by L. Danvers
I shot him a look. “Forgive me if I’m struggling to think of happy thoughts right now.”
He squeezed my hand harder and began humming a tune—the same tune that had been playing on the piano in the hotel lobby.
The first song we’d danced to.
Julian didn’t say a word. He didn’t even look at me.
He rested his chin on top of my head and kept on humming.
His chest reverberated against my back, and he slinked his arms around my waist, holding me.
Letting out a deep breath, I did as he advised. I closed my eyes. Instead of focusing on the terrifying surroundings, I replayed that night in my mind’s eye. And I smiled.
When the song was over, he whispered in my ear. “Better?”
“Better,” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Danielle...”
“Yeah?”
“Open your eyes.”
My lashes fluttered open, and my jaw fell to the floor. We had entered the Kingdom of the Silver Seas—and now I knew how it had gotten that name. The water had this luminous look about it, like we were drifting through liquid silver, leaving a trail of shimmering water in our wake. It wasn’t like sludge or something unclean. No. It was spellbinding. Mesmerizing. I could watch the waves for hours.
I started toward the edge of the ship, wanting to get a better look.
“Keep your focus on the land ahead,” Miguel ordered.
“Why?” I asked.
“Sailors have driven themselves mad staring into the Silver Seas.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Added protection. The spelled cave keeps outsiders... well, outside. The spelled waters, on the other hand, keep insiders inside.”
“Spelled waters?” I asked, wanting clarification.
“You’ve heard of Narcissus, right?”
“The Greek god?”
“The one who fell in love with his own reflection...” Julian added.
Miguel nodded.
“So, if you stare at yourself in the water too long...” I started.
“You lose all sense of time. You forget to eat. Forget to sleep. Like I said—added protection.”
I gulped.
So, following Miguel’s advice, I kept my focus ahead. Like, straight ahead. I was too afraid to risk looking anywhere else.
MIGUEL DROPPED US OFF at the shore, leaving us with his number for when we were ready to return to Portugal. He also provided directions for how to find Keo’s house from here.
We thanked him profusely, and Julian offered to tip him, but Miguel refused. Holding up his hand, he said, “King Leopold and Queen Gwendolyn are venomous snakes.” Grief clouded his eyes, and I understood. Miguel was a werewolf like Keo. And here in the Kingdom of the Silver Seas, werewolves were hunted for sport. “The Silverleaf saplings are rare, even here,” he explained. “I’ve never even seen one myself. The Royals have taken so much from me. I’m glad to help you take something they value so much from them.”
Compassion tugged at my heart. There was so much pain in his eyes. How had I not seen it before? Helping us was a risk. If King Leopold and Queen Gwendolyn found out that he was the one who brought us here...
We couldn’t let it be for nothing. We had to find those saplings and bring them back to Crescent Cape.
We said our farewells, and soon, Julian and I were navigating through the strange lands of this mystical kingdom alone. Whereas Crescent Cape left much to be desired, I found everything about this kingdom entrancing.
Following the map Miguel had drawn for us, we weaved our way past the willows that lined the shore and through a forest filled with strange, broad trees—some of the trunks of which had been stripped bare. As we passed by one of the trees, I trailed my fingers along the red trunk, noticing it was softer to the touch than I expected. Scrunching my nose, I asked, “What are these?”
“Cork trees, if I had to guess.”
“What’s a cork tree?”
He stopped short, giving me a mocking look. “Where do you think wine corks come from?”
I scratched my neck. “I don’t know. I never thought about it.”
He snickered.
“What? Between being a blood slave, getting thrown into your crazy competition, running from Princess Bianca AND Xander, I was supposed to be sitting around wondering where corks came from?”
He jokingly rolled his eyes. “Ah, so much to learn. I forget how young you are.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around for a million years,” I muttered under my breath.
“It’s more like a thousand. But I’m told I don’t look a day over twenty-seven.” He winked.
“So, you were twenty-seven when you turned?”
He nodded.
“And your siblings?”
“Twenty.”
I shook my head. “That had to be so hard being the first of your kind.”
He shrugged as if it didn’t bother him, but from the look on his face, it clearly did. “I don’t know that we were the first. Just the first in Crescent Cape.”
“You think there could be vampires and werewolves out there that are older than you?” I asked.
He let out a low laugh. “It’s possible. The world’s a big place.”
“So, you didn’t really answer my question.”
“You didn’t really ask one.”
I cocked my head to the side, eyeing him. “Julian, I’m asking you what it was like turning into a supernatural being when you had literally no one to guide you.”
He ran his fingers through his hair as if pushing his ginger-brown locks away from his forehead would push away the painful memories.
“Julian...”
“It was awful, okay? Torture. Agony. What else do you want me to say?”
I slowed to a stop, blinking. “I’m not trying to make you upset. I want to know more about you. Everything about you. I only have eighteen years to catch you up on. You’ve lived hundreds upon hundreds of lifetimes. How can I possibly get closer to you if you won’t talk to me?”
He shook his head, beginning to walk ahead of me. “Trust me. You don’t want to know everything about me.”
