I wondered, suddenly, if Raniero had also ever endured time in those dungeon rooms I'd seen. Or was that type of "education" reserved for genuine princes in training? Because if Raniero did bear some of the same scars Lucius did—if he'd been taken into those dark chambers to be "educated" within an inch of his life—I could imagine why he'd escaped to a beach in the sunshine.
"He and Lucius are obviously still close, though," I added, remembering other, awful thoughts, memories of the way Lucius's uncles had thrashed him when they'd come to Pennsylvania, and how that had changed him, taken him to a dark place...
"Well, Lucius and Raniero sure are different," Mindy noted, rolling her eyes. "Lucius is totally royal, and Raniero is, like, a slacker!"
Although my thoughts had just been trapped in a dismal dungeon, I couldn't help laughing at the idea of a slacker vampire—especially a Vladescu slacker. "We only saw him for a few hours," I reminded her. "Maybe he was just having a rough day."
"Or a rough year," Mindy said. "That guy needs a haircut—or at least a shower!"
"Mindy!" I started to protest, wanting to defend Lucius's best friend. But I couldn't do it. Raniero Vladescu Lovatu had seemed a little ... scruffy. He'd slurped down his soup like a starving barbarian, slouched in his chair, and actually summoned a servant by waving his hand and calling out, in his Italian accent with a California surfer twist, "Dude—more lentils, prego."
I'd kept looking at Lucius, expecting him to cringe or maybe even suggest that Raniero watch his manners, but I'd seen nothing more than indulgent amusement in my fiance's eyes.
Who, exactly, was this guy Lucius called "brother"? Had he really left behind a life of wealth and power to ... surf?
"I guess we'll see if he cleans up for the wedding, huh?" I said, laughing off any vague suspicions I might've had. "I can't imagine that Lucius would let his best man—even a guy he considers a brother—wear board shorts at the ceremony."
Mindy hugged her pillow tighter and frowned. "Unless somebody does a real extreme makeover on that guy between now and tomorrow, I'm not getting my hopes up."
"Hopes?" I asked, not sure why Mindy cared about Raniero at all. I mean, it was my wedding. If Lucius's best man looked like he'd just rolled in with the tide, that was my problem.
"Well, I'm the one who has to spend the whole wedding with him, right?" she reminded me. "And I at least have to dance with him, don't I?"
I realized then that as maid of honor, Mindy probably considered Raniero her date for the evening. And maybe, just maybe, she'd hoped that the guy she'd be paired with might be ... better. Or, given her old crush on "Lukey," a little bit like the groom himself. "Oh, Mindy..."
I wanted to tell her that I was both sorry that Lucius's best man was a disappointment—and that she really shouldn't even think about getting involved with a vampire. I was born to marry Lucius—couldn't wait to do it—and yet I wouldn't necessarily recommend blood, eternity, and being considered frighteningly different as a lifestyle choice for any of my friends.
Before I could advise Mindy that she was probably lucky that Raniero wasn't her type, we were interrupted by a knock on the door. My mom poked her head in to ask, "Mindy? Would you mind if I spoke to Jessica alone for a minute? I have something to give her."
I started to tell Mom that Mindy could stay. After all, we were practically sisters, as surely as Lucius and Raniero were brothers. But I saw the look on Mom's face, and I turned to Mindy, saying, "I think you'd better go, okay?"
Because the expression my mother was wearing ... I hadn't seen her look like that in all the years she'd raised me.
Chapter 8
MINDY HAD OBVIOUSLY sensed my mom's mood, too, and was already crawling off the bed. "Sure, Dr. Packwood. I should go to my room anyhow. Tomorrow's a big day!"
When Mindy offered that reminder, my heart seized with anticipation—and fear again. I'd managed to distract myself from thoughts of the wedding for a few minutes, but in just hours I'd don my dress, and a servant would arrive with the things I'd need for the private act I'd have to perform first...
Will I have the nerve to do that?
