by G. K. DeRosa
“I thought—”
“Don’t move.” My voice was a husky growl. The scent of her blood now mingling with mine was more than I could handle.
She remained still as I rubbed my blood over her wounds. I had no idea if this would work. I was hoping because the bite marks were from a nocturne, my blood would react differently. Maybe it was what humans and nocturnes used to do when they shared blood. Back before the prophecy.
I batted away the panic that thinking about the prophecy now caused me.
Nothing happened for several tense moments. And then her lids slowly shut, and a long sigh drifted from her mouth. Pain lessened from her expression, and the torn wounds began to heal.
Relief washed over me as I stared at her unmarked neck. I couldn’t explain the heaviness that had left my chest, and I didn’t even want to think about what caused it in the first place.
I slipped my hand from her neck, but before I got too far, her fingers shot out and clutched it. Her lids lifted, those mesmerizing green orbs staring into mine.
“It worked,” she whispered.
I nodded, unable to find my voice.
She leaned forward, examining my finger as the slice in the tip closed. “Wow. That’s amazing.”
Her hand was warm on mine, and I hated how much I liked it. We were close. Too close. When the hell had I moved toward her? My gaze drifted down to her lips as she licked them. They looked so soft.
I shot up and away from her so fast she gasped. “I-uh-dropped the stuff I brought for you in the woods.” I crossed my arms over my chest to keep my hands from reaching for her. Still, I couldn’t do anything about my feet drifting in her direction again.
“O-okay.” She blinked, a tiny line forming between her brows.
It was a good thing she couldn’t read my mind. What was wrong with me? I needed to stay far away from her. Too bad that wasn’t an option until I got my answers.
I forced my expression to harden. “Don’t get any more bright ideas about running away.”
She rolled her eyes and saluted me. “Sir, yes, sir.”
I turned my back on her and marched toward the door. “Stay put, human.”
“Solaris.”
My body froze, my fingers trembling on the knob. “What?” I hissed. But I knew. I already knew.
“My name is Solaris.”
My lids drifted shut, and my forehead leaned against the door. Solaris. Her name came from the sun, something as foreign and mysterious to me as she was. And beautiful. Did I really think I could get through this without ever knowing it?
It was the bond. The stupid bond was making me soften toward her. Nothing more. I just needed to remember that.
I clenched my jaw and yanked the door open without another word. The force I slammed it with rattled the entire cabin.
Chapter 10
Solaris
My hands trembled. I clasped them together on my lap as soon as the door shut behind Kaige. I’d lied through my teeth. Of course I was scared of him—terrified to be exact, but I would never admit that. Nocturnes were strong, fast and powerful—everything humans weren’t. I couldn’t let him see my weak side. I couldn’t trust him, not really. There was no denying his thirst for my blood. I didn’t understand it at first, but after the taranoi attack, it was becoming painfully clear. Every moment I stayed in Draconis meant a greater risk to my life.
I stared down at my broken leg. Blood splattered the dirty bandages. My chest tightened at the thought of what could have happened if Kaige hadn’t arrived when he did. I swallowed down the panic unfurling in my chest. I had to play nice with him; he was my only way out of here. He had saved my life twice now, and whether it was the blood bond or something else entirely, he seemed to want to help me. As long as his bloodthirsty nocturne instincts didn’t kick in.
A chill seeped through my bones. Those starving taranoi had almost killed me. Kaige had murdered one of them like nothing. The dark fury that blazed in his eyes as he flung the taranoi’s body against the tree was almost more terrifying than the two peasant vampires. Not to mention the fangs. I’d never forget the way they gleamed ghostly white in the moonlight against his pale skin.
The terrified woman’s face flashed in my mind. She had called him “Sir.” He had been able to hypnotize her somehow. Power laced his voice when he spoke. I wondered if he’d ever compelled me. I wished I had paid more attention in class when we covered nocturne myths and legends.
There was no doubt that Kaige was one of the elite, but how high up in the royal chain was he?
The door creaked open, and Kaige shot inside. A small white bag was clenched in his fist, another larger one under his arm. He dropped the small one on the bedside table and dashed over to the opposite wall without saying a word.
Now that he had explained the blood bond, the pulsing in my veins made more sense. It was as if my body was attuned to his somehow. Anxiety rippled off him in waves.
I glanced up. Raging silver orbs met mine. The battle brewing just below the surface was so intense I had to look away. I reached for the bag on the table. “Thanks for this,” I mumbled.
He cleared his throat and ran his hands over his face. “The Alinare is for the pain. You should be good with a swig of that.”
I nodded and dug into the bag, pulling out two vials. I uncorked the painkiller and chugged it down. I examined the second bottle as the thick liquid sloshed down my throat. “What’s this?”
“Ground up valerian root. Toss it over, and I’ll make us some tea.”
“Tea?” I arched a skeptical brow.
“Yes. You don’t have tea in Imera?”
“Of course we do, but it comes in a little white pouch with a string and you just throw it in the microwave with water. How’s that going to help?”
“There are so many things wrong with that sentence, but I don’t have time to get into it.” He shook his head. “Valerian root is a natural calming herb. And I don’t know about you, but my nerves could certainly take it down a notch.”
