“You can’t know that unless you try.”
“And what about what you said before?” he asked. “About how the kingdom needs an original vampire to lead them—not a prince?”
“What the people need is a leader who will protect them—not one who will leave them ignorant in a land where they’ll surely die,” I said. “Prove to them that you’re that leader. Do that, and you’ll have their loyalty.”
“What about the other kingdoms?” he asked. “They’re all led by original vampires. If I do this—and that’s a big if—will they accept my new kingdom as legitimate?”
“I can’t say,” I said. “It’ll likely be an issue you’ll have to address in the future. But at least if you get that far, you’ll have a future.”
He laid his hands in his lap and looked off to the side, appearing deep in concentration. I could practically see the wheels whirring in his brain.
“Scott and Stephenie aren’t going to like this,” he finally said, his eyes meeting mine once more.
“Scott and Stephenie are your equals,” I said. “You can’t cater to them and stay silent any more. Too much is at stake here.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “I can try. But if I do—and if I succeed—will you consider joining us as the witch of the new kingdom?”
I sat back in surprise, wanting to say absolutely not.
At the Haven, there was a chance that my baby could be protected from being taken by Prince Devyn once he or she came of age. But I wasn’t comfortable sharing that information with Alexander yet.
So I decided to stick with my other reason—it was solid enough as it was.
“I’m sorry, but I cannot,” I started, making sure to stay steady as I spoke. “As you know, maintaining a boundary as strong as the one around the Vale is meant to be a task required of multiple witches. I’m strong enough to do it on my own, but it cost me years of my life. I don’t know how much longer I have left. I’ll likely die young, like my mother and all my ancestors before her. Which is why I still plan on being turned into a vampire—after the baby is born, of course. I hope you can understand.”
“I understand.” He nodded. “But I had to at least ask.”
“The witches who are currently maintaining the boundary have high aptitude,” I told him. “With enough practice, they’ll be able to uphold a boundary as strong as the one I was able to hold on my own. Also, they’re not warriors by any means, so they’re terrified of the possibility of an attack. Convince them to come with you. I know them well enough to believe they will.”
“But if they come with me, there won’t be any witches protecting the Vale,” he said. “Our home will be open to an attack.”
“Which is why it’s imperative that everyone listen to you and evacuate.”
“All right.” He sat straighter—I could tell he’d made up his mind. “This new information has made what I need to do clear. Call in the witch who brought me here and tell her that I’m ready to return to the Vale.”
Karina
After the travel day—days—I just had, I was really missing the convenience of being teleported by a witch. Bad weather had resulted in plane delays and cancellations like I couldn’t believe, and it had taken over twenty-four hours for me to get from Ireland to western Canada.
It was night when I arrived at the wolves’ camp—late enough that minus the guards on shift, they were all asleep. The guard on duty recognized me and instantly let me inside.
Once there, I hurried to Noah’s tent.
He jumped out of bed when I let myself inside, on guard and ready for a fight. His hair was messed up from sleeping, and his shirt was off, displaying his rock solid abs. He was so frustratingly gorgeous that I wanted to jump into his arms then and there.
“Relax,” I said with a smile. “It’s me.”
“Karina.” He breathed out my name in relief. “I didn’t think I would ever see you again…”
I couldn’t resist for a moment longer—I closed the space between us and pressed my lips to his.
He leaned into me, his taste spicy and woodsy, and I smiled at how he’d apparently wanted me as much as I wanted him.
“Wait.” He pulled away, his eyes a mix of emotions. “What happened with Peter?”
“With who?” I reached for his hands, not wanting to break contact with him after having just showing him how I felt.
“Peter,” he repeated. “The man who you love. Your soul mate.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I frowned, insulted that he was ruining this moment by being so confusing. “You’re the one I want to be with. I trust you with my life. I know it’s crazy—I would have thought it was crazy if someone had told me weeks ago that I was going to care so much for a wolf—but it’s true.”
My cheeks heated, and I turned my eyes down, embarrassed for confessing so much. The Carpathian Kingdom taught us to always hide our emotions—to treat them like weaknesses. But I didn’t want to do it anymore. And with war coming… well, I didn’t want to think about the worst, but how could I not?
I needed Noah to know how I felt about him before it was too late.
“I think I’m falling for you.” I lifted my eyes to meet his confused gaze, my hands still clasped in his. “Actually, it’s more than that. I have fallen for you.”
“No.” He yanked his hands out of mine and stepped back, glaring at me.
My heart slammed to the floor at his rejection.
“Something must have happened to you at the Haven.” He shook his head, his dark hair falling over his forehead. “Do you truly not remember Peter?”
“I have no idea who Peter is.” Tears prickled my eyes—frustration. And hurt at how after putting all my emotions out there for Noah to see, he was barely even acknowledging what I’d said to him. “You keep saying his name, but I’ve never met him!”
“All right.” He took a deep breath, his eyes shining with what I swore was reluctance. “I think we both need to sit down.”
I went over to sit on his bed, and he took the chair across from me. My heart fell again—I’d hoped he would sit next to me.
