“My family will come,” he promised darkly.
“As it should be,” the guard said. “The Drake clan will witness the final crowning of Lady Natasha, with none to usurp her throne.”
“Solange didn’t even want your stupid crown,” I croaked through my bruised throat. “Or your throne.”
“She was a threat, now she’s not.”
I opened my mouth to yell. I was angry and bereft and afraid and all of those things made my temper harder to control than usual. Nicholas’s eyes flared at me warningly. He was right. I could swear and fume all I wanted, it wouldn’t change anything. And I was already bruised all over, and we’d been here less than a half hour. I wasn’t exactly a force to be reckoned with. I slumped against the wall and held my tears until the royal guard had filed out and we were alone with the cold drafts and the mildew. Sobs finally racked through me and I couldn’t stop them. They were loud and ugly, not like movie tears, which always seem so delicate and fragile. My tears burned and stung and didn’t make me feel the slightest bit better.
I’d known Solange all of my life. Sometimes I knew her better than I knew myself. She was solitary and clever and elegant even when she was adamant that was she was no such thing. She was special, and not just because she was the only vampire daughter. She was loyal and had always been there for me, no matter what. She was the one who nursed me through countless ill-advised crushes; she was the one who snuck me ice cream when my parents discovered tofu desserts and wouldn’t buy anything else. She was quiet and strong and artistic.
It was unthinkable that she was dead.
I gagged on more tears. It wasn’t right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. We were supposed to be at her house, where she’d drink her first taste of blood at midnight tonight and wake up sixteen years old and dead— or reborn, technically, what ever. Not this. Never this.
“Lucy.” Nicholas pressed against the iron bars. I had no idea how long he’d been saying my name. I was curled into a ball, my eyes swollen. I wiped my nose on my sleeve.
“Sorry,” I said, blinking away the last of the tears. More hovered behind my lids, clutching at my throat, but I had to fight them back. It wasn’t in me to just give up, even when I desperately wanted to. I couldn’t force a smile, but at least I could sit up. Nicholas looked worried and wretched. “What are we going to do?” I asked.
His fists clenched around the bars.
“We’re going to get out of here somehow. They’re going to take us up to the hall for the ball. Lady Natasha wants to gloat and show the vampire clans that she’s defeated the Drakes. It’s posturing.”
“I really hate her.”
“I know.”
“No, I mean, like, a lot.”
“Me too.”
“And Kieran, that rat.” My voice caught. “I’m going to break his nose again. And the rest of him.”
“I’ll help.”
“My mom’s going to make me spend weekends at the ashram for the next ten years to cleanse me of all this violence if we survive.”
“When we survive,” he corrected. He was pale, almost misty in the flickering light of the single torch on the wall between us. Smoke hung near the low ceiling, darkening the stones. “Dawn’s not far off ,” he said, frustrated. His eyes looked bruised, even from a distance. “I won’t be able to stay awake much longer.” He sat on the ground, leaned his head back on the wall. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you.”
“Right back at you.”
He half smiled. “Don’t shoot your mouth off while I’m asleep.”
“I can’t make any promises.”
“My family will come,” he said again.
I thought of Liam’s grim face, of Helena’s sword flashing.
“I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 24
Solange
I lay there for a long time. I could have been there hours, days, months; I’d lost track. There was only my breath becoming longer and deeper and slower. I felt like a dandelion gone to fluff y white seed, drifting on the wish of some petulant child. I hoped my family was safe, tucked into the old farm house. I’d miss its crooked halls and creaky floors and my little pottery shed with its views of the fields and the woods and the mountains beyond. I’d miss Nicholas nagging at me to be careful, Lucy arguing with everyone about everything, Kieran’s quiet confidence.
At first I thought I’d imagined the faint clang.
But the voices were real, echoing down to my bed. I tried to move, to open my eyes, but nothing happened.
“This is the one,” someone said. The voice was rough. “I can smell her.”
“Aye, like bloodwine just waiting to be sipped.”
The footsteps approached. I managed to pry one eye open, not enough that anyone would notice, just enough that the faint light showed me two men and a woman through the fringe of my lashes. Each of their faces was tattooed with the three raven feathers of the royal house.
Araksaka.
I tried harder to move, to scream, to kick out. It was as if I was barely in my body—it paid virtually no attention to my frantic commands.
“Not quite out yet, are you sweetheart?” I tried to fight but only dangled limply over his arms when he picked me up. His mouth was very near my neck. I shuddered violently. “Just a little taste.”
“Michel, no.” Someone plucked me away like an apple off a tree. “Lady Natasha would have your head,” he said. “And more importantly, mine as well.”
“But she smells so delicious.”
“Put in your damn nose plugs— you know it’s the bloodchange pheromones.”
“Spoilsport.”
“If you two are quite finished courting,” the woman snapped, looking down as she climbed the rope back up to the forest floor. “We don’t have much time.”