“Yes, I do,” I said, hurrying to catch up with him. “The good, the bad. All of it.”
He stopped again, putting his hands on his hips. “No, you don’t.”
I planted myself in front of him, folding my arms across my chest. Challenging him. “Try me. You killed your parents. You manipulated your siblings. You dragged me into The Choosing Ceremony and had me convinced that you’d drain me completely dry if someone else won. And guess what? Despite every logical part of my brain telling me otherwise, I’m still here. With you. So, Julian, when I tell you I want to know you, I mean it. Give me your worst.”
“Fine,” he said, flinging his hands in the air in frustration. “Do you want to know why I’m here?”
“To help Xander? To free me from Aiden’s hold?”
“Aside from that.”
“I don’t know. Tell me.”
He began pacing, cupping the side of his stubbled cheek with his hand as if agonizing over whether to tell me.
“Don’t you trust me?” I asked weakly.
His eyes turned into half-moons. “Of course I do.”
“Then tell me.”
He swallowed so hard that his throat visibly bobbed. “I killed her.”
My blood ran cold. “Who?”
His eyes flicked toward one of the trees as if he was unable to face me. “Victoria.” His voice cracked.
“Wait, what? I thought she—”
“I killed her, okay? In this twisted head of mine, I thought that I was helping when I infected her...”
I stepped back, trying to hide my horror. I knew I had asked for the truth, but I hadn’t expected this.
He stepped forward, trying to explain himself. “It was supposed to be a wedding gift for Aiden. But... it all went wrong. She refused to turn, and...” his voice trailed off, and he buri
ed his face in his hands.
“So that’s why you volunteered to search for the Silverleaf sapling. You’re trying to make it up to him.”
He nodded.
I pressed my fingertips to my forehead, trying to process this. How much did I know about Julian? How much blood did he have on his hands?
Somehow, I’d been able to look past so much. So much.
But this revelation made my insides knot up.
I felt like I was going to be sick.
“You hate me, don’t you?” he asked, still unable to look at me.
I was about to retort, but behind him, I noticed the grass rustling.
We weren’t alone.
“Danielle,” he pleaded.
We didn’t have time for this.
I shushed him and grabbed him by the arm, jerking him in my direction. I pressed a finger to my lips, gave a quick dart of my eyes so that he’d realize something was wrong and pulled him behind the nearest tree.
My heart was thrashing wildly within me, so much so that I could feel my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
Taking advantage of my heightened senses, I tuned into the distant voices, listening in.
More rustling.
Someone was running.
Fleeing.
An arrow whirred through the trees, and there was a sudden thump.
“First kill of the day,” a deep male voice announced. “Not bad, my prince.”
Julian and I exchanged a worried look, breathing heavily as we pressed our backs against the tree. I touched my trembling fingers to my mouth.
No, Prince Milo couldn’t kill us with a silver-tipped arrow. Julian was an immortal werewolf, and I was a hybrid. But if he found us, if he got close enough, he could rip our hearts out. And I really didn’t feel like dying today.
“How many is that?” Prince Milo called out to his comrade.
We could fight him if we had to. Maybe we could win. Maybe...
“Two-hundred and fifty-six. Two more, and you’ll hold the all-time record.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to suppress the urge to cry. I felt Julian’s strong hand clasp mine, and he gave it a squeeze, telling me we would get through this.
I nodded despite the panic rising in my chest.
It didn’t matter that Julian and I had been fighting. None of it mattered. The thought of something happening to him...
No. I couldn’t even think about it.
I wanted more than anything to tell him that I didn’t care about what he’d done in his past. He’d saved my life in more ways than one. I chose him. And I’d choose him again and again.
But I couldn’t say anything. Not now. Not with the vampire prince within listening range.
The adrenaline coursing through my veins made my hand violently shake. Julian firmed his hold, looked over at me and dipped his head. I knew exactly what he was thinking.
I shook my head, willing him to stop this. We were going to be okay. We had to be.
“Over there,” the man with the low voice announced.
My heart stopped.
I squeezed Julian’s hand back so hard that my knuckles went white. But as I tuned into the sounds of the crunching grass, I realized their voices were growing fainter.
They had gone in the opposite direction.
“Talk about a close call,” Julian whispered.
I let out a pent-up breath.
We were okay. He was okay.
Whirling around, I pinned Julian against the tree, cradled his stubbled cheeks in my hands and kissed him. “I’m sorry,” I whispered between kisses, my lips brushing against his as I spoke. “I’m so sorry. I don’t care about any of it.”
He spun me around, scooping his hand behind my lower back as he pulled my body in closer to his, kissing me with such longing that my knees went weak. “I love you, Danielle Parker,” he said. “And I will love you for eternity.”
Melting in his arms, I uttered back, “For eternity.”
“Now,” he said between kisses. “Let’s go find those saplings and get the hell out of here.”
Grace
No, no, no, no, no.
I cradled Evanna’s face in the palms of my hands, patting her cheeks, trying to awaken her. If I had to guess, I’d say her neck hadn’t been snapped. There hadn’t been a need. The big gash across her forehead suggested that she’d taken a blow.
