I didn’t want to enjoy kissing him. This was the man who had betrayed me and left me for dead. He didn’t care about me or any of the other humans.
But if he didn’t care about the humans, why had my desire to help them had such an effect on him? He should have scolded me for helping humans—not kissed me.
What was the prince hiding?
I could have kissed him forever. But just as quickly as the kiss had started, it ended.
I gazed up at Jacen, surprised to see that he looked at breathless as I felt. “What was that for?” I managed to ask, my voice quieter and raspier than usual.
“Do I need to have a reason to kiss you?” He smirked, focusing on my lips.
“No.” I straightened, trying to get ahold of myself. “Of course not. It was just unexpected, that’s all.”
“You impressed me, Ana,” he answered, seriously now. “That was the best way to show you how much.”
Memories of the kiss we’d just shared flashed through my mind, and it took all of my will power to not lean in and kiss him again. “I didn’t realize you cared so much about the humans,” I said, pushing my desires away.
I couldn’t let one kiss—one incredible kiss—distract me from why I was here.
“There’s a lot about me you don’t know.” His eyes flashed with pain, and he glanced around the market, taking in the destruction surrounding us. “And apparently there’s a lot about you that I don’t know, too,” he said, refocusing on me. “I hope that will change, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to cut our date short. Because given the events that just occurred, I need to return to the palace and speak with the queen.”
Annika
“You don’t have to walk me to my room,” I told Jacen once we made it back to the palace. We both looked a wreck—our clothes and faces were covered in dirt and blood.
Everyone stared at us as we walked down the hall, but no one dared to ask what had happened.
They would know soon enough.
“Yes, I do.” He stared ahead with determination, and I knew arguing any further would be futile. Once we reached my door, he placed his hands on my shoulders, looking down at me with fierce protectiveness. It was the same way he’d looked at me when he’d helped escape the Vale—when he knew I was Annika. “We don’t know if there are any more wolves inside the boundary,” he said, his voice low and serious. “I’m going to assign extra guards to look over you, but I want you to promise me you’ll stay in your quarters—where you’ll be protected—until I know it’s safe.”
I pressed my lips together, not liking the thought of being confined to my quarters.
“Please, Ana,” he begged. “I of all people understand how frustrating it is to be required to stay in your quarters. But it won’t be for long, and I won’t be able to focus on weeding out the wolves if I don’t know you’re safe. If you won’t do this for yourself, then do this for me?”
“Fine,” I said, since I had a feeling that he meant every word. I was also glad he wasn’t asking me to leave the Vale entirely. “But only if you’ll give me special permission to check non-fiction books out of the library,” I added. “Well, if you’ll allow the guards to bring them to me, since I’ll be in my quarters.”
After all, I couldn’t let my time go to waste. If I was stuck in my room, I wanted to use the time to learn as much about supernaturals and the Vale as possible. Hopefully I would find something that would give me a clue about how to defeat Laila.
“I thought you preferred fiction?” he asked, smiling for the first time since the attack in the square.
“I do,” I said. “But ever since a certain prince so wisely told me the benefits of widening my horizons by reading non-fiction as well, I’ve been trying to heed his advice.”
“This prince does sound quite wise…” he agreed with a smirk.
“You agree then?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I agree.”
He gave me a quick kiss—too short, compared to the one we’d shared in the square—and then he headed to the queen’s quarters, leaving me in my room.
Annika
“You could have been killed!” Geneva said after I told her what had happened with the wolves. She’d put up a sound barrier, of course—we couldn’t risk any of the guards outside overhearing our conversation. “The prince was right—you should have run back to the palace immediately after the trouble began. It’s not just your life you gambled with today—it was mine, too. If you die while in command of my ring, I’ll be trapped in it forever. Remember?”
“How could I forget?” I asked, since it was the only reason I trusted Geneva at all. “But right now, I need to shower. Can we finish this conversation once I’m cleaned up?”
“Fine.” She huffed and plopped down on my bed. “You do smell revolting. I’ll be here when you get out.”
I hurried into the shower, taking my time under the flowing water to think over everything that had happened with Jacen and me today. So much had changed… and I had no idea what to think of him anymore. Was he the monster who had tricked me when I’d been a human and had planned on eventually leaving me for dead? Or was he the prince who had looked at me in awe after learning I’d risked my life to save humans during the attack?
Something wasn’t adding up. And now, more than ever, I was determined to find out what.
“Took you long enough,” Geneva said once I emerged.
I put on my pajamas and sat down on the bed across from her. “Jacen doesn’t care about humans,” I said what I’d been thinking while in the shower. “He made that clear enough when he said he’d planned on eventually draining me dry. But when I told him that I stayed behind to save human lives today, he kissed me. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why.”
“It’s not that difficult to figure out.” Geneva smirked. “He’s clearly trying to get some nookie.”
“What?” I asked, since I had no idea what she meant.
“Sex,” she said loudly, rolling her eyes. “Have you considered that he’s trying to loosen you up so you’ll jump into bed with him?”
