. “That is why she led me to find you. But…you have a serious problem with her. I’m not sure you can trust her.”
Valentina inquired with furrowed eyebrows, “Why?”
“She found her mate. Whatever you planned, it will have setbacks.”
“We sent her to try and find out where Alaric is hiding. But she is not allowed to enter his house. They are testing her first. We know about her mate. She volunteered because of him. Alaric’s gang kidnapped her mate and turned him into a vampire, so she has strong reasons to want to kill Alaric and his lackeys. Her loyalty is to us. That will not change.”
“Unless she needs to save her mate…She already tried to kill Anna and Shane, and she didn’t need to. I’m not so sure we can trust her,” Jessica declared.
“She is playing a part. She will do anything to succeed in gaining Alaric’s trust.”
“Even if that means killing innocent people?” Jessica asked.
“I’m not inside her head,” Valentina replied with a shrug. “But she needs to play the part well. It’s for the greater good.”
“Moving on. The key question now is why is Alaric chasing and killing our family? My parents did nothing wrong. I thought he was just pursuing interspecies unions, but then why did he attack my coven?”
Valentina sighed before she answered, “I’m afraid that that is my fault. He thought that killing everyone from my bloodline would end his curse.”
“What curse?” Jessica asked, furrowing her eyebrows and absorbing the fact that Valentina had more secrets to reveal than she could ever imagine.
“The one I cast on him a long time ago.”
“You need to further elaborate on that answer,” Jessica declared, getting annoyed by her half sentences. “Why don’t you start at the beginning? Why on earth would you put a curse on a vampire? And what sort of curse is it that makes him want to kill us all?”
“I put a curse on him because he killed you,” Valentina explained.
“I’m alive,” she sighed. “Where did you get that idea?”
“Not you, Jessica, in this timeline. He killed you when you were Isobel,” she explained, and Jessica stared into Marcus’s eyes, trying to fully understand the meaning of Valentina’s words.
Marcus growled at Valentina, unhappy about her revelation. “You had no right to tell her that!”
“She would have found out, eventually. She used to have recurring dreams about it. Don’t you dream about your death anymore?” she asked.
“I still do,” Jessica whispered. Her body was trembling with the knowledge provided by Valentina. She had been killed by her own son. “Why did he kill me?”
“Revenge,” Valentina replied.
“He was sick,” Marcus answered at the same time.
“It was mostly revenge against his father,” Valentina added. “Alaric had been kept a prisoner in one of the towers as a punishment.”
“He had attacked some villagers from our kingdom. The population no longer felt safe. Rumors of a demon spread throughout the lands,” Marcus explained. “He would prey on young, innocent girls and incite fights as an excuse to kill. The vampire laws were clear—he had to be killed. But…you convinced me to try and cure him.”
“So he killed me because I tried to save his life?” Jessica asked.
“No, he killed you to get revenge on his father. He was left locked up for years and wanted revenge for that. He didn’t think he needed to be fixed, didn’t believe that he was sick,” Valentina added.
Marcus held Jessica’s both hands before explaining, “I…know it was my fault. I shouldn’t have permitted him being locked up inside our palace. He should have been put elsewhere. But I can’t blame you, either, for wanting to save him and wanting our son near us. I can only take comfort in the fact that he was not himself. That is what I keep telling myself. He lost his soul, his ability to feel love. The thing that killed you, the thing that is inside his body, is not our son. We tried to… cure him. But it was too late. The war and the blood he drank made him mad and murderous. He became a demon.”
“Somehow he escaped from his prison and got his revenge for being locked up and starved,” Valentina retorted.
“Letting him starve was the only way we knew to help him get rid of the bad blood inside his veins. He needed his family. You didn’t want to give up on him,” Marcus further elaborated to Jessica. “We should have just sentenced him to death. I’m not going to make the same mistake again. Alaric needs to be killed.” The king put his hand over Jessie’s face. “He murdered you and then he murdered George and tried to kill Anna and Kevin. I need to know that you are not going to try to save him this time.”
“I won’t,” Jessie whispered, putting her hand on Marcus’s chest and closing her eyes, taking in his scent. “He also killed our baby. He has done a lot of evil. We need to stop him. He long ago lost his right for forgiveness.”
“Do you remember that?” Marcus asked.
“In my dream, I am pregnant and falling down a cliff,” Jessica answered. “I even hear her name.”
“Esme?”
“Yes,” she mumbled, feeling a rush of tears. It was emotional for her to know all that and recall all her dreams or should she say: memories of her past life. “She would have been named Esmeralda if she had been a girl.”
“It was my mother's name,” Valentina said softly. “You were my best friend, Jessie. I couldn’t let Alaric get away with what he did. So I got my own revenge in any way I could. I cursed him,” she explained.
“What curse was it that only made him want to kill our family now? I died a long time ago, and the curse was placed a long time ago, too.”
“I’m guessing that he found his mate only recently. The reports of our family’s deaths are recent. It’s been four years since he started his mad quest to end our bloodline.”
