“What if Prince Jacen led the vampires of the Vale to a new location?” I asked.
“Queen Laila would never allow it,” Noah said. “She loves this land. It’s been her home for centuries. But even more so—she loves it because it’s sacred. She’s not going to give it up.”
“I wasn’t speaking about Queen Laila,” I said, since he was right—the queen wouldn’t give up her land without a fight. “I was speaking about Prince Jacen.”
“You think the prince will go against his queen?” Noah raised an eyebrow, clearly already sure of the answer to the question.
“Perhaps,” I said. “He was turned into a vampire against his will, and from what he’s told me, he’s not happy about it. He hates how Laila doesn’t give humans a choice on being turned or not. I believe Prince Jacen would be open to breaking from Queen Laila and starting his own kingdom, if he were presented with the option.”
“Let’s say I was willing to speak with the prince,” Noah said. “And that’s a big if. What would stop him from bringing his guards and attacking then and there?”
“A valid concern,” I said. “But this is why we have the Haven. Reach out to them with your plan, and they will send witch envoys to transport you and Jacen to a safe location where you can talk.”
“The Haven would involve themselves in politics?” he asked.
“They wouldn’t technically be involving themselves,” I explained. “They would be providing a safe space for two leaders about to go to war to talk so they can prevent war. Situations like this one are precisely why a neutral kingdom like the Haven is necessary. You’ll both be granted safety while in the Haven, and will be able to talk without worrying about any threats.”
“And if the prince tries to attack me once we’re there anyway?” he asked.
“He won’t,” I assured him. “It’s against the law to wage war—or cause any type of violence—on the grounds of the Haven. If he does try anything, he’ll surely see the wrath of the Haven’s tiger shifters.”
Noah’s forehead crinkled—I had a feeling he was giving my suggestion true consideration. “I’ll think about it,” he finally said. “I’m not a killer, and neither is our Savior. We’re eager for Him to rise because we want peace. If there’s a way to spare lives—even vampire lives—then I owe it to Him to try.”
“Thank you.” I let out a long breath, glad that Noah was seeing reason.
If it hadn’t been for the barrier between us, I might have even hugged him.
“Is that the only reason you wanted to speak with me, princess?” From the way he was watching me, I could tell he was hoping for something more.
“There is one more request I’d like to make,” I started.
“Go on.” He looked at me to continue.
“I’d like for you to ensure that the wolves launch their attack before my wedding to the prince.”
He smiled—apparently he liked my request. “I’d also like for you to remain unmarried,” he said, fire sparking in his unwavering gaze.
My heart raced so intensely that I was inclined to take a step back.
“I’ll do what I can,” he continued. “But it’s imperative that we attack when the time is right. If that time is after the wedding… then I must do what’s best for the pack. I hope you understand.”
“I do.” I nodded—it looked like I would have to figure out how to delay the wedding on my own. “In the meantime, please keep me posted on how the conversation goes with Prince Jacen, if you decide to speak with him at all.”
“That,” he said with a smile, “Is certainly a promise I can keep.”
Annika
I was so nervous for my date with Jacen that I felt like I was going to be sick.
It had been days since our kiss in the town—and the kiss had happened so quickly, so in the heat of the moment, that I couldn’t be sure if it meant anything to the prince at all.
The worst was that I wanted it to mean something to him… because it had meant something to me. I knew it shouldn’t—that the prince was a cold-hearted liar—but I couldn’t forget how impressed he’d looked by my desire to help the humans during the attack.
Surely someone who didn’t care about humans would have thought that my risking my life for theirs was foolish?
I also didn’t understand why he’d eliminated all of the princesses except for me and Princess Karina.
Prince Jacen was a puzzle that I couldn’t figure out, and my inability to piece him together was driving me crazy.
As I prepared for the date, I took steady breaths, reminding myself that I needed to get my head in the game. I was here to destroy the queen—I couldn’t let myself forget that.
Geneva coerced me into wearing a dress. It was green and short, which was good because I wouldn’t risk tripping on it. I couldn’t deny that the green looked good against the long red hair of the girl I was masquerading as. Once I returned to my true form, I was going to miss having this girl’s hair.
“Princess Ana,” Jacen said as he opened the door for me. “Thank you for joining me this evening.”
“Your Highness.” I gave him a small curtsy and entered the room. It was set up the same way as it had been for our first date—with the dining table set up alongside the window. The full moon lit up the sky. Well, it was nearly full—there was still a sliver missing.
I returned my focus to Jacen, waiting for a hint that what had transpired between us meant something to him—a kiss, a touch, or something. But the prince was as stiff and formal as ever, his silver eyes giving away none of his emotions.
Disappointment catapulted through my veins. Whatever connection that had sparked between us in town seemed to have disappeared completely, and I was at a loss as to what to do to revive it.
“I apologize that I couldn’t be more creative with our date this time around,” he said, motioning for me to enter. “Due to what happened last time, I thought it best that we remain inside the palace.”
I stepped inside, and as I did, he moved back. It was like he wanted to make sure he was far enough away that we didn’t accidentally touch.
