“Morning,” I forced out.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you okay?”
I cleared my throat. “Of course.”
Thomas came in with Thea’s breakfast, but to my surprise, she didn’t touch it. Instead, she returned her gaze to me. “It has been ten days. The mourning period is over.”
I nodded. “Yes. We’ll decide on a new leader today.”
She cocked her head to the side. “Do you think you’ll win?”
“I’m not sure. To be honest, I would rather not. However, if it’s Alex or me, then I’ll accept the position.”
“I hope you win,” she said, her words ringing true.
Pride filled my chest, and I cleared my throat. “Please, don’t roam the castle for the next couple of hours.” The meeting was sure to be tense and difficult. Depending on the results, the other vampires could go crazy and start a rebellion. I didn’t want Thea or Thomas out of my protected quarters if that were the case.
She looked disappointed, but said, “I won’t.”
“Good,” was all I said before marching out of my quarters.
While walking to the council room, I pushed all thought of Thea and the duel out of my mind. I needed to focus on this meeting and nothing else right now—no beautiful Thea, no intoxicating scent, no brilliant hair, no long neck, no wonderful legs.
Groaning, I closed my eyes and focused.
Focus.
The moment I stepped into the council room and saw all the princes in their throne-like chairs and a few of their men standing behind them, I was game. I took my seat with Lewis and Tank already standing behind it. All the while, Alex shot me nasty glances while whispering with Ralf and Eden.
A low growl rose in my chest.
Alex smiled at me.
My hands balled into fists.
Sarki strolled into the room. As she had so many times, she stood beside the bigger chair in the middle of the half circle. Ceremoniously, she stared at the chair, a hand over the dark red velvet back.
She inhaled sharply, and then turned to us. “The mourning period is over,” she said, her voice loud and sure. “It’s time to choose a new leader.”
“What about Alex and Drake’s duel?” Dorian asked. He seemed too eager to see us fight.
Sarki turned cold eyes to him. “We have more important matters to attend to right now. We’ll talk about the duel later.”
“But—”
Sarki snarled. “We’ll start with the choosing of a new leader,” she barked, interrupting whatever Alex was trying to say.
The room went silent for a heartbeat.
“Did Lord Reynard leave a will?” Cain asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Sarki said. “Because of that, our rules state the princes need to vote.” She glanced to Prince Aston first. “Who do you nominate to be our next lord?”
“Alex,” he said, no doubt in his voice.
A cold chill ran down my spine.
Sarki continued, going from prince to prince. After much discussion and deadly stares among the princes, Nolan, Dorian, and Patrick voted for Alex; Phelps, Albert, Gray, and Cain voted for me. Of course, Alex voted for himself and as much as it disgusted me, I voted for myself too.
Five votes for Alex, five votes for me.
“It’s a tie,” Albert said. “It’s up to you, Sarki. You’ll be the deciding vote.”
Her dark eyes glanced from Alex to me. She took a long inhale and finally said, “To be honest, I think we shouldn’t choose a new leader before we find Lord Reynard’s murderer.”
All the princes started talking at once, some indignant about her suggestion, some approving of it.
Finally, I said, “I agree with Sarki.” I turned my steely stare to Alex. “What if we end up voting for the killer? We wouldn’t want that.”
Alex’s lips stretched in a malicious grin. “We sure don’t want that.” He smiled at Sarki. “I agree with you, Sarki. We should find the killer and deal with him before naming a new lord.”
“Then, we should start the questioning right away,” Sarki suggested.
Alex slouched in his seat, looking pleased. “If I might, I name Prince Drake to be the first one questioned.”
I burned a hole in his head with my eyes while he grinned at me.
“Prince Drake?” Sarki asked. I turned my gaze to her. “Can we start?”
I relaxed my shoulders. “Sure. I have nothing to hide.”
Sarki stood beside Lord Reynard’s chair the entire time the princes questioned me.
“Where were you at the time of the murder?”
What kind of question was that? “In the ballroom with everyone else.”
“What did you do when the lights went out?”
“I was holding a wounded human girl and guiding her friend out of the ballroom.”
“Why did you want to leave?”
“Because one of the girls was badly hurt.”
“What happened to her?”
“She died.”
“You killed her?”
“No. She died from the injuries she received during the party, caused by another vampire.”
“Do you know who turned off the lights?”
Hell … “No.”
“Do you have reason to believe anyone here would want Lord Reynard dead?”
I glanced to Alex as I answered, “Yes.”
“And who is that?”
“Prince Alex.”
“Elaborate.”
“He has had eyes on Lord Reynard’s power for centuries now.”
Alex chuckled. “He’s saying that because I had my eyes on his pet during the ball.”
Red tinted my vision.
“Is that right? Are you accusing Prince Alex because of your blood slave?”
“No!” My voice rose. “Alex and I have never seen eye to eye. Lord Reynard and I had a significant relationship and Alex was jealous.”
Alex scoffed. “Jealous? Are you five years old?”
