I glanced down at my gown, running my hands down the fabric and reminding myself that I didn’t need to impress these girls. The only person I needed to impress was Jacen. Plus, while I felt out of place, I was glad I looked like I belonged.
I had Geneva to thank for that.
Then I noticed someone else standing alone—Princess Isabella. She was wearing a fitted mermaid gown, and her dark hair was in a regal knot behind her head. She looked like she belonged on a jewelry ad in a fashion magazine.
She caught me looking at her and smiled, which I took as an invitation to come over and introduce myself.
“Hi,” I said once I reached her. “I’m Ana.”
“I know.” She nodded. “I think every kingdom has heard about you by now.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” I said, my cheeks heating.
“No,” she said. “But I must say—you’ve made an already exciting event even more exciting. I don’t think anyone knows what to think about you.”
“From what I’ve overheard, it sounds like they think I’m a fake,” I said, tilting my head toward Eve and her friend—the princess whose name I forgot.
Never mind the fact that they were right.
“Don’t pay them any attention,” Isabella said. “They’re just curious. We’re all curious.”
“I can imagine,” I said. “And I’m also curious about you… after what you said at the parade today.”
“After I said what?” she asked.
“After you said that you’ve never killed a human.”
She nodded, and I had a feeling that she knew I was going to say that.
Since she said nothing in response, I also figured that she wasn’t going to volunteer any more information. Which meant I had to question her further.
“How do you do it?” I asked. “I didn’t think it was possible.”
“It’s not much of a secret—at least not in the Tower.” She glanced at the doors, which had just been opened. “But I’ll have to tell you later. Because now, the ball’s about to begin.”
Annika
I’d thought the throne room had to have been the most luxurious room in the palace, but I was wrong. The ballroom somehow managed to be even more elaborate.
It was two high floors tall, with steps that reminded me of the grand staircase on the Titanic leading up to the balconies above. Add in the parquet floors, crystal chandeliers, and walls covered in decorative gold, and I felt like I’d stepped into a fairy tale.
Except this was no fairy tale.
Not while the vampires continued to enslave innocent humans.
As expected, each of us was introduced in a similar way that we were this morning in the throne room. All of the other kingdoms were introduced in alphabetical order—except for me. I was last. It was as if the vampires of the Vale were trying to make it clear that they didn’t believe the Seventh Kingdom existed.
I was offended at first, until I reminded myself that the Seventh Kingdom likely didn’t exist.
“Princess Ana of the Seventh Kingdom,” the announcer called my name.
My stomach swirled, and like the girls before me, I rested my hand on the top of the railing and made my way toward the top of the grand staircase.
Except that when the girls before me had been introduced, the vampires had clapped politely.
For me, they were silent.
Instead of clapping, they stared at me—as if I were an anomaly. As if I weren’t welcome here.
My heart rose in my chest, and I looked down at them in terror. What was I doing here? I was no vampire princess. I was a phony—a fraud. They all knew it.
I had a sinking feeling that it wouldn’t be long until they proved it.
Then one person started clapping—Jacen. He looked every bit a prince in his white tie suit.
My eyes met with his, and he gave me a small nod, as if telling me that I should continue down the stairs. A few more people followed his lead, and soon the entire audience was clapping along with him.
Gratitude overwhelmed me, and I held up my dress and walked down the staircase, my eyes locked on Jacen’s the entire time. As long as I was looking at him, I felt safe and welcome. He wanted me here. I could feel it in every inch of my bones.
The whole audience was clapping, but he was the only one I saw. In that moment, he was the only one who mattered.
I reached the bottom of the stairs, joined the other princesses, and the clapping died down. Princess Isabella even gave me a small smile of encouragement.
Then Jacen stepped forward and everyone quieted.
“Thank you for gathering here tonight,” he started, looking around at everyone in attendance. “It’s my pleasure to host this ball to welcome these eight lovely princesses to our kingdom—one of them who will be my future bride. Now, to kick off the celebration, I will be choosing one of them to share the first dance with me.”
Light chatter started throughout the crowd—no doubt people guessing which one of us he would select. I couldn’t help noticing that Eve straightened and flipped her hair, smiling seductively at Jacen as if she anticipated being chosen. His eyes paused on her, his lips parting ever so slightly.
I was suddenly reminded of the way he’d looked at me the first time he’d seen me at the Christmas celebration in the village square.
He’d looked at me the same way he was now looking at Eve.
I stood straighter, trying to mimic her confidence. After all, this was an important moment. Surely the princess he chose right now was the princess he was currently the most interested in marrying. Not like he could know which one of us he wanted to marry—since he hadn’t had time yet to get to know us—but clearly the princess chosen would be the one he was most attracted to.
“The princess who will be sharing the first dance with me will be…” He paused, taking a second to look at each one of us.
My breath caught when his gaze landed upon mine and I stared into those silver eyes that had bewitched me from the first moment I’d seen them.
