“Moon Guard don’t concern themselves with renegades outside the encampment borders. They won’t come after us here. They won’t even bother with us unless we try to go back. It’s as if we don’t exist to them anymore.”
I swallowed. “What about my family?”
“What about them?”
“Will they be punished? For what I did?”
He shook his head. “Doubt it.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“No one’s been exiled in my lifetime, love. We’re breaking new ground.” He reached for a bottle of blood from one of the lace-covered coolers. He lifted one in a toast. “To us.”
I didn’t drink when he offered the bottle. My throat felt too tight. “I don’t know what to do,” I said again. Drink.
“Enjoy,” he suggested. The bottle swung negligently from his fingers, like a hypnotist’s watch. When he offered again, I drank deeply. “What else can you do?”
I could go back to the farmhouse. Bruno or one of my parents was probably already there waiting for me. But I didn’t want to go home. And maybe that was okay. Certainly, my family would be safer for it. As they proved nightly.
Unsurprisingly, my mother was the first one to find us.
She marched into the Bower wearing swords instead of the pearls I imagined normal mothers wore. She looked so angry, if she’d had Isabeau’s magic, I’d have worried her braid would turn into a hangman’s noose with Constantine’s name on it. Her furious glare snapped onto him as soon as she saw I was unharmed.
I stepped in front of him to shield him. “Mom.”
I could tell it was a struggle for her to shift her gaze. It softened to sparks instead of outright nuclear war. She hugged me so tightly the hilt of the dagger strapped across her chest left an imprint on my neck. “Solange, are you all right?” I nodded and tried to disentangle myself. She tightened her grip. “Come back to the farmhouse. We’ll figure out what to do.”
Don’t let them take us. They’ll lock us away. They think you’re a monster.
“She can figure it out for herself,” Constantine said.
Mom actually hissed. “You stay away from my daughter.”
“Mom, he saved my life!”
“Which is why he isn’t a pile of ashes as we speak,” she said between her teeth. “I’m grateful.” She glanced pointedly at Constantine. “Which is why you’re not dead.”
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” I insisted.
“Solange, you don’t understand.”
Right there.
Without even meaning to, Mom set me off again. I could feel the blood I’d ingested smolder inside me. Guilt and worry sizzled into irritation.
“I understand fine,” I snapped. “I’m sixteen, not stupid!”
She frowned. “I never said you were.” Her frown turned to a scowl when she looked at Constantine. “He smells wrong.”
I tugged my hand out of hers and folded my arms across my chest. “I trust him.”
“That’s what scares me.”
I turned slightly toward Constantine. “I’m sorry. We’re kind of an insular family. And Mom’s chronically suspicious.”
“I’m also your queen,” Mom cut in. “So leave my daughter alone.”
“That’s for her to decide, surely,” Constantine replied smoothly, as if he wasn’t inches from a pointy death. He’d never met my mother.
You should be queen, Solange. Then you’ll never be at anyone’s mercy ever again.
I was suddenly embarrassed by my mom, which was marginally better than being terrified by the growing strength of the girl’s voice inside my head. I knew Lucy was mortified by her hippie first name, by protests and group hugs in front of city hall and the way her dad insisted on stopping the car to leave a tobacco offering every time he saw a turtle. I’d yet to feel that squirming humiliation. Mom was fierce and kick-ass. But she was also bossy and demanding.
Stifling.
“Mom, stop it,” I said sharply. “You can’t control everything that happens to me.”
“I can damn well try. I’m your mother.” The moonlight reflected on the pommel of the sword on her back. “Remember when we thought Logan was dead to a Hound spell? I can’t go through that again. I won’t. Come back home with me. We can talk about it there.”
“I’d rather stay here.”
“Solange. This isn’t a game. I’m worried about you. And so’s your father.”
“Very worried actually,” Dad said tightly.
I stared at him over Mom’s shoulder as she whirled to face him.