“It’s the truth,” I said through gritted teeth. “For years you’ve been trying to steal my missions and my glory. Each time I succeeded, you would play it down, saying you could have done better, or citing some success to try to dilute my victories. When I failed, you stomped all over it, telling Lord Reynard how wrong he was in making me a prince.”
He glared at me. “I still think he was wrong.”
“Thankfully, it wasn’t your decision.”
Alex started to rise from his chair, but Sarki shot him a glare. “Control your temper, Prince Alex.”
Growling, Alex sat back down, but his body was tense and his gaze screamed murder. Why couldn’t the others see he was Reynard’s killer? It was written all over his face, all over his actions.
“Everyone here knows your story, Prince Drake,” Nolan said as a matter of fact. “You have every reason to hate Lord Reynard.”
My nostrils flared.
I had hated the man in the beginning. I had wanted to kill him, to skin him alive, to tie him down in the sunlight and watch him burn, but that had been a long time ago. With time, Lord Reynard proved he wasn’t as bad as I wanted him to be and he won me over. Thinking of the past still hurt, but now, I was able to separate those two parts of my life—there was a before and an after being a vampire, and they both were different.
“If that was the case, then why didn’t I do it centuries ago? Why wait until now?”
The princes exchanged glances as if trying to come up with a good answer for that. There was none.
“Perhaps you were biding your time,” Alex suggested. “You wanted to gain his trust before you took his life.”
“If I were that petty, then I would have killed him with the lights turned on so he could see my face while I did it. And again, I won his trust long ago. If I had considered killing Lord Reynard, I wouldn’t have waited until now.”
“What about your new blood slave, the one that survived?” Aston asked, taking me by surprise.
Why were we t
alking about her again? She had nothing to do with this. “What about her?”
“Why did you claim her?”
“I fail to see the connection between this question and Lord Reynard’s death,” I said, controlling my voice so my anger and frustration wouldn’t show. Though I bet they could see how angry and frustrated I was by the clench of my fists and the tick in my jaw.
“Lord Reynard never favored humans,” Dorian said. “In all my centuries with him, I haven’t seen him claim any human blood slaves for himself, and yet, these last two makes how many? Six or seven blood slaves you claimed and took to your quarters?”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Seven. It made seven. But it was the first time I had taken two young women—and if I was being honest to myself, I only took Judy in because of Thea. Before them, I had taken Thomas because I couldn’t stand there and watch an eight-year-old die. As for the other four … most had been in the same situation as Thomas. Young boys who reminded me of myself. Only one had been an older woman who resembled my mother. I took her in, and after losing her fear of me, she had treated me like her son—a luxury I didn’t deserve.
“Lord Reynard didn’t take blood slaves. I did. I still fail to see the connection between that and his murder.”
“You’re a human lover,” Aston said. “You prefer humans to your own kind.”
“That’s …” I didn’t know what to say.
“That is the truth and you know it,” Nolan added.
“If it came between a human and a vampire, you would save the human,” Dorian said.
“Perhaps Lord Reynard seemed interested in one of your pets, and you wouldn’t stand for it,” Aston suggest.
“That’s absurd!” Gray defended me.
“No, that’s the most accurate thing I heard all night,” Alex said, a smug grin across his face.
“Did Lord Reynard show interest in your new pet?” Dorian asked. “What’s her name?”
“Thea Harrington,” Alex said.
I clenched my fist before I used them to squeeze Alex’s throat until his neck broke.
“Did Lord Reynard show any interest in Thea that night?” Dorian asked again.
“No!” I almost shouted, losing my patience. “He didn’t come close to her that night, and even if he had showed interest in her, I know he would have backed off after I asked him.” I glared at Alex. “Unlike others.”
“We might need to question her,” Cain suggested. What the hell? He had voted for me, and now he was stabbing me in the back?
My blood boiled. I stood and barked, “The hell you will! She’ll stay in my quarters, and none of you will ever get near her again.”
The room went silent for a moment, and then it burst into a swarm of harsh words and whispers. The princes talked among themselves, deciding my future.
My insides tensed, because no matter what had happened, I knew the outcome I would have to face here.
Prince Aston rose to his feet and said, “Prince Drake, your questioning is over for now.” He paused. “After hearing your answers, we’ve concluded you’re a suspect in Lord Reynard’s death.”
17
Thea
Drake had been gone for hours, and I was crawling the walls inside his chambers. I loved reading and the place had everything I needed, but I also needed fresh air. Besides, I had to roam the castle. There was no choice here.
When I proposed to Thomas that we go out for a stroll, he freaked out, reminding me Drake had asked us to stay inside.
“That was hours ago,” I protested. “I’m going, with or without you.”
For a moment, I wished he would stay so I would be able to go around the castle without having to lie to him. To my surprise, he grumbled but came with me.
However, once we got to the garden, another young slave appeared and asked Thomas to help with something. Thomas seemed unsure about me. He wanted to take me back inside before going to help, but after I promised to stay put and wait for him in the gardens, he finally followed the other slave out.
