“No,” Alex said. “You saved both of your lives by putting him before yourself.”
Warmth flooded through her, and she leaned into Tristan, so happy that she could barely speak. But there would be time for hugs later. Right now, she needed to see if her parents were okay.
Queen Natasha struck Ivan across the face and the tall, dark-haired vampire flew into a wall. She smiled at his pain.
Even better, this fool had confirmed that the curse had lifted and she could finally cross into Xandra. But merely killing Catia and Stefan wouldn’t do. She wanted to see them suffer, to lose everything they held dear. She’d make them beg to die.
“How did this happen?” Natasha roared.
Ivan shrunk toward the floor. “We were outnumbered.”
“You were supposed to be a soldier.” He was handsome and dark, but useless, and if she squinted she could almost imagine it was Stefan cowering before her. Ivan was a pathetic excuse for a vampire that she’d sent to Xandra to snatch the royals and bring them back for conversion and torture.
Sneering in disgust, Natasha backed up a few steps. Her ordinary minions had been more efficient than this team of soldiers she’d hired. At least her minions had pierced the occasional throat. At least some of them had been brought back dead, providing evidence of Xandra’s aggression. Ivan and his team had failed tonight. Not only had they turned up empty-handed, all but one had lived. And Ivan hadn’t even brought back their fallen brother as evidence of Xandran atrocities. Useless.
“My queen,” Ivan said, still crouched like a cornered animal, “at first everything was as you’d said it would be. We found the girl alone in a tower, unguarded, awake, while the rest of the kingdom was deserted, most buildings boarded up, only a few with sleeping bodies inside. But then another human arrived, then more came out of the walls, and . . .” He paused and closed his eyes, his body trembling in fear.
“What?” She strode forward to stand over him. “Tell me everything or your death will be slow and painful.”
“It was Prince Alexander.”
Natasha sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back, trying to calm herself. “What of him?”
“He was there, too.”
“And?”
“It was he who killed our team member. He killed a vampire to save a human’s life. Not only that, he attacked me as I was about to drink from the girl’s neck.”
In a fit of rage, she grabbed Ivan’s head and snapped his neck. His body crumpled to the floor. Sometimes messengers simply needed to be killed regardless of their message.
All she’d done for her son, all she’d tried to teach him, all her hopes and dreams for his future—they all burned in a fiery instant. Her own son was a traitor. She didn’t know who to kill first, her son or her sister.
Enough with depending on other people. Enough with subtlety and manipulating public opinion. It was time for a direct approach. If she couldn’t win her subjects’ adoration, she’d settle for fear.
Tonight, she’d kill a large group of Sanguinian citizens herself and dump them near the border. She’d make sure to include plenty of women and small children, and leave enough evidence around—wooden stakes, garlic—to convince whoever found the bodies that the Xandrans had been responsible for the massacre.
If that didn’t turn her people against Xandra and send them over the border to feed, nothing would. And this new plan came with insurance. Even if the increased vampire attacks didn’t provoke Stefan to act, once the generals learned of the atrocity, they’d feel justified in mounting an invasion. War was imminent. How delightful.
Lucette let the sunlight bathe her as she sat in the courtyard on a wide lounge chair with Tristan, their fingers laced together.
“I hope Alex’s okay,” she said. “I’ll be worried if he doesn’t show up tonight.”
“Hmm.” Tristan turned onto his side toward her. “Do you really think he went to see his mother after the curse lifted?”
Lucette shivered in spite of the warm day. “I hope not.” Clearly, family didn’t mean much to that horrible queen.
Plus, Lucette wanted to focus on the positive. She ran her palm over Tristan’s cheek. How had she become so fortunate? All her life she’d felt cursed, even before learning she actually was cursed, but now she felt like the absolute luckiest girl in the world. Even her parents seemed happy.
“Excuse me, Princess.”
She turned to see that Oliver, one of the palace staff, had approached. She sat upright.
“The king and queen would like to speak to you. They’re in the king’s office.”
