Voices in the room silenced.
“Be careful, Fredrick, or you may catch the wrong type of attention.”
Dalia’s face twisted, her eyes shooting to Fredrick as he looked me up and down.
“Simple answer,” he said. “If you can’t answer, we will have to assume…”
“Mine,” I replied and turned away. “My side. Back then, and now.”
He didn’t stop me this time. I would need them, but not now. I needed to find the person that was going to change all this for me first.
I found him in the corner of the furthest room on the second floor. He was slouching in a chair, a cloak covering his face and casting a shadow over him. If he were human, I might think he was sleeping.
No one else was in here, knowing to leave him alone, so he growled when I grabbed a chair and pulled it up to sit right in front of him.
“I don’t give a shit who you are, if you don't get away from me?—”
“Caspian Hart, parents died months after you were exiled. Your sister, set to take the throne, was killed by a rogue vampire. You were the last living heir, meaning that, regardless of your exile, you became the new leader of the Hart royal family. A family that was once one of the most powerful in the region is now just sitting there with unused resources and power.”
Slowly, he started to look up, glaring at me.
“You spend all your time in this house, but you've never been seen with anyone. All your meetings take place in this small room, and you leave in the morning to go back to your kingdom, only to come back at night. You’re trying to ruin your family’s image and spend the entirety of your fortune until there's nothing left.”
His head was raised now so I could make out his features. Growing up, I had seen him with a clean-cut face. His aristocratic air ran in his family. He was one of the more powerful ones, one my father hadn’t dared touch because of how extensive their resources were.
All it meant was that they had money and people. But they kept to themselves for the most part.
“I could live a millennium and never spend all our money,” he growled.
I sent him a smile.
“But that doesn't mean you won't try, hm?”
He pushed his hood back and leaned forward.
“What does the disgraced Castle princess want with me? Shouldn't you be busy shining your brother's shoes or something? How does it feel that he so cruelly pulled the rug from under you? Doesn't it make you angry?”
My smile wavered.
“I never wanted to kill anyone more than I want to kill my brother,” I replied, truthfully. I caught him off guard, his eyes widening, but then he slowly sat up straight in the chair.
“Well, at least we have a few things in common,” he said.
“The rogue…” I said, letting my voice trail off.
His jaw ticked.
“A coincidence that the rogue attacks stopped when your brother took over, isn’t it?”
Unease settled in my chest.
“But you're here, sulking in a dark room all alone, every single night. It can't simply be that you're running away from the responsibilities of your family… Aren’t you ashamed?”
He lunged forward, his hands on the armrest of my chair. His face was now close to mine, his fangs bared, and a growl rumbled from his chest.
“Don't talk about shit you don't understand.”
I got him right where I want him.