There was only one explanation for the way he was distancing himself—he didn’t return my feelings.
I was an idiot for being so open about how I felt. This was why I usually kept my feelings to myself. If I kept them to myself, then I couldn’t get hurt.
“You told me everything about Peter,” Noah started, his voice slightly shaky as he spoke. “You met him on a trip you took—a ship that went from Europe to America.”
“I did go on a transatlantic voyage a long time ago,” I said. “On the Olympic. However, I don’t recall meeting anyone by the name of Peter.”
“You met him on the deck while the ship was setting sail.” Noah was speaking frantically now, as if begging me to remember this man who didn’t exist. “You spent the entire trip with him. At the end of the journey, he proposed. But he didn’t know you were a vampire, so you told him and gave him two options. He could either turn into one as well, or to allow you to compel away his knowledge of the supernatural—and of you. He chose to become a vampire. You turned him, and the two of you got married. You were in love and happy… until he was killed by wolves during the Great War. That’s why you’ve been determined to get your hands on Geneva’s sapphire ring—you wanted to wish for Peter to come back.”
Noah sounded so convinced that I believed he thought all of this was true. He had no reason to make up such a detailed story.
But when the Olympic had set sail from Europe, I’d stood on the deck by myself. I’d spent a lot of time by myself on that trip, or with the vampire chaperone who had accompanied me, since it was unheard of for a lady to travel alone in that era. And above all else, I was most certain that no one had proposed to me on board. Surely I would remember such a thing.
No one had proposed to me, ever.
Over a century of living, and I had yet to experience love.
Maybe my feelings for Noah weren’t love
after all.
Maybe I was just longing for something I’d never had.
“Are you remembering?” Noah watched me with so much hope in his eyes, as if everything in the world depended on me remembering this Peter.
“It’s a lovely story,” I told him sadly. “But it’s not real, even though you seem convinced that it is. Perhaps…” I twisted my fingers around themselves, feeling bad for what I was about to say.
“Perhaps what?” he asked.
“Could this be one of your visions from the Savior?” I asked. “Could you be mistaking a vision for reality?”
“These aren’t visions.” His voice was hard and confident. “You told me all of this yourself. The memories must be there somewhere. You have to at least try to remember them.”
He watched me with so much hope that I couldn’t say no.
And so, despite knowing it would be hopeless, I tried.
Karina
I tried and was met with nothing.
“The story you told me never happened.” I moved to get up, feeling more frustrated than ever. “It’s just that—a story. And I didn’t come to you to be bombarded by a make believe past. I came to you because I don’t know why I went to the Haven, or why I called for the fae. I was hoping you would be able to help me fill in the gaps, but all you want to do is talk about this ‘Peter’ who doesn’t even exist.”
“The fae?” He tilted his head, clearly caught off guard by my mention of them. “Why did you call for the fae?”
“I don’t know!” I knitted my hands in my hair, since I’d already told him that I didn’t know. “The fae girl was already waiting for me—she knew I was going to come. We talked, but I don’t remember what we talked about. One moment she was there, then she was gone, and I was standing there alone, clueless about why I’d gone there in the first place.”
Realization—mixed with possibly pity—crossed his gaze, and he walked over to sit with me on the bed. He left space between us, making sure not to touch me.
I drew inward, hating that he was treating me like a leper.
“The fae are known for driving hard bargains,” he said slowly, his gaze locked on mine. “They’re also apparently fond of collecting memories.”
“What are you saying?” I asked. “Do you think the fae girl took my memories?”
It would certainly explain why I was so confused about why I’d sought out the fae at all.
“All I know of the fae are the legends told by my people,” he said. “The shifters refuse to interact with them. We know that if you make a deal with the fae, you always give more than you bargained for.”
“Okay.” I sat back, thinking. “Since the shifters refuse to interact with the fae, could I have gone to them on your behalf?” I asked. “Is there something you needed that you could only get from them? Something I would have gone to them for without telling you?”
“No,” he said. “Now that the packs have come together, we far outnumber the vampires. We’re going to win this war. All we need is a way to get past the boundary.”
“Maybe that’s what I bargained for,” I said. “A way to get past the boundary.”
“You didn’t,” he said simply. “You were determined to get Peter back, no matter what. That’s what you went to the fae for.”
“To raise him from the dead?” I raised an eyebrow. “That’s insane.”
“Insane or not, that was your goal,” Noah said.
“But no one’s ever returned from the Beyond.” I shook my head in disbelief. “It’s not possible.”
“That’s what I thought, too,” he said. “But you were so determined that I couldn’t crush your hope. It wasn’t my place to stop you—even though all I wanted was for you to stay here, with me.”
“You did?” I swallowed, not having expected him to say that.
“Of course I did.” He shook his head and smiled slightly, like he couldn’t believe I’d ever thought otherwise, and moved closer to me. “I fell for you the first moment I saw you, when you sneaked out of the palace to meet me at the boundary line. But your heart’s never been mine. It’s always belonged to Peter.”
