by Leigh Walker
The prince had to leave for a meeting. There hadn’t been time for him to tell me more about his mother and how I’d nearly died.
I sat, dazed, as Mistress Olivia did my hair and makeup.
“Did you have a good night’s sleep?” she asked kindly.
“Yes, thank you.” But my head throbbed from everything else he’d said. I coughed, and she peered down at me. “Mistress Olivia… Can I ask you a few things?”
“Maybe, my lady. I’ll have to see if it’s on my ‘approved’ list.” She sniffed. “The prince and his rules, you know. Gets a bit confusing if you ask me.”
“Tell me about it.” I frowned. “He did explain more this morning—more about how I’ve come through these past years.”
“Good.” She nodded, applying blush to my cheeks as she waited for me to continue.
“But he had to rush off, and now my brain won’t stop trying to make sense of what he said.”
“Of course, my lady. It’s a lot to think about.”
“Can you tell me anything about my family?” I held my breath, praying she had information.
Mistress Olivia frowned at me. “I know for a fact, as do you, that His Highness has put that topic of conversation on the ‘unapproved’ list. Don’t try to get me into trouble!”
“I’m so sorry.” My heart sank. “It’s just that I was hoping…”
She chucked me under the chin. “I know, child. But all in good time. Ask me something else to pass the time.”
I nodded, head still swimming. “So…how many times have I been chosen as a sacrifice?
She frowned, thinking about it. “I would say about four?”
My heart sank. Five young maidens had been kidnapped and brought into the compound to make up for the years I’d been chosen. “Why does he choose me? Isn’t it safer to have me fly under the radar?”
“No, it’s not—and trust me, we’ve tried everything.” Mistress Olivia shook her head. “We used to hide you in the village, but there’s just something about your blood. It calls to our kind, a siren’s song. The guards would go and search you out then bring you back here before the king and queen. Then His Highness would be forced to return you to the lake, and we would have to start all over again.”
I blinked up at her.
“Then for years the prince had you smuggled into the castle, but the only humans we have here are the blood slaves. Again, the guards could always smell you, no matter where he hid you. So he finally decided bringing you in legitimately was safer.”
“But can’t the guards smell me now?”
She chuckled. “Of course they can, but His Highness has dosed them with enough of your blood that you somehow repel them now. He has it very tightly controlled. I don’t understand how it works, child. Just that there’s been years of trial and error and years of your blood being administered around here in order to protect you. Now the prince believes that the safest thing is to hide you right in plain sight. He doesn’t let you live with the sacrifices anymore, either. He likes you right here in the castle, where we can all keep an eye on you.”
I nodded, trying to process all of this information. Another thing I didn’t understand was what Dominic had said about us getting closer to stopping his mother. Has she been plotting to out her kind for years? What is she waiting for? Nine years was half my life, and it seemed like an eternity to me.
“Have things become worse with the queen recently?” I asked.
“Oh yes, my dear. She has been circling the drain for some time, but I’ve noticed these past years she’s gotten much worse. She doesn’t want to hide what she is anymore, and it’s making her reckless.” Olivia leaned down and dotted some concealer under my eyes. “Time passes differently for us, of course. She’s been alive for thousands of years. At first we thought her fixation might be something passing. But it’s been a while now—since I met you, in fact—and yes, it’s definitely getting worse. She’s getting antsy. She wants to institute slavery again.”
“We have to stop her.”
She smiled kindly. “That’s the plan, dear. And one of the reasons I’m so very glad you’re back again.”
I glanced up as she brushed some sparkly eye shadow over my lids. “We’ve known each other for almost ten years?” Mistress Olivia was a stranger, yet there was something so familiar about her, even her smell. “I wish I could remember.”
“I know,” she clucked. “It’s hard to see you each time, when everything is new to you again. I hate that you’re scared. It’s also painful that you can’t remember His Highness when I’ve seen you together so many times before.”
“He and I…” I didn’t know what to ask. “We’re friends?”
She raised her eyebrows. “You’re very close.”
I nodded. “Have we always been close? I mean, aside from that first time when I almost killed him?”
“You two have a connection. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen.” She smoothed my hair. “You rarely want to leave him to go back.”
“So why do I?” Hardly anything was waiting for me at home. Although at least there weren’t vampires trying to enslave humans…
“We haven’t been able to figure out a way to make you stay. It seems that, after a certain amount of time passes, you get called back. And you can’t refuse the call.” She shivered. “I wish you never had to return to that wretched place.”
“You think my life back home is wretched?”
“This is where you belong, my lady. I’ve seen it myself. You were meant to be here and with His Highness. You have the kind of bond that can’t be broken, and you should be together.” Olivia dabbed the end of my nose with a makeup brush. “And yes, I think that other place is terrible. Those Dixons and their spoiled children, toys thrown all over the place. A right mess.” She scoffed. “And I can’t bear the neighborhood. All the cars, the trash, the houses crowded next to each other—no wonder the world shut itself down.”
“Wait—you’ve been to New Jersey?”
“Is that what you call it?” She frowned. “His Highness brought me and Anthony through several times, back when all this first started. We had to make sure you were safe and also that he could return safely those times when he wanted to check on you.”
