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Taking up the rear of our line, Clemencia gasped as my horse butted into hers and caused it to trot backward quickly too. The steed sensed the predator coming our way. It wanted an escape.
I couldn’t blame the horse for its self-preservation instincts, but I knew we had no true escape. Or I didn’t, anyway. Somehow, despite our best efforts, the Laurent prince had known I’d be fleeing Frostveil Palace tonight.
He must have eyes everywhere, watching, waiting, reporting.
Of course he did. I’d dishonored his family. I’d escaped their cage of power. And by vampire law, now belonged to him. He wouldn’t stop hunting me, not tonight. Not ever.
The only way out is to kill this vampire.
I pulled my feet from the stirrups and, since the horse was still trying to back up, I fluttered my wings. I rose, and my horse, now free from my attempts to restrain it, turned and bolted. Clemencia’s horse followed mine. She tossed a terrified look back at me as she tried to win control back and lost. I was glad her horse didn’t obey. At least she’d be safe. For now.
Prince Vale’s eyes widened as my feet touched down on cobblestones, and I stepped toward the vampire. “Stop where you are.”
The Warrior Bear dismounted too, and Sir Caelo followed his prince’s lead. Before I took five steps, both males placed their hulking forms between me and the vampire as they pulled out their broadswords.
“Anna,” I hissed as I darted up to her. “Run. Take the horse and run.”
“I’m not leaving you.” She struggled to dismount.
My heart sank, but I didn’t repeat myself because I’d do the same thing. I’d left my friend once, and I’d never do so again. To ask her to leave me would be the height of hypocrisy.
“Prince Gervais,” the Warrior Bear’s voice boomed down the dark street. “Let us come to an agreement. By the laws of your kingdom, I’ll pay Neve’s purchase price if you promise not to harm her.”
My fists clenched. “No! No one will buy me ever again!”
“Too right.” The vampire chuckled. “I’ll be your last master and the last eyes you see as I drink the life from you.” He struck, zipping forward in a blur of vampiric speed.
My breath stilled in my lungs, but to my shock, Prince Vale stood his ground, ready for the strike.
Air magic pulsed from him, slamming the vampire in the chest. The force sent Gervais soaring backward, a roar ripping from his throat as he collided with barrels. The scent of ale filled the streets as the liquid inside the barrels leaked onto the cobblestones. The vampire, not losing a moment, hurtled forward again, right for Prince Vale.
Before the vampire attacked the prince, however, Sir Caelo swiped his broadsword for Prince Gervais’s neck. The bloodsucker jerked backward and danced around the faeries with unnerving grace. Suddenly, nothing stood between me, Anna, and him.
“Fly away!” Prince Vale roared.
I grabbed my friend tightly and beat my wings, hoping they were strong enough to hold us both. To my surprise, we rose, but we didn’t make it far off the ground before Prince Gervais reached us. He leapt and gripped Anna’s feet, which dangled below mine and ripped her from my grasp.
“Anna!” I screamed as she hit the ground. The vampire slammed her thin body into the stones and sank his fangs into her neck. “No!”
My wings gave out as my friend thrashed against the vampire and her blood pooled stark red against the snow covering the streets. I plummeted.
Somewhere in the street, a roar sounded. Prince Vale’s, I thought, though I wasn’t certain. I could only focus on Anna below, fighting for her life.
I had to help her, to save her. She was in this mess because of me.
Unthinkingly, my hand dipped to a stake strapped to my leg, but hidden from view by my long, heavy cloak. I clutched it as I fell.
Before I could use the weapon, Prince Vale and Sir Caelo appeared, glinting blades swiping. They aimed to decapitate Gervais, and although royal vampires were difficult to kill, even they could not withstand that.
The vampire tore himself from Anna’s neck and shot down the street, so fast that even to fae sight, he appeared like a blur, and I fell next to Anna. The stake dropped from my hand, and I cupped her cheek. “Anna, are you alive? Please say you’re alive.”
She wheezed, and my chest tightened.
Behind us, swords clashed. The vampire had pulled his, probably thinking his job would be so much easier if Prince Vale and Sir Caelo just died.
“We need to get out of here.”
The bite wound stared back at me, ragged and horrible. Thankfully, vampire venom had a natural clotting effect that mitigated the flow somewhat—enough to where she wasn’t already dead. But if we didn’t get help, she would be soon. Quickly, I ripped off a part of my shirt and bound it as tightly as I dared around her neck, hoping it would buy her time.