A vampire I’d never seen before had a knife to Dad’s throat and a stake dimpling his shirt, right over his heart. Dad’s head was tilted back, his neck muscles straining, his fangs gleaming. Beside him, Logan, Quinn, Duncan, and Sebastian were in the same danger, forced on their knees in the snow with weapons aimed at their hearts.
Mom’s sword flashed. Logan made a strange “urp” sound when the stake pierced through his shirt, drawing blood. Mom froze.
“Stop it!” I shouted. The bats hissed and screeched above us. Logan’s eyes were wild. Dad was tensed to fight, but blood bloomed on each of my brother’s shirts, in the same place.
“You heard the princess,” Constantine said, stepping forward. “Release them.” The guards stepped back as one so suddenly Logan and Quinn pitched forward. Sebastian was on his feet, a stake in each hand before they’d even landed in the dirt.
“Behind me!” Dad shouted, keeping his body between the guards and his sons. But the guards didn’t move; they only glanced at Constantine for order.
I looked at him too. “What the hell is going on?”
“Forgive me.” He bowed slightly to me, as if we were in a ballroom instead of the woods. “I have men loyal to me. They must have come as soon as they heard I’d been exiled.”
Adrenaline and blood, fear and anger, made my hands shake. My gums ached around my fangs. “Oh.” He understands us. He’ll protect us.
“Not good enough,” Mom said. I was vaguely surprised, in some distant part of my brain, that her head hadn’t actually exploded yet. Fury had her cheeks looking flushed. Her cheekbones looked too pronounced, her eyes haunted.
She didn’t know Constantine like I did. “Mom, it’s okay. Really.” I winced at my brothers. “Sorry.”
“Hell of a welcome, kid,” Duncan grunted.
I narrowed my eyes at the guards. “You’re never to harm my family. Ever.”
“That’s an order,” Constantine agreed.
I stalked forward and marched down the line of them, as if I were a general and they were at military school. I looked each of them in the eye. I exuded pheromones, as best I could, imagining heat waves and electricity arcing off me.
“You will never harm my family,” I repeated, making sure they were thoroughly compelled. They nodded mechanically, dead-eyed. I turned to Mom. “There.” I expected her to be proud of my initiative and my unique tactic if nothing else. I didn’t expect her to look even more scared. I couldn’t do anything right.
“Solange, please come with us. Don’t make me order you.” It was the same tone she used when Lucy and I used to sneak out.
Blood curdled in my belly. “No. I need some time to think.”
“You can think at home.”
“We can’t force her,” Dad said.
“The hell we can’t!”
“Helena.”
“Liam, don’t use that rational tone with me. I am this close to pulling that man’s kneecaps through his nostrils.”
“She won’t thank you for it,” Dad whispered just as I stepped closer to Constantine.
“It was an accident,” I said. “Constantine would never hurt me. Or you.”
“Again, I apologize. I didn’t know they were out there. But I hope, if nothing else, that I’ve proved that your daughter is perfectly safe here.”
“I’m not feeling particularly comforted,” Mom said viciously.
“Retreat to fight
again,” Dad murmured. Then he handed me a small walkie-talkie that would work inside the Blood Moon camp since we weren’t that far away. He looked older and sad. It made me feel awful. “Use this at any time,” he said, “and we’ll come.” His face, when he looked at Constantine, was stone and ice. “We’ll be posting our own guards,” he added before he had to physically drag my mother away.
I was alone in a way I’d never been before.
And despite the fear inside me, there was a kind of nervous excitement as well, as if anything could happen. If I went back home, everything would stay the same. I’d feel guilty and everyone else would feel worried. I’d have to hold back.
I was tired of holding back.
Constantine motioned to the guards and they melted back into the shadows. “I am sorry about that,” he said again. “But you did the right thing. It’s not safe for the Drakes outside the encampment.”
I snatched the bottle off the table and drained it before I could even manage to speak. “I’m a Drake.”
“Yes, but you’re so much more.”
I wiped my mouth, feeling wired. “You saved my life.”
