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I try to reach out to Cyrus in my mind since we haven’t spoken since my mum visited. I’m not sure if he has actually been there or not. If so, he’s been extremely quiet. It could be that he wanted to give me and my mum some privacy—or something bad has happened. I don’t like that thought. I don’t like to dwell on the idea of Cyrus pulling away from me.
When we reach the seal, Laila uses the torch on her iPhone to examine it.
“Dragons,” she says softly. “The Dracul symbol. Legend says that the vampires were cursed by dragons hundreds of years ago. That curse gave them bloodlust and eternal life.”
“Bloodlust? Like they can’t control it?” That doesn’t sound like Cyrus, who takes no more than what he needs from me.
Laila turns to me, her eyes narrowed. “How often have you allowed the vampire to feed on you? More than once?”
The accusation in her voice stings. I physically wince. “A few times. I don’t know exactly. Three, or four, or five. Is that so bad?”
“Yes, Kira. How could you let him do that to you? It’s… I don’t know.”
“No, you don’t,” I snap. “Because no one has been bittenby a vampire for over a hundred years, so how could you possibly know what it’s like? I know a lot more about it than you.”
She holds up her hands. “Sorry. You’re right. This is all just very, very weird.”
I walk over to the huge door. “I know. It is for me too.”
Laila follows me, rubbing the tops of her arms.
Cyrus?I ask through our connection.Are you there?
But there’s nothing. I place a palm on the wood, hoping I’m doing the right thing. This is the first step towards reintroducing Cyrus into the world. To showing the rest of the auras that Cyrus Dracul is not someone to be feared. He’s kept me safe during my time at the academy. He’s made sure that I’m not bullied and that I know what I’m doing. I owe a debt to him.
And now I’m bringing my friend to see him without asking. But I can’t get through. I don’t understand. He’s usually right there, ready to talk to me.
The wood creaks as I push it open, though the sound of the door is nowhere near as loud as my thundering heart. Laila moves closer, standing shoulder to shoulder with me. Dust particles fly up into the air as the door swings wide, and I see the figure standing next to Cyrus’s open coffin. Tall, beautiful, and unmistakably female.
Not Cyrus.
A jolt works its way through my body, like I’ve stuck my finger in an electrical socket. I stop, two feet into the room.
Then the woman turns around, and I see its Octavia Pax standing there before us.
She does not look happy.
Forty-Three
“Kira Belvedere,”Octavia says, her voice expressing surprise. She tilts her head slightly to the left as though assessing me. “Did you feel it too?”
My eyes won’t stop roaming the room, searching for Cyrus, but he isn’t here. I don’t understand. The ward kept him trapped in this room.
“Feel what?” I ask.
Octavia walks towards us, her long purple dress dragging along the dusty stones. “My mother created the ward to keep Cyrus Dracul confined to this room. Your ancestor added the seal outside the room. I felt the shift in the magic. I felt the lifting of the ward. And I came to investigate.”
I swallow, my throat thick as if something clogs it. “The ward? It’s gone?”
“Yes, and I don’t know how that could be possible. The spellcaster would need my blood, yet here I am, unscathed.” She holds out her hands. “The coffin is open. There is no Cyrus Dracul inside. Which means Alaric Belvedere’s seal has also been broken and Cyrus Dracul has risen.”
Laila’s dark eyes find me within the shadows of the room, and I know this is the moment to confess to Octavia. But that thickness in my throat won’t let me speak. How can I admit to her that I’ve shared my blood with Cyrus? That I brought a vampire back from the dead? How can I say those things?
And then there is the part that I could never utter out loud. The crushing disappointment deep inside me, in a part of me that no one else has ever reached.
Cyrus is gone.
I’d thought there was something real between us. Those kisses… I’d thought they meant something. I was wrong.