Panic swelled within me, sending a wave of adrenaline crashing over me. Every inch of me was shaking.
What was I going to do?
If I could wake her up, she’d know what our next move should be. But despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get so much as a twitch of a lip out of her.
Anxiety building within me, I began scanning the room—as if there was someone, anyone, who could help.
I frowned. Charlotte was strewn across the floor beside her.
Charlotte.
She was the key to waking up Evanna. With her blood, we could...
But Charlotte was out cold, too.
Then it hit me. She was an immortal vampire, right? Which meant she couldn’t be killed. Unless...
My gaze drifted to her chest.
My own chest swelled with relief. Her heart was still intact. A small mercy. But that realization only sent me spiraling. Because vampires didn’t stay down for long. Which meant that whatever happened here had happened recently.
I gulped.
Shifting to my side, I was now crouched beside Charlotte. I brushed her thick, blonde hair away from her face and gave her a couple of pats on the cheek, as I had done with Evanna moments ago. “Charlotte,” I whispered, afraid to speak too loudly. “Charlotte. Wake up. I need your help. Please.”
In a startling instant, her electric green eyes popped open, looking at me dead-on. I waited for a second, expecting her to say something. But no words came.
“Charlotte. It’s Evanna. She’s... she’s...”
Charlotte pursed her lips. “It’s always something with you witches...” she muttered under her breath. Without wasting another second, she sat up and ordered me to open Evanna’s mouth.
While I was busy with that, Charlotte sank her fangs into her wrist until the blood began flowing.
Looking at Evanna, I remembered what it felt like to feel so weak. So drained. Xander hadn’t hesitated to save me. Even though it meant letting Aiden go free. And now, Charlotte was doing the same for Evanna. It was a sliver of compassion. Taking a moment to save a life before going after whoever did this. Maybe she wasn’t so bad... After all, come to think of it, this was the second time she’d given her blood to Evanna.
She held her wrist over Evanna’s mouth while I pressed down on her chin, holding it open for Charlotte.
A lump formed in my throat. “Nothing’s happening.”
“Give it a second,” she said firmly.
My gaze ping-ponged from Evanna’s eyes to her belly, desperately waiting for her eyes to open or to see signs of breathing.
“What the hell happened here?” I asked, my voice lowered.
“Xander,” she muttered.
I gasped. No. I should have guessed as much, but I hadn’t allowed myself to think it. My heart felt like a plane spiraling out of control, heading for a crash landing. I looked around in utter disbelief. The blood. The stakes. The bodies. The destruction. “Xander did this?”
Somberly, Charlotte nodded. “It wasn’t the real him,” she said, mostly affirming it to herself. “We can’t blame him for what—”
I placed my hand on her shoulder. “I don’t.”
She dipped her head in appreciation, eyes starting to swell with tears.
“Look!” I blurted out.
Evanna let out a groan, her palm finding the injury on her forehead. Grimacing, she divided a look between us, her wound stitching itself closed right before our eyes.
I didn’t care how many times I’d seen the healing effects of vampire blood. I would never get used to it.
“Where’s Xander?�
� Evanna asked, voice trembling. Her gaze dazedly wandered around the room, taking in the blood—so much blood—and the dismantled bars of the dungeon cell the Blood Heir had broken out of.
“Gone,” Charlotte said flatly. “You’re okay now.”
“I’m not worried about myself. What about the others?” she asked, lifting her chin, gesturing upstairs.
I shook my head. “They’re gone.”
Evanna’s eyebrows rose. “All of them?”
I felt as sick as she looked. “Yes.”
Charlotte grimaced, letting out a primal sound as if she’d taken a punch to the gut.
Meanwhile, Evanna exhaled. Now that her body had healed, she sat herself up and clasped her hands around her knees. “Where could he have gone?”
A lump formed in my throat.
Danielle.
He was going after Danielle. And if he had done this to his own sister, his own servants, his own friends who got in his way... what did he intend to do to her?
Grace
“Where are they, anyway?” Charlotte asked, referring to Julian and Danielle, whom I’d just gotten off the phone with. It had been days since we’d seen them. When Xander had first gone all hollow-eyed on us, Aiden and Julian had forced Danielle to run. And then, realizing that she’d need his blood to survive, Julian had chased after her. I had been so busy tracking down my family that I hadn’t even thought to call Julian to see if he’d caught up with her. It was a relief to hear her voice on the phone, however brief our conversation was. The news of Xander escaping didn’t lend itself to taking time to catch up much.
“Safe. Kind of. They’re in the Kingdom of the Silver Seas.”
Horror overtook Charlotte’s features. “You’ve got to be kidding. Why?”
“I didn’t ask.” Charlotte scowled, and I raised my hands in mock surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m a little distracted right now.” She had a point. It did seem random. But I stood by my explanation. My nerves were so shot that it was a wonder any of my brain cells were functioning at all.
Charlotte flicked her hand. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter as long as they’re safe.”
“HELLO?” a deep voice called out from the main level of the castle.