He was rejecting me.
Instantly, I realized how silly I was being. It had only been yesterday that he’d sent all of the other princesses home but me and Princess Karina. If he’d wanted to reject me, surely he would have sent me home with the lot of them.
I straightened, forcing myself to appear confident, even if I didn’t feel it.
“Surely there’s more to the palace than just your quarters?” The words slipped out before I realized how snarky they were. “Not that I’m not appreciative of the dinner—I am. I just meant that the palace of the Vale is extremely impressive.”
Hopefully, covering my mistake with a compliment would work.
“You’re right.” He chuckled. “The palace is large. But the walls of the palace have eyes and ears, and I wanted to be sure that what we discuss tonight doesn’t leave this room.”
“Sounds serious,” I said.
“It is.” He studied me intensely, as if his eyes were x-rays and he was trying to see the secrets in my soul. “And the chefs have prepared an extraordinary meal for us tonight. Let’s sit?” He led the way to the table, pulling out my chair. My back brushed against his finger as I sat down, and he yanked it away, as if my skin were diseased or something.
I wasn’t imagining it—he was rejecting me.
What had happened between when we’d kissed and now to make him pull away?
He waited for me to situate myself, and then took his own seat. The waiters soon emerged to serve us wine, and they placed a fancy looking platter in the center of the table that featured a strange black beady looking food that I’d never seen before.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me.” Jacen picked up a cracker from the platter, smeared some white stuff on it, piled on some of the black beads, and then topped it off with some garnishes. At least I recognized the garnishes—chopped egg and onions. “Do you
not like caviar?” he asked, motioning to the platter between us.
Caviar—that must be what those strange black beads were.
“I’ve never had it,” I admitted. In fact, this was the first time I’d ever seen it. All I knew about caviar was that it was a fancy term for fish eggs. And that it was ridiculously expensive.
“Here.” Jacen handed me the cracker he’d just made. “Try it.”
I popped the cracker in my mouth and chewed. It tasted strange—salty. I tried to keep my expression neutral as I finished chewing and swallowed.
“Well?” he asked.
“It’s… interesting,” I said.
“You hated it.”
“No!” I said, hoping I hadn’t offended him. “I didn’t hate it. It’s just different. Perhaps it’s more of an acquired taste?”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I don’t want to force you to acquire it during this meal. So, what’s your all time favorite food?”
“Pizza,” I answered instantly. I missed pizza like no one could believe. As a human in the Vale, it hadn’t been a food we’d been allowed to eat, and they hadn’t served it in the palace. Which meant it had been over a year since I’d eaten pizza.
I suddenly craved it more than ever.
Jacen tapped something on his phone, and the waiters entered the room immediately.
“Tell the chef that the planned menu for this evening is cancelled,” he told them. “In its place, we’ll be having pizza.”
“That’s it, Your Highness?” the waiter closest to him asked. “No more appetizers, either?”
“Do you have a preferred appetizer?” Jacen asked me.
“Umm… cheesy bread?” I suspected I sounded silly—what kind of princess wanted cheesy bread and pizza at a royal dinner? But I loved cheesy bread and pizza. And at this point, what did I have to lose?
“You heard the princess,” Jacen told the waiter. “Tonight, we’ll be dining on cheesy bread and pizza.”
“I’ll let the chef know,” the waiter replied, and both of them headed out of the room, presumably toward the kitchen.
The prince didn’t crack a smile until they were out of the room.
“Don’t tell anyone, but I prefer pizza to fancy food, too,” he confessed.
“Don’t worry.” I leaned forward, completely serious. “Your secret is safe with me… as long as you don’t judge me when you see how many slices I’m capable of eating.”
“I’m afraid I can’t promise you that,” he said. “Because the more slices you eat, the more impressed I’ll be.”
“Is that a challenge?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” he started, and he paused, as if contemplating it. “I can eat quite a bit of pizza myself. And I don’t want you to feel too bad when you lose.”
“Oh, this is definitely a challenge,” I decided. “May the one who consumes the most slices win.”
“You’re on.” He raised his glass in a toast, and I clinked mine with his. “I already know what I want when I win,” he said.
“And what’s that?” I took a small sip of my wine—enough to make the toast official—and placed the glass back down. I didn’t normally drink, but toasting without taking a sip was bad luck.
He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “A trip to the Seventh Kingdom.”
Annika
“What?” I sputtered, glad I’d already swallowed my wine. Otherwise, it would have been all over the white tablecloth.
“You heard me,” he said. “If I win, I want you to take me to the Seventh Kingdom.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” I told him.
“Why not?” He sat back, looking irritated now. “If the Seventh Kingdom exists, and if they sent you here to compete for my hand in marriage, why shouldn’t they expect me to want proof that it’s real?”
“The Seventh Kingdom is very secretive,” I told him, and my stomach twisted at the lie. Because how much longer could this continue? Eventually, if Prince Jacen chose me to be his bride and we married, he would expect to see the Seventh Kingdom. And then where would I bring him?
I would be exposed as the imposter princess that everyone called me behind my back.
