Page 211 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

She’s flanked by several vampires, each one looking as dangerous as the next.

“I am here for my brother,” she says in accented English. Her eyes are hard; her lips pressed in a tight line.

“We are sorry for your loss,” Jayce says quietly.

She scoffs. “Are you? We will rethink where we stand… The Crown Prince was vital for this treaty; with him gone, we shall see now.”

She stops when Prince Mikhail’s body comes into view. My heart clenches in sadness seeing her eyes soften at the sight of his body. For one jarring moment, I imagine myself in her position, and it breaks my heart.

She simply swallows, her lips pressed in a thin line. And then she gives the order in Russian to take the body of her brother. “Otvezite moyego brata.”

“You can see we also lost many men,” Uncle Leo says quietly.

She looks at him and raises an eyebrow. “And yet you are alive.” Then she looks around at the rest of the vampires and gives the command to move out. “Vydvigayemsya!”

So, they’re really leaving…

I watch as the vampires obey her, lifting the makeshift bed the Prince lies on, and they all turn in unison and walk back into the blizzard the way they had come, along with most of the manpower we had here.

Leaving behind only the silence and the howling wind.

“You didn’t push that much,” Jayce remarks to Uncle Leo.

“The alliance was through Mikhail. Right now, even I don’t know where they stand. But the dome is gone, the beasts that were within are tamed, and it’s a win for us, even if the cost was fucking heavy,” he replies, looking out across the blizzard.

“And not to mention we now control the army that can destroy them,” Raihana murmurs. Leo nods before taking out a cigarette.

“Yeah, and that,” he murmurs. “You can fill me in on the rest tomorrow. For now, go rest.”

Jayce glances at me, then nods, and I’m internally relieved because it’s been so exhausting, but there are things we can’t delay, like Vincenzo’s identity.

It can wait until tomorrow, Jayce’s voice comes into my head, as if knowing what’s playing through my mind. I hesitate but nod; I guess it can. He frowns, and I smile.

I think you have to mean the command… I didn’t feel anything compelling me to agree, I say softly.

He looks away and then nods. Good to know. He places a kiss on my forehead before leading me to our tent for the night, and I deactivate my Schattenblüte and pull on one of the shirts someone had left.

Whispering a spell beneath my breath, I create a small sphere of flame and place it beside the makeshift bed. Warmth immediately begins spreading through the tent, the snow beneath it slowly melting whilst the fire itself remains untouched by the moisture.

“Impressive.”

I glance over at him to see him pulling on a fresh pair of trousers, his hair still slightly damp from melted snow, and despite how exhausted he is, he looks more relaxed now that we’re finally alone.

“Just a small trick,” I reply with a faint smile. “It should keep us a little warmer.”

“Being a witch can be handy.”

I smile and nod in agreement. “It can be.”

My smile fades as my thoughts drift back to Heaven and to Endora, to the way she took control, the anguish in Heaven’s eyes when she realised she lost control, the uneasy reality that Endora can push through.

I wonder if she’s spoken to Aunty Ri yet, or if she’s still beating herself up over it. I sense Jayce watching me and look up to see him walking over to me and reaching for my hand, his thumb brushing across my knuckles.

“She’ll be alright.” He already knows what’s on my mind.

I sigh heavily. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen her look like that before.”

I haven’t either. His reply comes through the mind-link this time.