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“We are in hiding.”
“For now,” I promised. “As a princess, I will make sure I pardon you both.”
“I am certain you will keep your promise,” she said, with more regality than I had. If anyone could be a princess, it would be her. She lifted her head and looked at me with unwavering pride. “Please also watch Sebastian closely, and report to me on anything untoward. I’ve brought him back from the edge before. I can only hope to do it again. With your help.”
I nodded, but seeing as he didn’t want to be my husband, or a prince, I was pretty sure I was the last person he’d listen to right now. “I’ll try.”
“Your friend, Draven, has been most kind.”
“I didn’t realize you knew him well.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “I thought you’d sent him to help us?”
“No.” I sat next to her. “Honestly, it didn’t occur to me. But he knew how bad I felt about what happened, and he’s always been the type to help someone in need.”
“He’s been bringing us blood.”
My lips parted. “That issurprising.”
She inhaled sharply, a small smile hovering over her thick lips. “How long have you been friends?”
I counted back the years in my mind, remembering the day when a much shorter Draven walked into my life with honey-blond hair yet to turn brown. “We were ten.”
“You seem so different to each other, is all,” she replied, her dark eyebrow arching.
“I guess we are.” I rubbed my wrist, hazily looking from Erianna to the window. “Our hobbies couldn’t be more different, but we both have similar beliefs. He wears his heart on his sleeve just as much as I do. He’s just better at hiding it. We always had that in common, and with his emotions, he needed someone to let it all out to.”
She nodded slowly, her eyes widening. “What do you get from the friendship?”
“That’s an intimate question,” I teased, crossing my legs.
“I’ve found, over the years, there is little point in beating around the bush.”
I licked my lips, my thoughts whirling. What did I get from Draven? Security, if I was being honest with myself. I could always depend on him. But it was more than that. He was gentle with my dreams and kind with my feelings. Unlike my mom or Astor, I didn’t have to change anything about myself when I was with him. It was as easy as breathing. “He accepted me for who I was. I think he still does.”
She pinched her knee between her fingers, her dark eyes drifting up to the chandelier. “I heard he offered to be your husband when he found out about the ritual.”
My shoulders tightened, and my lips formed into a scowl. “I wouldn’t put him through that. Draven hates vampires more than I ever did, and becoming one is the worst thing I could do to him.”
She leaned forward. The afternoon sun arrowing through the window danced on her gold rings as she drummed her fingers. “Do you love him?”
Her expression told me everything. “Not in a romantic way.”
“I had to ask.”
“Why?”
“Curiosity.” She didn’t elaborate, but my stomach churned as she looked me up and down again, then stood. I felt naked as her intrusive gaze bore into me. I parted my lips, but the question hovering in my mind never formed.
Does Draven love me?
I already knew the answer; I had for the longest time. But I never confronted it, mostly because I couldn’t bear to hurt him, and I could never give him what he wanted. He was my best friend, and while I had caught myself staring a few times when he’d been training—because who wouldn’t?—I never felt butterflies around him.
“If soul friends are a thing, then that is what me and Draven are,” I added, hoping to rest any doubts in her mind.
Although, I had to wonder what her actual intentions behind this conversation were. Knowing Erianna, if it had anything to do with the heart, she would notspill easily. Perhaps she worried I wanted Draven over Sebastian and would hurt him.
“Do you—”
