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“This proves exactly the opposite,” I tell her, gesturing at her fingers. “You are absolutely marvelous.”
“Do you really think so?”
I fear that maybe I’ve crossed that line which we haven’t spoken about. This probably isn’t the best moment to start that topic. Maybe when the well is found, and we can all go back home. Maybe she would want to join me. But that is something I have to ease her into. I can’t just throw it at her like this, out of the blue.
I can’t stop smiling. My heart is full. Although the well is still to be unearthed, but there is something about this newfound knowledge that assures me my deepest desires could come true. Now I only have to see if she–
“Edmund?” Her voice interrupts my train of thought, as she grabs me by the lower arm.
I can see exactly what she is looking at. There is a war raging on. The shifters managed to find our hide away somehow, and they forced all the vampires out. Now, the two sides were fighting, with vampires losing the battle.
I can see Kano, fighting with all his might. All the other vampires are trying to stay on their feet, but the shifters have them outnumbered. Even with us added, there are still many more of them. Still, retreat is not an option. There is no such word in a vampire’s dictionary. We fight for what we believe. We fight for what we consider ours.
This time, I know we have come on their territory, but that is because a long time ago, they appropriated something that did not belong to them. It belonged to others, to us among those others. Now, we are here to take that well back, whether they like it or not.
We take it back, or we die trying. We have come with that thought in mind. If that means we leave our hearts on this land, so be it.
“What do we do?” Bianca asks, her voice trembling. Her grip on my arm is becoming stronger.
I can see she’s afraid, but at the same time, I know she won’t back down. I have never seen a coward in her. I saw many things, but never that. I noticed fear in those beautiful blue eyes many times, but even in fear, one can still be courageous. Just by choosing to stay here, with us, she has chosen courage. She has chosen to stand and fight. That alone is enough to show me what kind of a woman she is, the kind any creature, supernatural or ordinary, would be proud to have by his side as a partner for life.
I silently vow to make her mine forever, if we survive this. But first, there is something that she needs to know, something she needs to do. The shackles of the past are heavy. They are very difficult to break. I need to know where she stands on this.
I understand how difficult it must be to turn her back on everything, even with the shifters thinking her a traitor. This is a choice she herself must make, to show everyone, most importantly to herself, where she stands.
I turn to her. “This is your chance to prove your loyalty,” I tell her, feeling like something is gripping me by the throat harder and harder with each said word. “If you fight me… if you fight the other vampires, the shifters might take you back. They might be convinced that your loyalty lies with them and not with us.”
She immediately grabs me by the hands. Her fingers sprout branches, intertwining them with my fingers, keeping us connected. She doesn’t want to let go. Neither do I.
“I would never do that,” she tells me. “You are the one my loyalty lies with. I know they took me in and protected me, but they didn’t trust me when I needed them the most. They became my enemy when I haven’t done anything wrong. I can’t have my loyalty lie with them, because they don’t deserve it. You do.”
“Bianca…” I say only her name, not really able to choose the right words, but I can see that she is able to read my mind. She knows exactly what I want to say, but still choose to keep it silent.
She quickly presses her lips to mine, then pulls away. Her cheeks are flared. Her hair is flying around her face, her locks framing it to perfection. She looks like a goddess, a warrior in her own right. I have absolutely no doubt that she will know exactly what to do in order to awaken all of her powers and use them on her enemies.
“Are you ready?” I ask.
It doesn’t take her even a single second to nod. I can see she is ready. She was born for this moment, only she didn’t know it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Bianca
Everything happens in the blink of an eye. Edmund rushes right into the very center of the fight, and without even thinking about it, I follow. I know now that I would follow him to the very depths of Hell, if I had to, and I would do it willingly.
Something happens to him, his body becomes larger, his muscles strain underneath his clothes and his teeth are protruding from his mouth even when he is not growling at the shifters. He is like a fighting machine, taking them down easily one by one. Still, they keep on coming after him. They know he is the king. If they manage to defeat him, the others will fall down more easily.
I want to fight by his side. I feel like that is where I belong. I want to keep him safe, and for him to keep me safe. We need to watch each other’s back.
But before I can even approach him, someone pulls me forcibly by the shoulder, so hard that they almost pull my arm out of its place, and I hear a familiar voice snarl at me.
“What are you doing here?” Gala asks me.
I lift my gaze and I see her. There is a crazed, almost maniacal look in her eyes. She is enjoying the fight far more than she should be. But I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise. She always had that sadistic bone in her body, which she always wanted to exercise, and she usually did it on me.
She thinks that will happen now as well. She thinks I will cower, like I always did. She thinks that I am still afraid of her, of her threats, of her promises that she will hurt me in unimaginable ways. But she doesn’t know something.