“Thank you. Tell them I’ll be right there.” She pushed herself off the lounge chair and turned back to Tristan. “Would you like to come?”
He stood. “If you want me to, I will, but your parents summoned you, not me. And these past weeks, I’ve seen more of them than you have.” He kissed her tenderly before she left.
Lucette stepped into her father’s office, and her happiness expanded. Her parents were standing together near the window. They weren’t touching, but less than a foot separated them and the vibe wasn’t frosty for once.
She cleared her throat and they turned.
“Lucette,” her father said and she ran forward, diving into his arms and then hugging her mother, too. It felt so good to be able to hug them again.
“What is it?” Lucette asked. “Not that you need a reason to summon me. I’m so happy all this is over, I’m in love, and you two are here together . . .” She cut herself off, realizing she might be thinking wishfully. Plus, if their newfound closeness was real, her being overeager or presumptuous might stir things up. It was better if they realized, over time, how much they meant to each other. Now that the stress of her curse had lifted, certainly they’d recapture the love they must have felt before she’d been born.
Her father smiled, but then his expression turned stern. “I hate to tell you this, but it’s not over.”
Of course it was over. “Dad, I’m fine. We won.”
“No,” her mother said. “Natasha will never consider this over. Not until she’s crushed Xandra—or she’s dead.”
Lucette gasped. “You’d have your own sister killed?” Her mother had always been strong-minded, but this?
The king shook his head. “I hope it won’t come to that—but she must be removed from power.”
“How?” Lucette asked.
“Your mother has finally convinced me.” He turned toward his wife and smiled softly. “Xandra must declare war.”
“No!” Lucette shouted. “It’s over, let it be over!”
“Lucette,” her father said,“I know you went through a lot, which is why we wanted to tell you about this together.” He nodded at the queen.“Your mother and I have agreed that it’s best if you leave Xandra for a while. I’ll ask your young man to take you to Judra.”
Lucette’s mind spun. On the one hand, going away with Tristan sounded wonderful, plus, her parents were actually in agreement for once. Those two things combined to fulfill her greatest fantasies.
But—her parents were wrong. Lucette stood straight and looked her father in the eye. “Declaring war is exactly what she wants you to do, Dad. She doesn’t want to be the aggressor because many of her people aren’t on her side. She’s hoping you’ll invade.” And did he really think they’d stand a chance in a war with Sanguinia? Sure, the vampire army only fought at night, but they were faster, stronger, and more bloodthirsty—literally.
Her father frowned, and his tone turned patronizing. “How could you possibly know her motives?”
It was time to come clean, and Lucette took a deep breath. “Because of my cousin, Prince Alexander. He’s my friend.”
Her father staggered back a few steps and her mother’s face paled. “That’s impossible,” she said.
Lucette shook her head. “When I told you I hadn’t been out of the glass cell before Tristan got here . . . I was lying.”
Her father’s jaw stiffened.
“Alex showed up the first night you put me in that display case. He helped me figure out how to get out. He helped me keep you both safe. He told me about the rose allergy. I wouldn’t have survived without Alex.”
“Lucette.” Looking exasperated, her father ran his hand through his thick, dark hair. “We’ll talk about your lying later—not to mention how you put yourself in so much danger.” He shook his head. “But how do you know you can trust this Alex? He’s a vampire.”
She stepped forward and grasped at the fabric of her skirt in frustration. “Because he helped me so much. Plus, I’m a good judge of character, and I like him. You can trust him because I trust him.”
Her father rubbed his chin. “I was on good terms with his father, the late King Vladimir, but the boy barely met his dad.” He tipped his head to the side and pressed a finger to his lips. “How often was he here?”
“Almost every night.”
“And he helped you?” her father asked. “He never tried to drink from you?”
“No, Dad. Alex doesn’t drink human blood. He never has. He finds the whole idea repulsive, and all he wants is peace between our kingdoms.”
“How can you two be so naive?” her mother snapped.
“Naive?” Lucette tried to remain calm, to prevent a fight. “Why do you say that?”
