I passed Robert in the hallway. He looked much improved since the last time I’d seen him. His clothes were neat and pressed, and gone was the dour expression he’d worn since Rose had been turned.
“How is she?” I asked.
“Better.” He smiled. “She’s terribly upset about what happened in the woods, of course. She’s quite embarrassed.”
“Tell her she has nothing to be ashamed of. She’s been through a lot, and from what I understand, it’s all part of the process.” I squeezed his arm. “Will you tell her I’m thinking of her? I can’t wait until we can see each other again—when she’s ready, of course.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Robert, I was also wondering… Will you be filming anything in the coming days? I’m sure that the king doesn’t want word of an attack spreading, but I’m wondering if we have a duty to report the rebels’ status to the settlers.”
He brushed his hair to the side, looking thoughtful. “I agree with you, of course. But I don’t know what Mira Kinney or the king would make of such footage.”
“Perhaps we could keep it quiet for now… Save it for a rainy day?”
“Yes, my lady. I’ll see to it.” With a brief bow, he was on his way.
“What was that all about?” Eve caught up with me. She was looking very professional again, a tight-fitting black combat uniform and shiny black boots showing off her fit physique.
“Robert updated me on Rose, and I asked him if he would perhaps get some footage of what transpires around here the next few days.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think the king would let something like that be broadcast?”
“No. But I think we have an obligation to the people in the settlements. I know it’s not my country to run, but I believe everyone is better off—and safer—if they know the truth. We don’t have to do anything with it—not yet anyway.”
Eve nodded. “We’ll have it if the time comes.”
“Where are you off to? You’re looking very official.”
She smiled, true happiness radiating off of her. “Austin has asked me to lead a team. We’re heading out on a reconnaissance mission.”
“What’s that? I didn’t study fancy military words in school.”
“It’s a scouting mission.” Eve held her head high. “We’re going to stake out the best places to hide so we’re ready for the rebels.”
I blew out a deep breath. “When do you expect them?”
“Anytime now.”
My heart sank. “Lovely.”
She patted my arm. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe—you have my word.”
“I’m not worried about that. I’m worried about you and Austin.”
“We’ll be fine. We were made to fight.” My friend surprised me by hugging me. “Take good care of Beast, not to mention Tamara and Shaye. I expect they’re going to be a bit tense.” With that, she was gone.
I groaned as I watched her march down the hall toward the door. Eve was going out there. Austin was going out there. The wolves were already out there, as were the rebels. There was only one thing for my lowly human self to do: eat.
I’d just about made it to the kitchen when Tamara and Shaye intercepted me. “Where are you going?” Tamara hissed, looking around. “We just heard they’ve struck a deal with the wolves and we’re about to go to war!”
I sighed. “Follow me.” We headed into the kitchen, and I prepared us each a large slice of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
“Eating at a time like this?” But Tamara stopped complaining as soon as she had a bite. “This is fantastic. I should eat cake every day for breakfast—I daresay I feel better already.”
Shaye picked at her food.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
She put down her fork. “What if my brothers are out there? Or my dad?”
I reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Let me talk to Austin. I’ll see if there’s anything we can do.”
“Thank you.”
Luckily, I’d already finished my cake. I hustled off, hoping to find the prince. There was a knot of sentinels waiting outside of the conference room. I could hear Austin’s voice from inside.
“Today is not a day to strike. Today is a day to understand. We need to see their weapons if we can. We need to establish strongholds out in the forest. We need to work with the wolves to establish a system for protecting the North together.”
He paused. “It’s very important that we let them come to us. I will not authorize an attack on the rebel camp. We have the numbers, and we could of course crush them. But I’ve no wish to shed blood today or any day. You’ve fought beside me for years—you know that. But these rebels seek to kill us under the guise of good destroying evil—hypocrisy at its finest. They will strike first, even though we’ve been peaceful up here for centuries. And I for one will never forget what they did to us in the past—the lives they destroyed, including those of their own people.”
There was nodding and grumbling among the soldiers.
