Hunched in a chair, which happens to be blocking the only door, there’s a man. His long red hair falls in front of a deathly pale face. This is my captor, and he’sasleep.I study him for a moment, and though some kind of familiarity tugs at my chest, I don’t think we’ve met.
Turning my attention back to my phone, I listen to the unanswered ring until Rosie’s voicemail message plays. The battery is low, which means I don’t have a whole lot of time.
“Help, I’m in some kind of—” I whisper, and again, the man with the long red hair stirs. Shit, okay, quieter… I can be quieter. “—a tower. There’s a man with red hair who pulled me through a portal, and this wasn’t a part of Holly’s game, was it? Because I’m totally freaking out.” My nerves have made me ramble. What can I tell her that’s useful? The one window in this place looks sealed shut, and if my kidnapper wasn’t blocking the door, I’m sure it’s locked. My hairpin skills may be handy for a braid crown, but I haven’t exactly added picking locks to my skillset. With the sheer number of times I’ve become live bait though, Ireally should. This guy must want something with Moth, right? Why else would he have brought me here? Still, that doesn’t explain why he called me his …fiancé.God, this is such a mess.
While I continue to list off facts about the room, I stand on the bed to grab one of the decorative swords off the wall. This is when the man’s eyes flutter open. They’re purple and pretty and even more shocking, he has the freaking audacity to smile at me.Smile!He raises his hands in surrender. I hold the sword in one hand while I palm my cellphone behind my back.
“It is normal to be startled, but you are safe here, I promise.” His voice isn’t as deep as Moth’s, but still rumbles through the small space.
“You pulled me through a portal!”
“Guilty, yes. Of course, you must remem—”
“At mybachelorette party!” I cut him off, refusing to let this asshole get a word in. Mustering all the skill I’ve gathered in the few lessons Holly insisted on, I point the tip of the sword directly at his throat, and oh my God, I cannot believe I’mthreatening someoneat sword-point right now.
“Well, waiting ’til the wedding would have been a tad dramatic—even for my taste.” His lips raise revealing his long, pointed fangs. Compared to Moth’s pointed teeth, they’re barely anything to gawk at. Still, I won’t be disarmed by his casual way of speaking.
I position myself the way Holly taught me. It’s been months since the last time she convinced me sparring would be a fun way to bond, and now I’m just hoping that maybe—maybe—I remember enough.
“Come now, as much as I enjoy a beautiful woman threatening me…” He catches the blade with his bare hands. It’snotblunted. A small droplet of blood spills from his palm, but his expression—that flirty, tantalizing gaze—doesn’t waver.
“You can drop the act, my love.” A smile on his lips. “Your so-called friends are too far to hear your cries of displeasure, and I’d rather you throw yourself into my arms.”
What is he talking about?
“No doubt you’ve thought about this day since our last meeting. I hope you know I would have never let you marry that brute.” The man pushes my sword further away from his neck while rising from the chair he had been sleeping in.
“Excuse me?” I ask, my mouth hanging open. This has got to be some kind of mistake, right? He’s confused me for someone else—messed up a spell. I don’t even know this guy; there’s no possible way he could think I’m … in love with him? I wonder if the voicemail is picking any of this up. If it is, maybe there’s some breadcrumb in his words that will lead Moth to me.
“I told you I would come for you when the time was right.” He leans close so that his body brushes against mine. “I’m just sorry it took so long.”
“I think you’re confused.”
“Sweet Heather, I have never been more certain of anything in my life.”
“I don’t know who you are.”
“Then he has … corrupted the memory of our meeting.” The man gasps clutching a hand to his chest. “Does the moth prince truly have such power?”
“Maybe you’re just not that memorable,” I huff before reminding myself I need to get information from him, not banter.
“Impossible.”
“Try me,” I say, dropping the sword so my thumbs can work the keypad of my phone behind my back. I’ve had the thought that I could use social media with my eyes closed. Let’s hope I can send a text.
“Magnus,” he says, more desperate than irritated. It still doesn’t ring a bell, and the question between us hangs in the air. I blink.
Magnus…
Considering the way his fanged mouth is gaping at me the longer it takes me to puzzle this together, I guess we must know each other somehow. And though there’s a vague stirring in my memory when I look at him, I can’t figure out where we’ve met.
“King Magnus … of the vampire’s domain.”
Ohhhhhh.Thatguy! God, I vaguely remember him now. The last time we saw each other, he was getting harassed by a few gold-digging suitors. Sure, I helped him out, but it’s not like there was any kind of flirting or … maybe that’s not it at all. Maybe this is all some kind of ploy to get to Moth. It’s happened once, and I’m not exactly keen on being live bait again. I do my best to type out a message behind my back relaying any information I can, but for all I know my thumb is sending cat GIF after cat GIF and I’msoscrewed.
“You really haven’t thought this through, have you?” I grumble, trying to mask my shaking limbs by looking horribly inconvenienced instead of terrified—and I am. I have no idea what I’m up against here, and the best I can do is try to bide enough time to figure it out.
“Oh, but I have.”He nods. “You do not have to worry.”
