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There was a question in her voice.
I realized she must not know the details of my arrival and imprisonment. Turning away from the gruesome image, my heart raced at the mention of the mysterious spirit witches Alexei learned from—and who all died under his father’s command.
“How close is Bled from here?”
“It’s not too far,” she answered, revealing nothing. “But you won’t find any remnants of your people. The town was overtaken by mortals long ago, and the witches are wise enough to keep away after the last battle. My father has hunted every creature within a thousand-mile radius since that night out of an abundance of caution for our hold.”
I slumped with disappointment.
“You should be pleased.” She sniffed disdainfully. “It means we will slay no other creatures during the Wild Hunt.”
“Wild Hunt?” I paused, my feet briefly slipping on the expensive carpets. “Please tell me I’m not in for a week of grim vampire rituals. Do I even want to know what youhunt? I have a sneaking suspicion it’s not deer.”
“Oh, it’s exactly what it sounds like, I’m afraid. And we would never stoop to animals.” She gagged dramatically. “We keep to the small villages around the castle. Bled being a favorite haunt.”
The way she so causally spoke of murdering mortals made the blood freeze in my veins.
Mira continued, oblivious to the way my magick wove around me ominously. “It’s based on a Yule tradition we have followed since ancient times—the Oak King and the Holly King.”
Her strange eyes glinted as she told the story of her distant ancestors, as if it somehow justified the atrocities they reaped on pour souls who lived in the mountainside villages.
“The Oak King represented everything light and beautiful, while the Holly King held all the darkness of the world in his grasp. Like in most myths, they were twins, mirror images of each other, and they battled for dominance every Winter Solstice. The fight ended on the eve of Yule when the Oak King defeated his twin, illuminating the world in light and defeating his brother’s evil.”
“Typical good versus evil.” My voice was devoid of the emotion bottled in my chest.
A laugh bubbled to her lips as she pulled me through the darkened hallways faster than I could walk. “The vampires prefer a more macabre interpretation. Now, it represents the one night a year when wehunt—debased to our most primal selves in the shadow of darkness before we must return to the light.”
My lips curled down with horror. “How do you keep it out of the mortal media? Or better yet, why do the villagers remain if they’re attacked every year?”
“Money, mostly.” She shrugged. “My father chooses different locations for the hunt each year. Last year, we traveled to the Dvoraks’ land in Serbia. This will be the first time in nearly two decades we’ve hunted on our own lands.”
Once we were on the first floor, I recognized the entry room where I first met Alexei’s parents. Mira glanced down towards what I presumed to be Alistair's wing with a grimace. “Come on, there's something I want to show you this way.”
I started to follow when I felt it. The tell-tale trickle of dark magick.
Alistair’s collection of stolen talismans.
Mira circled back when she realized I hadn't followed and grasped onto my shoulder warningly. “Hurry, Jade. I don’t want him sighting you. He may have allowed you to remain free under his roof for now, but his will is as fickle as a spring storm.”
Without argument, I let her drag me towards the back terrace that led out into the frozen cold. The moment she opened the glass door, the air perfumed with stone pine and woodsmoke filled my senses. We crunched on powdery snow, my ballet flats sinking and absorbing the water crystals almost immediately.
“Alexei would surely murder me for showing you this.” She grinned fiendishly. “No doubt, he fantasized about escorting you through his prized winter garden like a suave suitor, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s my favorite place in the castle outside of my closet. Or the wine cellar. Or the ballroom.”
None of her tittering commentary reached past the ringing in my ears.
The greenhouse stood at the edge of the forest, unlike anything I had seen before—or anything I would ever see again. Majestic and opulent glass gleamed like crystals in frosted panels forged with onyx bars. Despite the blanket of snowflakes, the moonlight illuminated through the panes like a silver lake.
The hem of my dress left a trail of melting water as the heated space defrosted the frozen chill. I brushed shaking fingers along the rows upon rows of beautiful greenery, alive and thriving despite the tundra outdoors. An earthy wonderland spreading as far as my eyes could see in a watercolor palette of flowers and ferns.
This was Alexei’s garden; the one place in the castle where he could escape his father’s domineering clutches and reconnect with what made him feel alive. His sacred place of solace that fed his compassion enough to save the witches Alistair had ordered him to hunt.
It felt like a fantasy or dream amongst my new living Hell. One I was hesitant to wake from.
“So, Jade,” Mira began, her nails scraping against the leaf of a hellebore flower, “how did you and my brother come to meet?”
I fought the urge to rip her hand away from the plant, my magick scratching along my spine in annoyance at nature being disrespected in such a manner.
Tearing my gaze away from the blackish-purple petals, my brows furrowed darkly at the memory. “Last Samhain, a demon sought to destroy the peace our city had formed by bringing an army from Hell. Alexei and I fought side by side to stop them. After the Council cleaned up the demons’ mess, I joined the Vampire Court as a mystical guide.”
