Page 76 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

“Susie has a gold collar,” Harvey says through a mouthful of chicken. “And Arken’s not royalty.”

“He’s upper class,” Clara argues.

“They’re all upper class,” I mutter, standing so abruptly I nearly fumble my cup into Becky’s lap. I catch it just in time, the punch sloshing dangerously against the rim.

“Whoa,” Harvey says. “Had a bit too much there? I didn’t even spike it tonight.” His brows lift. “Or did I?” He waggles them at Clara.

“You didn’t,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“She’s just tired,” Susie says gently. “It’s been a long first day.”

“Yes,” I say, seizing on the excuse with relief, then realising it isn’t an excuse at all. “I’m going to bed.”

“Did you have enough to eat?” Susie asks, half-rising.

I quickly lift a hand to keep her seated. “Yes, thank you. I’ll just go back to the dorm and get an early night.”

She hesitates, then settles back and gives me a warm smile. “All right. Your new bedding should have been delivered. Let me know if you need anything.”

I thank her and bid everyone goodnight, trying not to look too eager to get away. Climbing out of the sunken hall, I keep my shoulders tight and my eyes fixed ahead. The vampire tables pass in a blur of candlelight, perfume, and laughter.

I do not look at Nathaniel’s table.

Outside the dining hall, I exhale a long breath, glad to finally be alone. I cross the antechamber, which is quiet enough that my footsteps sound loud.

Every intention of going straight downstairs to sleep evaporates when my feet slow beside the tall red doors.

I stare at them with as much dread as if I knew the king himself was waiting on the other side.

My breathing turns shallow, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. Why was Susie so reluctant to show me a room that should be dull and empty? What does she not want me to see? My feet carry me closer before I can think better of it. If this place has secrets, I’m taking as many of them as I can when I leave.

Up close, the paint is too perfect, a gleaming sheen with barely a scratch. Engraved across both doors is the Academy crest, or something like it. It is an expanded scene. A shifter kneels at its foot, almost entirely human except for the wolfish shape of his bowed head. A hand presses between his ears, forcing his muzzle down. Above him towers a vampire so tall his crown approaches the ceiling, his long cloak spilling down the carved wood like a river of shadow.

My heart jolts. For one strange, awful moment, I think it is Nathaniel. Then I see the differences. The harsher cut of the cheekbones. The sharper, more prominent nose. The pointed chin, the severe slant of the brow, the shoulder-length fall of hair. It’s not the prince. It’s his father.

I am staring at evil.

I’m not afraid, I almost whisper aloud. I’m not. So why do I need to tell myself that?

I stride forward with sudden boldness, close my fingers around the iron handle, and pull hard. I expect resistance. A lock. A ward. Instead, the door swings open, and I stumble back, thrown off balance, and land on the floor. For one suspended breath, I sit there with the door cracked open before me. My pulse beats hard against the collar.

Then the tall door begins to close silently. I don’t know what possesses me to do it, but I scramble to my feet and dive forward, flying through it just before it shuts.

And am swallowed by complete and utter darkness.

Chapter 13

Kira

Ihit the floor hard and slide across it, palms skidding over the cold, polished floor into pitch black.

I lie there for several breaths, waiting for my vision to adjust—but it doesn’t. The darkness is complete.

Get up.

I push onto my hands and knees, my eyes straining to make something out. Without a scrap of light to work with, even my night vision is useless.

My pulse pounds beneath my collar as I climb unsteadily to my feet, one hand stretched in front of me. Fire erupts in all four corners of the room, enormous iron bowls igniting at once atop low black pedestals. I flinch as red-gold flames leap up in red-gold sheets, the room appearing around me in pieces.