She’d tried to please him, as well as her mother, but they’d admired such different traits that, in the end, she hadn’t pleased either of them. Vlad had wanted a fearless soldier who threw herself into every battle; her mother had wanted a sweet-tempered, fun-loving brat. She was neither.
As she made her way through the trees, she endured the bitter cold, savored the scent of the coming storm. The sky was darkening, the clouds growing thick and black. Hadn’t taken long to learn Oklahoma weather could change in the blink of an eye.
Footsteps just ahead, branches slapping together. She and her sisters halted just as her brother’s men stepped forward, forming a circle around them. They were camouflaged so well, she had to stare and stare hard to see them.
Sorin moved from the center of them. “Sisters,” he said with a nod.
With a whoop, Stephanie ran to him. She threw herself in his arms. He caught her, twirling her around. Envy returned, nearly swallowing Victoria whole. The pair had spent time together, that much was obvious. They knew each other, were comfortable with each other, perhaps even loved each other.
Why hadn’t Sorin wanted to spend time with Victoria?
“What are you doing, you cow?” Lauren snarled at the youngest princess. “Get back here before he double-crosses you and you’re watching your head roll away from your body.” Stephanie smirked. Still snuggling in Sorin’s arms, she said, “I’m not the one who failed to visit our brother in secret. And who are you calling a cow, you whale? Have you seen your ass in those pants?” A mocking shudder raked her. “Actually, forget the question. Everyone’s seen your ass in those pants.”
“Everyone’s about to see your blood sprayed all over the trees.”
Perhaps Victoria should have come out here on her own. “Lauren, you’re gorgeous,” she said, holding out her arms to keep the two sniping females apart, just in case they decided to leap at each other and slap fight. Yes, they’d done it before, and it was humiliating for everyone. “Stephanie, you’re beautiful, too. Now, can I speak with my brother? Please?”
Sorin kissed Stephanie’s temple before setting her down. He motioned behind the group with a wave of his hand. “Sit. All of you.” So formal now. So polite.
“Sit wh-ere. Oh.” Victoria spun around, expecting to see only the brittle leaves and twigs she’d passed. Instead, she found four perfect tree stumps, two facing the other two. Exactly how distracted had she been?
Victoria eased onto the one closest to her. Sorin claimed the one across from her, and Stephanie claimed the one at his side, forcing Lauren to take the one facing her.
All but one of Sorin’s men had disappeared, but she knew they were nearby, watching, listening, protecting. Then one of them stepped from the shadows, proving her suspicions, holding a tray of blood-filled goblets.
Victoria accepted one and sipped. The blood was warm, rich and sweet. Not as sweet as Aden’s, but Chompers practically whimpered with relief.
“I’m surprised you came,” Sorin said, looking right at her.
She had so much to say to him, so much to ask. “Why did you never visit us?” was the first thing to escape her mouth. The question echoed, and she blushed, gulping down the rest of the blood to hide her face for a few precious seconds. She should have chosen to kick things off another way. Not accusing him of neglect right from the beginning and putting him on the defensive.
Amused rather than offended, he said, “I didn’t think you wished to risk Father’s wrath.” Getting comfortable, he removed the swords from his back and propped them against the side of his seat. “Was I wrong?”
Shoulders slumping, she set her empty goblet on the ground. “I could have risked his wrath to see you, so I suppose I must share the blame.”
Lauren rolled her eyes. “You’re always so quick to take the blame or forgive when you can’t. Well, I would have risked it, you backline reject, but still you didn’t try to meet with me. And let me tell you something else. If you despised Vlad half as much as you claimed, you would have. So guess what? You’re all talk and I’ll hate you forever for that. In fact, I might even decide to rip your throat out before I— No way! Is that blade curved?” She dropped her still-full goblet, blood spilling in the dirt, and pushed from her stump.
In the next blink, she was crouching in front of his weapons, studying them, running her fingers along the blades, oohing and aahing. “Can I have one? Or both? Please!”
He handled her jump from hatred to gimme-now-now-now with ease. “You may have both when I’m done with the human king.”
