AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d forgotten about that.
“Yes, of course,” I said and paused, trying to ignore the fluttering in my stomach when I thought about my dad being nothing like I thought he was, and suddenly, my other parent forced her way into my thoughts. “Can we look for my mom yet?”
“Not right now. All eyes are on us as recent visitors to the castle. One of us making a detour would raise suspicions.”
I wetted my lips. “What should we do?”
“We go to our room, get settled, and wait for Erianna, Zach, and Anna to arrive. Then, we get ready for dinner.”
“Okay,” I said breathily, then gasped on seeing the open door. Hamza stood, glaring through the crack. Stumbling back, I fell against Sebastian, who placed his hand on my back, his frown deepening.
“You!” Sebastian growled, the muscles in his arms tensing.
“If it isn’t the happy couple.” Hamza tilted his head to the side, regarding me as prey. “You colored your hair.”
Fuck!
“I dyed it red before to look more royal,” I blurted. “Sebastian suggested I go back to my natural color.”
Sebastian’s intense stare never left Hamza. Pressing my fingers against his shoulder, I felt his muscle feather, his skin flushing red. “Get out of here,” he scathed.
“It’s a shame. I preferred it before.” He bit his bottom lip, and Sebastian stepped forward, planting one foot in front of the other, ready to lunge.
“You didn’t tell the king you’d already met Olivia. Unless you’d rather he didn’t know. What were you supposed to be doing in the city?” Sebastian inquired. “The king wouldn’t have allowed his top advisor to leave the castle without good reason. You must’ve lied to him so you could go to the auction.”
Hamza hesitated. “I was going to question myself how she was supposedly in a blood den for all those months and was taken from an eastern town of Baldoria, when everyone knows any sorceress is to be brought straight to the castle.” He put a finger in the air. “Unless she was actually brought here in the recent attacks by Nightshade, along with Ravena.”
My heart leaped when he spoke her name. Sebastian’s fists balled. “We have no reason to lie.”
“I would hope not.” He examined his cuticles, a grin spreading over that smug face. “Because if you are, I will find out, and, well, we both know how Sargon feels about disloyalty.” He peered around Sebastian, locking eyes with me. “Enjoy your stay, Olivia.”
He left, and Sebastian took a step forward. I didn’t need to lower my barrier to know how he felt. Instinctively, I reached forward, pressing my fingers against his arm. Under my feather touch, I sensed the familiar tightness from his anger swirling throughout his body. Closing my eyes, I held my breath, allowing the emotion to flow into me. He changed the way he looked at me when I peeled back my eyelids, watching as the hatred melted away from him. His jaw slacked, and after a moment, he flinched away from me.
“Stop.”
“What?”
“Trying to take my anger away.”
I licked my dry lips and pulled my hand back, rolling my neck against the heaviness of his anger in my own bones. “I’m only trying to help.”
“My anger fuels me. It gives me the strength I need to protect you and myself.” He took a step toward the open door. “Leave me to my emotions.”
I followed him out. “You know, you can be a real ass sometimes.”
He didn’t respond. Instead, we walked in thick silence all the way to our shared room, where low lighting, melting candles, and a bed big enough for four people sat. He tossed his jacket onto the silk sheets then walked into the bathroom.
An odd question popped into my head, and I broke the silence. “Do vampires need to urinate?” I’d always thought they didn’t.
“Where do you think the blood goes? Evaporates?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought maybe it was absorbed or something.”
A ghost of a smile danced over his lips, but it was gone before I could tell. “Absorbing blood. That’s a new one,” he said and shut the door.
The sky darkened as night came early. I rushed to the four arched windows side by side, across the wall from our bed, and stared out at the endless silhouettes of mountains, trees, and sky. I’d gotten us trapped here, in a place almost impossible to escape, and the only hope I had was to win Erianna to our cause and find my mom.
If I could find a way to use my own magic, that would be even better. I heard the shower turn on from the bathroom and closed my eyes. Power thrummed in my fingertips, tingling up into my wrists. I cleared my mind as best I could.
