Lucette rested her chin on the top of her duvet and took a deep breath. The more she thought about it, the more she believed that all the things the vampire queen had told her were lies.
As tempting as it was to think that she could arbitrate peace in their family, and between their two kingdoms, she couldn’t believe it. She wouldn’t tell her father of her aunt’s visit, but she’d do everything she could to convince him that invading Sanguinia was a trap.
For the rest of the night, Lucette couldn’t sleep. Partly—perhaps mostly—because of her unwanted visitor, but also she wasn’t yet used to sleeping at night. As much as she’d enjoyed sitting out in the sunlight the past two days, being awake in the night still felt natural.
Three hours before sunrise she gave up, got dressed, and ventured into the halls of the palace. The corridors weren’t as silent as they’d been during the curse, and she could hear the occasional clank of a baker’s pan from the kitchen on the other side of the palace, as well as the faint voices of patrolling palace guards and slayers.
The two slayers guarding the entrance to her bedchamber’s corridor nodded as she passed. It wouldn’t do any good to tell them the vampire queen had gotten past them tonight. With that magic stone around her neck, the queen was so much faster, so much stronger than ordinary vampires. The slayers couldn’t be held responsible for not spotting her.
And it was better that they hadn’t seen her, anyway. If they had, she suspected they wouldn’t have survived the encounter.
“Psst.” Startled, she stopped in her tracks. “Lucette, over here.”
The voice was male but hushed. Was Tristan out of bed, too? She blinked, searching the shadows in the direction from where the voice had come.
Alex stepped out from behind a tapestry hanging at the side of the corridor. Her heart jumped, and she refused to let what the vampire queen had told her eat into her happiness at seeing him.
“We need to talk,” he said. “Is there a slayer-free zone in this place? It took me all night to get this far.”
Lucette checked over her shoulder, then opened the door to the library just a few feet down the hall. After ensuring that the room was empty, she beckoned Alex and stood watch as he slipped into the room. A guard passed by the end of the corridor, but she quickly followed her cousin inside and closed the door behind them, hoping that if the guard had spotted her, it hadn’t raised any alarm on his part.
“I’m glad to see you,” she said, watching his reaction. “We were worried about you.”
“We?”
“Tristan wants to thank you again for saving his life.”
“Oh, yeah. Right.” He moved the heavy drapes aside and peeked out the no-longer-barricaded window. “We don’t have too long before I have to leave, and I’m not sure I’d survive getting caught.”
She leaned onto the back of a leather chair. “You’re good at getting past slayers. You did it for years.”
He turned.“It’s different now. They’re out to prove something. Their supposed defense mandate has obviously changed into an offensive strategy. I saw an attack a few hours ago. Six slayers on one young vampire who was totally minding his own business. It was brutal.”
Lucette cringed. She didn’t like to hear about any deaths, but hearing that slayers had killed without provocation scared her. It would only help the vampire queen gather more support.
“Well, I’m glad you came,” she told Alex. “It’s great to see you.” And even better to see that he didn’t seem angry with her as his mother had claimed.
“Good to see you, too.” He stepped forward. “But I didn’t just come to chat. I’ve got information.”
“Have you seen your mother since the curse lifted?”
He shuddered. “No way. If I go anywhere near her, she’ll kill me. In fact, she’s put a price on my life.”
Lucette gasped. Even for the evil queen, this was beyond horrific. “How do you know?” she asked.
“I overheard other vampires discussing how they’d kill me if they found me.”
She squeezed his arm. “Oh, Alex, I’m so sorry. She found out you helped me?”
He nodded. “The vampires who got away from the tower last night must have told her.”
She felt more sure than ever that Alex was trustworthy, but how could she convince her father?
“How are things here?” Alex asked. “How did your parents react to the curse lifting?”
“Well obviously, they were glad to see me.” For the moment, she kept quiet about the impending invasion. That was a state secret.
Alex stepped forward. “You need to tell your father to brace for war, as soon as tomorrow night. My mother decided not to wait for your father to act. Worse, she did something last night that even our generals believe warrants an invasion.”
“What did she do?”
His jaw clenched and the brief hint of pain in his eyes turned to hatred. “My mother arranged the murders of a group of Sanguinian citizens. Her minions killed entire families.”
“How horrible!” Lucette reached for his arm and squeezed. “But how does that justify Sanguinia invading Xandra? Won’t everyone rise up against her?”
“Her minions used wooden stakes and left garlic lying around. I was there soon after the bodies were discovered, and let me tell you, previously peaceful vampires are now out for human blood.”
His words sent a chill down her spine. Every last doubt in her mind about Alex vanished. Every doubt about his mother, too. Natasha had done this horrible deed before visiting her tonight with that false peace offering. It had all been trickery and deceit.
Alex paced across the room, then turned to her, looking stricken. “The police who found the bodies headed straight to the generals, and even though the generals are reasonable, they can’t ignore this massacre. Even if they choose to wait for real evidence of who was behind it, the plan was masterful, because now even ordinary citizens are ready to attack.”
Lucette cringed.“If the vampire attacks escalate—at all—my father will invade Sanguinia for sure. He’s right on the brink.”