"It's gonna be wonderful," Mindy reassured me, no doubt seeing the blood draining from my face. "I mean, you're getting married! To Lucius!"
Yes, I am. It's really happening.
Then she leaned in to give me a quick hug, said her good-nights, and left me and Mom alone.
I climbed off the bed, too, and walked toward my mother, curious about that look on her face and an object she held in her hands. "What is that?" I asked. "What's going on?"
Mom smiled, but that didn't quite erase the sad, almost solemn look in her eyes as she said, "I have an early wedding gift for you. Something I want you to have tonight."
I looked again at the item she carried, thinking that the present was as strange as my mom's mood. Unlike most wedding gifts, this one wasn't wrapped in pretty paper. Rather, the package that she cradled with such care was covered in a plain white cloth, which she started to unwind, like a bandage.
"This is a special gift from both me and your birth mother," Mom revealed, continuing to unwrap the object.
Even more intrigued, I came a little closer to her. "Mom?"
"I promised Mihaela that I'd give this to you on the eve of your wedding—if you married Lucius," she said. "Keep it safe, like Mihaela did, and then me, on your behalf. Because this, in turn, may keep you safe."
She looked up, and I saw that odd expression in her eyes again, and I understood that Mom was, in that moment, giving me away. The ceremony tomorrow would be a formality. This act, to her—whatever she was giving me—symbolized the completion of a pledge to raise me as her own—for Lucius, and the family that I was returning to.
"Mom..." I heard the fear in my voice. I wasn't ready and didn't want to leave her.
But of course my mother knew that I was ready and that I had to leave my old life behind, and she held out the present, uncovered, and pressed it into my hands.
"You're going to be a wonderful ruler—and a wonderful wife," she promised, her voice as close to shaky as I ever expected to hear it. "You and Lucius are two incredibly special people, and you share a very strong love. I knew that, long before you both did."
Apparently Lucius and I had been the last to know.
Then, before I could really even see what she'd given me, Mom hugged me and whispered, "I'm proud that you're my daughter. And I'm so glad that Mihaela chose me to be your mother, too."
"You'll always be my mom," I said, hating that it sounded like we were saying good-bye.
"I know, Jessica ... Antanasia," she corrected herself. "And you will always have a home in Pennsylvania. But I also know that your life is centered here now. And it will be, long after your father and I are gone."
For the first time in my life, Dr. Dara Packwood seemed unable to come to grips with a concept—eternity—as it related to me. We both fell silent, just holding each other.
"I love you, Jessica," she said, using my old name.
"I love you, too, Mom." She started to pull back, but I grabbed her wrist. "You'll help me get ready tomorrow, right?"
"Of course," she promised. "Of course!"
I felt relieved, because I'd been afraid that we really were separating from each other. And yet something had permanently shifted between us.
I wanted Mom to stay longer, but she left me then. When the door closed behind her, I finally looked at the gift in my hands, and I thought it was appropriate that it had come wrapped in a cloth like a bandage, because it seemed like my heart cracked to hold something so precious.
And I wasn't sure whether I was addressing Dara or Mihaela—or maybe both—when I said, voice catching, "Oh, Mom..."
Chapter 9
TRUST YOUR INSTINCTS—and distrust anyone who makes you the slightest bit wary, even among your closest "friends."
Vladescus are strong willed—but a Dragomir princess never cowers.
I will always be a part of
you, Antanasia.
I closed the black leather-bound notebook and sank down onto my bed, not sure how I'd gotten back across the room. I'd been so absorbed in reading my birth mother's cramped but careful script. It was as though she'd tried to fill every inch of the tiny booklet with all of her collected wisdom. Everything that she'd thought I would need to know to be the ruler of not one but two clans. And to be the wife of a "rival" prince.
I stroked the cover with my fingertips, overwhelmed by how much she must have loved me to leave me such a legacy.