“I’d say we’re even.” He smiled when I reached for another wine bottle of blood. “It’s all ours for the taking, love.” He had an angel’s face, the kind that cracked open worlds with fiery swords. It was mesmerizing, especially when he looked at me like that. As if I might be able to crack open worlds too.
I looked away, not sure what to say. “Where are the others?” I finally asked.
“They’ll be along any moment, I’m sure,” he replied, still lounging in his chair without a care. There were little lines at the corners of his violet eyes though, if you looked closely enough. “Word travels fast, as we’ve discovered.”
He was right. They came streaming between the red pine and in less than half an hour every seat was taken, including a few low branches of the nearest trees. There was Marigold in her distinctive tulle skirt and bare toes, Spencer, Elijah, Jude, Eliane, Fay, Toby, and a few others I didn’t recognize.
Marigold grinned at me around a red lollipop. “So you’re a rebel now, are you?”
I nodded, feeling glad to have stood my ground and miserable to have hurt my family.
“Cheer up,” she said, perching on the arm of the sofa. “That’s what the Bower is for.”
I smiled back tentatively. “Thanks.”
She crunched down on the candy. “Don’t thank me. That’s the beauty of this place, in’it? It doesn’t belong to anyone.”
I looked around. “Where’s Ianthe?” I asked. She was soothing. She thought I was ordinary and not worth all this fuss and bother.
“She’s gone,” Jude said. “We haven’t been able to find her.” He tossed a scarf onto one of the chairs. “Only this.” He looked frustrated. “It reeks of her fear.”
Constantine’s jaw clenched. “We’re being picked off. And the Chandramaa and the council care only for their own politics.” He touched the nape of my neck. “We have to be more vigilant.”
Marigold tilted her head. “They’re saying you killed three Furies and kicked a Moon Guard in the teeth and then gave everyone rabies, Solange.”
“I gave people rabies?” I asked, insulted. She nodded to the bats still circling. “Oh,” I said sheepishly. “Right. I’m sure they’re not rabid.”
“So what really happened?” Elijah asked. “I heard you staked a baby bunny.”
I gaped at him as Constantine chuckled. “Vampire gossip sucks,” I said. “To be clear: I never wanted Lady Natasha’s stupid crown and I don’t kill bunnies. God.”
“Bigger picture,” Constantine said. “Do you want the crown now?”
Yes. I blinked as everyone turned to stare at me. “No!”
“And why not?”
“Because anyone who touches it gets a big fat bull’s-eye on their back,” I pointed out. “No thanks.”
“Sometimes the only way to change the system is to work within it.”
I stood up even though I had nowhere else to go. “My mother’s the queen. I think I’ve traumatized her enough for one night, don’t you?”
“She’s made it abundantly clear that she’s holding the crown in trust for you. She’s more of a regent, really.”
I shook my head mutely. You could protect them all if you were queen. Let me help you.
“Think about it,” he suggested. “The Moon Guard would have killed us both tonight, if you hadn’t broken the rules.”
He was right. If I complained about a system that had exiled me, put my family in constant danger of assassins and bounty hunters, and then tried to stake a man for trying to protect me, then it was time for me to do something about it. Maybe this was the reason I was so different. If I found a way to use my power, it might not burn so uncomfortably inside me. I might not hurt people so much.
That voice might go away.
“Are you really tired of the old structures?” Constantine asked the others. “Because you’ve heard about the prophecies.”
Dragon fighting dragon. Although it also said, “Unseat the dragon before her time and increase ninefold her crimes.” Was the dragon Mom? Or me? He didn’t realize just what he was asking for.
“Are you ready to follow a new queen into a new way? A better way?”
“This is all going too fast.” I grabbed his arm. “I’m not ready for this, Constantine.”
“Of course you are,” he said, standing close to me, his arm around my waist. I wasn’t sure if he was supporting me or keeping me from running away. “Look at them.”
The vampires gathered around us were kneeling, one by one. They stayed on one knee in the snow, waiting for me to do something queenly. I was utterly at a loss.
They’d chosen the Bower over the monarchy and the Chandramaa.
And now they were choosing me.