I remembered the night I’d seen Dominic floating outside of my window. He was checking on me. For some reason, that warmed my insides. “By the way—can the prince fly?” I asked. “I thought I saw him outside my window one night.”
She cocked her head. “Aye, but only for a minute or two. It’s really more like levitation.”
“Ah.” I nodded, as if that made perfect sense. At some point, my brain would explode. For the moment, I would suspend my disbelief and try to make sense of what I could. “Back to what you were telling me—you’ve traveled through time. You know how to do it!”
“I can’t say I’m an expert, but I have done it. Downright unpleasant, if you ask me. I’ve no idea how it works—magic’s the only explanation. And magic isn’t always precise.” She took out a tube of mascara and unscrewed the lid. “When we returned to the kingdom, it was always very disorienting. We didn’t come back at exactly the same spot in time. Once, it was a few weeks before we’d left, and the next time, a day or two after. The last time, it was three weeks later. Had my head spinning, I tell you.”
My own head was spinning as well. I silently prayed that I could have coffee at breakfast, or perhaps something stronger like espresso—spiked espresso. “It’s confusing. I agree. The prince keeps saying time is malleable, but I’m having a hard time understanding what he means.”
“Time is like the lake, you see. It looks still, flat. But then you see a ripple, and it changes the whole face of things. You can be inside one ripple, but once you go under, you never know which circle you’re going to come back up in.”
I nodded, though I still didn’t completely comprehend it.
“One thing I can tell you for sure. Time goes back and forth, but His Highness has never
wavered in his feelings for you. He promised you the last time that you two would be together forever—and now you’re engaged.”
My cheeks felt hot. I didn’t know what to say or feel.
Mistress Olivia’s eyes glistened with unshed tears as she patted my shoulder. “So I know the gods are watching out for us, no matter what happens here on earth, and no matter when. You would do well to remember that, despite what you’re going to see today.”
My heart leapt to my throat. “What do you mean? What am I going to see today?”
“The queen wants you with the other girls.” Mistress Olivia sighed. “Pleasing Vampires 101 is what she calls it.”
“It’s a class?”
“Aye. She wants to make sure the prince is satisfied with his new human bride.” She snorted.
“So I’m being sent to hang out with the other sacrifices?”
She nodded. “Anthony will bring you to where they’re kept. Keep your wits about you. Remember, for the most part, they’re brainwashed—they would just as soon skin you alive as share you with the prince. Don’t be expecting to make new friends.”
I swallowed hard. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
She tsked under her breath. “They’re no match for you, of course. But they can get a bit grabby. Don’t let them get you alone, okay?”
“O-Okay.” But I suddenly felt much less than okay.
A knock sounded on the door, and I took a deep breath. I was going to have to face the other sacrifices. Why does that seem just as scary as dining with vampires?
I had a sinking feeling I was about to find out.
18
Class
“You have to understand—they think you’ve stolen their prize.” Anthony selected a bright-green apple from the fruit basket in the kitchen. “They view you with disdain if not downright hate.”
I put down the chocolate croissant I’d been eating. “Gee, thanks.”
“S’not my fault the prince only has eyes for you.” He took a large bite of apple and proceeded to talk as he chewed. “It would be a lot less work for me if he loved someone—or just occasionally bit someone to give their lot some hope—who actually lived in this time century. It’s not like it would kill him.”
“Anthony.” I looked around at the kitchen staff, but they were busy on the other side of the room and paid us no mind. “Careful.”
“Ah, we’re barking orders already, are we? I see how it is.” He chuckled, grabbed a croissant, then motioned for me to follow him out the door. “Let’s see how that attitude does with the other sacrifices. They’ll scratch your eyes out, I reckon!”
“Why do you sound so gleeful about it?”
“I’m not. I swear. Although I do love a good fight, especially between girls—all that hair tossing.”
“Anthony!”
He winked at me. “Ah, come now. I know you can handle them. You’ve done it before, and you’ll do it again.”
I shot him a look as we hustled down the hall. “They’ve tried to hurt me before?”
He shrugged. “Just that Elise one. She wants the prince for herself, so she gets a bit edgy. We had to erase her an awful lot. She was carrying such a grudge. Maybe she’s mellowed out some.”
But I remembered the way she’d looked me up and down the night before. “I doubt it.”
“Don’t worry now, Tor. You can handle her all right—and the other girls. They get a bit snippy, but you just have to play a role today. Don’t make a fuss and call any attention to yourself. Best to fly under the radar, you understand?”
I straightened the collar of my dress. Best to stay off the radar altogether. “Of course.”
Anthony stopped walking. “What—are you afraid? Being so agreeable isn’t really your style.”
“I’m not being agreeable. I’m being pragmatic. And I’m not afraid of the other girls,” I fibbed. “But why didn’t the prince tell me about this himself?”
He started laughing. “Because he knew you’d get that look on your face.”
“What look?” But I could feel my brow furrowing. “Oh, never mind. Let’s get this over with.”
