“We infiltrate through the servant’s quarters,” Dad said, pointing to a place on one side of the castle on a crude map he’d drawn up.
“You have to be kidding me. They have servants there?”
“Not anymore, but they did years ago.”
“That’s horrible.”
“That’s life, Bellame. It’s the way things were done centuries ago.”
I raised my head, my gaze capturing his. “Just how old is this castle?”
Dad’s eyes clouded over as he looked back down at the paper in front of us. “Old enough that the cells in the lowest level were used for the same exact thing back in the day that they are being used for now.”
“How do we get past the army of vamps that live around the castle?” Royal asked, leaning over my shoulder.
“We will need a distraction.”
Royal nodded slowly as his eyes looked at the picture carefully. “Court, Lianne, and I can take care of that. It won’t look suspicious if we show up there. We’ve been to see Elizabeth several times.”
“She lives at the castle?” I asked, surprised. From the way they’d described her over last several days, I didn’t think she was someone who would put up with the things my uncle had done. Unless she didn’t know what was really happening? Or maybe she was afraid to go up against him. I wouldn’t blame her.
“No, she can’t stand to be around Aldric,” Lianne said from where she sat on the couch in the Braxton’s living room.
Ben, Alisha, and their daughter had left the week before to visit family in Virginia and would be gone for at least a month. They wanted to go somewhere they knew Sara Beth would be safe. They’d tried to get Ethan to go, too, but he refused. We’d been staying at the farm since they left. It had been three weeks since we all started training together, and my dad finally agreed to let us start working on a plan to free my grandparents and the prince from the castle.
“She just goes there if they have functions, like big dinners or a party, to keep up appearances. She hates him, hates what he does to everyone, but I think she’s scared of what he will do to her if he finds out how she really feels.” Lianne leaned against her brother’s shoulder, her eyes fluttering shut as she whispered, “She would meet us there if we asked her to.”
I saw Court’s eyes narrow as he looked down at his sister before he said gruffly, “You need blood, Lianne. You’ve gone too long without it this time.”
“I can’t,” she breathed, her nose scrunching up in distaste even as her eyes stayed closed.
“You have to, Sis.” Royal walked over and crouched down in front of her, reaching out to put a hand on her pale white cheek. “It’s been days since you last fed.”
“Can’t,” Lianne whispered, pushing his hand away from her.
I watched in confusion as the brothers looked at each other in frustration. Remembering my conversation with Royal, I slowly crossed the room and knelt beside him in front of her. “Lianne?” When she didn’t reply, I placed a hand gently on her forehead. Her skin was cool and clammy to the touch. “How long as she been like this?” I asked, glancing over at Royal.
Shoving a hand through his hair, he admitted, “We haven’t been able to get her to feed for a couple of weeks now. We’ve both tried, but she won’t take our blood.”
“What about animal blood?” Dad asked as he made his way over to us. “Will she drink that?” It wasn’t ideal, but it would be enough to hold her over until we could figure something out.
Court shook his head. “She has an aversion to blood in general.” He hesitated, before saying, “She’s had it for years, but it’s gotten worse over the past few months.”
Knowing they wouldn’t tell me if I asked, I resorted to the only way I could find out exactly what was going on. Keeping my hand on Lianne’s head, I leaned in close to her and closed my eyes, concentrating. Praying for the whisper of thoughts to come from her. There was only silence.
“What’s she doing?” Court demanded, but I ignored him.
Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to block out everything except Lianne. She seemed so weak and frail. I was angry with myself that I hadn’t noticed before. She hadn’t sparred with us for a few days, but she always had a good excuse. Other things she had to do. Why didn’t I watch her more closely? Two weeks was a long time to go without blood. Vampires couldn’t survive on regular food alone. We had to have blood, or we would die. Which was what seemed to be happening with Lianne. She was slowly fading away from us, and I needed to know why before I could fix it.
“Somebody better tell me what’s going on!” Court ordered loudly, almost frantic now.
“Shut up, Court, and let Bellame help your sister,” Skye snapped.
I was aware to a certain level of what was going on around me, but I didn’t respond. Something was happening. Somehow, I was connecting with Lianne. Not just her thoughts, but her. One second, I was just sitting there in front of her; the next, I was in her mind. Reading her thoughts, but doing so much more. I could feel what she was feeling. How utterly exhausted she was. Her inability to function, to even open her eyes. She just wanted to drift away, to sleep.
“Is she okay, Uncle Marcus?”
“Just let her do her thing, Son.”
“Whatever she’s doing, she better not hurt my sister.”
At the sound of Court’s voice, I felt Lianne struggle to rise from the fogginess that filled her head. Her body was lethargic, weighing her down. She was so tired and just couldn’t move.
Lianne?
I felt her flinch at the sound of my voice inside her head, but she didn’t reply.
Lianne, I tried again. Still nothing.
Lianne, talk to me, please. Tell me why you won’t feed. She stirred slightly, and I knew she could hear me. Lianne, I promise, I won’t let anyone or anything hurt you. She was silent, but suddenly started to squirm weakly on the couch as if to try to get away.
“Royal,” Court growled in a warning tone, “she better stop this! Lianne just needs some rest. She’ll be fine.”
“She isn’t fine,” Royal said, sighing deeply. “We can’t help her, Court. We’ve done all we can. Let the princess try.”
