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Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t bring her back to Baldoria with me if I had any chance of making my escape. She’d be executed immediately once the guild found out what she’d become, and if out of some loyalty they didn’t, she’d at least be imprisoned.
There was little choice. The kingdoms weren’t kind to vampires, and I couldn’t blame them. She had to stay here, in Sanmorte, or die. There was no third option. My heart felt a little heavier as I climbed out of bed, careful not to wake Sebastian. My toes hit a line of sunlight on the carpet, warming them. If I couldn’t help her, then I could at least save Draven. He was the only thing I had to hold on to because thinking about permanently leaving my mom here and living a life without her was too much grief to bear. My soul was already too weary of processing anything more. So, for now, I would live in the present. With Kalon knowing my true identity, I couldn’t return to Baldoria anyway, not when Nightshade would hunt me.
Where would I go?
I could either stay here and come clean, become a vampire, and lose the powers I’d just started to control, along with my mortality, or flee with Draven, somehow, to another kingdom far from here, where Nightshade would have a hard time reaching me.
My options weren’t great.
“You’re up early.” Sebastian rolled over and yawned. “It’s barely—” He checked his watch on the nightstand. “Eight.”
“I want to be awake before all the bloodsuckers are.”
“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine in the morning,” he said, stretching his arms. “Erianna and Zach should be here soon anyway, so I’ll get up.”
“I’m going to find Draven.”
“I could lay here and point out all the reasons why that’s a terrible idea, but you’re not stupid.” He added, “I hope.”
“I’m going to wear a cloak.”
“Yes. Kalon and his followers will be trumped by a simple traveling cloak.”
I rolled my eyes. “They’re probably not even awake.”
He sat upright, running his hand through his tousled hair. He somehow managed to look even sexier in the mornings, with bed hair and a roughened look.
I shook my head, pushing that thought somewhere into a nope box in my mind.
“Olivia, Kalon is dangerous. He will have people looking out for you around the clock, and I guarantee you, the moment you’re alone, they will take you and kill you before Sargon finds out who you are. The king knowing your identity is the last thing Kalon wants.”
“Then come with me.”
“We should wait for Erianna and Zach. They can help you look for him safely, and they can fight. The guards here are highly trained in all forms of combat.”
I thought back to my lessons at fifteen and how every time anyone had tried to teach me how to fight, I’d always end up on my ass. “My mom said she would come to find me. Did she? I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
His shoulders slumped. “She didn’t come by here last night, but with Sargon’s men watching her more closely than ever, it could take a day or two for her to sneak away and see you.”
“Why can’t you come with me to find Draven again?” I questioned, realizing he’d changed the subject on me. “Unless you’re doubting your own ability to protect me against Kalon’s men?”
Challenge glinted in his eyes. “Don’t play with me, Olivia.”
“Then help me, or I’m going alone.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed!”
I shrugged. “Then give me some of your blood. After all, if I’m killed, I’ll become a vampire, and I can take my place as the princess and give you your mortality back. That’s all you want, right?”
“Are you upset with me for that?”
“What if I don’t want this anymore? I don’t hate the king enough to kill him. He’s still my dad, and it’s just not who I am.” I wrestled with my morality as I walked toward the bathroom door. “If I become princess, I’ll always have a target on my back, and I’ve only just found my powers. I enjoy being a sorceress. I don’t want to become like you.”
He climbed out of bed, wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants, showing the white band of his underwear. “You made me a promise.” His nostrils flared as he closed the distance between us, and for the first time, I was seeing how it felt being on the wrong side of him—no longer as his ally, but instead an enemy. “We had a deal.”
“People break deals all the time.” I stood firm, but my heart was racing. He didn’t know I had no plans to keep to his deal all along, but now I couldn’t even pretend. Not with Kalon after me. “I’m sorry.”
He scoffed, his jaw tightening. “You’re sorry?” he mocked. “I gave you my word I would protect you. I put my fucking name on the line to bring you here, to fake being engaged so you could become queen.” He searched my face, then shook his head, stepping back. “I was giving you everything you wanted.”
