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We reached her door, and I swung it open, examining the room for any signs of intrusion and finding none. She stepped inside, looking back over her shoulder to say something, but I pulled the door shut before she could.
Once I heard the lock turn, I stepped away, to go back to my room. But I couldn’t bring myself to move any further. Instead, I slid down against her door, resting my head back on the wood, listening to her cries over her sister as the night bled on.
***
I woke up outside Elizabeth’s door, daylight shining in from the windows at the back of the corridor. Tension filled my shoulders, my neck aching from the slumped position. I groaned, then moved myself further up the door, listening to Elizabeth’s light snores as they sounded through the wood. I clutched my chest, forcing away the heartache that numbed me, then stood.
It was a mistake, to let her in. I shouldn’t have gotten involved in the beginning, but I wouldn’t let her die, either. Even if she didn’t like me. I still wanted to protect her, and that hurt more than anything. Because she didn’t want me, she didn’t care about me, but it didn’t mean my feelings just went away.
I wished they would.
I searched my thoughts, fumbling for a plan. If Velda came over to our side, then she might be one of the few people who could smuggle Elizabeth out of Sanmorte and back to Salvius. Then I’d be rid of her and as for her sister, she could stay or go, but this was the only place a vampire would truly be accepted.
I made my way to the foyer, my senses dulled, and my steps slow. Before I could reach the staircase, a vision forced me to my knees in the middle of the corridor, stealing my next breath, and I spiraled into the scene.
Elizabeth watched me, puncture wounds healing on her neck. She climbed out of a bed, silk sheets wrapping around her body, her fangs glinting under the summer sun as she emerged on the other end of a blood trance. “What’s happening to me?”
The scene faded, replaced by a second, bloodier scene of contorted bodies, piled on top of each other. Elizabeth sunk to her knees, in the middle of them, blood coating her lips and throat. She sobbed into her open palms; the vision forming around me, as if I was in the field with her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her tortured cries cutting through me as she reached up. “I didn’t mean to kill them. I can’t live like this.” she sobbed, and I raced to her, but it was too late. Her nails tore through her skin, her fingers pulling apart her ribcage. My eyes widened, jaw slacking as she gripped her heart, pulling it from her chest.
I screamed, reaching out to stop her as she ended her brief life, when the vision faded away.
My eyes flickered open, and I swallowed hard. One noble, Jerimiah, looked over at me as he passed, and I quickly got to my feet. Goosebumps covered my arms as I realized, the tea wasn’t helping me remember anything; it was giving me visions.
Grabbing the banister, I held up my weight as the long effects from the tea sent a heat searing through my body. I glanced down at the foyer, my lips parting when I saw him—Astor. He was back, and worse of all, at Salenia’s side.
SIXTEEN
Olivia
Eriannareleasedadeepsigh, then sank into the mattress at the end of my bed. “I'm sorry for your father's passing,” she said.
“That’s very kind of you, considering what he did.” I glanced at her back, remembering where her wings once were and the pain it brought her not to have them anymore.
“He gave the order, yes,” she said slowly. “But I would have done the same in his position. Technically, we committed treason, not that I’m making excuses for him. Your father wasn’t the kindest soul, but he was a decent enough king.”
“I didn’t see that, but you probably knew him better than me.”
She shook her head, her dark braid swinging across her chest. “I spent more time around him, but that doesn't mean I knew him any better. He still loved you and yes, he was a dick, but he cared about this kingdom in his own, twisted way.”
A sharp pain pierced my chest like an arrow, and I fought to rein in my emotions, as if one drop might overwhelm me and submerge me in grief. All those unanswered'what ifs'were what hurt the most. I never really got to know him.
“It’s okay,” I said with a small smile.
Her dark eyebrows drew together. “Do you want to talk about something else?”
I nodded. Erianna cleared her throat, pulling me out of my memories before they could overwhelm me.
“The sorceress Seb and Zach encountered certainly had a lot to say,” she muttered.
“Avyanna,” I pronounced, remembering seeing her name in Azia's notes.
“Correct. She tried to persuade them to get you out of here, so you wouldn't complete the prophecy. She feared you'd die fulfilling it.”
“She and I both, but why would she care? I've never met her before.”
I wanted to have faith in the kindness of strangers, but life in this place had long ago killed that thought. “How can we be certain she isn't working for Salenia?”
Erianna's fingers curled around the bedpost, the drape brushing against her arm. “We don’t, but Malum Dominor trusts her.”