Geneva needed to figure out a way for us to destroy Queen Laila before Prince Jacen chose a bride. I knew she didn’t want to, but now that Jacen had eliminated so many princesses, we were running out of time.
If Geneva didn’t want to do it, I would simply command it.
In the meantime, I needed to say something—anything—to placate Jacen’s curiosity. And luckily, Geneva and I had come up with a story for me to go on for now—a story that would be nearly impossible for Queen Laila to disprove.
“It’s also very far away,” I told him. “It’s all the way down south.”
“You mean it’s in the States?” He leaned forward—my hint at the Seventh Kingdom’s location had definitely intrigued him.
“Farther south…” I said.
“South America?” he guessed. “Australia?”
“Neither of those,” I told him. “The Seventh Kingdom is hidden in the ice of Antarctica.”
“What?” He blinked—he clearly hadn’t been expecting that. “How is that possible?”
“Centuries ago, our witches created the kingdom far below the ice,” I said. “It’s impossible for humans—or supernaturals—to stumble upon. It’s a small kingdom, and as you know, we keep to ourselves.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I’m afraid I’ve already told you too much,” I said. “I wasn’t even supposed to say that… but I thought you deserved to at least know something about where I’m from.”
He nodded, clearly thinking through what I’d told him. I hoped he wouldn’t push me to tell him more, or worse—bring up visiting the Seventh Kingdom again.
Suddenly, the waiters entered, carrying a steaming hot portion of cheesy bread. It smelled so delicious that my stomach rumbled—audibly. Jacen smirked, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach, wishing for it to quiet itself.
The waiter placed the cheesy bread between us, and we were both quick to dig in.
“There’s something else I’ve been wanting to ask you,” Jacen said after polishing up a piece of cheesy bread.
“Okay.” I resisted the urge to grab another piece of cheesy bread, since I needed to save room for the pizza eating competition to come.
“Did you not like the cheese bread?” he asked.
“It’s delicious,” I said. “But we have the pizza eating competition coming up…”
“You’re more competitive than I gave you credit for.” He placed down the piece of cheese bread he was working on with a smirk. “But if that’s the way we’re playing this, then it’s only fair that we start on equal ground. I also wouldn’t want to insult the chef after having already asked him to scrap our original meal. So let’s eat one more piece each?”
“Deal.” I grabbed for a second piece, since it was delicious and I definitely wanted to eat more. “Was that what you wanted to ask me?” I asked in between bites.
“No.” He chuckled. “What I wanted to ask is a bit more serious, but it’s something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since the attack.”
Was he about to bring up the kiss?
My cheeks heated with the thought.
“Go on,” I told him, bracing myself for the possibility of him saying that the kiss had been a mistake.
“The wolves were attacking every vampire they came across without a second thought,” he started. “But not you. When the wolf got near you, he paused.”
“He did?” Panic rushed through my veins—this was worse than I could have imagined. Because I knew why the wolf had paused—he’d no doubt smelled through my disguise and knew I was a human.
“He did.” Jacen nodded. “You must have been so caught up in the moment that you didn’t realize. But I was behind the wolf, and I saw it. So I have to ask—do you have any idea why he hesitated?”
&nbs
p; “No,” I stuttered, wracking my mind for any explanation that might make sense. “Perhaps the wolves were only trying to hurt vampires from the Vale, and he stopped when he realized I’m not from the Vale?”
“How would he have known you’re not from the Vale?” he asked. “All vampires smell the same to wolves.”
“The entire kingdom knows the faces of the princesses who have come here for your hand,” I reminded him. “Queen Laila made sure of that by hosting the parade.”
“And we don’t know how long the wolves were hiding within the boundary before they attacked,” Jacen realized.
“Exactly,” I said. “The wolves’ issue is with the Vale—not with any other kingdom. Attacking a princess from another kingdom would surely mean war—not just with the Vale, but with that kingdom as well. It makes sense that they would take precautions not to harm us.”
“In that case, perhaps I was too impulsive by sending the other princesses home so quickly,” he said with a chuckle.
“You regret your decision?” I froze, my heart dropping.
“I don’t,” he said, and I felt like I could breathe again. “I meant it when I said I couldn’t see myself marrying the princesses I eliminated, and that I had no interest in leading them on. The attacks simply gave me a more concrete reason to send them home.”
“So you don’t regret kissing me?” The question came out softer than I’d intended. I hated making myself so vulnerable… but I needed to know.
“Never,” he said, his silver eyes focused on me with so much intensity that I had no choice but to believe him. “That kiss was the most meaningful moment I’ve shared with anyone since inviting all of the princesses to the Vale. Why would you think I regretted it?”
“Because you haven’t so much as touched me since I arrived here tonight.” I lowered my eyes, feeling silly for bringing up such a thing. But it was true, and it was confusing me. I was so wrapped up in my lies that I couldn’t be honest about much, but at least I could be honest about this. “You did briefly when I was sitting down, but you pulled away so quickly that I couldn’t help but think that you were purposefully avoiding any physical contact with me.”
The Vampire Trick (Dark World: The Vampire Wish Book 3) Page 9
