AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not scared,” I said through gritted teeth. “I just don’t want to become a vampire.”
“Coming here wasn’t the wisest idea, then.”
“You see”—I chewed the inside of my lip—“I wouldn’t have ever come here, but you sent your order to kill me, and then you took my mom.”
“You’re a threat,” he explained as if what had happened was no big deal. “My brother rules this kingdom, but I pull the strings. So nothing happens here without it running by me first.”
“I should tell Sargon how loyal his brother really is. I know you’re making a play for his throne.”
He ran a long nail around his chin, looking up in thought, his expression unmoving. “If you tell him, not that he would believe you over me, then I shall divulge your true identity, now that I know you don’t want that. I can still kill a vampire version of you as much as a mortal one.” He stopped walking and clasped his hands behind his back, his stare widening. “Be careful, niece. You won’t always have your friends around to protect you. All it takes is you being in the wrong place at the right time, and your short, insignificant life will be over.”
“Is that why you brought Velda here? Needed backup?”
“Don’t bait me, child. I am not the same as most of these idiots here at court and will not be manipulated. You are in my home now, and it won’t be long before you make a misstep.” He turned on his heel and strode back to the castle as snowflakes caught in his red strands. “You should take the escape your mother is offering you tonight,” he said as he left. “Either way, you won’t last long. Keep the cloak,” he added and walked back through the double doors, leaving me standing alone in the frost-bitten grounds with my heart in my throat.
He knew what my mom had planned, and she was far more competent than most. What if he knew about our plan, somehow? Even if I wanted to escape, I couldn’t now, not with Kalon aware. He probably had members of Nightshade ready to follow and kill us after our escape. I had to let Sebastian know. I couldn’t risk them getting killed. We’d underestimated him.
I climbed the staircases, suddenly aware of how unfit I was, as I stopped to catch my breath several times. Finally, reaching our room, I threw open the door. I could hear the shower spraying in the bathroom and Sebastian humming as steam crept through the cracks in the en-suite door.
“Sebastian,” I bellowed, and the water turned off. “We need to talk, now.” Urgency laced my tone.
His low voice resonated from the bathroom. “You know, I was just thinking about you.”
I didn’t even want to know what that meant, although it was probably him going over our plan in his head. “We can’t go through with tonight,” I said through the door. “When you left, Kalon found me and spoke to me. He confirmed he knows everything about me.”
The door opened, and Sebastian emerged in a cloud of steam with a towel around his waist, hair dripping around the tops of his ears. “He said he knows about what we’re doing?”
“Not exactly, but he knows other stuff,” I said, not giving too much away. “Things he shouldn’t know.”
“We already guessed he was aware of who you are.”
“It’s not that.” I cursed under my breath. “Look, my mom came to see me earlier and told me she planned for me to escape tonight with Draven. I wasn’t going to do it,” I said, noticing the grimace on his face, “but nonetheless, Kalon knew, and my mom isn’t the type to leave loose ends. We’ve underestimated him.”
“When were you planning on telling me about this escape plan?”
“You already don’t trust me. So why would I bother?”
“Unless you were planning on leaving.”
“I wasn’t!” I scowled.
“Why not? Isn’t it what you wanted?”
I placed my hand on my hip. “We don’t have time for this right now. We need to tell Erianna and Zach to call it all off.”
“Absolutely not. We don’t know that he knows, and calling it off means putting your life in danger. Velda is here with half the order. Trust me when I tell you they will kill you, and it could be at any time. This is the only way to ensure your safety.”
I balled my fists, my voice rising. “What if Erianna ends up paying the price for that? How many people are you willing to sacrifice for your mortality?”
“This isn’t just about my mortality anymore,” he shouted.
“Then what is it about?”
He opened his mouth, his tense expression melting as he stared, his eyes darting around my face. “It’s about the future of Sanmorte.”
My eyebrows pinched together. “Since when did you care about that?”
He didn’t answer and turned away from me. “Go back to the hall and stay in sight of Zach.”