The sickness Victoria had experienced in her bathroom, just before shaving Aden’s head, returned full force.
“Awesome. Thanks.” Lauren dragged one of the blades back to her seat to continue her study.
Sorin peered at Victoria with eyes so similar to her own that she could have been drowning in her reflection. “And you? What would you have of me? My surrender to the human?”
He’s not so human anymore.
Stephanie raised her free hand high in the air. “Me, me. I know. Pick me!”
“You asked me to come, and I did,” Victoria said. “Why did you ask me? To offer your surrender to the human?”
She expected the comment to enrage him. Had he been Vlad, it would have. Instead, he surprised her once again by grinning. “I see Father did not beat the fire out of you as I’d assumed.”
Vlad had certainly tried. “Well?” she prompted.
Sorin shrugged one of those wide shoulders. “I heard your Aden’s summons, and I came to remove him from the throne. I can tell you have great affection for him. I have also heard the reports. But we have become a joke among the races. Soon those races will swarm and attack us, hoping to destroy the vampires at long last.”
“How have we become a joke? He defeated the witches and the fae—in one night! Tell me the last time you did that. Or Father. You can’t,” she added before he could reply. “You’re simply making excuses because you desire the crown for yourself.”
He gave another shrug, unashamed and unabashed. “Very well. I do. That crown is my right. My birthright. The human seems nice enough—for food—but that’s all he is, Victoria. Food.”
No, Aden was far more than that. He was courageous, honorable, and had (almost) always made her feel better about herself. He’d never purposely hurt her, and he never would, even when he was at his worst. She could not say the same about Sorin.
So, this was one battle she would not back down from. “You should have taken the crown from Vlad yourself, but you didn’t. You struck at him from behind, waiting, biding your time.”
Finally, the reaction she’d expected since the first. Anger. “Your human did not strike at Vlad,” Sorin said with a glare. “Dmitri did. Aden merely finished off your betrothed.” True. But. “If Dmitri defeated Father, Dmitri was stronger than Father. And if Aden defeated Dmitri, that means Aden was stronger than both of them.”
“Logical, but wrong. He’ll not defeat Vlad. He’s too nice. More than that, Father was at his weakest when Dmitri attacked him. That will not happen again. He’ll be prepared now. And he’ll do anything, fair or foul, but mostly foul, to get what he wants. You know this. I can defeat him, however. I will defeat him. I’ve been preparing for this war for years.”
“Wait. What is all of this about defeating Vlad?” Lauren said. “He’s dead.”
The sickness churned more forcefully. “Actually, he’s alive.”
Lauren looked like she wanted to protest, but a nod of confirmation from Sorin, then Stephanie, had her sputtering. “How did you guys know? Why did no one tell me? What does this mean for us? Our people?”
“Sorin told me,” Stephanie said. “And it means nothing. No matter what, Father cannot be allowed to rule again. He’s a tyrant.”
“But…but…”
“You know I’m right. You hate him, you just don’t want a human in charge of us.” Stephanie twined her fingers with Sorin’s. “And you need to listen to me. Aden i
sn’t as nice as you think. I mean, he is, but he’s lived at a ranch for human baddies for months. He’s done stuff. He’ll not be easy to walk on.”
Sorin scoffed. “A baddie human isn’t the same as a baddie vampire warrior, now is it?”
“I’m with Steph,” Lauren said, abandoning her upset over Vlad’s defeat of the grave. Or, really, her upset over not being told. “You’re underestimating Aden, and it’ll cost you.” Metal vibrated and whistled as she ran her fingertip along the center of one of the swords. “You weren’t here when he had our beasts slobbering all over him.”
“Stop!” Victoria banged her fist against her thigh. “Giving Sorin information about Aden is akin to aiding him. Aiding him is a betrayal to your king.”
Sorin waved away her protest. “They’ve told me nothing I didn’t already know. And you can tell your human that I will be leaving my beast behind. He’ll not use mine against me.”
She absorbed his words, her eyes widening. “You can do that? Leave your beast behind? On purpose? And survive?”
