“You,” she said gleefully to me, “are in some serious trouble for stealing this vampire from me. He was supposed to be mine. Not yours. You already have Rhys. He’s not going to be too pleased when I return and tell him all about—”
The curse escaped my lips before I could stop it. A bolt of fire shot from my palms, breaking through the young witch’s forcefield and hitting her square in the chest. She crashed back against a tree. Sliding down its trunk, her body was limp as she hit the ground.
My limbs trembled as I stared in disbelief.
What have I done?
I staggered toward her, gripping her head in my hands. Her eyes were open, staring blankly ahead. I laid her down on the forest ground and placed my ear against her chest.
Not even the slightest hint of a heartbeat.
Kiev approached beside me. He looked almost as shocked as I felt.
And then he voiced what I was hoping wasn’t true.
“She’s dead.”
Chapter 2: Kiev
I stared at the corpse. It had all happened so fast. The snapping of twigs, the dark brown curls above a bush, a sharp intake of breath…
I should have suspected Celice when I heard that sound on the balcony back in the castle.
“I killed her.” Mona’s breathing came in short rasps as she got to her feet and stumbled away from the body. “I d-don’t know what I was thinking.”
I bent down and scooped up Celice’s body in my arms.
“What are you doing?” Mona gripped my arm.
I brushed her away.
“We shouldn’t leave her body here in the open.”
I began walking back down to the lake. Mona followed me, still in shock.
Once I reached the bank, I placed the body down on the ground. Removing my shirt, I ripped off a strip of fabric. I picked up a stone and tied one end of the cotton around it, fastening the other to Celice’s ankle.
“Y-you’re going to dump her in the lake?” Mona looked at me in horror.
“Why not? The fish will eat away her flesh soon enough.”
Picking up both Celice and the rock, I waded into the water. I swam with both until I reached the center where I let go, watching as the brunette’s body disappeared into the lake’s depths.
I returned to the bank.
“Dry me,” I said to Mona, who was still staring at the center of the lake where I had dropped the body. I shook her shoulders. “I said dry me.”
She came to her senses and dried me, although her voice trembled even as she uttered the charm.
“W-we need to leave here,” she said. She threw one last look at the lake, and then her deep blue eyes settled on me. Before I could respond, she grasped my hands and in a whirl of colors we had disappeared from Matteo’s island.
A few seconds later, I opened my eyes to find us both standing back on The Shade’s beach, close to the port.
I looked down at Mona.
“I need to get back to the castle,” was all she said.
Taking a step away from me, she vanished.
I stood still, my eyes fixed on the sand where now only her footprints remained. I decided to wait before returning so that we arrived back at different times.
I breathed in the sea air, turning to face the waves.
Mona… I don’t know what I’m doing any more. This was probably a mistake. Soon enough, Mona will be another woman whose downfall I’ll be responsible for.
Yet I still wanted to see her.
I thought of Rhys and wondered how much longer it would be before he returned with more humans. I guessed that he probably wouldn’t be back for at least another half day.
We’d returned early, Mona and I. Thanks to that little wench.
I still felt surprised by the force of Mona’s spell. I’d been so used to thinking of Mona as helpless—no different really than a human. Seeing her display such prowess was strange. But something about it brought me comfort—it made her seem less fragile, less breakable. Unlike all the previous women in my life.
As I continued walking along the beach, I wondered if Celice could have already told Rhys and her sisters about us. Somehow, I doubted it. If Rhys knew, Mona would have known about it. On that front at least, we were safe.
Then there was the issue of the human disappearances. The only way Rhys would suspect me was if Tiarni mentioned we’d both been on the island together. But I doubted that would happen—since I’d gotten Tiarni so drunk that night, she couldn’t be sure that she hadn’t left the cell doors open by accident.
Even if Tiarni was lucid enough to realize that I had done it—especially since it had happened both in The Shade and their island in quick succession—it would still be my word against hers because she had no evidence. That could of course lead both of us into an awkward situation with Rhys. He didn’t strike me as the most charitable of sorts.