“You think he’s pretending to care about human lives so I’ll hook up with him?”
“I assume that ‘hook up’ is the new term for nookie?” she asked, and I nodded. “Then yes,” she continued. “That’s precisely what I think. He is a man, after all. Don’t let yourself forget that.”
“Trust me, I won’t.” My stomach fluttered at the memory of our kiss once more. “I suppose that might be what he’s doing, although from what Eve said in the library, he’s already getting that from her.” I couldn’t keep the disgust from my voice when I said Eve’s name. “There’s something more he wants from me.”
“Pray tell.” Geneva leaned forward, clearly ready for gossip.
“He wants information about the Seventh Kingdom,” I said, looking her dead in the eye. “He told me that he wants to get to know me better and keep me in the competition, but that it’s going to be difficult for him to do if he knows nothing of my kingdom.”
“If it’s information he wants, then give him some,” she said simply. “Say whatever you need to say to get him to choose you.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” I snapped, frustration at this entire situation eating away at my bones. “I can’t give him information about a kingdom that doesn’t exist.”
“Luckily, we have some more time in our hands now that you’re confined to your quarters for who knows how long.” She scooted closer, bringing her hands together in excitement. “So I suppose we might as well get started.”
“With what?” I asked.
“Creating the story of the Seventh Kingdom.”
Camelia
I was readying myself for bed when someone burst into my quarters.
“Camelia?” Queen Laila’s voice echoed through my chambers. “Are you in here?”
“Coming,” I called from the bathroom, washing off the facemask I was wearing. It was the latest trend I was
testing out from the mortal world. It was supposed to have “age-defying” properties, but it hadn’t done anything to lessen the wrinkles on my forehead.
I stared angrily at my reflection. I was only twenty-four years old. What kind of twenty-four year old had wrinkles?
One who was being forced to constantly use her magic to shield an entire kingdom. At this rate, I would be old and bedridden by the time I was in my forties—just like my mother.
I grabbed my nightcap—a glass of scotch—from the counter and took a sip. The vampires mostly liked wine, but I preferred the hard stuff. I’d been drinking twice the amount as usual since learning that the best way to locate Geneva’s sapphire ring would be to make a deal with the fae.
If I retrieved the sapphire ring, Laila would finally give me what I wanted—immortality. She would turn me into a vampire and I would be a princess of the Vale.
I wanted immortality more than anything. But the fae didn’t make deals lightly. Whatever they asked of me would surely be something I didn’t want to give. And once I called upon them, I would be bound to give them something.
But now wasn’t the time to stand around worrying, so I forced a pleasant expression on my face and walked out to see what Laila wanted. It was late for her to come by, so whatever it was must be important.
I’d expected to find her sitting on the couch in my living room—Laila never failed to make herself at home when she stopped by—but she was pacing around, her forehead pinched in thought. She didn’t even notice when I stepped in.
“Your Highness,” I said, making myself known.
“Camelia.” She glanced up and stopped pacing. “Finally.”
“Would you like me to get you a glass of wine?” I motioned to my small bar.
“No, thank you,” she said. “I need my head clear. Come. Let’s sit.”
I made my way to the sofa, waiting to sit until she was seated first. I was still clueless as to what this could be about, and I took another sip of my scotch, bracing myself for anything.
“The wolves have attacked the town.” Her voice was clipped, her eyes hard as she looked at me—as if she was studying me. “This attack is unlike anything we’ve seen before. It was coordinated. Five of them slipped through the boundary, and together, they orchestrated a terror attack upon the market at its peak hour.”
“That’s impossible.” I gasped. “After the last attack, I strengthened the boundary—it’s been taking more magic than I should expend, but I’ve been doing it. There’s no way the wolves could have gotten through.”
“There must be a way, because they did get through,” she said, and from her determined stare, I could tell she wasn’t going to budge until she got to the bottom of this. “The only explanation I can think of is that you let them in, so if there’s any other possible way this could have happened, I advise you tell me now.”
Blood drained from my face at the realization that this wasn’t just a brief—it was an inquisition.
“There is one possible way.” I took a sip of scotch in attempt to calm myself, but it did little for my nerves. “As you know, the barrier only works one way—it keeps people from getting in, but it doesn’t keep them from getting out.”
“Yes.” Laila nodded. “Centuries ago, when the Vale was just starting, your ancestor created a boundary that went both ways. The vampires wouldn’t have it. They said I was keeping them prisoner, and we nearly had a revolt. Making it so the boundary didn’t keep them in was the only way to placate their fears and keep them happy. The only citizens we needed to keep inside the boundary were the humans, and the threat of the wolves was enough to stop them from escaping.”
“I understand,” I told her, since I already knew the reason why the boundary was as it was. “This boundary is strong. And while it’s extremely difficult to penetrate unnoticed, it’s possible. It would involve a witch—a strong witch—and someone who lives inside the boundary working together with the wolves. And five wolves wouldn’t have been able to come through at once without my noticing, so they must have come through one at a time.”