I felt exhilarated and sick at the same time. The bats drifted lower, as if they were watching the proceedings too.
“Sorry, mate,” Marigold said, her fangs dimpling her lower lip. She looked like a particularly savage little doll in her candy-colored skirt and the flowers woven through her hair. “I’m with you but I don’t kneel. Not to anyone.”
I just nodded. Constantine must have sensed my agitation because he bent his head toward mine, lips tickling my cheek. “It’s just a symbol,” he assured me. “It buys you some protection, some followers to guard your back.”
“I’m not sure I like it.” I shifted uncomfortably.
“You will,” he promised.
Chapter 19
NICHOLAS
Tuesday, just after midnight
I waited until I was out of the cell before I fought back.
I dropped so suddenly I was able to slip free, the sleeve of my shirt ripping off, where it was already torn from the rusty nail. I rolled, knocking two vampires down like undead bowling pins, then I kicked up, booting a Huntsman in the thigh. He flew back and landed on a metal table, shattering half the jars and bottles. The clatter was loud enough to bring all of the other prisoners to the grates but not loud enough to wake the woman still swinging on her chains. She was now as close to dead as a vampire could be without being ashes. Even if I managed to cut her down, I couldn’t drag her with me and I couldn’t heal her. If I got away and brought the others back, Uncle Geoffrey might know what to do.
The silhouette of a Host blocked the main exit just as another charged out of a tunnel on the other side of the murky pond. I threw an entire table at him.
“Behind you!” Lee shouted, propping Ianthe up at the bars. Between us stood a Helios-Ra agent with a loaded crossbow aimed at my back. She looked young enough to have been in the same year as Kieran. As soon as I had the time, I’d worry more about Lucy being in that school.
Right now, ducking was a priority.
The arrow missed me but caught the Host behind me in the side. He doubled over, hissing in pain. I grabbed the crossbow before the Hunter had time to shoot again and slid it to L
ee and Ianthe. Lee grabbed it, contorting so he could stick his arm through enough to shoot it. One of the vampires who’d captured me exploded into dust. Frankenstein shouted. Ianthe knocked the Helios-Ra girl off her feet.
It was enough of a distraction to help get me to the exit, but not enough to get me through it. Someone tackled me and I went down, cracking my head on the wall as I fell. I saw double. I blinked furiously, holding my bruised head in my hand as I struggled to get back up. I stumbled, dizzy, and tried to push through.
No such luck.
I was pinned between a Huntsman and a Host. Lee managed to fire one arrow but the shot went wide. The Hunter smashed it out of his grip with his boot, breaking his fingers. Lee grunted but didn’t yell. Ianthe slumped, hissing as she tried to find the strength to pull Lee back into the relative safety of the cell.
I was dragged back toward Frankenstein. He didn’t speak for a long moment, just surveyed the damage that had been done. He had a kind of clinical displeasure that made me cold.
“Now that wasn’t the deal,” he said. “And you’ve made a terrible mess. I suppose we’ll have to renegotiate, won’t we?” He pointed to Lee and Ianthe. “Bring them.”
“What are you doing?” I struggled violently until my shoulder started bleeding again.
Lee tried to pull the guards off Ianthe, but they were stronger. In the light of the torches I saw he was older than I’d thought, the white of his whiskers like salt in his dark face. Ianthe was thin, the bones poking out at her collar and hips. There were cuts in the crease of her elbows and her wrists. She hadn’t just been starved, she’d been leeched. They’d cut her veins and let her bleed until she was too weak to heal.
“No!” I kept fighting even though it was useless. Lee tried to use his body to shield Ianthe, but they dragged the three of us inexorably toward the pond and Frankenstein. Ianthe used the last of her strength to buck and jerk when she saw the water. She keened and spat curse words in what I thought was Greek.
“A valuable lesson.” Frankenstein raised his voice so the other prisoners could hear him. They were still at the bars, but they were silent now. I saw at least seven vampires and three humans, and I had no way of knowing how many others were chained in the dark. There were fangs and hisses but little other objection. There was nothing anyone could do to help us.