“I don’t remember waking up and seeing you.”
“Because you didn’t see me. The blow to your head injured your optic nerve.”
Was that what the dream had wanted to show him when everything had gone red in front of his eyes?
“It was healing only slowly, as was the rest of your body.”
“Yet you abandoned me while I was still in recovery,” Cain interrupted him harshly. “So much for your concern for me.”
“I couldn’t stay with you. I only had enough time to make arrangements to get you as far away from here as possible, before my absence would have been noticed. I had to make sure whoever wanted you dead thought he’d succeeded. Only that way could you be safe.”
“Any thoughts on who wanted me dead?”
John hesitated, breathing audibly.
“Spit it out!” Cain ordered.
“I have a suspicion, but no proof. And if you remembered me at all, you’d know that I don’t like to accuse anybody without being able to back up my claim.”
“Well, that’s the crux of the problem, isn’t it? I don’t remember you.”
“You trusted me once.”
Cain locked his jaw, trying to appear unaffected by the other vampire’s words, when in reality he sensed John’s need to gain his approval for the decisions he’d made when Cain had been incapacitated.
“Trust isn’t something I give freely.”
John gave a slight nod. “You didn’t back then either. But we were more than just a king and his guard. We were friends. And I mourned the loss of that friendship more than the loss of my king.”
“Was I not a good king then?” Cain deflected, not wanting to respond to his guard’s claim.
“That’s not for me to judge.”
John’s words were too evasive for Cain not to react to them. “Are you trying to say I was a bad ruler, and that’s what prompted the assassination?”
“As I said, that’s not—”
“—for you to judge, I get it,” Cain finished the sentence.
Suddenly John slowed and turned to him, placing a finger on his lips thus ending their conversation. He pointed to another tunnel. From where Cain stood, he could see that it was short, only a few yards. At the end of it, he could make out the outlines of a door.
John bent to his ear, whispering now, “It leads to the secret corridor that connects the king’s chambers with those of the queen. The king’s are to the right, the queen’s to the left. You will find Faye in the queen’s suite. When you get to her door, move the lever on its left. It’ll open a tiny spy hole to look into her room, so you can assure yourself that she’s alone before you enter. Don’t worry, the door is disguised with an elaborate piece of art on the other side, so that nobody will notice the spy hole or the door itself.”
Cain nodded, his heart suddenly thundering.
“I’ll wait for you here. If you’re not back within fifteen minutes, I’ll come for you.”
Wordlessly, Cain conveyed his agreement. Taking a deep breath, he marched toward the door and walked up the few steps that led to it. He eased it open, making as little noise as possible as he stepped inside the corridor and pulled the door shut behind him.
The hallway he found himself in was made of stone, and the air inside was cleaner and less damp than what he’d encountered in the tunnel.#p#分页标题#e#
His eyes darted to the right. He felt physically drawn in that direction, as if the answers to his questions lay there. But he forced himself to go left, knowing there wasn’t enough time to both investigate the king’s rooms and talk to Faye. His friends from Scanguards wouldn’t hesitate to make good on their promise to search for him should he not return in time, and he had no intention of putting them in undue danger. There would be plenty of time later to find out more about his old life.
If this was indeed his old life.
Careful not to make any sound with his shoes, he walked to the door John had indicated and perused it. The lever next to it was shaped like a stake. Cain shook his head. Somebody around here had strange tastes, and he sure hoped that he wasn’t the one to blame for this odd choice of handle.
Cain twisted the lever and immediately saw a tiny beam of light shine through the hidden door. He moved to bring his eye in line with it and peered through the small hole.
His heart stopped.
There was no mistaking her. Faye looked exactly like she’d appeared in his dreams, though she was dressed in casual clothes, a pair of tight jeans and a loose-fitting sweater. It had slid to one side, exposing one creamy shoulder. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders and back, and her eyes were as green as a meadow in the spring.