How did I get back here?
My head swiveled around to find the door, but there was none.
“I’m dreaming,” I exhaled. “You’ve done this before.”
There was something nagging me at the back of my mind, telling me I was forgetting something important.What is it?
“You never cease to amaze me, Vesper.”
His sarcasm had me frowning. I was angry. I could feel it deep in my chest, burning away everything in its path. But my confusion stopped me from attacking him right away.
“Are you here to warn me?” I asked, my voice rising in a panic. “Do I need to get Cedar and Aurelia out of?—”
Of where?When I tried to bring up the memories of where we were, I couldn’t.
“Warn you? I guess, but not in the way you think. You’re messing it up. Or at least close to.”
“Messing what up?” I tried to rise, but only then did I realize I was shackled by the same chains he was, biting into my arms and legs. I pulled at them again, and a searing shot of pain ran up my arm.
I glared at him.
“This isn’t fucking fun?—”
“Time’s ticking. Do you want to hear me or what?”
Snapping my mouth shut, I gritted my teeth. My instinct was to snap back at him, but I toned it down and gave him a jerky nod.
“Vampires have always been a bit old-fashioned,” he explained, lying down on the ground and waving his hand to the wall behind him. Light splashed on it, and the shadows started moving, making shapes. Like hand puppets he never raised his hand to make. “The women were married off, men ruled. The clans had a way to shift the balance away from the royal bloodlines, but, well… You know what happened.”
The shadows showed various clan heads and their followers fighting each other until nothing was left but dust.
“The royal families prey on the fear of war. They force vampires to their side and make alliances through blood sharing, feeders, and, of course, marriage.”
The shadows changed to a girl looking suspiciously like Aurelia, waiting near a throne, a man wearing a crown kneeling at her feet.
“Aurelia figured it out. Can you?”
The shadows showed the man slitting his wrist and the woman kneeling to take gulpfuls of his blood. More than I’d ever seen a vampire take from another.
The memories hit me like a truck. Aurelia standing there. Kicking us out. Announcing she was getting married right then and there.
I tried to stand up but was stopped by the chains.
“Let me out! I need to stop her!”
Max sighed. He waved his hand in the air, and everything on the wall disappeared. “That newborn rage. Better get that under control, or you really will mess it up.”
“She can’t marry him!” I growled, but desperation and hurt were showing through. My heart felt like it was breaking into a million pieces.Mine.She’s mine!
“Shehasto.”
Max was now in front of me, his glowing eyes stopping my struggles. Stifling power washed over me as everything except his face was wiped from my sight.
“There are two ways to end a bloodline. She would have to die or…”
The pieces were starting to come together, but I still said nothing.
“If she gets married…” His hands were on my face, forcing our contact. “She’s no longer a Castle. None of her children will be, if she has them. Then, it’s only her brother, so…”
