A terse silence descends on the room. Phillip moves to speak—but is interrupted when the door swings open.
A breathless vampire guard stands in their midst.
Mother turns on him in a rage. “You better have good reason to interrupt.”
“The humans,” he gulps. “They’ve begun to riot.”
The Queen curses.
“That’s not all,” he adds. “Your eldest son, James? He’s missing.”
Chapter Seventeen
JAMES
Seeing Raul was an unexpected ray of hope in the dark. However, it was extinguished the moment I understood that no matter his intentions, there was nothing he could do.
Mother made her decision, and I don’t expect him to change that. No matter how persuasive Raul manages to be.
And yet… only minutes after he left, a strange sort of resonance descends in the air. At first I think it’s my imagination. After all, the silver bars and the silver collar could be making me delirious.
But as I try to ignore the sensation, it only grows stronger.
It grows and grows and grows until the tautness is palpable.
Then, without warning, the entire cell starts to shake. There’s a breaking roar, and the ground beneath me gives way.
I leap aside to avoid falling. Everything goes still. The resonance is gone. Only the sound of crumbling soil reaches my ears.
I edge closer and peer into the crater. Far, far below me, I can see the faint outline of an underground river.
“Jump,” a voice whispers in my mind.
I am so shocked by it that I lose my footing. Before I know it, I’m throttling through the air toward the water below.
I hit the surface with a gasp. An icy cold takes me. The water is freezing. I have never been the best swimmer…
Still, I fight the current until I emerge at the surface. The river thrashes me this way and that until I cling to a jutting rock in its middle.
I look up, trying to make out how far I’ve fallen. But the rapids sweep me far from where I hit the water. All I see is the enormous, cavernous ceiling above.
The collar around my neck distresses me. I try tugging on it to help me breathe easier, but the silver burns my fingers.
At least I’m free.
Was Raul behind this? The timing was impeccable. It couldn’t have been just blind luck that let me free, could it?
No. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my long centuries of life, it’s that luck does not exist. Luck is what those fools jealous of others’ ascent to the top claim was behind their success.
And yet… I can’t help but feel that my escape was engineered by… somebody.
I don’t know who. And I’m not out of the woods yet. The voice I heard—was that real, or just imagined?
I’ve dawdled for too long. As soon as my cell is discovered empty, Mother is going to send all her guard after me. And I don’t know yet where this river leads.
“So long, Haven,” I mutter under my breath. “You hold no meaning for me anymore.”
And so I dive back into the river and go wherever the current takes me.
Chapter Eighteen
ELEIRA
No matter my insistence, Patricia absolutely refuses to come with me to the blood banks. In the end, I resort to brining her bottles after bottles of fresh blood.
She devours them with a speed I never thought possible.
How long has it been since her last drink?
Her appearance improves by the minute. After she’s had her first sip, the changes sweep over her like tides retreating from a beautiful beach.
Her skin, which was borderline translucent before, becomes plump and shining. Her hair, so brittle when she came into my room, turns full and thick. Even the muscles on her body look stronger, fuller, more toned.
By the time her thirst is satiated, she even has her womanly figure back.
“How do you feel?” I ask when she’s done. I have a burning curiosity about the whole process—about how rapidly the change came about and how quickly she was restored and what it must be like to go through it.
“B-better,” she mumbles. Despite the outward difference, she’s still meek as a babe.
“Patricia, we’re alone,” I remind her softly. I look around my room. “There’s absolutely no need for you to feel inferior to me.”
Her eyes widen, then take on a haunted look. “It’s not that,” she utters under her breath. “It’s just… now that my senses are back, I can better tell how strong you really are.” She meets my eyes for a second, and then quickly looks away. “It’s astounding.”
I click my tongue in annoyance. This blasted vampire hierarchy is going to be the end of me. What use is being so strong if it means everyone around is either terrified, envious, or hateful toward you?