I suppressed a smile. It was weirdly gratifying to know I had that sort of effect on him. “Okay.” I tossed him the small clear bottle, but pain radiated through my shoulder, stopping its forward momentum.
He lurched forward, just catching it in his fingertips. Wow. He had moves that would make a ninja jealous. He straightened, and we were nose to nose. My heart jackhammered in my chest as heat rushed to my cheeks. His eyes wandered down to my lips, and my mouth went dry. Then they fixed on my neck.
I jumped back, almost hitting the wall the bed leaned up against. The pain meds must have kicked in because I didn’t even scream that time.
“I’m sorry.” He was across the room by the time I blinked. “I wasn’t going to… I was just…” He had his back to me and was rummaging through the cabinet in the small kitchenette.
I swallowed hard. Was he trying to bite me or kiss me? This bond was doing crazy things to both of us. “Don’t worry about it,” I interrupted his incoherent ramblings. “I guess I’d be acting the same way if you were a walking slice of pizza.”
He chuckled, and it sounded natural for once, unlike the strained laughter I’d heard earlier. He turned to me, a smile playing on his lips. “Tell me, are all humans as fearless as you?”
Now I laughed. “My father calls it reckless. And no, probably not.” I remembered hearing in self-defense class that if you were ever in trouble, you should try to humanize yourself to your captor. “My father’s name is Malcolm, and he’s probably got all the OrderComm troops turning Imera upside down searching for me.”
His dark brows furrowed. “Malcolm Levant? One of the Equality Agents in the Head Minister’s cabinet?”
“That’s the one.” I had underestimated Kaige’s working knowledge of our government. I hoped I hadn’t given too much away. “How do you know so much about Imera?” The only reason I knew anything about nocturnes was Malcolm. The Collective had access to classified information about Draconis that normal citizens
did not. You could only learn so much from dark web blogs and textbooks.
His gaze flickered from me to the teapot. “It’s mandatory for all nocturnes to study human history.”
“Even for the taranoi?” I knew a little something about his people too.
His expression darkened. “No. Not for them.” He crossed his arms against his chest and avoided my gaze.
The shrill whistle of the teapot broke the tense silence. He pulled two cups out of the cabinet and filled them with the piping hot valerian root concoction. He moved toward me, then paused as his nostrils flared. He placed the cup on the bedside table and took his spot against the opposite wall.
I grabbed the mug and sniffed the strange beverage as the warm steam wafted up. “So you’re sure this is safe for me to drink?”
“Not really, but you seem to be fine from the Alinare.”
My eyes widened. “You mean you didn’t know if I’d be okay?”
“There hasn’t been a human in Draconis for a hundred years. How would the alchemists have tested its efficacy on one?” He grimaced as the words left his mouth.
The prophecy. We would both be screwed if anyone ever found out. I guess that was one thing Imera and Draconis had in common: the death penalty for anyone who forbade the prophecy.
I took a sip of the tea and pushed the dark thoughts to the back of my mind, labeling them “do not open, ever.” Everything would be fine. As soon as my leg healed, I’d find a way to get out of there.
“Don’t worry. We’ll find a way out of this.” His sharp features softened.
My brows knit together, and I narrowed my eyes. “I thought you said you couldn’t read my mind.” If he could, I was in big trouble. There were way too many naughty thoughts involving him without his shirt on.
“I can’t. It doesn’t take a mind-reader to figure out what you were thinking.” He took a sip. “The prophecy has been on my mind too.”
A nervous giggle bubbled out of my mouth. “It’s ridiculous though, right? I mean, a human and a nocturne falling in love and causing the end of the world? At least there’s no way it could possibly be referring to us.”
He chuckled uneasily. “Absolutely. It would be absurd.”
My mind churned. “Although isn’t that how nocturnes came to be? Aren’t you like direct descendants of the original vampire and a human?” I hoped my nocturne history lesson had been accurate or else I sounded like an idiot.
“Yes, something like that.” His hand grazed his cheek, the stubble scratching against skin sending a chill up my spine. He straightened and his eyes sparkled, like a kid about to open a birthday present. “Centuries ago, vampires walked the earth—but nothing like the ones that live today. These were bloodthirsty and ruthless, immortal creatures of the night with no soul or even a heartbeat. Humans were merely prey. They treated them like cattle to be kept solely for their feeding pleasures.”
I gulped.
“Then one day, a human escaped. Rumors were that she was special, had some sort of magical powers. The vampires didn’t believe it of course. Rexan, he was the king at the time, he had her tracked down and brought to him. He planned on making an example of her. Instead, the little human seduced him. She found her way into his bed and made herself a permanent fixture in the castle. Before long, she was with child.”
“But how? If he was dead, how did they make a baby?”
His lips twisted into a mischievous smile.
Crimson stained my cheeks as heat rushed up my neck. “I mean, I know how, physically, but how was it possible?”
He shrugged. “No one knows. Some say it was magic. Years later, their son, Draco, was the first nocturne to become king. The original vampires were killed over the decades as their brutal behavior toward humans was deemed unsavory to the new nocturne royalty.”