He nodded proudly. “Unlike Father, I have never feared mine. I accept that part of myself—and use it to my advantage. My beast leaves me and returns to me at my discretion.”
“He doesn’t try to kill you?” Lauren asked, as shocked as Victoria was.
“He did. At first. Now, he accepts.” Sorin rested his elbows on his knees, his expression thoughtful. “Perhaps I’ll teach you how to release yours. He can fight alongside you. And believe me, you’ll never have a stronger, more vigilant partner.”
“I would love that!”
Victoria had never heard such excitement from her all-fighting-all-the-time sister. And, she thought with mounting dread, there went Aden’s best advantage. Controlling Sorin through his beast.
“Things will be much improved under my reign,” Sorin said, his gaze pinning her in place. “You’ll see.”
FIFTEEN
RAIN POURED ALL NIGHT LONG. Rain still poured at dawn and throughout the rest of the day. The sky was as black as an abyss, the clouds so thick Aden wasn’t sure they’d ever dissipate.
At the appropriate time, he made his way to the backyard of his new home. A home he would not give up easily. He stopped at the edge of the warded circle, quivering with energy. He was shirtless, wearing only jeans and boots, already soaked to the bone.
On his finger perched Vlad’s ring, filled with je la nune. At his ankles, his daggers were at the ready. Every vampire living in the home stood outside with him, some holding torches under the awning. Victoria stood with her sisters, wringing her hands together, bathed in flickering firelight.
They hadn’t spoken since she’d left him yesterday. She’d tried, she’d wanted to, but still he’d avoided her. His hunger for her would have deepened, and worse, he would have asked her to betray her brother.
He couldn’t ask her. Not if he wanted to like himself when this was over.
It would be hard to like himself, though, if he was dead.
“Did you feed?” she mouthed.
He gave one clipped shake of his head. No, he hadn’t. He’d tried. A few hours after dismissing the slave she’d sent him, without taking a single drop of blood from the girl, his hunger had overwhelmed him and he’d marched to the slave quarters, an area that was more like a harem than anything, where the humans could roam freely, even though they didn’t want to roam.
As he’d stood there, watching them, listening to their idle chatter, he’d found his hunger actually dwindling. Even though the scent of their blood, the drum-loud beat of their hearts, had tantalized him. He’d left.
On his way to the throne room, where he’d sat and thought in private, again he’d been more interested in the blood of the vampires he’d passed, his hunger returning with a vengeance. Yet he’d opted not to partake, wondering whether he’d spend the next day seeing the world through their eyes rather than his own.
He’d almost hunted Victoria down, almost asked her to feed him. But still he’d avoided her. For all his other reasons and one more. Well, many more, but this one was the most important. She didn’t want to feed him. The knowledge tore him up inside, even if the fault lay entirely with him. After the way he’d treated her…
An animalistic cry reverberated in the back of his mind. One he’d heard before, one he ignored.
He hadn’t gotten to tell Victoria about his encounter with her mother, the dancing woman. He was now certain that was who he’d seen, that he’d watched one of Victoria’s memories come to life. A memory of her mother trying to abscond with her, of Vlad catching them. Of Vlad punishing Victoria while her mother watched. A whipping, each of the cat-o’-nine tails laced with the same liquid in his ring.
By the time her father had finished, her back had reminded him of tattered Christmas ribbons. Vlad would pay for that.
And Aden would be the one to kill him, for real this time. Soon. He just had to take care of Sorin first.
Aden, Elijah said nervously.
“Not another word,” he muttered. “You guys promised.”
I’m sorry, but I only just realized. Only just saw. You need to take your pills. Okay? Please.
“What? Caleb and Julian demanded in unison.
“Saw what?”
Just take your pills. As you know, I’ve seen this fight end with several different outcomes and each one was worse than the last. Well, I just saw another outcome. The images were disjointed and distorted, and I’m not sure I saw things in the proper order, but I think you will walk away from this if you take the pills.