“You need to tell him not to,” Alex said emphatically.
“I’m not sure he’ll listen to me.” But she had to try. “Stay here.” She hugged Alex quickly. “I’m going to wake my father. He needs to hear this.”
Lucette’s stomach churned with anxiety as Alex stood before her parents in the library. Six slayers flanked the perimeter of the room. She’d tried to object to their presence, telling everyone they had nothing to fear from Alex, but her parents had insisted—both of them.
“Stefan,” her mother said, “after all that’s happened, I can’t believe you’ve given audience to a vampire, especially her son.” The look of revulsion on her mother’s face was clear.
Stefan turned to his wife. “He’s also our nephew. Let’s hear him out.”
Her mother shuddered, and her father sighed.
Lucette hated that her mother was being to rude to Alex and that his presence had driven yet another wedge between her parents, but neither of those things could be her main concern at the moment. Not when Xandra and Sanguinia were on the brink of war.
“Dad, please listen to Alex. I trust him completely.” Lucette wondered if she should also tell him that Queen Natasha had been in her bedroom just hours ago—even Alex didn’t know that—but she decided to keep that information to herself. It might make things worse.
Lucette listened as Alex told her father the same things he’d told her. She tried to gauge her father’s expression, and she tried to listen to Alex’s story objectively, as though she were hearing it for the first time. He sounded sincere. Her father had to believe him.
“This is some story you’re telling,” her father said to Alex. “But I can’t base a decision that impacts the lives of my soldiers, the safety of my subjects, the very future of my kingdom merely on your word. Can you offer me any evidence? Other witnesses?”
Alex shook his head. “You have to underst
and, it’s not like I can talk to other vampires right now. There’s a bounty on my head, so I can’t go back to Sanguinia. Not if I want to live.”
“That’s because he helped Tristan and me,” Lucette interjected. “He saved our lives.”
Her father ran his fingers over his stubbled chin. “I need to think about this. How long can you stay?”
Alex glanced over to the windows. “Do you have somewhere I can be sheltered from sunlight?”
“Yes, of course,” her father said.
“Stefan.” Her mother stepped up beside her husband and whispered, but not quietly enough that Lucette and Alex couldn’t hear. “I won’t have that vampire staying in the palace. It’s not safe.”
“Your majesty,” Alex said politely,“if I stay, it is I who’ll be vulnerable. Your household won’t be in danger. Even if I don’t come into contact with sunlight—something I’ll have to trust you to ensure—vampires are weak while the sun is in the sky. I couldn’t hurt you once the sun’s up, even if I wanted to.”
“Liar.” Her mother practically spat the word. “The day your mother cursed my baby, she was plenty strong. She leaped more than thirty feet in one bound.”
“That’s because she used the Stone of Supremacy,” Alex answered. “I assure you, during the day, there’s nothing I can do to hurt you. And I wouldn’t consider it at night.”
Lucette walked up beside him. “Believe him, Mom. He helped save your life.”
“I doubt that.” Her mother ran her hand over her throat. “How do I know he wasn’t the vampire who bit me?”
Lucette blew out an exasperated breath. “Because I saw it happen! Alex helped save you that night and helped me protect you and Dad every other night.”
Her mother’s cheeks flushed bright red and then she looked directly at Alex for the first time since she’d entered the room. “You helped protect me during the curse?”
He nodded.
“Because I’m your aunt?” She looked perplexed.
“No,” he shook his head. “I didn’t find out we were related until much later.”
Tears rose in her mother’s eyes and she clasped her hands in front of the pale blue robe she wore over her night clothes. She stepped forward and took Alex’s face in her hands. “Thank you.” Her voice was small, but her tone sincere.
“I’d like you to stay,” her father said to Alex. “This plan to provoke us sounds like Natasha, so I will hold back on the invasion. With your help and advice, I’ll send a diplomatic envoy into Sanguinia to talk directly to the generals—whomever you recommend.”
“If the queen finds out,” Alex said, “your diplomats won’t survive the trip.”
“That’s why I need your advice,” her father said.
Alex nodded. “I’ll stay.”
The door burst open, and Tristan ran into the room. Lucette’s heart did a dance at the sight of him, but he headed straight for her father. “Your Majesty, I’ve got horrible news.”
“What?” her father asked.
“It doesn’t matter what you decide about invading Sanguinia. The Xandran refugees have returned and have taken up arms. They’re planning to invade Sanguinia on their own.”
Lucette paced around the library. “We’ve got to do something,” she said to Tristan.
He rose from a leather chair and put his hands on her shoulders. “Your father is handling it. He’s talking to the ambassadors right now.”
She shook her head. “We have to do something to stop it.” She admired her father, but there was no time to talk. “We should go to the border,” she said. “We can stop the refugees before they cross into Sanguinia. I’m sure I can reason with them.”
Tristan’s jaw firmed and he remained silent for so long that Lucette started to worry, but finally, he nodded. “Your bravery astounds me. It’s why I fell in love with you, and if this is what you think you should do, I can’t stop you. But what about him?” He nodded toward Alex, who was sleeping under a canopy of dark fabric they’d strung between some of the bookcases in the corner.