Lucius may have given me the manual for becoming a vampire, but Mihaela Dragomir had provided me with the guide to surviving as one.
I closed my eyes for a moment, bowing my head in gratitude and respect for her, too.
Thank you, Mihaela, for protecting me, even when you clearly saw your own destruction looming.
Although I'd only skimmed passages, knowing that I'd read more carefully in the months and years to follow, I'd noticed how her messages had become clipped and her handwriting jagged as the pages ran out, as though she'd known that the time for recording her thoughts was running low, too.
Shivering, suddenly realizing that the room had gotten colder while I'd stood reading, I slipped between my blankets and tucked the little volume under my pillow, as if I could absorb her wisdom in my sleep. I also wanted to keep the notebook right with me. Even my nightstand seemed too far away for something so valuable—at least to me.
Resting my head on my pillow, I closed my eyes, already feeling warmer, not just from the blankets but because it felt like I had a new ally, one who had already experienced the things that I faced, and who could help me.
I understood then why my adoptive mom had felt like she was handing me back to my birth mother when she'd given me the present.
Although the gift, and the evening, were bittersweet, I started to smile, remembering a specific passage that I'd noted as I'd paged quickly along.
...hope that you come to love him...
I knew that Mihaela referred to Lucius, whom I had come to love, more than I could've dreamed when I'd struck his foot with a pitchfork less than a year before.
Smiling in the dark, I started trying to picture our wedding, but maybe because I still wasn't sure where it would be held, I had trouble imagining it, and, as often happened since the evening Lucius had proposed to me, I found myself remembering that. And even though I'd been sure I'd never fall asleep that night, before long I was drifting into my favorite dream, which always started with Lucius taking my hand and leading me down a secret path that only a handful of vampires—and two very special humans—even knew existed.
"Come with me, Antanasia," he invites, fingers strong and cool around my hand. "It's time that I show you a place that is not just special, but sacred..."
Chapter 10
THE PATH IS steep, carving sharply up the mountainside, taking us higher than I've been in the Carpathians yet, and I cling tightly to Lucius's hand, getting short of breath even though we're walking slowly. The terrain is rockier here, and the trees have thinned out. The air itself is thinner, making the climb even more difficult.
Even Lucius, who was raised in these mountains, seems to breathe a little harder. It's getting dark and we aren't speaking, too busy concentrating on our footing. In the silence I can hear him inhaling and exhaling in steady rhythm by my side.
Suddenly the quiet of that lonely spot is broken by the sound of someone—something—close by, but hidden from sight. Footsteps moving quickly in the opposite direction, slipping and sliding down the mountain so that rocks are dislodged and tumble toward the valley below.
Who or whatever has passed us sounds big—or maybe there is more than one of them...
I crush Lucius's fingers with mine, pulling us both to a stop, and ask in a whisper, with barely concealed alarm, "Lucius? It's getting late."I peer into the distance, looking for forms or shadows in the direction of that ominous rustling. "Do you think maybe we should come back tomorrow?"
I know that I don't need to remind him that there are bears and wolves—and people who destroy vampires—in these mountains. I'm sure that he'll understand why I'm getting nervous.
The sound of footsteps gets fainter, muffled by a rising wind, but I'm not reassured—until Lucius, who's been a half-step ahead, guiding us on a trail I've completely lost track of, turns and replies softly, "Would I let any harm come to you, Antanasia? Allow you even to stumble until you know these paths by heart yourself?"
As I try to meet his eyes in the gathering darkness, the wind rushes down the valley again, crashing into us, and I nearly lose my footing. And of course he's there to steady me, clasping my arm with his free hand.
I get my balance, but we stand therefor a second face-to-face, and I forget about my fears, because as always happens when we're alone, I want to kiss him.
Far away, I hear more noise. Then I want to go home.
But Lucius has another destination in mind.
"Come along," he says, starting to walk again. This time, our pace is slower, because the terrain is getting trickier and the air is getting very thin for lungs like mine, so used to life near sea level in southern Pennsylvania.
