So vulnerable.
She eyed the thin white line on his neck, which she remembered so well.
"One day," she said. "I will finish what I began all those years ago."
Kiara feathered the tip of her finger along the scar across his throat Slowly. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and-
Leontes jerked and sucked in a breath. Kiara jumped away. As she watched, the vampire's chest began to rise and fall with steady regularity, but he did not wake.
So he lived. A bittersweet notion.
Little time remained. She retreated to the hearth and worked quickly to unravel her braid. When the last woven strands shook free, she ran her fingers through the glossy waves and let them tumble down her back.
Behind her, Leontes murmured, "Is this Heaven?"
Kiara froze and took a controlled, measured breath.
"No, my lord," she replied softly, then turned to face him, framed in the fire's warm glow. Her eyes narrowed. "As you were oft so kind to remind me, I am truly Hell."
Confusion wrinkled Leontes' brow as his gaze focused. "Kiara? You are safe? Thank God." His eyes dipped down. "For Chrissake, are you naked?!"
With a noise of contempt and roll of her eyes, she stalked across the room and wrenched open the doors of the wardrobe, practically pulling them off their hinges.
"Good, yes, find some clothing," Leontes said. "Then tell me what happened? Where is Fauxleander?" Leontes struggled to rise, but his body refused to cooperate. "What is wrong with me?"
Someone banged on the trapdoor.
"Kiara!" Frankie yelled. "Are you in there?"
Kiara's stomach hollowed. Panic iced her veins. She had been a fool and stayed too long.
More pounding. Harder this time.
"Open up!" Jaeger demanded. "Who just dumped me on the floor? I could have bled to death. It was gramps, wasn't it? And here I saved his rotting vampire hide."
"Don't be so dramatic," Frankie said. "It's just a flesh wound."
"Flesh wound? There's a bullet in my shoulder."
"That would be in the flesh. Hence the term-"
"Kiara!" Jaeger resumed his pounding. "Gramps!"
Kiara ripped a gauzy pink gown off the hanger and yanked the dress over her head. Then she closed her eyes and muttered under her breath. She felt her consciousness begin to pull away, but feared it would take too long.
Jaeger yelling. Leontes ordering her to open the hatch. None of it helped.
Then the familiar, agonizing pain raked through her head. Sharp and savage as jagged glass, it manically slashed through her brain with vicious precision, shredding away the memories into oblivion. But the true Oleander welcomed the shadows that edged her vision, and she sighed with pleasure as the darkness overcame her.
She caught Leontes' gaze and could not resist.
"Prepare yourself," she said, her eyes stuttering from yellow to green. "Because once I have ended that woman, I am coming for you."
A cold, feral smile prowled onto Kiara's lips.
Leontes recognized it.
His jaw dropped.
"Kiara?" he whispered. With a great effort of will, he heaved himself up. "No!"
In her last moment of consciousness, magic zapped from Kiara's fingers, and an explosion rocked the room.
CHAPTER 113
Jaeger's head popped up through the smoke. "They're here!" He pushed aside the rubble and climbed through the door, holding his left arm at an odd angle. "Nice job with the kabooming, Frankie."
"What the hell is going on?!" Leontes demanded, coughing and waving away the smoke.
Kiara's green eyes widened when she spotted Leontes. She launched across the space and tackled him onto the bed, her face buried in his shoulder. "I was so scared!" she said. "But … I don't know why."
"Hey, gorgeous, I could use a hug too," Jaeger said.
"Go away," Leontes snarled, trying to blink away the confusion that muddled his head.
"Hey, you should be nicer to the guy who took down Fauxleander and saved your life." Jaeger reached through the splintered remains of the hatch, wincing as he hauled Frankie up. Blood soaked the shoulder of his shirt.
Leontes gently removed Kiara and eased himself up to sit on the bed. He cast a doubtful eye at Jaeger. "You saved me from Fauxleander?"
"When did Fauxleander have you?" Kiara cried.
Leontes rubbed his forehead. "The car crash. A fight? That is the last I remember."
"Must be the old age setting in, gramps," Jaeger smirked. "Let the young royal prince explain a few things."