I’d been silly in trusting him back then. That had all been an act, the same way he was surely putting on an act right now. But I couldn’t let him see my suspicion, so I widened my eyes and curved my lips into a soft smile, hoping to encourage him to select me.
“Princess Karina of the Carpathian Kingdom,” he said, and he ripped his gaze away from mine, focusing on the petite European princess as she stepped forward to take his hand.
My heart dropped with the disappointment of not being chosen. At the same time, I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing at the scowl that had crossed over Eve’s face. The other princess from Utopia—I now knew that her name was Margaret—whispered something to Eve, but whatever it was only made Eve’s scowl deepen.
A circle formed around Jacen and Karina, the orchestra started to play, and they began to dance. They both danced beautifully, as if they were gliding on ice.
When my turn came, how was I supposed to dance like that? I’d assumed that we’d be dancing to current day music. I hadn’t expected to feel like I’d been thrown into another century.
I took a step back, looking around the room of vampires and feeling overwhelmed once again. The air felt thin, and I had to focus to breathe.
Then a familiar witch stepped up beside me. Camelia. Her tall frame towered above mine. She wore a black mermaid gown that accentuated every curve of her body, and her dangling earrings dropped nearly to her shoulders.
She’d been wearing black every time I’d seen her. Except for the charm on her neck with the green plant inside of it—wormwood. She was, of course, wearing the charm now.
Hatred poured through my veins at the sight of her—the witch who’d killed Mike and Tanya, and who had left me in that cave to die.
Who else had she killed since?
There was no way to know.
All I did know was that the sooner I succeeded in my mission, the sooner Camelia would be stopped from using
and blackmailing helpless, desperate human blood slaves to do her bidding.
“Princess Ana,” she said with a small smile, holding out a black-gloved hand to greet me. “It’s wonderful to officially meet your acquaintance.”
“Hello.” I swallowed and shook her hand, unsure what to say next. Because while I’d met her as Annika, I hadn’t yet been introduced to her as Ana.
Should I pretend I didn’t know who she was? I almost opened my mouth to ask, but I stopped myself. As a princess, I would likely know the identity of the strongest witch in the Vale and the advisor to the queen.
“You must be Camelia,” I said instead.
“Yes,” she said, dropping her hand back to her side. “I see you’ve done your homework.”
“You’re the most powerful witch in the Vale,” I said. “Of course I know who you are. Everyone knows who you are.” I widened my eyes, hoping to look like an impressed fan girl. Admiration struck me as something Camelia would appreciate.
“I’m more than just the most powerful witch in the Vale.” She smirked and placed her hands on her hips. “I’m the most powerful witch in the world.”
I wanted to correct her and say that Geneva was the most powerful witch in the world, but I held my tongue.
Luckily, a waiter chose that moment to come around with a tray of champagne flutes. Half of them were filled with regular champagne and the other half were tinted red with what I could smell was blood. They looked like mimosas, with blood instead of orange juice.
Weren’t mimosas supposed to be a morning drink?
Camelia reached for two—one with blood and one without. She handed the one with blood to me.
“No thank you,” I said, eying the drink up suspiciously. I rarely drank, especially when I’d been a human blood slave in the Vale. I liked being aware of my surroundings at all time.
“It’s a party.” Camelia laughed. “I insist. Especially because the ones with blood are specifically for the royal vampires. I don’t know how things are run in the Seventh Kingdom,” she said, leaning closer and elongating the name of the kingdom, as if questioning its existence. “But here in the Vale, it would be an insult to turn down such a delicacy.”
I glanced around the room—all of the other princesses had taken a glass of the blood champagne. Not wanting to do anything that made me look like more of an anomaly than I already was, I took the flute from Camelia’s hand. Just holding it wouldn’t kill me.
“Cheers,” she said, raising her glass in the air. “To the quest for Prince Jacen’s heart.”
“Cheers.” I clicked my glass with hers and pretended to drink. It smelled delicious—sweet and floral. I was tempted to try it, but I didn’t let it touch my tongue. I needed to be on my game tonight. And while I didn’t want to insult the vampires of the Vale by not accepting their drink, it didn’t mean that I actually needed to drink it.
By now, other couples had joined Jacen and Karina on the dance floor, and I glanced around, searching for a way to excuse myself from the conversation with Camelia. The only other person I sort of knew was Isabella, but she was nowhere to be found.
“You’ve caused quite the stir with your arrival,” Camelia continued, seemingly unaware that I was searching for an escape. Or perhaps she simply didn’t care. “The court can’t stop talking about you.”
“Mostly good things, I hope?” I gave her my most innocent smile. Hopefully it hid the fact that I didn’t want to be in the presence of this woman who’d killed two of my closest friends.
But I also realized that getting close to her would be helpful to my mission. After all, Camelia must know the ins and outs of the Vale. It would benefit my cause if I could gain her trust.
Which meant that as much as I hated the thought of it, I needed to try to be her friend.
“People are only curious, as I’m sure you’d expect,” she said. “Especially since Queen Laila asked the other world leaders about you and none of them claimed to be your sire.”