Her mother grabbed Lucette’s arm. “Whether or not he’s your cousin, he’s a vampire, Lucette. Whatever he said was a lie. They use mind control to sway human behavior.” She shivered. “If you ever had any doubts about the brutality of these creatures”—she ran her hand over her throat where she’d been bitten—“surely you see the truth now.”
“No,” Lucette said, terrified that her mother’s negative attitude toward vampires would shatter the parental truce. “Vampires don’t use mind control, and they aren’t repelled by garlic and they are no more murderous than we are.”
“If you’d ever met my sister—” Her mother shuddered.
“They aren’t all like her, Mom. In fact, none are like her. And she paid the ones who came over here to bite people.”
“Why would she do that?” her father asked.
“First,” Lucette started, “she paid them to harass us, because she was angry that she couldn’t cross the border and had to wait sixteen years for her curse to work. Then later she realized she could use the vampire attacks to lure Dad into a war. War is what she wants, Dad.”
Her mother wrinkled her forehead as if she were thinking about this, but her father broke in.
“Lucette, what you say ties in with what the Sanguinian ambassador has claimed, but with all that’s happened, I think your mother is right. Vampires can’t be trusted.” He turned to his wife and they smiled softly at each other. “Besides, Alex is the crown prince—her son. Logic suggests he’s loyal to her.” Her father crossed his arms over his chest. “If he told you Xandra shouldn’t invade Sanguinia, I say that’s all the more reason we should.”
Lucette was breathing so quickly she was nearly hyperventilating. The temptation to cave and simply agree with her parents was huge. It was so rare that they agreed about anything, so she wanted to let this go, but she couldn’t.
“Dad, promise me you’ll wait. Promise me you’ll give me a chance to prove that I’m right. If our armies invade Sanguinia, we’ll be crushed and Queen Natasha will win.”
Her father waited a few moments before answering. “I’ll give it twenty-four hours. No more.”
Natasha watched the girl sleep. Lucky for the child, she took after her father and not her insipid little mother. Her niece certainly had inherited her father’s dark, striking looks.
She bent down toward the sleeping girl andinhaled. Hunger pumped through her. Even though she’d feasted on a human she’d encountered on the way to the palace, Lucette’s scent made her hungry.
But she must resist the temptation to kill the royal family right now. She wanted more time to play with her food.
The girl’s eyes opened, and when she saw Natasha, she scrambled away across the mattress. Within seconds the girl was standing on the bed, holding a stake, her thin nightgown blowing in the breeze from the open window.
“Who are you? What do you want?” the girl asked.
“Why, I’m your dear auntie, come for a visit.” Natasha nodded her head slightly. “I haven’t seen you since you were a babe. It’s so nice to finally meet you, Lucette.”
“I wish I could say the same.” The girl’s tone was bitter and angry, but soon she’d bend the child’s will. If not, the girl would die.
Natasha raised her hand to her chest and stroked the stone pendant. “Oh, what a cruel thing to say to your long-lost auntie. I mean you no harm. I came to talk.”
Lucette eyed a long fabric pull by the side of her bed that would undoubtedly bring servants and guards, and Natasha smiled inwardly. The girl’s first instinct had been to go for her stake, rather than sounding the alarm to bring help. She admired Lucette’s instinct to act, rather than to rely on others to save her. This girl had potential.
“We have much in common, you and I,” Natasha said as she glided along the side of the bed and then toyed with the golden frame at its foot. “While you take after your father in appearance, I do believe, in demeanor, you take after me.”
“Never!” the girl shouted.
“Tut, tut.” Natasha shook her head. “There’s that rudeness again. Apparently you take after my sister, too.” She sighed dramatically.
“Why are you here? What do you want?”
“Getting down to business.” Natasha smiled. “I like that.”
Lucette still held her stake at the ready, her expression fierce and revealing no fear, even though she knew she stood no chance. Natasha liked that, too. “I have a proposition for you, one that’s in our mutual best interests.”
“I can’t imagine how any of our interests are mutual.” The girl’s stake-holding hand started to shake.
