by Melody Raven
Nicolas didn’t know whether to be proud of her or furious at her obvious poking of a very dangerous vampire.
Marcus wasn’t one to be told what to do by a mortal. He continued. “We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Marcus Grey, member of the High Council.”
“You’re right. My name is Annabelle Roberts. I’m best friend to your queen and under the personal protection of Aleksander. If what you have to talk to Nicolas about is so important, I’m sure Aleksander would be more than happy to make time for you to talk to him privately.
“As a High Council member, I’m sure he would listen to you. That is, unless this private matter is too private for your king, but I doubt that. A matter too private for the king just sounds suspicious.” She lowered her voice to a whisper on the last word.
Nicolas growled as he heard Marcus move closer to her and say, “You’ll be sorry for this later.” With that, he stormed up the stairs. He always was one for dramatic exits.
When he was gone, Nicolas called to Annabelle again. “Are you insane? That man is going to kill you!”
“I’m not the one sitting in a cell right now. If you’re going to worry, you should think about yourself.”
This time he did pull at the chains. The tension on the metal caused the silver to touch and burn his skin. “At least I can fight for myself!” he screamed through the pain.
She turned another page in her book, and he growled his frustration once again. “Are you here to torture me? I’m sorry you’re so upset. I was only trying to keep you safe.” He hoped that with a calmer voice he could reason with her.
“Just like you tying me to a bed was for my protection?” she shot back.
He considered himself lucky she’d started to converse with him.
“I needed my rest to protect you,” he reminded her. Surely she could realize he didn’t want to hurt her.
“Well, your protecting me seems an awful lot like you just being an ass,” she said.
He tried to think of something else to say to her when he heard another set of footsteps come down the stairs. He prayed it wasn’t Marcus returning so soon.
His prayers changed when he heard a much different voice speak to Annabelle. “I need him alone,” was all he said to her.
The voice wasn’t one he immediately recognized, but it did sound familiar. The deep tone made Nicolas think a big man was speaking. Once again, his fear for Annabelle’s safety kicked in.
She obviously felt no such fear, because she responded to the order with a curt, “No.”
There was a pause before the other man said, “What do you mean ‘no’?”
“I’m not sure if people are having trouble hearing me tonight or what, but from what I know, vampires are supposed to have really good hearing. I said no. If you want to see him, you have to talk to Aleksander. Until that happens, the answer is still going to be no.”
Nicolas waited for the sounds of this man attacking Annabelle, but they never came. Instead, he heard footsteps retreat. He let out a relieved breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“How many enemies do you intend to make tonight?” he asked her.
“That depends on how many pissed off vampires try to pay you a visit.”
She had a point, he conceded. They probably had both come down to see him for the same reason. To prove how far he’d fallen from power. Now chained up in the palace that used to be his own.
Realization slowly dawned on him. He told Annabelle what had happened to him the last time he’d been captured. She wasn’t here to torture him. She was keeping him safe. “Are you here to protect me?”
She scoffed at his question. “Now that’s ridiculous. Of course I’m not here to protect you. I’m simply here to read my book. Did you know how noisy vampires are? This is the only quiet place in the whole palace.”
His mouth actually formed a smile. “Silly me,” he said. “I forgot about the great reading that can get done in a dungeon.”
He heard her turn another page, but she didn’t say any more to him. He was all right with that now that he knew why she was here. His little human protector. Who knew that he’d ever be so happy to have one?
Anna tried to keep her eyes open as she read her book. It was hard to stay awake after sitting in one spot for so long. Granted, the chair she was in wasn’t too comfortable, but it was better than nothing.
No one else had come down to see Nicolas since the last man had left. She was surprised either of them had listened to her, but apparently dropping Aleksander’s name was a very effective way of threatening a vampire.
She wasn’t sure what she thought about this vampire king yet. She didn’t know what he planned for her or Nicolas, and she had a feeling that if she didn’t like it, she would have little hope of stopping him.
Nicolas hadn’t said anything for a while, and she was very tempted to sneak a peek at him around the corner of the brick wall she was leaning against. She wanted to know how badly he’d been hurt. Make sure he didn’t need any blood.
She didn’t smell anything burning, so she didn’t think he was being held down with silver chains.
She didn’t want to care about what happened to him. She wished she could spend the day upstairs, surrounded by all the decadence the palace had to offer, but no. Here she was, sitting in a cold, damp basement with only a vampire with very questionable morals to keep her company.
After a couple of minutes, she shut her book as quietly as possible. She slowly got up from her chair—her sore muscles protested the movements after sitting still for so long—and glanced around the corner to get a better look at Nicolas.
He looked pretty good for a man chained to a wall. He had a few minor scrapes and bruises on his face and visible parts of his arms, but nothing life threatening. However, he’d been sitting down, doing nothing for hours. Who knew how much he healed in that time?
He looked up at her and their eyes met. She almost jumped back but managed to control her jitters. She had a much harder time thinking straight when she looked at him. It was easier when a brick wall separated them.