A guard opened the door, and I was momentarily blinded by the sun. After a moment, I basked in its warmth. “Ah, that’s better. The castle’s pretty cold.”
Anthony rolled his eyes. “It’s a tomb, and you know it. The queen keeps it that way for a reason—she doesn’t want the humans getting too comfortable. It’s much better out here.”
“Where do you live?” I asked as I followed him down the path through one of the gardens.
He jerked his thumb toward the castle. “I live in the prince’s wing. I’m considered one of his most prized servants.”
“The prince has a wing? And you’re his servant? I thought you were his BFF.”
He raked a hand through his hair, making it stand up in clumpy spikes. “I don’t know what a BFF is, but I’m no servant. Dom just tells his parents that so they let me live and eat for free.”
In no rush to join the other girls, I stopped to inspect a large lavender flower. “He told me more about me coming through. And about vanishments—that was interesting.”
“Ah, I’m glad to hear it. It gets a bit annoying, how you can’t remember anything.”
I inhaled the flower’s scent, wishing I could spend the morning in the garden. “But is there anything I can do about it? If we haven’t figured it out in nine years—”
“Of course there is.” Anthony eyed me. “You could just stay here and marry the prince. Then you could fight the queen while living happily ever after. That would be a hell of a lot more convenient than all this bloody back and forth.”
I frowned. “Mistress Olivia said I always get called back. It doesn’t sound like I have much control over it.”
“We’ll see.” He scowled at me. “I keep telling Dom we need to tie you up somewhere the next time you get ‘called.’ That way you’ll stay put instead of playing hard to get. Maybe you’ll stay put once you’re married.”
We stared at each other. “I’m hardly playing a game,” I finally said. “And I’m not sure about this marriage-at-the-full-moon business. I’m barely eighteen.”
He groaned. “Ah, I know. It’s just that His Royalness mopes an awful lot when you’re not here, and his mother’s off the deep end. I’m ready for a little progress. We’re trying our best, you know. But we can’t do it without you.”
I nodded. “The prince told me about my blood. He mentioned something else—something about his mother almost hurting me the last time?”
“Like I said, Queen Danica’s gone daft. She tried to force Dom to turn you the last time you were here. We had to send you back before she did it herself.”
My hand went directly to my neck. “Why did she do that?”
“It’s the same old story with her.” Anthony shrugged. “She wants Dom to drink from humans. He was spending a lot of time with you, but upon inspection, the queen found you had no bite marks on your neck. She insisted that he turn you as a test of his loyalty. When he refused, she tried to lure you to her chambers so that she could have the honor.”
I shivered. “But he saved me?”
He laughed. “Of course he saved you. Though I told him not to.”
“Why did you do that?” I cried.
“Because he could’ve ended it right there.” His green eyes narrowed. “If Danica had drained you dry, your blood would probably have poisoned her.”
“So why didn’t he—”
“Because then you would be a vampire, silly. Or perhaps dead. He wouldn’t risk it.” Anthony took a turn smelling the flower. “I, of course, think it would solve a multitude of problems.”
“Um.” I gaped at him. “Because if I were dead, he could date someone in this century?”
“No, silly.” He waved me off. “The queen would’ve dropped dead first from whatever toxins are in your blood. Hence no more threat of human enslavement. And if you were so damaged that we had to
turn you, so what? You could just stay in the kingdom forever, and Dom wouldn’t be so broody all the time.”
“You think I would be able to stay if I were a vampire?”
“I don’t know for sure.” Anthony shrugged. “But I do know you wouldn’t be so susceptible to people harming you or putting you in danger. Which reminds me, my lady—they’re about to call attendance. We must go. The other sacrifices await.”
Anthony took me to the blood slaves’ building. It was made of gray stone, like the castle, and stood at the edge of a field near a small pond. “Here we are.” He smiled and bowed.
I could hear the other girls inside, laughing and talking. Panic rose in my chest. “You’re not just going to leave me here, are you?”
“Yes I am. You’re a girl.” He pointed at me then inside the building. “And so are they. So good luck to you, my lady—and don’t forget, you can more than handle yourself. I’ll come collect you before dinner.”
“I have to stay until then?” I cried.
But he only winked before he turned and walked away, his hand skimming the long grass of the field.
That Anthony. He seemed so familiar—annoying-family familiar. Familiar enough to smack.
“Mm-hmm.” Someone cleared their throat behind me. I turned to find a tall, attractive woman staring at me. She wore a long, heavy black gown, and her brunette hair was short and wavy, swept back from her high forehead. “Class is beginning,” she said stiffly.
I nodded. “I’m coming.”
“Not fast enough, if you ask me. The first thing you should know about vampires? We don’t like to be kept waiting.” Her brown eyes blazed, and I immediately got the message.
“Yes, ma’am!” I scurried inside, careful to keep my distance from her. The sacrifices stopped talking as soon as I entered the large, airy room. They stared as I hustled toward the back, praying that their attention would quickly turn elsewhere.
The vampire in the black gown strode in, heading to the podium at the front of the room. “Ladies, please take a seat. As you know, I am Professor Talbot.” She smiled as everyone clapped politely.