How could that be? “I don’t have them with me.” If he failed to take them, would he have a vision of Victoria’s past, midpunch? Would the souls distract him too much? “Besides, I need your ability.” He needed to know what Sorin planned to do to him before the bastard actually did it. Sorin was going for his head, no question.
Just…send Victoria to get them.
“Why?”
I told you. There’s a very high chance you won’t walk away without them.
A very high chance? “That’s not good enough.”
Okay, let’s look at this from a different angle. You know how cold you’ve been?
“Yes.” Kinda hard to forget.
Well, that’s actually been a lifesaver for you. Right now, strong emotion is your enemy. The pills will help you remain unemotional.
“I don’t understand.”
Yeah, me either, Caleb said.
Just take the pills, Aden, Elijah insisted again. Trust me, emotion is not your friend.
Was anything, anymore? “All right.” Elijah was never wrong. Or rarely wrong, he guessed he had to say now. If Aden needed the pills, he needed the pills. “I’ll—”
Sorin materialized at the edge of the clearing, already marching forward, two of his men holding a banner that stretched over their heads, the rest holding torches of their own. Torches the rain did not affect. They were a collage of shadows and light, menace and redemption.
The wind kicked up, whistling…closer and closer…footsteps…
“It’s too late. I can’t send her now.” He would appear weak. Vulnerable. To vampires, appearance was everything, and if he appeared weak and vulnerable, he would lose this fight even if he won. “We’ll have to find another way to bring home the victory.” Elijah groaned. I was afraid that would happen. Just try to stay calm. No matter what. Okay?
“Okay.” Easily said. Probably impossible to do.
Then Sorin and his men were there, standing just inside the ward, and Aden could see each face clearly—as well as the faces of Seth, Shannon and Ryder, his human friends. They were bound with rope. Prisoners.
To their credit, they didn’t appear to be scared. Seth, with his red-and-black hair dripping into his scowl, just looked pissed. Shannon’s darker skin blended into the shadows, but his eyes…his eyes were so green they glowed. And they were narrowed on Sorin, throwing daggers of hate. Ryder was the calmest of the three. Maybe because he looked shocked to
his marrow.
First things first. “Let them go,” Aden demanded. “Now.”
The rain slowed to an icy trickle. Sorin nodded, as if happy to oblige. “Of course I’ll let them go. Their freedom in exchange for the crown. Simple, easy, and you don’t have to die.”
He could accept, but as the new king, Sorin could later kill the boys anyway, and there would be nothing Aden could do to stop him. “Only a coward would offer such a bargain.”
“Is this the part where I erupt into a rage and attack you? Sorry, no rage from me. Call me whatever you like. It doesn’t matter. Very soon everyone here will call me King.”
“Cocky.”
“Confident. But all right. You don’t wish to save your friends. I understand. Callous of you, but let’s see if you’ll relinquish the crown to save your girlfriend.”
During Sorin’s speech, one of his men had snuck through the crowd and closed in on Victoria, grabbing her by the back of the neck and forcing her to her knees. She tried to fight, but her strength was clearly no match for his.
“Before you ask, she can’t teleport away,” Sorin said. “She came to see me last night, and I drugged her drink.”
Victoria trembled and gave her brother a look of cutting betrayal. Aden felt a twinge of betrayal himself. She’d left him and gone to see her brother, might have even told him secrets about Aden.
After the way you treated her, could you blame her? Elijah said.
Way to help me remain calm, he thought darkly. Not that the souls could hear him. “How can you treat her that way?” he asked Sorin. “She’s your sister.”
A negligent shrug. “One thing I’ve learned over the centuries. Everyone is expendable.”
Victoria’s chin trembled, and Aden knew she was fighting tears. He stiffened. No matter what she’d done, no matter what had gone down, he hated the thought of her upset. Strong emotion? Yeah, if anything could cause it, he realized, she could.
Any questions he might have had about his feelings for her were answered in that moment. Aden didn’t just like her, he loved her, and he would do anything to protect her. More than that, he trusted her. She might have gone to see her brother, but she wouldn’t have done anything to jeopardize Aden’s health. Just as, even at his worst, he had not jeopardized hers.
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