“So today,” Austin continued, “let’s go forth and do our best. If they come to us, so be it. Let’s prepare to protect what’s ours, to protect those we love, and to protect our great nation. To the North!”
“To the North!” the soldiers shouted in response.
They marched out, heading toward the grounds, and I waited. When the prince strode through, I was ready. “Your Highness. A word?”
He nodded and came closer. “What is it?”
“Shaye has family that are rebels.” I kept my voice low. “Her father and older brothers. She’s worried that they’re out there.”
Austin nodded. “What’s their surname?”
“Iman.”
“I will keep this in mind and see if there is anything to be done.” Austin hesitated. “But there are a lot of them out there. We might not be in a position to ask questions before battle. If we can take prisoners, we will. But I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“I understand, as does Shaye. I just wanted to put you on notice.”
He gently kissed my forehead. “I must go.”
I nodded. “Of course. I’ll be thinking of you.”
“And I, you.”
I stepped back against the wall and watched him leave. My limbs and heart felt heavy. The rebels weren’t here to battle, not yet, and the day so far had been about getting organized. But anything could happen out in the woods.
I glanced down the hall to find Austin waiting by the door, staring. “Blake.”
“Yes?”
“Do you want to come with me?”
“I’m sorry, my lord?” I must have misheard him.
He took two steps closer. “I asked if you would like to come with me today. I can show you the strongholds and you can see the perimeter of the forest in the daylight.”
I swallowed hard, not believing what I was hearing. “Aren’t you worried about the wolves seeing us together?”
“I thought about it.” He shrugged. “I’ve calmed down a bit. Rhys already knows the truth about my feelings for you, and I can see there’s no point in hiding. He won’t challenge me now that he has his promise of land.”
I nodded. “He has what he wants. There’s no advantage in harming me.”
“Correct. And I would like you to see the full extent of the grounds. If something were to happen to me, you might have to lead. You can’t very well do that if you’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Austin!” I put a hand over my heart. “Please don’t talk like that.”
“I’m not actually worried, just being practical. I’ve been having you in my strategy meetings for the same reason—you need to be up to speed on everything so that my people get accustomed to coming to you for things, because you are, as they say, my better half.”
My cheeks went hot. “Th-Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. So come with me today, my lady. I’ve reversed myself—and I can’t have you here sulking all day. I expect I’d never hear the end of it.” He chuckled.
“Are you sure?”
The prince nodded. “I’ll feel better having you by my side for as long as I can. That way, I can personally guarantee your safety, which is my priority. Go and change. Trousers, boots, and a heavy coat are what you need. We won’t return until nightfall.”
I curtsied. “Yes, my lord.”
“You don’t have to be so formal about it.” He laughed.
“I am loving your orders. I’ve never been happier about obeying them in my life.”
His eyes flashed. “Go on, then.” He jerked his chin in the direction of the stairs. “Before I change my mind.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. A few minutes later, I was dressed and ready to go. I brought Beast to the library, surprising Tamara and Lord Bryson.
“Watch him for me?” I sat the gnome on Tamara’s side of the couch. Lord Bryson frowned at it, looking disapproving.
Beast purred as Tamara scratched his head with her long lacquered fingernails. “My pleasure. But where are you off to?”
“I’m going with the prince to scout the woods.”
Tamara arched an eyebrow. “The prince is taking you with him? I thought you were on house arrest!”
“Apparently, he changed his mind.” I lifted my chin. “He said he wants me to know the grounds better.”
“Ooh, because he’s serious about you. I do love a good show of intentions. He’s taking your relationship to the next level, just as I predicted.”
“Um…” I didn’t know what else to say, especially in front of Lord Bryson. “I’ll be back by nightfall.”
She winked at me. “Perhaps you’ll be engaged by then!”
“Oh, enough.” But I stopped as I was leaving the room. “Lord Bryson, won’t you be joining us?”
“Reconnaissance is boring, if you ask me.” He yawned. “I expect I’ll get out there if it comes down to a battle. Those usually don’t disappoint.”