“Now, now,” Natasha said and sashayed from the end to the side of the bed. “We’re family. Together we can ensure lasting peace between our two kingdoms.” She lowered her voice and learned forward. “My sources tell me your father is considering war.”
“What sources?”
The girl was smart not to deny or confirm. She gave away nothing. Natasha smiled and said, “I’m hoping you can help me avoid this war, and at the same time mend the horrible rift in our family. It saddens me how these misunderstandings have grown out of proportion.”
“Misunderstandings?” Lucette drew her stake back. “You cursed me when I was a baby.”
Natasha forced her jaw to relax so her expression would appear gentler, friendlier, less threatening to the girl. “You don’t know the whole story.” She fanned her eyes as if she had tears there. “If only you knew what your mother and father did to me first.”
“I do know, and it’s no excuse. What you did was unforgivable.”
This soon-to-be-dethroned princess was becoming annoying. With one bite Natasha could rip out her throat and eliminate her forever. But that would be hasty. Natasha had new plans for torturing Stefan and Catia. She would use their daughter against them, yet again.
“I do regret my actions that day.” She waved her hand.“In hindsight, laying the curse might have been a slight overreaction, and I want to make amends. But because the fairies made it impossible for me to enter Xandra until the curse lifted, I couldn’t apologize sooner. If only I’d been able to visit . . . I wanted to lift the curse right from the start, but your parents refused to bring you to me, and I couldn’t get here.” All lies, but lies the girl might fall for.
The girl frowned and relaxed slightly.
Pleased she’d obviously struck a chord, Natasha continued, “Approach your parents for me, ask them to hear me out, ask them to accept my deepest apologies. Maybe then war can be avoided.” She leaned on the mattress toward the girl. “I’m doing all I can to hold my armies back, but my generals are itching to invade to seek revenge f
or all of our citizens murdered by your slayers.” She added a little shiver for effect.
“Why come to me?” Lucette asked. “Why not my father, or the ambassador?”
“You’re the perfect person to come to.” Natasha held her hands out in mock surrender. “The peacemaker in our clan. After all the misunderstandings in our family, mending the fences is left to you and me.” She forced a sad look onto her face. “And now Alex’s so angry with you, too, and it’s not right for cousins to be fighting, especially when you’ve just discovered each other.”
“Alex’s angry with me?”
The girl looked stricken and her reaction confirmed that Alex had lied. He had talked to the sleeping beauty. Natasha fumed, but tried not to let it show. At least she’d identified the young princess’s weakness. The girl might be brave, but she couldn’t tolerate conflict, especially among family. As for her traitorous son, when Natasha found him she’d snap his neck, then drive three stakes through his heart.
Natasha forced a sad look onto her face and said, “My sweet son Alexander is jealous of your young man.” She put a hand over her heart. “It was Alexander’s wish—mine, too—that you and he would one day marry and forge a bond between our two kingdoms that could never again be broken by silly squabbles or misunderstandings.”
Lucette shook her head.“Alex doesn’t want to marry me. Not since he found out we’re cousins, anyway.” Her brow furrowed.“And he’s not mad or jealous about Tristan. I don’t believe you. He saved Tristan’s life.”
Natasha made her best attempt at an empathic smile. “He didn’t do that for your young man, darling. He did it for you.”
The girl tipped her head to the side, and satisfied for the moment, Natasha leaped through the window to the courtyard below. Her seeds of doubt had been planted. Hopefully by tomorrow they’d begin to grow.
Lucette crumpled to her mattress. Suddenly, all those days she’d been observed in her sleep by would-be suitors didn’t seem quite so creepy. That paled next to being woken by the vampire queen. She pushed her back against her headboard and pulled her duvet up to her chin. Shivering under her warm covers, she considered everything her aunt had said. Mending the rift between her parents and the vampire queen was tempting and fed on all her instincts to keep the peace, but as badly as she wanted to believe that her aunt’s desire to prevent war was sincere, she wasn’t sure.
Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer Page 24
