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I should’ve been walking over there to punch him. Or kill him. She’d kept to her word, and nothing had happened between them since she started feeding on him, but I wanted Cal out of her life like I wanted her in mine, and yet, for some reason, I hadn’t followed through on my heinous plans.

Instead, I found myself heading to his house to check on him. At the rate he turned, I was certain some major developments were to be seen shortly, and what concerned me most was how he’d cope with them. As much as I might deny it, at some point in my days as a high school student, I had come to see Cal as a friend.

His front door opened, and a hard-faced woman glared at me. “You must be David.”

“Nice to meet you.” I offered my friendliest, most childlike smile and my hand to shake.

“Oh.” The woman blushed. “A teenager with manners. You go right on up then, and maybe rub some of that off on my son.”

I laughed. I’d rather not rub anything on her son. I headed up the stairs to Cal’s domain, stopping halfway when I heard Ara’s voice. I didn’t realize she was here.

“So did you paint these?” she asked.

“No. They’re from my dad’s old office.”

“They’re old.”

Cal laughed. “They’re my ancestors. Remember how I told you they were all lawyers,” he said.

“So they had their portrait done if they made it into the family business?”

“Something like that. And now they’re all stuffed in a corner like none of it ever mattered,” he spat. “Which is because of me, I guess.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I broke the chain. I’m the first one to reject the family business, and I suppose, after fighting with me about it for so long, Dad just realized it didn’t matter all that much—any of it.”

“So he’s being nice to you then?”

“Funny you should say that, but sometimes, yeah, he is.”

“Maybe he can sense the predator in you.”

“Ha! I would hope so.”

“But you wouldn’t ever kill him, would you?” she asked, and I heard the springs on his bed squeak—my cue to enter.

“Knock knock,” I announced loudly as I stepped up into the bright, airy room, half expecting to see them jump apart on the bed. I hated that I even imagined that, but rising above all expectations, Ara wasn’t anywhere near Cal.

“David.” Her face lit up when she saw me. “What are you doing here?”

“Came to check in.”

She walked over and gently wrapped her arms around my waist. “Why?”

“No reason,” I said, but my face betrayed me, and Ara knew it was a lie.

“Let me guess”—she stepped back, folding her arms—“you thought we were having sex.”

I laughed. “Actually, no. I didn’t even know you were here.”

“Oh.” The arms unfolded and she glanced back at Cal.

“Here to have your portrait done then?” Cal joked, holding up the paintbrush he was using. And in that split second, as he laughed and shook his head, he reminded me so much of my brother that the cold truth hit me. That was why I couldn’t find the will to have him arrested and locked away for life: I connected with him because he reminded me of Jason.

“Ah, actually,” I fumbled, “I wanted to make sure you hadn’t developed any dangerous powers in the last few days.”

He practically snorted out his derision. “I wish. And since Ric said I’d be powerful, I’ve been waiting, but”—he shrugged—“nothing.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. His powers would obviously take time to surface, as they did for every vampire. “They will come. In time.”

“Then, in the meantime, I’ll just have to enjoy all the other cool perks.”

“Cool perks?” I quirked a brow at him, crossing the room and slumping down on the bed. “Like what?”

“Speed. Agility. Colors.” His tone changed, eyes going back to the canvas he was painting. “I see things so differently now—like details. I don’t just see an image anymore. I see what makes it up.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Like, when I’d paint a fir tree, I’d use my fan brush and just press it to the canvas with a mix of green and maybe ochre, but now it’s like there’s a magnifying glass over it and I can’t do that anymore. My eye won’t see it as a tree now. I have to get down with a fine-tip and paint every needle—all the details, even bugs that you don’t see. But look.” He grasped the canvas in both hands and lifted it off the easel, turning it to show me.

My jaw dropped. I’d paid no mind to it as I entered, but as my eyes brushed past every minute detail right down to the fawn foraging in the far background behind twenty-odd trees, I was speechless. I swallowed it down—the praise, the disbelief, the need to tell him he had a skill just as developed as my brother, who’d been painting for over a hundred years—and nodded casually instead. “Yeah,” I said, “not bad.”

Cal knew better though. We’d only been friends for a short time, but even he could see what I truly wanted to say. “Yeah, my dad said pretty much the same thing.” He put the canvas back on the easel, hiding his smile behind it.

“You should paint Elora,” Ara suggested, “as a wedding present.”

“Yeah.” Cal nodded. “I’d love to. And maybe I could do one of the new princess when she’s born. They’re bringing her to the wedding, right?”

“She won’t be born when they arrive,” I said, wondering, by the way he spoke so casually about the royal family, if he’d been speaking with my brother, “Lily isn’t due until the end of the month.”

“Just a few weeks before Em, right?” Ara said, coming to sit beside me.

“That’s right.”