My captor slung me over his shoulder and went up the rope, quick as a hummingbird. The light in the woods was faintly gray, the sky like a black pearl. I could feel the approach of dawn, the way I’d never actually felt it before. It was like a weight on my chest, like being wrapped in chains and dropped into the ocean. The guards felt it just as keenly as I did, I could tell by the way they lowered their heads and ran faster than I’d ever seen a vampire run. The trees blurred into shadows, the leaves slapping at us faintly as we passed. Coyotes yipped hysterically from the valley behind us. The mountain loomed closer and closer, blocking out the shimmer of light on the horizon. The woman cursed. They ran faster. I hoped they crumbled into ashes, even if it meant I would too.
And then we were at the caves and they leaped inside as if their feet were on fire. The first spear of sunlight hurled from the sky, fell between the branches and struck the ground. It gilded the humus underfoot, the curling ferns, the white birch bark peeling into strips. The woman cursed again.
“Too damn close.”
That would be my very last moment of sunlight. Ever. My skin itched all over. I was certain that if I’d been caught out there, I would have blistered as badly as the other vampires would have.
I was taken down a narrow tunnel and into a circular hall with rugs on the floor and tapestries on the walls. Torches burned and candles were scattered everywhere, like stars on a clear winter night. Ravens cawed from floor to ceiling in wrought-iron cages, eyes gleaming like jet beads. The few vampires there stopped what they were doing and followed us to a white throne, trailing behind us like the train of a wedding dress. Lady Natasha was on her feet, her face so pale it could have been carved out of moonstone. Even her hair seemed stunned, white as orchids. I might have enjoyed that brief moment of victory, if I hadn’t seen Kieran beside her, equally pale. What was he still doing here? Our plan was falling apart around us and there wasn’t a single thing I could do about it.
“Is that Solange Drake?” Lady Natasha’s voice was cold enough to crack steel. I couldn’t quite place her accent. It seemed vaguely French, vaguely Russian.
The guard still carrying me lowered himself to one knee.
“Yes, my lady. We found her in the woods.”
“Did you now?” She turned her head a fraction of an inch toward Kieran. He was staring at me, so many emotions chasing across his face that I didn’t have time to decipher them all.
Our plan hadn’t worked after all.
Natasha gestured to a silver plate on which lay a roasted heart, swimming in a pond of blood. The pearl-studded iron box Kieran had taken from the chest before leaving me to go hunting sat nearby. “And what, pray tell, is this delicacy I was about to consume?”
Kieran didn’t answer, didn’t look away from me as I was released to tumble to the carpet.
“I asked you a question, boy.” One backhand and Kieran was crashing into the table, scattering a vase of roses, a crystal bowl, and the silver plate. The heart hit the side of the throne and slid slowly down in a syrupy trail of blood. I would have gagged, but even my throat was too tired from the bloodchange to react. Kieran coughed, rubbing his chest as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.
“It’s a deer heart,” he replied without inflection.
“How very clever,” she purred. One of the royal guards winced at the sound. She raised an eyebrow at the guard still on one knee. “We’ve much to do apparently. The ball will go on as planned, and we’ll set the Drake girl up on the dais so that everyone can watch her die, along with any threat to our unity.”
“No.” Kieran leaped to his feet.
She smiled at him.
“And you’ll watch every moment of it, after which, I will pull your heart out of your puny rib cage and eat it. Seeing as I was denied my treat.”
“Solange doesn’t want your throne or Montmartre,” Kieran insisted, crouching to put his back to a tapestry of a maiden drinking from a white unicorn, when two guards began closing in on him. “She doesn’t want to be queen of the damn vampires.”
“Don’t be stupid.” Lady Natasha paused, turned to the doorway. She sighed. “Now what? I don’t recall inviting you.”
“There’s been a change of plans.” Hope marched into the room, two agents behind her. Her eyes narrowed. “Kieran. What the hell are you doing here?”
Natasha lifted her chin.
“Kieran?” she repeated icily. “As in the son of Hart’s brother? When you killed him you said you had everything under control.”
Kieran froze. He looked as if he was going to choke on his fury.
“What?” He turned slowly toward Hope. “What did she just say?”
“Everything is under control, but I hardly expected you to invite a Helios agent into your court.”
“He brought me a heart.” Lady Natasha nodded toward me. I was still sprawled on the carpet. “Clearly not hers.”
“Well, the Drakes are on to me now,” Hope snapped.
“You,” Kieran bit out, fists clenching.
Hope didn’t look particularly concerned with the hatred pouring out of him.
“I’m doing what I have to for the Helios-Ra, and I guarantee it’s more than your father or uncle could ever have accomplished. Lady Natasha understands that. We look after our own.”
Kieran didn’t bother with more debate; he launched himself at her. He didn’t make it within two feet of her, of course, not with her men there and the Araksaka as well. He didn’t have a chance. I doubt that mattered to him.
“Honestly, children these days.” Natasha waved her hand, looking bored. “Take them away.”