“His mate?” Jessica asked, not following what she meant. “What does his mate have to do with the curse and with his witch-killing spree?”
Valentina signaled her to be patient. “All will make perfect sense.”
“He put a bounty on my head. He doesn’t want me dead. Do you think he knows I’m his dead mother’s reincarnation?”
“I can only assume that after killing so many witches, he must have realized that ending our bloodline would not break his curse. He needs a strong witch from my bloodline to do it, and you are the strongest of them all. Your father was a strong witch, so his legacy combined with your mother’s sacred blood makes you the only one capable of reversing my curse on him. I doubt he has any idea that you are Isobel reincarnated.”
“But what has his mate got to do with me and the curse? What the hell did you curse him with? Impotence? Herpes?”
“Joke all you want,” Valentina said, sighing with Jessica’s dark humor. “This is serious and really important. Alaric is a ruthless and heartless bastard. He killed you, his own mother, and he loves no one. I cursed him with a binding spell that would make him pay for all the hurt he caused to others. Whenever he found his mate, he would be bonded to her whether he liked it or not. Their souls and bodies would be one. If anything happened to her, it would happen to him. So, if he wanted to kill her, he, too, would die. This is the important matter that brought me here. Alaric is vulnerable, and we can end his immortal existence. He found his mate, which is why he is so desperate to end the curse. He finally has a weakness. We can use that to our advantage. We aren’t enemies. You have no reason to hold a grudge against me. I’ve explained everything to you, and now we can be allies. We have the same common goal.”
Valentina stopped talking. She turned to stare at her own mate. They seemed to be using their mind-link to talk.
Pursing her lips, she stared back at Marcus. “Francesco
is willing to forget Jessica’s attempt to kill him and make no further complaint to the High Council, in order to demonstrate our noble intentions.”
Marcus said, “That is really nice of you. Do you really think that I’m scared of the High Council?”
It was Francesco who talked next. “You should be. I’m not entirely sure that there aren’t kings among them who are still opposed to interspecies marriages. Alaric’s cause is popular. Many pureblood vampires still defend the killing of mates who aren’t from their own species. You may feel safe living outside Europe and making your own rules, but the Council has ways to punish those who try to kill one of their members. Your mate and my former sister would face a terrible trial for what she did.”
“I don’t understand what kind of alliance you expect to forge with these threats,” Jessica declared.
Francesco looked at her with a serious face as he crossed his hands over his knees. “This isn’t a threat. It’s a proof of good faith. I’m not making charges against you. I’m willing to forget your unprovoked attack if you are willing to think about an alliance among us to catch Alaric.”
Arching an eyebrow, Jessica asked, “But why do you need our help? Don’t you have a spy there?”
Francesco smiled wickedly and Marcus frowned and got extremely serious. “My wife won’t serve as bait,” he scolded, rising to his full height to add impact to his words.
“Marcus, you need to reconsider what you say. Alaric is clever, and he has spies everywhere.” Valentina’s voice had velvet on it and Jessica felt like growling at her. She didn’t like the way this woman was staring at her mate, using her fragility and soft voice to convince Marcus to reconsider the options. Her prominent cleavage was also frustrating. Jessica mistrusted everything about her angelic appearance. There was something dark about her that Jessica couldn’t quite figure it out, but she had no intention of letting her guard down.
“What do you mean by that?” Marcus asked.
Valentina answered, “He will eventually find a way to get to Jessica and take her from you.”
“You know, as I do,” Francesco interjected, “that attacking is the best defense. We need to take this war to Alaric. It’s been centuries since he ran away. He is gaining allies, protection. We need to do something before it’s too late.”
“Killing Alaric’s mate will end his life,” Valentina added. “Jessica will be safe until she breaks the curse. Alaric wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He needs her to end the curse. She is the only one who can take us to where he is hiding.”
“I won’t use my mate as bait,” Marcus declared with a deadly gaze.
“I wouldn’t kill an innocent to end Alaric’s life,” Jessica muttered, gripping her hands on her legs and staring at the floor. “Even if I agreed to let myself be kidnapped, I wouldn’t kill an innocent girl who had the misfortune of being my former son’s soul-mate. I would break the curse and then I would kill him. But I wouldn’t harm the girl to kill him.”
Marcus looked at Jessica with a panicked expression. “You can’t possibly be taking their crazy idea seriously?” He seemed out of breath. “I’ve lost you once. I have no intention of losing you again. I’ll not allow you to do something that stupid.”
“I’m my own person, Marcus. I decide what I can and can’t do. You don’t own me, and I won’t accept a possessive, stubborn mate.”
“You are the one being stubborn,” he declared. He used his mind-link. “You aren’t going to put your life at stake for a vague possibility of ending Alaric’s life. Why would you go after Alaric? You are safe here. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Marcus,” she reasoned, gazing into his eyes, overwhelmed by her emotions and his pain. “He killed me and our daughter in my other life.”
His eyes showed his sadness when he spoke, “I can forget all that if you promise to—”
“No,” she firmly denied as she got up with fisted hands. “He killed my parents, my family in this life. He killed Anna’s parents. He tried to kill Kevin. I have a lot of reasons for wanting to end his life.”