“That’s funny,” she added, staring down at her watch. “I had a really strange dream last night that Lily had the baby, and when I looked at the calendar, it said November second.”

“A dream?” My eyes lit up. I’d have to call Jason. If Ara had a dream, there was a very strong chance that it wasn’t a dream at all, but a vision.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “They had a girl.”

“Cool,” Cal said. “Well, it’s not November second there until our tomorrow, so I’ll tell him about it when I call him tonight.”

Call him? My head boiled. This kid was slowly inserting himself into my family with a little bit too much ease. Who is he to call my brother and deliver that kind of news? He doesn’t even know him. Hasn’t even met him!

Ara’s cool hand came down on my knee, forcing the sensation of calm through me. She’d mastered it now, I was sure. Before she died, she could calm an entire room, make them fearful, or even bring a tear to every eye with nothing more than a simple change in her own energy. She could even do that to the skies. But I had not yet seen this new version of her exude so much power in so many different ways. No one even had to teach her. It was as if she just recalled it all, or maybe, in this case, it was accidental. She needed me to calm down and her body knew how to make that happen, even if her mind didn’t.

“So… you talk to my brother often then?” I said, passive as a puddle.

“Dude, I’ve known him for two days and I’ve spoken to him four times. I don’t call that ‘often’, so you can fuck off with your passive-aggressive probing.”

At first, I was taken aback by his tone. No one spoke to the king that way. But then, he’d never known me as his king. He knew me as his equal, and for a moment I liked that. Just not enough to let him get away with such disrespect. I stood up. “I’m probing because you seem to be making yourself a little too familiar with your king—”

“Familiar?” He put his brush down. “What d’you expect? You want me to bow down to him?”

“Yes!” I laughed, astonished that he’d deluded himself this deeply. Was he to be friends with his king? Ridiculous.

“Look, man.” He stood up too. “I get it. You were born in the old days when people used to worship monarchs like fools, and you probably haven’t seen too many modern-made vampires, but I can respect my king in any way I see fit, and if that means being mates, then that’s none of your beeswax.”

“He is my brother—”

“And I happen to get along great with him,” Cal said simply. “So fucking what? I’m not out to adopt him or anything—or take your place. Just calm down.”

“David.” Ara’s hand touched my shoulder; I shrugged it off. I would not be herded into behaving—told to calm down. Who did he think he was speaking to? Disrespectful little shit.

“You need to learn a lesson in the order of the proverbial food chain.” I pointed at Cal. “And if I have to enforce it, I will—”

“David, that’s enough,” Ara yelled. “You’re doing that thing again.”

“What thing?” I spun around, my heart jerking back in my chest when I saw her face. She was right; I recognized it now that she’d pointed it out. The surge—the same hate-filled build-up of insanity that made me bash her head into the ground last time. It was happening again. Most likely because Cal posed a threat. Not just because he was a man in her life, but because he was under her curse too.

I forcibly simmered down, closing my eyes. “Cal. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it,” he said, but his tone was littered with impatience. It couldn’t be undone now. I’d offended him. I’d offended Ara. I’d made a dick of myself.

I turned and left the room, taking the stairs and reaching the front door before Ara caught up.

“What’s wrong, David?” She grabbed my arm and stopped me, holding so tight I physically couldn’t move.

“I don’t know,” I lied. “That guy just…”

“Drives you crazy. I know that. But you fought against yourself in there. I saw it.” She pressed her hand to my chest. “I saw you take one path in your mind and then switch to another, like you were forcing yourself to hate him.”

Just hearing her put it like that made me feel worse. I touched her face softly and smiled. “One day I can make you understand.” One day I would tell her about the curse. “But for now, I just need you to give me some leeway—just let me make a few mistakes, okay?”

She nodded, taking my hand down to kiss my palm. “Okay.”

“Okay.” I smiled at her, my eyes flicking to the top of the stairs when Cal appeared. And I decided it was time. He had to know. Ara wasn’t ready yet, but I needed to warn Cal. These feelings were powerful, and dangerous.

“Ara,” I said softly, giving her my most reassuring smile. “Can you leave us for a bit? I need to talk to Cal about something.”

I felt her concern, but as she looked back at Cal, it wasn’t concern for him, I realized. It was for me. “You just remember he’s human,” she said firmly to Cal. “If anything happens to him, I don’t care what he said to provoke you, I will kill you.”

“Noted,” Cal said with a salute.

Ara nodded pragmatically and looked at me again. “I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner tonight.”

“See you then.” I leaned in to kiss her cheek, letting her walk past me then as I prepared the speech in my mind.

“What is it?” Cal said, walking away as an invitation for me to follow.

“You don’t love her,” I said, climbing the steps quickly.

“I never said I did.”

“Bullshit.” I stood by the stairs, ready to run in case what I had to say angered his inner vampire. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“Right.” He nodded, smirking. “So this is the bit where you tell me I’m cursed, right?”