And I was alone in the gardens.
My first instinct was to run inside the castle and continue my search, but the dread about bumping into other vampires was too big. I had been lucky so far, I knew that, and I wasn’t sure how long I could push it.
But I had to try. I had to go. I had to find it.
I would, but after I spent some time outside and took lungfuls of fresh air. I missed being outside.
Taking a deep breath, I glanced at the moon and admired its glow. I had always thought I liked the moon more than the sun, as if the moon and I had a connection or something.
But now, after being locked inside the castle for ten days, I realized I liked the sun too. I missed it like crazy. I missed the brightness, the colors, and the sounds of the world in daylight.
I chose a secluded corner outside the maze and sat down on a stone bench, flirting with the moon and the stars.
How was I going to amble around the castle without being seen? How was I going to search its dark corners if Thomas was supposed to be with me all the time? And when he wasn’t, I risked being found out by a less than friendly vampire. Besides, I was sure I was wasting my time searching in such obvious places.
I sighed.
Wherever it was hidden, it would probably take more than sneaking around to retrieve it.
“Hell …”
I stilled as the faint voice reached my ears. My heart sped as I thought about what to do. Stay here and hope whoever it was didn’t come this way, or hide in the maze and hope the vampire didn’t smell me from a mile away? Neither were great solutions.
I rose and settled on hiding in the maze. But, before I could take a step, Drake appeared right in front me.
“Holy …” I fell back on the bench, my hand over my racing heart. “You scared me!”
He stepped back. “I apologize.”
I took a deep breath, trying to slow down my pulse. My gaze, though, wouldn’t leave Drake. I had thought he looked imposing in a black suit, white shirt, and burgundy tie before leaving his chambers earlier tonight, but now, under the moonlight and among the dark shrubs of the garden? He looked like an actor ready to rock the red carpet.
My heart sped up again.
However, his expression was different. Usually, he stared at me with indifference, only showing the briefest of emotions here and there. Tonight, his green eyes were dull and his shoulders were sagged.
“What’s wrong?” I asked before I could think it through. “What happened at the meeting?” My insides coiled. “Don’t tell me Alex won.”
Drake ran a hand through his hair, pushing the long strands out of his beautiful face. “No, no one won. It was a tie and we turned to Sarki to decide, but she suggested we find Lord Reynard’s killer first.”
“And?”
“A questioning started, and I was the first in line.”
“So you cleared your name.” I was certain he hadn’t done it. Even with his super strength and speed, he had been right by my side the entire time. He couldn’t have done it.
Drake sat down on the bench beside me and exhaled through his nose. “No. Actually, I’m on the line as one of the suspects.”
“Why?”
He turned his solemn eyes to me. “Because I defended you.”
A shock ran through my core. “W-what? Why?”
“Because they think I favor humans over vampires, and since Reynard wasn’t fond of humans, they think I killed him to protect you.”
“That … that makes no sense. You hadn’t claimed me for five minutes before Lord Reynard was killed, and he didn’t even know me. He hadn’t shown interest in me. You had no reason to kill him.”
“That’s exactly what I told them, but it seems Alex has half of the princes under his thumb. He throws out a lie and the others spin it out of proportion.”
“That’s crazy. What happens now?”
“They interrogated all the princes and decided three of us had reason
s to kill Lord Reynard. Alex, Cain, and me. Now the three of us will be investigated. In about a week, we’ll be interrogated again, and hopefully by then, they will have found the culprit.”
I shook my head. “What if the killer isn’t any of you three? What if whoever did it is hiding it well?”
“I know. I thought about that.”
“Can’t you use compulsion to extract the truth?”
“It doesn’t work as well from vampire to vampire. The stronger the vampire, the weaker the compulsion will be. For example, Lord Reynard was so old and powerful, no compulsion worked on him. None of ours anyway.”
I stared out to the fountain in the distance, thinking, considering. There had to be a way to clear Drake’s name. It wasn’t fair he was incriminated for something he didn’t do.
And why was I trying to defend a vampire? All vampires were monsters.
Weren’t they?
I returned my gaze to Drake and found him staring at me. Like this, when his expression was downcast, he looked almost human. Almost. He was too handsome, too stunning to be a simple human.
“Why did you claim me?” The question rolled off my tongue without my consent.
His brows dipped and his lips pressed into a thin line. I thought he wouldn’t answer, until he finally said, “I saw you there in the middle of the ballroom, holding a girl you barely knew with all you had, and fighting vampires as if you had any chance of winning.”
My cheeks warmed in embarrassment. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”
One corner of his lips curled up. “Don’t get me wrong. I thought it was amazing. It seems you know how to fight, which is great, but unfortunately, that won’t do much good against vampires.”
“It was all I could think of doing in the moment.”
“I know, and I admire you for it,” he said, his rough voice sprinkled with a soft undertone. “Anyway, seeing you there, fighting for her, fighting for yourself … I don’t know what came over me.”
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