“So you really are kind of half-human?”
He nodded, his lips pressed in a tight line. “We are alive in every sense of the word. We can reproduce, and we can die. We are merely faster, stronger and a bit more durable than humans.”
“Wait. How old are you?” He looked around my age, but I’d forgotten that a nocturne’s aging process slowed once he or she turned eighteen. Kaige could be in his forties for all I knew.
“I just turned eighteen.” His jaw clenched. His knuckles gripping the mug turned white.
Unease rolled through the blood bond. My hand flew up to my chest, willing the ache away. “Why don’t you seem happy about that? I can’t wait to be eighteen. In Imera, it means freedom.”
“Because I’m supposed to be the next King.”
Chapter 11
Kaige
Solaris’s jaw dropped. Inside, I felt the exact same way. A long string of curses shot through my mind. Why the hell had I blurted that out? I was supposed to keep that from her. Now she’d never tell me the truth. Compulsion was my only hope.
“You’re one of the princes?” There was no denying the shock in her voice.
My teeth ground together. “Unfortunately.”
“Why aren’t you happy about that?” she asked. “You don’t want to be king?”
I sipped the tea, praying the valerian root would work fast. Thinking about my future created so many fissures in my control. “That is the last thing I want to be and the only thing certain in my life. I will be king.”
“We don’t get many choices in Imera either,” she mumbled softly. If I weren’t a nocturne, I wouldn’t have heard it. She cleared her throat, shaking off the somber moment. “Don’t you have a brother? Why can’t he be king?”
My fingers flexed on the mug. “Xander, my twin, wants to be king, but he won’t win the trials.”
A line creased her forehead. “Trials?”
“They’re a series of tests that will be held to determine who will be king. I’ll win.” I downed another sip.
“So you’re the future king of Draconis?”
Silence stretched between us and with every passing moment, my body stiffened more. Did she realize how much danger she was actually in? If she were involved in this possible conspiracy occurring between our worlds, she would know I’d demand answers. And I’d get them any way I could.
She finally blinked. “You think I had something to do with whatever you say you saw on that plane. Is that why you saved me?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I don’t think I saw anything. There were crates marked by the Draconis symbol on a Collective plane.” My eyes narrowed. “And now I find out you are the daughter of Malcolm Levant. It doesn’t look good.” There was a chilling edge to my voice.
Solaris slowly put the mug of tea on the bedside table. Her face was a blank mask, but I could sense an entire mess of emotions running through her, confusion at the forefront.
“Have anything to say, little human?”
She glanced up, tilting her head as she surveyed me. What did she see? A monster? A killer?
Another tense beat passed. And then her head angled back, and laughter poured out.
That wasn’t the reaction I expected. Maybe she was in shock from the taranoi attack. Or maybe she was just as crazy as I’d thought.
My lips thinned. “I’m glad you find this so funny.”
She waved a hand in the air, covering her mouth with the other. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh, but this whole thing is ridiculous.” She motioned toward her chest. “You think I, Solaris Levant, am a part of some scheme with the Collective and nocturnes?”
“You were in a plane with the objects in question, flying near the border of Draconis,” I pointed out, placing my cup down. “It all seems very plausible.”
She shook her head. “No, it doesn’t, not if you knew me.” She stopped laughing and took a deep, calming breath. “I’d be the last person the Collective would include in some secret, illegal plot. To them, I’m just some reckless teenager that causes a lot of trouble. If my father weren’t Malcolm Levant, my butt would probably be locked in jail for all the crap I’ve gotten into.�
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I chewed on her words, a deep line forming between my brows. Solaris did seem a bit rash and impulsive.
A laugh echoed in my mind. That was an understatement.
I leaned away from the wall. “So you’re telling me it was all just a coincidence?”
She nodded. “It looks like you committed treason for no reason, Kaige.” She blinked, and a sliver of fear shot through the bond.
She was afraid I’d kill her if I had no use for her.
Shouldn’t I? It would make things so much easier.
A fist tightened in my chest, threatening to squeeze my insides at the thought of stealing the fire from those brilliant green eyes. “I’m not going to kill you,” I blurted. Damn it. It was like this bond kept taking control of my mouth. And my body.
A sigh of relief expelled from her lips. She swallowed hard. “What are you going to do with me then?”
My feet inched closer. “I’m hoping my blood will dissolve from your system and I can compel the truth from you. Then I’ll know for sure.” Well, there it went again. Perhaps I should spill all my deepest, darkest secrets to her.
A tiny line formed between her brows as she thought. “You tried it before when I first woke up, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” The end of the bed brushed my knees. How did I get this close?
“It didn’t work because of your blood?” she asked.
I took a step back. “I’m not sure, but I don’t know what else would prevent it from working. I’m one of the strongest in Draconis.”
Her eyes drifted down my body, a light flush coloring her cheeks.
The edges of my lips twitched. “I wasn’t just speaking physically.”
She shifted awkwardly and cleared her throat. “After you compel me and see that I know nothing, you’ll help me get home?”
I ignored the ache her words brought to my chest. “Yes, once your leg is better.”