“I understand more than you think.” My voice didn’t waver, and I didn’t flinch. “My mother. My friends. My lovers. All of it has been taken by the Castle family. Which is why I need to do this.”
“I don't care,” he said, pulling away and setting himself back on the chair. “Now get out or I will?—”
“Caspian Hart, I want you to marry me.”
Silence spread out then. Until he threw his head back and let out a booming laugh. It was so loud that I jerked back, surprised by the suddenness of it.
When he finally calmed down, he looked at me, wiping away fake tears.
“I haven't laughed that good in a long time.” Remnants of his laugh still played at the edge of his voice. “Are you insane or just stupid?”
“I have been forced to marry someone one too many times,” I said with a sweet smile. “I don't give a fuck about marriage. The real people I want to marry are not an option. My brother is going to make my life miserable, so the only way I can do this is if I pick my husband.”
“And you chose me?” he asked disbelievingly.
“Don't you have a fortune you want to get rid of? And I can promise you that we will make my brother pay.”
For the first time that night, it felt like he was truly seeing me.
“Why did you come back?” he whispered. “You could've stayed hidden.”
“I…” A knot gathered in my throat. There were so many reasons. It was complicated since I was trying to protect myself and my lovers while fulfilling the prophecy. But all of it would end only one way. “I'm going to kill my brother. But first I need to be married off.”
He looked me straight in the eyes. There was another long silence before a smile spread across his face.
“Sure, why not? I think I could like you.”
He sounded so nonchalant about it, it had my jaw dropping.
“That's it?”
He nodded and stood.
“There is a lot that goes into this, but let's just say that, for the most part, you're right. I want to get back at him for my sister. But there is another person who dropped me as soon as the news came out. Someone who’s just as ashamed to be with me as I am ashamed of myself.”
He held out his hand to me.
“What do you say, Aurelia Hart?”
I cringed at the name but slipped my hand into his and let him pull me up.
“We have a lot to discuss,” I said, but the weight of the universe felt just the slightest bit lighter.
“We have time. First, let me show you your new kingdom.”
I let him walk me out of the room, taking the first step into a life that I could finally control.
Cedar
Istood next to Vesper, the need to reach out and touch her too much to handle.
I had been waiting, every single night plagued by dreams of the day when she was taken from us. All I could remember was the way she looked at us for help… but we couldn’t.
It took far too long to get to her, and now that she wasfinallyhere, instead of wrapping my arms around her, I was forced to watch as two spoiled vampires had the blandest conversation I’d ever seen in my life.
Atlas and Charlotte were at a large dining table, but instead of sitting at both ends, they chose to sit on either side of the middle, a more intimate position, since they were forced to stare at each other.
They had called this “dinner,” but for these vampires, that consisted of various cups of blood, ruby-red blood candies, and human blood bags offering a bit of their wrist to them every few minutes.