Marcus held her by the waist and helped her sit back beside him. “We’ve just found each other. Why would you want to leave me again?”
Jessica put her hands on his chest, stroking it. She could feel all his hurt and fear of losing her again, when she talked inside their mind-link, “I don’t want to be apart from you, either. But we need to do something to end Alaric’s reign of terror.”
“Jessica…”
“I don’t want to make you suffer.”
Marcus voiced his wishes, “Then stay.”
Jessica nodded. “We will get marry first, and we will talk again about this.”
“Marriage?” Francesco interrupted. “When is the party?”
“It’s none of your business,” Jessica declared.
“Ouch! I’m your brother. Aren’t you going to invite me?”
“I’m still thinking about whether I should let you all live,” Jessica whispered, staring directly in Valentina’s eyes with deadly intentions.
“I’ll gladly fight you if that is what it takes for you to trust me again,” she whispered with a grin that reminded Jessie of a demon. There was definitely something about Valentina that gave her the creeps. “Or we can measure forces whenever you end Alaric’s life.”
“I think you hate him more than I,” Jessica declared. Valentina wasn’t acting as Jessica’s best friend. She was acting like she had a hidden agenda, with some dark reason behind her desire for Alaric’s death.
“He tried to end my family’s bloodline,” she said in her defense.
“Yes, that is true. We have strong motives to hate him,” Jessica agreed. Maybe Valentina was truly upset for the loss of her family. Thinking about it, Jessica was her only family other than her daughter and mate.
“And we need to talk about your ancestral lines,” Valentina added. “Away from our mates.”
“I have no secrets with Marcus,” she replied immediately.
“You can tell him later if you want. The men aren’t that interested in a lecture about our family tree, and Francesco is getting impatient. Why don’t you let Marcus show him the premises, and we can have a break from them?”
“Yes, I would really like another drink, and I’m not keen on hearing more old fairy tales about my wife’s family,” Francesco declared, getting up and putting the glass down.
“Go,” Jessica said to Marcus, though, she knew that he would rather stay by her side. “I’m good. I’m not going to jump on her neck.”
“Fine. We will talk later,” he said, leaning down to kiss Jessica. “You will know where I am if you need me. And if you want me to come to you, just call.”
“I know.” She smiled, caressing his cheek. “I love you,” she whispered, and he kissed her again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine—Small Talk
THE KING
Marcus had Jessica’s head on the top of his chest while she played lazily with a ringlet of her hair between her fingers. He was tuned into her thoughts, happy that she felt safe and belonged there with him. But she had other dark thoughts, mainly her conversation with Valentina. He caressed her hair, and she turned around to face him.
“How many times do you think I was born before finally finding you?” she asked him.
“What? What do you mean?” he asked.
He looked at her, watching her soft skin and beautiful mouth. He always wanted to kiss her when he gazed upon her face. She was lovely and he craved her intensely.
“You heard Valentina say that, if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have survived so long. It’s been more than two hundred years since I was Isobel. I must have been born previously, in some other century, maybe even shortly after I died.”
“I’m not following you.”
“This may not be my first reincarnation since I was Isobel. Imagine if I could remember everything, as I do sometimes. I may have died without finding you.”
“Why are you thinking about t
hat?” he sighed, a bit exhausted. It had been a long afternoon.
“Maybe I’m being too hard on Valentina. Maybe things are not as I remember or I can’t fully understand her motives for keeping me away from everybody.”
“Maybe,” Marcus pondered. “But I still don’t like the fact that she hid you from me.”
“People do weird stuff when they think there are no other options. I always wonder why I’m able to remember everything. Now that I know how I died…I’m not so sure I can remember because we loved each other so much.”
“What other reason could there be?” Marcus asked, rather liking that option than any other his mate was pondering over.
“Maybe I remember because my own son killed me.”
“I rather like the idea that you remember because I never stopped thinking of you. I love you with all my soul.”
“I like to think that, too,” she whispered in a honeyed voice as he leaned over to kiss her mouth. “But it is annoying to know that I owe Valentina my life. Her enchantments were what kept me from dying when I was younger. Maybe, in other lives, I was able to remember my former life. Maybe I died before I grew old enough to find you. I may have been human or a werewolf or even a bird,” she whispered, turning on the bed and leaning her head on his chest. Her eyes stared at his face. “It could be possible,” she added.
“It could,” he confirmed and held her by her arms, pulling her gently until she was resting on his body. She giggled against his shirt, completely molded against his body. He released a sigh of pure pleasure. “I’m just glad that you found me and you are alive. Whatever happened before, we don’t know and we can’t find out. I can’t answer those intriguing questions of yours. I understand them, but I have no clue what the answers are. I didn’t believe in reincarnation until you came into my life.”
“I know I’ve said it before,” she whispered softly, playing with her finger on his face and teasing him, “but I’m really glad you didn’t reject me.”
“I’m also glad. I’m extremely happy that you are here with me. But do you know what makes me less happy?”