AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Daxon bristled as he glared at Ares distrustfully. “You were using Rune to find the stone for yourself?”
Ares’s expression tightened. “Not exactly. The Atlandia royal family took so much from me, and there were rumors the princess had survived the family execution.”
I felt sick thinking of Ares coming after me in revenge, even if I’d already known about it. I remembered when Ares had taken me to the tavern with the other vampires and bitten me, what he’d called me…His Highness,and when he’d told me I’d pay for what my family took from him. I didn’t want to be the long lost princess he’d been searching for…but all signs were saying I was.
I wanted to believe the strange visions I’d been having meant something else…that there was no way I was royalty. But I didn’t think I could get that lucky.
“I’ll never forgive you for trying to kill her,” Daxon growled, and my insides tightened as I examined him…wondering if I could really trust Ares’s intentions.
Wilder snarled, the threat clear. This was getting out of control…fast. I was suffocating in the tense air.
Ares raised his palms defensively. “That was before I met Rune, before I tasted her blood, before I realized she was my blood match. After that, I swore my life on protecting hers. Now, I would never harm her.”
“I’ll never trust you with her,” Wilder spit, his shoulders rising.
But Ares must be the most confident person in the world or best poker player because he didn’t react once. Instead, he went on to explain what he’d told me a while ago. How his parents had been found guilty of betraying the Atlandia royal family and beheaded as traitors. That Ares was only six when that happened, which still broke my heart to hear. Then he told them how the entire royal family was wiped out many years later by an enemy that no one had identified even to today. They took out even their extended royal family with only one assumed survivor–a young princess.
As they threw question after question at Ares, I frowned and fidgeted with the chains around my neck, something heavy curling around my chest. My breathing heightened, and the louder they got, the harder it was to draw in breath.
A strange sensation came over me, my hands trembled, the need for fresh air gnawed at my insides.
I continued nervously fingering the chains around my neck, pulling back from the billowing argument that seemed like it would burst into violence any second now.
Trying to distract myself, I examined the blue stone pendants in my palm, trying to distract myself because it felt like I was about to have a panic attack.
The stones looked like they didn’t belong in this world, their blue almost turquoise and glinting without any sunlight shining on them. The two pieces gave a sudden jiggle, and my eyes widened in astonishment. They snapped together like two magnets drawn back together, a clicking sound filling the carriage as they merged. I gaped at the necklace, all three men silencing their argument and glancing over at me…at the stone.
“What happened?” Ares asked.
“I-I…”
Where once there were two stone pieces, now only one sat in the palm of my hand, perfectly merged without a single fracture. It shone brighter too.
Then it started–a buzz across my hand. It moved through me with lightning speed. My heartbeat quickened, my gaze flickering in and and out.
I cried out, shuddering in Wilder’s arms. Daxon and Ares lunged towards me…as the world went black.
I ran.
That was all I knew, all I’d been told to do by my new mother—the woman who’d saved me and whisked me away from my home. From the men who’d broken in and butchered my parents.
Shadows shifted in the woods around us, trees rustling from the wild wind, while screams and shouts boomed behind us. I kept wiping the tears from my cheeks, my heart growing heavier every step we took away from our castle. It was my home, a place where my parents had promised me the world, taught me how I’d rule in their place one day, and where we were supposed to be safe.
I sobbed, tripping over a tree root. I hated running while my home was torn apart.
Fighting for breath, I sniffled, then stopped. “We need to go back.” My breathy words grew raspy. “Maybe they’re not dead and it’s not too late.”
Our family doesn’t let their emotions control them, Father would say, and I straightened my back.
Despite struggling for air, I couldn’t back down, and I curled my hands into fists.
“Hush now and run,” she urged worriedly, grasping my arm, hauling me alongside her to move faster. “They can’t see us, can’t find you. This is no time to be a hero.”
“Mama might still be alive,” I cried, fighting against her grasp. She swung around toward me. Shadows danced over her face, hiding most of her face, but her eyes found mine.
“I’m sorry, little one. But she wouldn’t have survived, and even if she did, they wouldn't let her live. They’ll come for you next, they’ll hunt you down, and slice your throat. I made her a promise I wouldn’t let that happen. We have to run.”
“Who are those men? Why are they—” I burst out crying, her words like blades, cutting into my heart.