“Is there a strong enough witch in the palace to pull off such a task?” Laila asked.
“No,” I told her, since I was by far the strongest witch here. None of the others compared to me—they wouldn’t have stood a chance against my magic. “At least, not one employed by the Vale.”
“There’s only one witch inside the Vale who’s not employed by the Vale.” Laila blinked as she put it all together. “Princess Ana’s lady’s maid.”
Camelia
“You think Princess Ana is working with the wolves?” I balked at the notion of a vampire working with the wolves. Yes, we all suspected that the princess of the supposed “Seventh Kingdom” was up to something, but working with the wolves? Those creatures were far too animalistic to follow through with such an arrangement.
“One of the princesses must be,” Laila said. “Princess Ana is the only one with a witch strong enough to break through the barrier, and her background is a blatant lie. All I need to do now is increase her security and catch her in the act.”
“A solid plan.” I nodded, since it was. “But there’s one big thing that’s not adding up.”
“What’s that?” Laila asked.
“The wolves that attacked before this were only able to attack the human village, because humans have no way of smelling the difference between a wolf and anyone else,” I started. “But these wolves made it unnoticed to the vampire town until shifting forms. How were they able to do that without any vampires picking up on their scent and reporting them to the guards immediately?”
Laila pulled something out of her pocket—a cloth with something wrapped inside, that sort of looked like an ancient teabag—and tossed it onto the table between us. “Recognize this?” she asked.
I picked it up and studied it, even though I’d felt the aura of dark magic around it instantly. I’d read about dark magic—knowledge was power—but I’d never performed it. Dark magic spells were stronger than natural magic, but they required the blood of someone slain by the caster’s hand to work. Using it was addicting. A witch who performed dark magic lost some of his or her natural ability to perform magic with each spell cast, until they were reliant on dark magic and dark magic alone for the rest of their lives.
“It’s a chameleon charm,” I said. “Created with dark magic so it can hide supernaturals.”
Such charms could be created with regular magic to hide humans from supernaturals, but creating one to hide supernaturals from supernaturals was another beast entirely. Thus why it required dark magic.
“I suspected as much,” Laila said. “Ana’s guard Tess took it off a wolf she killed. It’s further evidence that the wolves are being helped by a witch.”
“Princess Ana was there during the attack?” I asked. Surely that made her and her witch look guilty.
“She was on a date with Jacen—the two of them went to the market,” Laila said. “His idea, apparently. If Jacen and the guards hadn’t been there, the attack would have been much worse than it was.”
“I should go to the attack site,” I told her. “See if I can find any more clues.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” Laila’s voice was sharp, and I sat back in surprise. “Until we find proof that Princess Ana is working with the wolves, you’re still one of the suspects. You’ll remain in your quarters until this problem is resolved.”
“You’re putting me under house arrest?” I looked at her, stunned. I already wasn’t permitted to leave the Vale, since they needed me here to maintain the boundary. Now she was keeping me in my quarters?
She raised an eyebrow. “Would you prefer the dungeons?”
“Of course not.” I shuddered at the suggestion.
Then I forced myself to get ahold of myself. Because there was still one place where I had the upper hand.
“What about when I go to the fae?” I asked.
“I hadn’t realized you’d decided to
seek out the fae.” Laila smiled, clearly pleased with my decision.
“They’re the only creatures who will know where Geneva’s ring is and how I can get it,” I said, since it was true. The fae were more similar to gods than to what mortals traditionally thought of as faeries. They ruled from the Otherworld—rarely ever crossing over to our world—but they knew everything that was happening on Earth. If anyone had the answers I needed, it was the fae. “But I’ll only go to them if you make a blood oath with me that you’ll turn me into a vampire princess after I hand over the ring.”
“Deal,” Laila said, and I sat back, surprised by how easy that had been. “Now, you already know you must wait for the full moon for your upcoming journey. Let me tell you exactly what you need to do when the night comes and it’s time for you to call upon the fae…”
She gave me the instructions, and once the explanation was complete, we sealed the blood oath.
Annika
I’d been in my quarters for nearly three days—the only times the door ever opened was when the guards delivered my meals or books. Geneva and I spent a good amount of the time creating the details of the imaginary Seventh Kingdom. I liked what we’d created—it seemed like we’d thought of something that would be near impossible for Queen Laila to disprove. I still wanted to avoid giving out too much information, but at least I now had something to tell Jacen if it seemed like he was considering eliminating me from his selection again.
I hated lying, but it had already gotten me this far. What was one more major lie on top of everything else?
Eventually, someone knocked on the door at a time not designated for meals. I hadn’t requested a new round of books, so my breath caught at the possibility that it might be Jacen coming to update me on what was going on in the kingdom.
I glanced in the mirror, quickly running a brush through my hair, and hurried to answer the door.
The Vampire Wish: The Complete Series (Dark World) Page 36