“I—” My mouth fell open, the words sticking to my tonsils.

“Ric told me.” He sat down by his easel again. “He warned me about it before he agreed to turn me—said it might not break with immortality. But it has,” he assured me, glancing back to say it with his eyes. “I don’t feel for her the way you think I do.”

“Then what, exactly, is your position?”

“She’s my friend, Dave. Just like you. And Ric. And as I’m betting your bro will be.” He spun around on his stool and faced me, rubbing his paint-stained hands on the tops of his ripped jeans. “He’s like me. You know that. I know you can see that. Why would you try to stop us being friends?”

I sighed, moving into the room. “Because of the curse, if I’m honest.”

He frowned, halfway between asking why and just waiting for me to elaborate.

“I see you as a threat—to my relationship. It’s not your fault,” I added, looking down at my shoes. “It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s the curse. But, because of that, I see you as a threat in every department, even with my brother.”

Cal nodded, exhaling deeply from his nose. “No one can steal her, you know?”

I sat down on the bed. “I know.”

“And no one can steal your bro.” He waited until I looked at him. “Blood is thicker than water, man. You don’t know how much that guy loves you.”

He was right. I didn’t really know. I knew what lengths I’d go to for him—that I would die for him. That I would want to die if he no longer existed. But I hadn’t seen him now in so long that it felt like he wasn’t really a part of my life anymore—that he didn’t care for me the way I cared for him.

“Look, I know you don’t want me coming between you and Ara—or you and Jason. But I’m her bloodbag. I’m a permanent fixture now, and we can all either get along, or have a hard time of it. Your choice.”

This time, when I looked at Cal and saw him as a friend—not a loyal subject addressing his king—I didn’t fight it. I let it into my heart and held it down when it tried to choke me. “I’m trying,” I said. “But this curse makes it hard.”

“You need to tell Ara about it.”

“No. She isn’t—”

“No,” he said firmly. “She needs to know.” He went back to his painting then. “You know that.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. But to tell her would be to lose her. If she thought, for even a second, that my love was a result of the curse, she’d back away. She’d never trust it. And I’d lose her all over again. “Just not now,” I finished.

“When?”

Good question. “When I’m strong enough to let her go.”

My twenty-first birthday had been spent in misery. I tried to indulge my family as they had rallied around to celebrate my first human birthday in a century, but without hope of ever seeing my Ara again, I’d been in a state of depression and I barely remembered the day.

Which is why Mike had planned to throw me a second twenty-first birthday party—to be a surprise—if it weren’t for Ara’s terrible habit of talking in her sleep.

I cradled her closer, kissing her head as I whispered that she was the best birthday present I could have asked for. Not just that she was alive, or that we were working things out, but that she had snuck into my bed last night while I was sleeping, and I woke to her soft breath against my nose, her chest rising and falling under my arm. Sleeping beside her was like laying with an angel; it brought a kind of peace to my heart that left my body comfortably numb, sinking deeper into the mattress beneath us.

But Harry would wake soon, and if the previous years were anything to go by, he’d run in here as soon as his eyes opened and wish me well with a series of hugs and kisses. Ara needed to wake up and leave before that happened, or our cover would be blown wide open. There would be no way Harry could keep it to himself.

“Hey, mate,” I heard Mike say. Harry whispered something, and I heard paper rustle. “Yeah, but why don’t we go down and make him breakfast first?”

“Yeah!” Harry cheered.

I heard Ara’s door close then, which I took to mean that Mike knew Ara was in here with me. I wasn’t stupid enough to think he hadn’t heard us making love the other day. He knew exactly what was going on, which put him in a unique position to help out now and then in keeping it a secret.

Harry followed Mike downstairs and I breathed a sigh of relief, holding Ara just a bit tighter for just a bit longer. Of anything Mike could have given me for my birthday, a few more minutes with her in my arms could not be bested.

Ara stirred then and I tried to shush her back to sleep, but she sat bolt upright, with bright eyes and a big smile, and practically yelled “Happy birthday!”

“Shhhh.” I put my finger to my lips. “I don’t want anyone to know we’re up.”

“Why?” She looked at the door. “I thought you’d be dying to get down there and see your brother.”

“My brother is here?” I scooted back, hovering above her on my hands and knees.

She nodded. “You didn’t know?”

I laughed breathily, shaking my head. “No. And I don’t think you were supposed to tell me.”

“Oh.” Her little mouth rounded. “Oops.”

I leaned down and kissed that mouth, my smile growing as a rush of excitement made my heart skip. It had been almost a year since I’d seen my brother, and I’d been in a blurry state of depression the last time, so it felt like longer than that since I’d seen him.

“Come on.” I jumped up and took her hand. “It’s time for you to meet the King.”