“I don’t even remember Peter,” I said. “My heart can’t belong to someone I don’t remember.”
“I get that.” Wildness crossed over his eyes—pure, heated desire—and electricity crackled between us. “And trust me, you have no idea how hard it is for me to not be glad you don’t remember him so I can finally have you as mine.”
“So what’s stopping you?” I tilted my head, teasing him.
“It feels wrong.” He sighed and leaned his head back, as if struggling with his own urges. “Like I would be taking advantage of you. I’d never be able to forget that once you learned Peter couldn’t return from the Beyond, you had your memories of him erased because you couldn’t live knowing that you’d never see him again—”
“Hold up.” Now I was the one holding a hand up to stop him from continuing. “I might not remember Peter, but I know myself. I would never give up my memories of anyone—especially someone I loved—because I couldn’t deal with the grief of their loss. I wouldn’t throw away something so important like it never mattered at all.”
“But you did,” he insisted. “Or you wouldn’t have forgotten him.”
I held his gaze, feeling like we were at a standstill. “Perhaps I did bargain away my memories of this Peter,” I said, since it was the only explanation that made sense. “But I can assure you it wasn’t because I didn’t want to deal with my grief. There was another reason. There had to have been…”
I paused to think, when suddenly, a plane sounded overhead. It was so loud that it was clearly taking off or landing at the Vale.
It wasn’t abnormal—the Vale used planes to receive supplies—but it was annoying in the middle of our intense conversation.
Worry crossed over Noah’s eyes, and his brow creased, as if something wasn’t adding up.
“What’s wrong?” My hand rushed to cover his, and I was relieved when he didn’t move away.
“The Vale has a strict supply schedule,” he said. “We track when the planes come in and out to prepare for our attack. They shouldn’t be sending out another for at least two days.”
“What do you think it means?” I could only assume the worst—that they were gathering something for the upcoming war. Supernaturals rarely used human technology while fighting—we preferred to relay on our natural abilities and strength—but the vampires of the Vale were desperate.
Who knew how far they would go to win?
“I have no idea,” he said. “But it can’t be anything good.”
Suddenly, someone unzipped the tent and stepped inside. Marigold. Her hair fell in long, unbrushed waves down her back, and she wore a white nightgown that hung to her feet. It made her look like an angel.
Noah pulled his hand out of mine and put space between us again, as if we’d been caught doing something wrong. “Yes?” he asked the witch.
“The Vale’s protections are down.” Marigold’s eyes gleamed with excitement. If she noticed that she’d interrupted a moment between Noah and me, she didn’t show it.
“What do you mean?” I asked. “How could they go down? What did you all do?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I wish I could say that we’d gotten to their witch and killed her, but we didn’t. All I know is that the boundary went down after that plane took off. Now, the Vale is completely unprotected.”
As she spoke, something twisted in my stomach. Guilt.
Could this have happened because of me? Because of the bargain I’d made with the fae?
“What’s the plan?” Noah stood at alert—a soldier ready for battle.
“We’re going to wait until daylight, since that’s when the vampires are at their weakest,” she said. “It gives us a few hours to prepare. Then, once the sun rises, we’ll soak the soil with the blood of the vampires so our Savior can finally rise.”
Annika
&nbs
p; I made my way back down the golden steps, relieved that the door to the Tree of Life opened when I placed my palm upon it.
Jacen waited in the center of the room. I’d only been gone for a few hours, but from the way he beamed at me, one might have thought it had been weeks.
“Annika.” He hurried toward me, but halfway there, he stopped in his tracks. “Your eyes,” he said, looking at me in wonder. “They’re completely gold now.”
“I drank from the Holy Grail.” The words didn’t feel real as they left my mouth. “I’m an angel now. Well, technically an ‘Earth angel.’ But still an angel.”
“What?” His brows shot up, panic registering on his face. “How’s that possible?”
I filled him in on everything Emmanuel had told me in Heaven. It was a lot to cover, but I did it as quickly as I could, since right now, the Vale needed our help.
“We need to get to the Vale at once,” Jacen said once I was done. “I need to talk to Noah. Once he knows the truth, he’ll have to get the wolves to stand down.”
“If he believes you,” I said.
“I’ll make a blood oath promising him that I’m telling the truth.” Jacen’s eyes swam with intensity. “I know you haven’t met Noah yet, but even though the shifters are technically part demon, he’s a good guy. He’ll believe me.”
“I trust your judgment,” I said, especially since Emmanuel had told me not to discredit the shifters because of their demon blood. “But how are we going to make it to the Vale in time? All we have now is that lousy rowboat I found on the beach. It’ll take forever to reach the mainland in that. Unless…” I trailed off, not sure it would be possible.
“Unless what?” Jacen asked.
“Once we were done talking, Emmanuel flashed out,” I said. “He teleported, like witches can do.”
“And you’re an angel now.” Jacen brightened—he must have realized where I was going with this. “Do you think you can teleport too?”
“I have no idea.” I shrugged, since I knew little about the abilities I had as an angel. “But I can try. Do you know anything about what the witches do when they teleport?”
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 64