“Hi, Annabelle,” he said softly.
She gave his bound body another once-over and sighed. “What am I supposed to do with you, Nicolas?”
He grinned at her but didn’t answer her question. “Why are you here?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Most of it was just curiosity about Evie and my father. Partly, I wanted to spite you for trying to make me turn back.”
“It was stupid and dangerous. How the hell did you end up under Aleksander’s protection anyway?”
Anna smiled. “You’re not going to believe this. He didn’t kill her. He married her!”
Nicolas’s jaw did drop a little. “Really? All this time you thought he murdered her, she was actually the new queen?”
“It’s crazy. I know a vampire queen. I also just found out I’ve been spending a lot of time with a vampire prince.” She looked at him as if to gauge his reaction.
His face didn’t react, but she thought she saw his muscles tighten up a bit. “What else have you learned about me?”
“I learned Aleksander isn’t bent on taking over the human population and your Kirill was a bit insane toward the end of his reign. Were you planning on telling me any of this before we saw Aleksander?”
“We never had a partnership based on trust, and you know that. There were things you kept from me, too, so don’t play the offended innocent.”
His words were true. She hadn’t trusted him enough with all her secrets. Maybe if she told him the whole story about Evie meeting Aleksander at the diner, he could’ve known she was the queen. On the other hand, he could’ve used that information against Aleksander. Anna just didn’t know.
“So am I an enemy of yours now?” she asked.
He seemed surprised. “Why would you ever be an enemy of mine?”
“With all the history between you and Aleksander, I don’t think you would be on friendly terms with his wi
fe’s friend.” She hadn’t realized how upset she would be to lose him until she voiced how likely it was that he would hate her now.
“I don’t think the two of us would be very good as friends,” he said.
Her heart sunk a bit at that. Was it really so easy for him to brush her off?
“The sex is much too good for us to just be friends.”
Anna smiled in relief. “Chained to a wall and still thinking about sex?”
He shot a wicked grin. “Spend enough time with me, and I will make sure you associate being chained to a wall with fucking me.”
Her heart kicked up at the heat behind his words, and she knew that he heard the frantic beat. She blushed a bright pink as she tried to think of something to say that would change the subject.
She didn’t have to think of anything. From behind her, Aleksander said, “If you two even think about doing that down here, I will have to redesign the whole basement. A dungeon is supposed to scare you, not make you want to play kinky sex games.”
Anna blushed even harder now that she knew Aleksander had heard their banter. Nicolas immediately was on guard. His back straightened, and his arm muscles bulged as he braced himself to fight against the bonds that held him.
For fear that Nicolas would say something that would cause Aleksander to kill him on the spot, Anna jumped in before Nicolas could say anything. “I’m sorry, we didn’t hear you come down.” She turned to face him.
Aleksander cast a speculative glance between the two of them. “Evie was wondering about your relationship with him.”
She might have tried to deny it was anything serious, but she had the distinct impression that Aleksander had formed an opinion about them already, and nothing she said would change his mind. The best course of action was to keep her mouth shut and hope Nicolas wouldn’t do anything stupid.
Aleksander looked at Anna. “I know you’ve been keeping watch over him, but I need to speak with Nicolas alone.”
Anna wanted to protest, but before she could, Nicolas said, “Go, Annabelle. You’ve been keeping me safe all night. You need a break.”
She couldn’t leave Nicolas here unable to defend himself. She played the only ace she had up her sleeve. “Before I go, you should know that someone is trying to kill you, Aleksander.”
Silence hung in the air for a few long seconds. Aleksander then said, “I’m assuming you’re saying someone besides Nicolas is trying to kill me? There’s always someone who wants the king dead.” He brushed off her concerns.
She wouldn’t give up that easily. “This is someone close to you. They knew your men were meeting in Central Park a week ago, and most importantly, they knew I had seen you killing Ray.
“Evie said you’ve been watching over me for the past fifteen years. Someone who knew I was important to Evie led me to Nicolas, and set him up in the park.”
Aleksander thought about her claim for a moment. “What makes you think all of this has to do with someone wanting me dead?”
Nicolas answered for her. “They’re trying to distract you. If you thought I was spying on or attacking your men in New York, how many men do you think you would have sent to contain me? Enough to leave the palace under-protected.”
Anna continued, “It was the same thing Nicolas and I were doing last night. Have someone lead the guards away while the other slips in unnoticed. After you were gone, everyone would assume Nicolas had done it.”
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t anyone ambush last night? There was plenty of opportunity,” said Aleksander.
Anna looked over at Nicolas. “Well, Nicolas kept on telling me I would have to be crazy to attack this place. The traitor probably assumed we would never be stupid enough to come all the way up here. He probably wanted to get your guards out of the country and chasing after Nicolas before he attacked.”
Aleksander nodded his head as he considered the possibility. “I will have to give your theory some consideration. However, for the time being, I must speak with Nicolas alone.”
She was really being dismissed this time. She searched her mind for any reason to not leave the two of them alone together.