Lucette thought for a second, then crossed over to the black velvet tent and opened it. “Alex, are you awake?”
He stretched his arms. “I am now.”
“We need to talk.”
Lucette clung to Tristan as they drove the funereal carriage toward the border. Alex was in the back, tightly sealed into the only thing she could think of to safely transport him during daylight hours—a coffin. When he’d heard her plan, Alex insisted he come along to talk to the vampire villagers on the other side of the border. She and Alex agreed that talking to diplomats and generals wasn’t the answer. Stopping the bands of ordinary citizens was key to preventing all-out chaos.
The carriage rounded a bend and the Xandran border village came into view. All the windows and doors in the village were boarded over, and there was no sign of life on the streets. Were they too late?
Arriving in the town square, Lucette’s worst fears were confirmed. It was filled with men and women sharpening stakes. She climbed down off the carriage and ran to the closest man. “Who’s in charge here?”
He shrugged. “No one, really, but we’re of one mind. Stake as many of those monsters as we can before nightfall.”
“But the sun sets in four hours.”
The villager narrowed his eyes and said, “Then we’ll finish them off tomorrow.”
“But as soon as night falls, they’ll come over here to retaliate. You might not live to fight a second day.”
“So be it.” He ran his ax along a stake. “We’ve got to try. After what they did, making us sleep every night so they could do with us as they wanted, we need to exact our revenge.”
Lucette grabbed his arm. “It wasn’t ordinary vampires who did that—it was their queen. They didn’t have anything to do with it. Just like you, they were innocent victims.”
“Victims?” The villager laughed harshly and went back to sharpening his stake.
Lucette caught sight of Tristan having a similar conversation with another villager, but he did not seem to be making any progress, either. It wouldn’t work to talk to these people one at a time, so she raced to the center of the square and climbed to the top of her father’s statue. It was more than twenty feet high, and by the time she reached the top she had the attention of the entire crowd.
“Look!” voices shouted. “It’s the princess!” Soon everyone in the square was paying attention.
For her first sixteen years, barely anyone in the kingdom had known her face, and now so many did. Lucette fought off the horrible realization that many of her countrymen had visited her while she slept, like an animal on display at a zoo.
She went through the same arguments she’d made to the first man, and slowly she felt as if some of the crowd were seeing her point.
A tall, broad man stepped forward. “But what if we do nothing today and they attack us tonight, anyway?”
“We hope to prevent that,” Lucette replied. “As soon as night falls, the vampire prince and I will make the same appeal to the vampires across the border. They believe you were responsible for a horrible massacre last night—families and children were murdered.” A roar rose in the crowd, so she raised one hand to quiet them. “Their own queen did it to frame you, to incite war. She wants Xandra to attack.” She shook her head. “We must prevent war.”
“But they cursed us,” the same man said. “They cursed you.”
Lucette realized this man was the closest thing this group had to a leader. Convince him and she’d win over the crowd. “They didn’t curse us,” she told him. “Their queen did. It was a personal vendetta against my parents, designed to torture them by hurting me, and all of you. If you attack, you’re playing into her hands. Right now, she doesn’t have the support of her people, and she doesn’t want to appear the aggressor. But if Xandra invades first, she’ll win.”
The noise in the crowed swelled as they discussed what Lucette had told them. She looked down to Tristan, who sm
iled. If these people weren’t yet convinced, she’d just have to keep trying. At least every moment she held them back was another moment they weren’t crossing the border to stake sleeping vampires.
Finally, the man she’d been talking to stepped up onto the back of a cart. He raised his hands and the crowd quieted. “What the princess has told us makes sense. I propose we give her the chance to stop the vampires from attacking. But if they come across the border tonight, we will retaliate at dawn. Stay safe tonight. Board up your houses. Put roses on your doors.”
One side down. Hopefully, Alex would have equal luck over the border.
When darkness fell, Lucette and Tristan let Alex out of the coffin. Tristan returned to the palace to tell King Stefan what they’d accomplished. All this would be for nothing if the Xandran army suddenly arrived at the border crossing with orders to invade.
Alex and Lucette entered Sanguinia and, as expected, they immediately found a group of vampires discussing how and when they’d enter Xandra to exact revenge for the massacre.
At first, the villagers didn’t believe Alex, but Lucette spoke to them, too, and explained how she’d been cursed. It turned out that most of the people weren’t even aware that the Xandrans had been unable to wake at night for the past two and a half months. When Lucette told them how all these troubles had begun because of the vampire queen’s jealousy, the villagers started calling for their queen’s death.
Alex and Lucette stood together, trying to figure out what to do next. They’d stopped the ordinary citizens of both kingdoms from attacking, but still had to deal with the armies. If the Sanguinian army now believed they were justified in invading because of the massacre, the vampire queen would get want she wanted.
A low rumbling sound rose in the distance, and Lucette strained to make it out.
Alex tensed beside her. “The vampire army. It’s coming.” He ran into the village road and took up a place in its center. Lucette remained at the edge of the road, in the shadows. Moving faster than a team of horses, the marching vampire army progressed toward Alex. Lucette worried he’d be trampled to death.
Sleeping Beauty Page 25