CHAPTER 25
Lucy
Monday morning
I must have dozed off , even though the thought of it seemed impossible. The sound of the iron lock opening woke me up. I was on my feet before my eyes were even fully open. It was the Conan extra who had led us into the hall yesterday. His muscles were even bigger close up, but he looked a little haggard. I had no idea how long I’d slept, but Nicholas was out cold in his cell, didn’t even stir at the sound of the iron gate swinging open on rusty hinges. I might have tried to dart around the guard but he was big enough to block the entire space and, anyway, where would I go? Up the stairs into the main hall?
He placed a jug of water on the floor. “You should clean up.”
I frowned. “What? Why?” For some reason I thought his voice sounded familiar, but I was pretty sure I would have remembered him if I’d seen him before.
“It’s expected.”
“Well, you can take your—”
“Stay down,” he advised quietly. “And keep your mouth shut.”
Was he actually trying to help me? The apple he tossed me nearly hit me in the face. I caught it mostly by reflex. Then I realized why I recognized his voice. He was the vampire who’d come to the window of the farm house and offered his allegiance.
He straightened at the sound of footsteps on the stairs. His expression went hard, blank. Two women came up behind him, not tattooed with the mark of Araksaka but not exactly friendly, either. They brought in a basket and a beautiful gown, all brocade and embroidered velvet with a square neckline and panniers and lace petticoats. It was burgundy with pale blue crystal beads and accents on the bodice and around the hem. The dress’s hanger was placed on a hook intended for iron chains and other methods of torture.
Now I was really confused.
That the basket was filled with a silver-backed hairbrush, a hand mirror, a square of lavender soap, and vials of perfume didn’t clear things up even a little.
“Um . . . what is all this stuff?”
The women eyed me critically.
“It should fit. The shoes look too small, you’ll have to go barefoot.”
“I’m supposed to wear that costume?” At any other time, I would have been thrilled to prance around in some old-fashioned gown dripping with ornamentation.
“You can’t very well attend a ball in those dirty things, can you?” She sneered at my pants. “It would be an insult to our queen.”
I felt staggered. I actually pressed a hand to my temple.
“Wait, it’s an actual ball? Waltzing and canapés and glass slippers?” My very first ball and it was in honor of a lunatic murderer and would likely end with a vampire killing me. And I had to dress up for the plea sure?
“Don’t get the dress dirty,” one of them said.
“Why not?”
“Lady Natasha would be . . . displeased.”
“This is totally surreal,” I muttered after they’d left me alone with my very own ball gown. There was a zipper up the side, so at least I wasn’t expected to contort myself around to do up my own laces. Hyacinth had always said the reason well-to-do ladies had maidservants was because none of the clothes were user- friendly. The gown was beautiful, embellished by hand, every minute detail perfectly done. And I didn’t want to wear it, not one bit. I edged back as if were dipped in poison.
Instead of using the water in the jug to wash with, I drank every drop. I was thirsty and hungry enough that my stomach cramped around the apple I ate. I paced a while because I literally had no idea what else to do with myself. This was the last situation I’d ever expected to be in. I was at a complete loss.
“Nicholas,” I called out. He was on his back, still as stone. “Nicholas,” I tried again. Nothing. Not a flicker of an eyelash. I gave up and went back to pacing. After an hour of pacing, my calves were sore and I was feeling dizzy. I used the chamber pot, while I knew Nicholas was still asleep, and then decided to put the dress on when I realized that if the guards came down and I was still in Solange’s cargos, they’d likely strip me down themselves. A white cotton slip dress went on first, followed by the panniers, which were basically two baskets hanging on a wide leather belt that went around my waist. It felt weird and bulky. The dress went on top and was heavier than it looked. The fabric was stiff and tight enough that I had no choice but to stand up straight. There was a blue velvet choker. I wished I still had the Drake family cameo; I’d attach it out of spite.
And it might give me courage.
Because I talked a good game, but the truth wa
s, my knees were weak as water and I felt sick to my stomach. Panic was stealthy and it hunted me on soft, silent feet, not quite closing in but never going away, either.
So when Conan returned, I really thought that I was hallucinating.
Kieran was thrown into Nicholas’s cell, his face bloody and bruised, his left arm hugged to his chest as if it was broken. But what really caught my attention was the body draped over Conan’s huge arms, gently placed on the pallet beside me.
Solange.
CHAPTER 26
Lucy
It was surprisingly difficult to crouch down by Solange’s side, and not just because of the ridiculous dress. Her head lolled to one side as if even her neck was too tired to hold it up. I couldn’t tell if she was breathing, and my hands shook as I leaned closer. I really didn’t want to see a gaping hole in my best friend’s chest. I wouldn’t just dirty Lady Natasha’s dress, I’d throw up all over it.
“It wasn’t her heart,” Kieran groaned from his cell. “It was a deer heart.”
“Shut up,” I shot back. “I don’t know if I’m talking to you yet.” I touched Solange’s shoulder. She was cool and covered in mud. “Solange?”
“It’s the bloodchange.”
“I said shut up,” I tossed over my shoulder. “I know what it is, she’s my best friend, isn’t she?” I narrowed my eyes. “And you look like shit.”
“Arm’s broken,” he agreed. He looked gray, hollowed. “Hope killed my dad.”