My eyes are trained downward, and I'm so focused on picking my way through the rocks that I lose track of everything around me, including time. I'm surprised when Lucius suddenly halts and squeezes my hand harder, signaling that I should stop walking and raise my face to look ahead.
And when I do, I am confronted by ... nothing.
Chapter 11
ALTHOUGH HE HASN'T revealed our destination, I've known from the start of our adventure where Lucius is taking me. Still, the utter blackness in front of me—the tall, narrow slit in the side of the mountain—makes me pull back a little.
Lucius doesn't hesitate, though. Without a word, he steps inside first, and because our hands are linked—and because I want to follow—I let him guide me into the constricted passage, so small that Lucius has to walk ahead, slightly bent, his arm stretched behind himself to reach me. We move at a snail's pace, feeling our way along, because there's no hope of our eyes adjusting in such a complete subterranean void.
I want to ask him why we couldn't have brought a flashlight or at least a candle, but something tells me not to talk.
I'm scared ... scared of being in a tight space underground, in darkness that almost certainly hides creatures that would make my skin crawl if I could see them. And I have irrational fears, too, like that the ground might drop away and our next step send us tumbling into empty space. But I'm also excited, and know that Lucius is familiar with the tunnel.
As if on cue, he turns—not easy in the cramped space—and rests his free hand gently on my head, protecting it as he guides me past a turn where stone juts down from above. "Careful here," he whispers. "The rock is sharp."
Yes, it's quite obvious that Lucius has been here many times.
As I round the bend, ducking low, I see a faint glow in the distance, and my anticipation grows—along with a new confusion.
Is someone else already here? Are we meeting somebody?
If Lucius is surprised, he doesn't voice it. He just continues to draw us down the curving corridor and toward that light, and my eyes finally begin to pick out details around us. The passageway is actually very dry and smooth, not as scary as I'd thought in the dark. The walls appear almost cared for. I glance down and see that the dirt floor seems swept clean, too. And the air, though musty, smells like spice ... maybe some kind of incense. I take a deep breath, thinking the smell is vaguely reminiscent of the unusual cologne that I first began to associate with Lucius back in America.
I walk close on his heels, wondering if he chose that cologne because it reminded him of this spot.
The light grows stronger and my heart starts to pound. I am about to see what is probably—no, definitely—the most significant place in my life.
We take a few steps more, and the ceiling rises higher, so even Lucius can
stand upright. At the last moment—just as we pass under a crude wooden support that separates the passage from the chamber that lies at the end—he draws me to his side and then steps aside, allowing me to walk through first and telling me, voice hushed with reverence, "This, Antanasia, is where our parents promised us to one another."
As I step into that hidden cavern, lit by a row of simple candles arranged on a wooden table, like an altar ... that honestly is the first time it really strikes me that I've been here before. That the infant I sometimes picture being offered up at a subterranean betrothal ceremony was actually me.
That child ... she always seemed like a stranger. No more real than a doll.
But of course that baby was ... me. My eyes have witnessed all of this before. Maybe I was placed on that table...
And Lucius...
I turn slowly to face him, and see that he looks both happy and suitably solemn as, clearly understanding what is running through my mind, he says, "Yes, Antanasia. This—this place—is where you and I really first met."
He stays near the entrance, giving me time to take everything
The cave isn't large, but like the tunnel, it's clean and obviously maintained. Along with the table, wooden benches are arranged in rows, almost like a classroom or a church.
"This is where our ancestors made all of their most important decisions," Lucius explains. "The Elders and senior vampires would gather here to debate. Still do gather, for the most crucial, clandestine meetings."
I look at him and see that his gaze is traveling around the space, as if he's seeing it anew as well.
"And they sought refuge here, too, right?" I ask. "When vampires were being purged?"A chill runs through me—and not because the cave is cool. Our parents were destroyed in the last purge. Will there be others...?