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“You are tied to him by invisible threads,” she explained, although this didn’t make much sense. Still, I allowed her to talk uninterruptedly. “He will pull you towards him when he wants, when he needs you, and from what I can tell, that moment is close. You have to go home now, child. Be swift. Before night falls.”
“But I—”
“Go!” she shouted, interrupting me, pushing the journal into my hands.
As if sensing the urgency, my horse appeared from behind a tree, neighing nervously. I glanced at the witch again, but she was not there any longer. I grabbed the reigns, mounting my horse quickly. Shadows had already started to embrace the trees around us. There was no way I would be able to reach my castle before nightfall.
But I knew I had to try.
Chapter Twenty-One
Adrian
I stirred from a haze of unconsciousness, my senses slowly returning. The persistent throbbing in my head surged as I began to piece together my surroundings. Blinking away the disorientation, I found myself in a dimly lit room, the flickering glow of candles casting eerie shadows across the uneven walls.
My heart raced as I tried to move, only to discover that I was firmly bound, my wrists and ankles secured with coarse ropes. Panic gripped my chest, and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I was helpless. But worse yet, I wasn’t alone.
There were rows of guards along the walls, all watching me. Actually, they weren’t watching me. They were watching the figure in the middle of this chamber. And I knew immediately who it was. Constantine didn’t lurk in the shadows. He made his presence known immediately. He stood with his back turned to me, refusing to acknowledge me yet.
It was then that I saw her. My breath hitched when I saw Lilith to my left, not close enough to help her in any way. She was also bound and helpless. Her eyes were closed. Fear gripped at me like never before.
“Lil!?” I shouted so loudly that my voice threatened to tear down the entire castle.
She immediately opened her eyes. There was fear and confusion in them. I yearned to reach out to her, to offer comfort, but the ropes held me in a relentless grip.
“Adrian!” she exclaimed.
At that moment, Constantine turned around with a smirk on his face. “Oh, isn’t this lovely. The reunion of the two lovers. Well, for one of them it isn’t actually a reunion, is it?”
Lilith shot him an icy glare. “You did this to us!?”
“Yes,” Constantine nodded. “And might I add, this would all have lasted muchshorter if your husband agreed to join the side where he belongs, the side of vampires. But now…” He sighed heavily as he spoke. “Now, I have to see what to do with you both.”
The air was thick with tension. I looked around, wondering what I could do or use to my advantage, but as long as I was tied up like this, I was powerless.
“I suppose I will have to go about this the old fashioned way,” Constantine announced, turning to me. “You will either do what I say, or I will kill her.”
“Just try, you bastard!” I growled through clenched teeth.
“Oh, I plan to,” he nodded. “But I do wish that you didn’t force me to do this. I will destroy everything and everyone you hold dear.”
“You will do that anyway!” I snarled back at him. “You want to destroy King Theodore!”
“Provided I am in a good mood, he will also be given a chance to abdicate,” he explained. “Sometimes, I think rumors of my ruthlessness are greatly exaggerated. Sometimes… not so much.”
He was speaking much more calmly than I thought he would, and that made him all the more frightening.
“This land is ours,” he continued. “It belongs to the vampires, and King Theodore’s ancestors have laid false claim on it centuries ago.”
“That isn’t true,” Lilith spat back angrily. “Your history books are mistaken!”
Constantine frowned at her. “History is written by the winners. The war of the moorlands has left many vampires without their families. You were the winners. Of course you will write your own version of it.”
Lilith didn’t say anything to that. She turned to me. “Is that true?”
I turned my attention to Constantine. “You forget one thing, and that is that there are no winners in any war. Only casualties. Does it matter whose land it was? Can’t we all live on it together?”
“Never!” Constantine shouted maddeningly. I could see the fire of hatred burning in his eyes, and I knew that there would never be any compromise with him. We were brought here to do his bidding, to agree with everything he ordered us to do.