“Of course they didn’t,” I told her. “My sire is the leader of the Seventh Kingdom.”
“So you say.” Camelia sighed and took a sip of her champagne.
“Why didn’t Queen Laila say anything once she found out that I wasn’t sired by any of the other leaders?” I asked.
“She said everything she needed by not kicking you out of the Vale,” Camelia said. “If she’d caught you in a lie, you would have already been out of here. So… cheers to remaining in the competition.” She raised her glass again, and once more, I pretended to drink.
I needed to get out this conversation soon, or Camelia would surely notice that the amount of champagne in my flute wasn’t shrinking.
“I’m most grateful to her for letting me stay,” I said.
“I’m sure your sire is as well.” She tilted her head, smiling. “What did you say his name was again?”
“I didn’t,” I said, sharper than expected.
“Oh,” she said, and then the song that was playing ended, leaving us staring at each other in a standstill.
Everyone quieted, and suddenly, someone tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned around, grateful to whoever was rescuing me.
My breath caught at the sight of Jacen’s silver eyes.
“Princess Ana.” He gave me a small bow, his gaze locked on mine. “Would you care to dance?”
Annika
My mind flashed back to Christmas Eve in the village square, when Jacen had spoken similar words to me.
“Yes,” I said, and I handed my still-full champagne flute to a waiter who’d suddenly popped up nearby.
The next thing I knew, I was in Jacen’s arms, and the two of us were gliding across the floor as gracefully as he’d been with Karina.
I supposed I had my heightened vampire senses to thank for my sudden ability to dance.
“It’s an honor to finally have the mysterious princess from the Seventh Kingdom to myself,” he said, smiling down at me.
“It’s an honor to be here,” I tried to repeat his phrasing, wanting to sound as regal as possible. Unfortunately, I suspected that I sounded stiff and formal.
“How far was your journey?” he asked.
I pressed my lips together, aware of what he was doing. Geneva had warned me that other vampires would try to get as much information from me about the Seventh Kingdom as possible. Most importantly, that they would want to know its location.
“I traveled by my kingdom’s private plane, which is so comfortable that it didn’t feel far at all,” I answered.
He smirked, and I knew he knew that I’d avoided his question.
“I heard your lady’s maid teleported in a few hours ago,” he said.
“Word sure travels fast around here,” I replied.
“It does,” he agreed. “Especially because it’s most unusual for a witch to be a lady’s maid. Do you have many witches in your kingdom?”
“No more than any other.” I tried to make my response as general as possible. However, I knew that by avoiding his questions, the conversation was hardly engaging.
If I wanted him to keep me around, I needed to retain his interest.
But I was at a loss of what to talk about. What could I possibly say? I was pretending to be someone I wasn’t, from a kingdom that didn’t exist. I was more or less a ghost, devoid of a history of my own.
Didn’t our history make us who we were today?
When I’d first danced with Jacen in the village square, I’d been quick to open up to him about who I was and where I came from. Now I had no idea what to say.
Perhaps I should ask him about himself? It seemed like a good plan at first, except that everyone knew so much about the prince that most of the typical questions I could ask would be an obviously desperate hunt for a thread of conversation.
But I needed to say something, or else he would surely ditch me before this dance was over in exchange for a more interesting partner.
“What’s your favorite part of the Vale?” I
asked the first question that popped into my mind.
“The mountains,” he answered quickly. “As far away from the palace as possible.”
I tilted my head, his response unexpected. “You don’t like the palace?” I asked, despite knowing his feelings on the topic. When we’d talked before—when he knew me for who I truly was—he’d told me that he felt trapped in the palace.
Would he be as open with the mysterious Princess Ana as he’d been with the unguarded human blood slave Annika?
“What’s not to like?” He smiled and twirled me around, giving me the impression that that would be the extent of his answer. “So, Ana,” he continued. “What talent will you be gracing us with tonight?”
“Talent?” I nearly tripped over my own feet, but I caught myself just in time. “What do you mean?”
“Each of the visiting princesses will be performing a talent immediately following dinner,” he said. “There should have been an information card waiting for you in your quarters after you returned from the parade.”
“I saw no card,” I muttered, trying to figure out what must have happened to it. Had I simply missed it? I’d been so focused on requesting that Geneva pretend to be my lady’s maid and preparing for that ball that I hadn’t thoroughly explored my quarters.
But you would have thought that such an important note would have been in a place where it wouldn’t be missed.
The more likely—and more nefarious—conclusion was that someone had removed the card from my room. Someone wanted me to be unprepared for the talent portion of the ball and to embarrass myself. And who had access to my room?
My guard, Tess.
I fumed at the possibility of her trying to sabotage me. It made no sense. What could she have against me? She didn’t even know me.
“I take it from your reaction that you haven’t prepared a talent?” Jacen’s voice pulled me out of my spiraling thoughts.
“I haven’t,” I admitted, my cheeks heating under his gaze. “I must have missed the note.”
Better to claim fault than to accuse a member of his staff of sabotage.
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 25