Lianne, let me help you. Please.
I froze when I was suddenly swamped with a sorrow so deep, it would have put me to my knees if I wasn’t already resting on them. Mama.
That one word reached me, and then there were images. They flew through my mind as if I were watching a movie. At first it was hard to keep up, and then it slowed down a little. There was a woman, so pretty and almost always smiling. She was dancing with a little girl, then chasing two small boys around a large open field. Then they were all four watching cartoons on television, snuggled up on a couch together. A new scene popped up, and there was a large man, holding a fist up as if to hit someone, and the woman stood in front of the children, protecting them. After that, more images of the woman with the children. The love she felt for them was written all over her face.
Lianne cried out suddenly, reaching for me, grabbing my hand and holding on tightly as the images changed viciously into a horrible scene, one that tore my breath from my lungs. The woman was inside with the children, they were making cookies and watching a Christmas movie. There was a noise, and the woman turned, her eyes going wide. She pushed the children, yelling at them, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. The children ran upstairs, presumably to hide, when the front door slammed open and a huge beast of a man stepped into the house. He grabbed the woman, yanking her outside with him.
The vision changed, and then I was in a little girl’s room, watching out the window as the monster tore the woman to shreds, feasting on her blood. The white snow turned a deep red around where she lay. The beast eventually left, and the little girl ran downstairs and out the door to where the woman lay. She fell to the ground beside her, screaming and crying. Abruptly, everything stopped and all images were gone. All that was left were feelings of fear, sadness, and loss.
Slowly, I pulled from Lianne’s mind, realizing I’d just lived the last minutes of her mother’s death. A death Lianne herself had watched. The sight of the blood, the overwhelming smell of it when she knelt on the ground beside her mom was why she couldn’t feed.
I opened my eyes, unaware of the tears that had been streaming unchecked down my face until now. Lianne’s pain was mine. I felt it deep in my soul. I had to do something to help her, but what?
“It was so hard to get her to take blood after that,” Royal said quietly. “Court and I were hiding, like we were supposed to be. But Lianne…” he paused. “She was always the stubborn one.”
“You know what happened?” Court rasped, his eyes glued to his sister when I looked over at him.
“Yes,” I whispered, unable to say more.
“A neighbor came over and found her with our mother’s body,” he said, running a hand gently down Lianne’s hair. While I had opened my eyes, she still lay against Court’s shoulder as if in sleep. “We never actually saw her, but we heard the rumors.”
“She’s never talked about it.” Royal swallowed hard before saying, “It’s been a fight over the years to get her to take blood. Even the thought of it makes her sick. The only ones she will take it from are my grandmother and Elizabeth, but lately she’s been going longer and longer because she’s refusing them, too.”
“She’s having nightmares,” I said softly, “but she’s starving. She needs blood.” Sitting back on my heels, I thought for a moment before telling Court, “Lay her down on the couch, one of those pillows under her head.”
He looked at me quizzically, but did what I said. After he was done, he rose to stand right behind me, and Royal did the same. I moved over until I was on my knees beside Lianne’s head, and then I removed a dagger from the sheath at my side.
“Bellame,” my dad said in a warning tone.
I spared him a quick glance, but didn’t stop what I was doing. Putting the blade to my wrist, I slid it across, wincing at the pain it caused. “She needs blood, or she will die.”
“We’ve tried to give it to her in her sleep,” Court said, caution in his voice. “It didn’t work.”
“Well, you aren’t me,” I replied with more confidence than I actually felt. Placing the dagger on the floor beside me, I slid an arm under Lianne’s neck and tilted her up so that her head was back, her mouth slightly open. Holding my wrist over her lips, I watched as the first drop of blood fell into her mouth. At first, nothing happened. I figured it was because she didn’t have the energy to fight back. Then, her eyes popped open and I was staring into glossy ones full of horror. She tried to move, tried to pull away from me, but I wouldn’t let her. “Lianne, you need to calm down,” I said soothingly, as more of my blood slid down her throat. She shook her head to try to get away from the blood, but I put my wrist to her lips. “It’s me, Lianne, your princess.” And I would use that princess card as far as it would take me. “Look at me, Lianne!”
She stopped struggling, her eyes on mine. The terror was there, but so was hunger.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, smiling gently at her. “Everything is going to be all right, I promise you. I’m going to fix this.”
Tears slipped out of the corners of her eyes, sliding down over her temples, but I saw a small sliver of hope enter her eyes.
“I promise, I will fix everything.”
We sat like that for several minutes, her allowing me to feed her, even though she was terrified. Then, when I felt as if she’d taken enough, I finally pulled back. Her tears were gone, but the fear was still visible when she whispered, “I’m so sorry, Princess.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said softly. Standing, I reached for a cover that was on the back of the couch, pulling it over her. “I meant what I said, Lianne. I will fix this.”
“How?”
“You leave that up to me.”
I watched as her eyes slowly drifted shut, waiting until I knew she was asleep before turning back to the others. Lianne’s brothers were looking at me in shock, as was everyone else in the room. I knew it wasn’t because I got Lianne to take blood. No, it was because once again I had made a promise. A promise I was expected to keep as a member of the royal family. That was fine with me. This was something I was going to follow through with, no matter what. Now, I just had to figure out how.