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“I already did,” said Talon, “and the answer is no.”
“Okay,” said Cain. “I’ll contact Kral then. And I’ll also get online, see what I can find on the dark web.”
I nodded and turned to Talon. “Find out who Prosper is using as his seconds and do what you have to do—check the weapons, verify the meeting place. Oh, and make sure the enforcers who are currently off-island are informed that Jules has gone to his final grave.”
“Will do. I’ll let them know about the challenge, too. Which daggers are you going to use?”
“The blades we got in Switzerland.” They were sharp and strong, with stainless steel handles and a clean heft that made them my favorite weapons.
“Got it. And about Eden—” Talon’s dark brows met over his nose in a scowl. “She has nothing to do with this. I know the woman, and if she has a problem with you, she tells you straight out. She wouldn’t spy on us.”
“I’m not asking you to single her out,” I returned. “Question all the thralls.”
They rose to their feet.
“If you need me,” I said, “I’ll be here.” After what had happened to Twilight, I was going to stick to her like glue until after the challenge, and probably longer.
My friends left, and I opened my laptop to see what I could dig up about a dhampir on the SI Board. However, there was almost no intel of use on the internet, just a bland Wikipedia article about how heroic the slayers were. Hopefully, Cain could dig up something on the dark web.
Next, I went online and special-ordered a blood-bond bracelet from the island jeweler, adding a note that if she delivered it by dusk tomorrow, I’d pay her double.
I checked on Twilight again. The blanket had slipped down to her waist, and she’d curled into a tight ball, her hand tucked under her cheek.
My throat clogged. She looked so fucking fragile. She might be a badass, but she was a human.
Kuro must’ve known how risky it would be for her to try and slay me. I wasn’t an old, blood-mad vampire; I was a pureblood in his prime. And even if she had managed to stake me, she’d never have gotten off the island alive.
The SOB had sent her here to die.
My jaw hardened. As far as I was concerned, Kuro—or whatever his name was—was a dead man walking.
I eased the duvet and the top sheet out from beneath her, tucked the blanket around her again, and covered her with the sheet and duvet as well.
Twilight’s eyes popped open. Her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist, her heartbeat fast and fearful.
“Oh.” She released me. “It’s you.”
I smoothed the backs of my fingers over her cheek. “Go back to sleep. You’re safe.”
It was a vow, one I meant to keep.
“Maybe just a few more minutes...” She curled up on her side and went still again.
An odd ache started in the vicinity of my breastbone. Talon’s statement reverberated in my brain.“She’s your mate.”
Twilight’s accusation the other night had been uncomfortably accurate. I did have a plan, one that included mating with a vampire princess or at least a pureblood like me. Not Zoe—she was the kid sister I’d never had—but someone like her. I’d been pissed off that Zaq Kral—a dhampir—had snatched up Princess Renata before the rest of us even knew about her.
I pressed the heel of my hand to my chest, trying to massage the ache away.
“You can’t be my mate. I’d know, wouldn’t I?”
But if Twilight wasn’t my mate, how had I known she was in trouble and needed me?
And why was I hovering over her now like a mated man determined to protect his woman no matter what the cost?
23
TWILIGHT