He yawned again, and I shot Tamara a look. She shrugged as if to say, I hope his bank ledger’s more exciting than he is.
It’d better be quite overflowing, or Lord Bryson would probably get the boot. The designer boot, of course, but the boot nonetheless.
I took my leave, rushing off to find the prince. I smiled to myself. I would not be giving His Highness the boot anytime soon—or ever. His invitation had proven that he was, in fact, evolving rather nicely.
We scouted the forest for hours. There were no signs of the rebels, and we encountered no wolves. With the sun shining overhead and all the guards around, the woods seemed much less eerie.
Austin led me to a copse of birch trees and stopped. “Down through here is one of our tunnels.” He pointed out a small opening dug beneath the trunks.
“Can you actually fit in there?” I peered at the entrance, which only looked wide enough for a small child to wriggle through.
“It’s unpleasant, but we can burrow through soil.”
I stopped peering at the opening and gaped at him instead. “I’m sorry?”
He shrugged. “My kind. We can burrow through soil.”
“Do you mean like a worm?” I felt sick and fascinated at the same time.
Austin chuckled. “As I am not a worm, I don’t know. I only know that I can go into that tunnel and move through the soil, emerging at the exit, and I can do it very quickly.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Why was I not told about this? No one slid through dirt tunnels at the palace, I’ll tell you.”
He grunted. “Do you really think my father would deign to put his immaculate beard through the mud? Of course not! We use this as a fighting technique. We have to dig the tunnels ahead of time. We have a whole system set up in the forest. My guards know what to look for—if they ever need to make a hasty retreat, the tunnels are a neat trick. The capital only has a few of them, because the vampires there are too busy being uppity, overprivileged gits.”
I still didn’t understand. “How do you breathe when you’re in there?”
“Ah, I don’t know. I actually don’t know if I breathe at all.”
I pointed to his chest, which was rising and falling. “You are breathing, my lord. I have smelled your breath. It’s fantastic, always fantastic.”
He looked down. “I can stop doing that, though.” The rising and falling stopped.
“Don’t do that! You’ll die!”
Austin laughed again. “I’m immortal, remember?”
“Yes, yes, of course. You and your perfect-smelling breath and your large sculpted chest that doesn’t need to rise and fall. I’m up to speed on all of it except this.” I pointed at the tunnel. “I’d like to see you do it. I want to see what happens.”
He sighed. “We’re supposed to be preparing for battle, remember?”
“You’re the one who told me I might have to govern in your stead. I should at least know what your kind is capable of! That way, I can order the men to burrow if they must.”
“You’re ridiculous.” He frowned at the hole. “This is rather unpleasant, but for you… I would, of course, do anything.”
With that, he bent down and put his hands into the entrance as if to widen it. Then he held his arms above his head as if he were about to dive into water. He dove into the hole instead. It happened so quickly that all I saw were his shiny black boots being sucked into the dark soil.
“What on earth?” I looked around, but he was gone.
A moment later, I heard spluttering from three hundred feet away. “Ugh, I’d forgotten how disgusting that was!”
I raced to him. He was lying on his stomach near the base of another tree, a pile of dirt behind him. The prince pulled himself up, grimacing as he wiped dark soil from his face. “I should make all my men do this as part of training—you’ve got to remember to close your mouth.”
“Ew.” I reached out and pulled him up then inspected at him. He had mud in the creases of his skin and in the corners of his eyes. “Can you see in the mud?”
He looked at me as if I might be crazy. “There’s not much to see, is there? That’s why you have to dig the tunnel first. Otherwise, you’d just be down there, bumping into tree roots.”
“Fascinating.”
Austin laughed as he shook the dirt out of his tunic. “You’ve got an odd idea of what’s fascinating, my lady. Now, let’s get moving—enough vampire tricks for one morning. We’ve got a perimeter to scout.”
He held out his hand, and I clasped it. “Ooh, are there more?”
“I’m going to hypnotize you into being normal.” Austin chortled. “What a trick that would be!”