Nicolas said to her, “Go upstairs, Annabelle, and take a break.”
Biting her tongue at the need to say more, she turned and walked up the stairs.
Nicolas hated to see her go. Once her footfalls reached the top of the staircase, Aleksander turned to him.
“I know this will be hard for you, but we have to be civilized,” he said to Nicolas.
Nicolas sneered at him. “The night you stole this palace was the worst night of my existence. You had your king murdered by his most trusted soldiers.”
“Maybe if his most trusted soldiers were willing to do that, there was good reason,” Aleksander argued.
Nicolas shook the chains in frustration. “For him to be killed by his own men was a disgrace. Now his murderers are living in the kingdom he built. He united us. Civilized us! And yet you act as though he was the traitor.”
“You didn’t see the beast we saw. He sheltered you from the reality. His appetites were growing massive. He could decimate whole towns in a matter of hours. Women, children, animals—nothing was safe from him. This whole kingdom was about to crumble. I acted to protect the very thing he’d spent his life building.”
“You acted to take the very thing he spent his life building,” Nicolas spat at him.
Aleksander’s jaw was clenched tight against the need to say more. He settled on, “Obviously, this is getting us nowhere. Is it true what Anna says? Someone led her to you?”
Nicolas didn’t want Aleksander to know anything about Annabelle. He answered with a question of his own. “Is it true that your men have been watching her for the past fifteen years?”
Aleksander cocked his head at Nicolas. “It’s funny how you keep acting as though you are still in power here, though I’m the one outside of the cage.” He tapped on the bars to prove his point.
“You don’t scare me,” said Nicolas. He was son of Kirill. Second hand and blood of the king. They had ruled for over four centuries. One traitor couldn’t threaten him.
Aleksander raised a skeptical brow. “Is that a fact? I tend to scare most people. What about Anna? Does she scare you?”
Nicolas fought to keep his body language neutral.
“She’s already a big hit here. Word of what she did with Robert spread like wildfire. All the men are trying to get a good look at her. Some of the pure bloods have gone centuries without a human willingly giving them a bite. She will have lots of men following her around for the duration of her stay.”
Nicolas couldn’t help the growl that came from his throat. Aleksander smiled at the reaction he provoked. “You are scared of something,” he muttered.
“Let me out of these chains and I can show you exactly how scared I am,” he threatened.
“Tell me about how Anna found you, and I will see to it that she’s protected,” said Aleksander.
“Your wife loves her. I don’t believe she’s in danger from you as long as your wife is around,” reasoned Nicolas.
“You’re forgetting something. If someone is truly after me, then Evie is in danger as well. If it comes to Evie’s safety or Anna’s, I would snap your girlfriend’s neck like a twig. Don’t doubt it for a second.”
Nicolas couldn’t contain his rage at the threat. His fangs cut into his lip, and his wrists burned where he now strained at the silver.
“How she found you. Tell me now,” Aleksander ordered.
Now that Nicolas had confirmed Annabelle wasn’t safe alone in the palace, he knew he couldn’t take chances with her life. “An anonymous man called her phone while she was jogging by my building. He told her what apartment I was in and that I’m a vampire.”
“Was there any way to contact this man?” asked Aleksander.
“No name or method of contacting him was ever established. He would call her and the number came up as unknown.”
�
��Do you think he might call here? We could try to trace the call,” said Aleksander.
Nicolas shrugged. “Ever since we left the city, we have not heard from him. That was the night after I was in Central Park with your men. It was meant to look as though I was spying on their meeting.”
Aleksander nodded. “I have to admit that if you told me under any other circumstances you were being framed, I would’ve never believed you.”
“What makes you believe me now?” asked Nicolas.
“You have already admitted to trying to kill me last night. Why start lying now?”
“Whoever was framing me was in New York at the time. They were watching Annabelle as she was jogging by my place. Do you know anyone who had been told about her connection to you who was in the city recently?”
“There are a few I know of. However, if anyone wanted to do me in, they might not have been the one contacting Anna. This traitor could have multiple men working for him.”
“How are you planning on finding them, if it could be anyone?” asked Nicolas.
“I will start with my people in the city. I will look at all of their phone records to see if anyone has called Anna’s phone recently. But I do have a backup plan, but I must warn you that you’re an intricate part of this plan.”
“Then I don’t want any part of it.”
Aleksander removed a key from his front pocket. “That is a shame. You’re going to have a homecoming party.”
With that, Aleksander opened the door to his cell and walked up to the chains that bound Nicolas.
“Now remember, Nicolas. If you so much as scratch me, there are ten guards just waiting to bite into your Anna.” Aleksander freed Nicolas.
Anna was right at the top of the stairs that led up from the basement when Nicolas burst up the stairs in a blur of motion. He actually overshot her by about twenty feet before he stopped and turned.
“What are you doing there?” he asked.
“Me? What are you doing free? You didn’t kill him, did you?” Evie would never forgive her if her Aleksander died because of a man she’d begged to be kept alive.
