The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of(53)

Phillip gives an uneasy shrug. “Nothing pleasant.” He turns to me. “Raul might tell you if you ask, but it’s not my place to give that piece of information away.”

“So what can you tell me? What happened to Liana?”

“She remained hidden for a few months. And then, one day, she just… disappeared.” He grunts. “Somebody must have found out about her presence. I never told a soul. I don’t think James did, either.”

“Was it murder?” I ask softly.

“That’s the only logical conclusion,” Phillip says. “But we never found a body. We never found any hint of an escape, either.” He nods into the distance. “Past that bend was where Raul built a small hut for her. It’s gone now. Destroyed by him in a blind rage. I… don’t know anything past that. Raul stopped talking about her when it became obvious she was gone. The next few decades were the worst I’ve ever seen him. He became withdrawn and hostile. He was aggressive toward everything and everybody. The Haven’s vampires started to fear him. The Royal Court even suggested to the Queen that he should be thrown out.

“She laughed at them, of course. I think that was the first seed of discord between her and the Court.”

“And Raul?” I ask. “How did he recover?”

“For the longest time, I didn’t think he had. Not in full. He’d just managed to suppress the anger, suppress the rage. But now, I see him with you—”

A fox darts through the bushes. We both start at the sound.

Phillip looks at the sky. “We’ve dawdled long enough. We should go back. And Eleira? Please don’t tell Raul I said anything. Not yet.”





Chapter Thirty-Three




ELEIRA



I find Raul pacing the floor in front of his desk, on top of which are piles and piles of arcane astronomical charts.

He looks up when I enter.

“Is it true?” I ask. “Did you really kill the vampires like Morgan said?”

He studies me, a curious expression fleeting across his face. Then his hands tighten into fists, and he nods. “I had no choice. They were torturing a group of humans.”

Surprise takes me. “You called the humans ‘slaves.’”

“When we were in the hearing of others,” Raul says wearily.

“Those guards,” I ask, stepping closer. “Were they the same ones I met at the introductory ceremony? The ones who dragged Patricia and Jacob before the Queen?”

Raul nods.

“Then good riddance!” I take his hand firmly in mine. “I could tell right away they were different from the rest. Tainted. Corrupt. Evil.”

“You thought we were all evil back then.” His eyes pierce into me. “Did you not?”

I shake my head. “I knew you were different, too.”

To my surprise he draws his hand away and turns to his desk. “I don’t deserve you, Eleira,” he says. “No matter what you think of me, I have no redemption. I am a monster, and I’ve given way to darkness, more times than I can count…”

He turns back. “I see the way you look at me sometimes. Like I’m worthy of salvation. I’m not. I’ve done so many monstrous things. Killing those guards is a blip on the radar compared to my other sins.”

“Forget all that,” I say. “That’s in the past. What we have right now before us is the future. And—”

The doors fly open, and Phillip storms inside. “April is gone!” he exclaims.

“What?” Raul exclaims.

“After we parted,” Phillip says, nodding to me, “I went to the infirmary to check on her. She was gone. The doctor claims not to have seen anything. I checked the village. April wasn’t there. I found her adopted family. She wasn’t with them.”

“A human can’t wander far in The Haven without drawing attention to herself,” Raul says. “Somebody must have seen her.”

“Nobody!” Phillip exclaims. He’s more agitated than I’ve ever seen him. “Even the guards don’t know where she is!”

“Phillip, relax,” Raul says. “She couldn’t have gone far. The Haven is sealed inside and out.”

“You think I’m worried about her escaping The Haven?” Phillip laughs. It’s a desperate sort of sound. “No. No, it’s not that, brother.”

“Then what?” he asks.

Realization strikes. “You think she’s been kidnapped,” I gasp.

“Worse,” Phillip says. He’s deadly serious. “Taken hostage.”

“By whom?” I ask.

“There aren’t any vampires who would harm her,” Raul says. “They know she’s under the Queen’s protection. Morgan offered April clemency at the same time she introduced Eleira to the others. Remember?”