I gritted my teeth in frustration.‘Fine.I’ll hide.But you need to promise me to do everything in your power to survive.Not just protect me.You need to live.’
Raleigh looked away.‘I promise.Now, where’s your dagger?’
‘In one of my pockets,’ I said, spotting them draped over the chair where I’d left them.
‘Just take the whole thing.You can rummage later.’Raleigh’s image wavered, and then he was handing them to me.‘And put this on.It’ll disguise your scent.’
It was his coat.I pulled it around me, immediately comforted by the sensation of being enveloped by him.Not that I had long to relish it.Raleigh had thrown open the tiny armoire and was beckoning me inside.
I hesitated.‘That’s the first place they’ll look.’
‘Trust me.’
I did trust him, but that didn’t mean I had to have faith in his plan.Scowling, I did as he bade, and immediately regretted it.There was barely enough space inside to hang a gown.I was hemmed in, my arms pinned against my sides.
‘I’m sorry,’ Raleigh said, then closed the door, shutting off all light.
It took all my strength not to scream.I forced myself to stand still, though all I wanted to do was bang my fists against the door until Raleigh released me.There came a shuffling on the outside, and the subtle creak of the wood told me Raleigh was leaning against the door.I couldn’t force my way out even if I wanted to.
I tried to focus on breathing.In.Out.Shallow.Steady.My mind swam, nausea coiling, throat aching under the bandage.Raleighhadn’t taken enough blood for me to suffer the same symptoms as Moira, but it was still enough to feel the loss.
Downstairs, someone screamed.There was a muffled crash, a laugh, a man’s holler of pain.I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping vainly that the sound wouldn’t carry any closer while I fumbled through my pockets in the dark, but it wasn’t silver my hand found first.A glass vial fell into my fingers.Raleigh’s blood.
Raleigh was right.I was in no condition to fight.What would happen if I drank the contents?My blood was in his veins, his venom in mine.An hour ago there would have been no question that this single vial would be enough to curse me for eternity.But now, after my body was no longer aflame from Raleigh’s bite?I didn’t know.Even if I hadn’t left it so long, the blood in this vial was over three hundred years old.There was no telling whether it would have the same effect as blood freshly drawn.It might kill me outright from something else entirely.
I heard another garbled scream, this time from just outside the room.I clutched the vial to my chest and tried to focus on breathing again.There was a crash, a thump.The door was forced open, and they were upon us.
‘Randal,’ Raleigh said coolly on the other side of the door, ‘Elif.I’d say it’s a pleasure to see you both again, but I’m not feeling particularly inspired to spare your feelings.’
There was a moment’s pause.‘Where’s your pet?’That must have been Randal.
‘Clara?I haven’t seen her in days.We knew you’d follow the carriage, so she took a horse and went west on her own.You really fell for it, didn’t you?I shouldn’t be surprised – you’ve never been the brightest bunch.’
‘I smell a human in the wardrobe.’That was a second voice, a woman’s this time, soft spoken and insidiously calm.
‘Ah.No, see, I had a rather unfortunate spillage while dining earlier,’ Raleigh said.‘You’d be smelling that.’
‘You’re lying,’ Elif cooed.
‘Clara’s long gone,’ Raleigh said again.His voice dropped, the prince of my childhood bubbling to the surface.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Randal said.‘The others were in charge of finding the human.Ourorders were to collect you.’
My own peril was forgotten.A strange and biting clarity washed over me.Raleigh was out there putting his life on the line for me.Moira and Enrique were God knows where – hopefully still alive – and all I could do was cower in hiding, swaddled in Raleigh’s clothes like a helpless infant.
‘Is there still a court to bring me back to?’
‘The court survives,’ Randal said.‘Divided or otherwise.’
My breath hitched.So the Queen had won.I started to shake.I’d known it was too much to hope she hadn’t survived the attack – not when Raleigh was still undead – but I’d hoped she’d be weakened somehow.
‘If I go with you,’ Raleigh asked, ‘will Clara live?’
The woman tutted.‘You’re so boring, Raleigh.But yes, those are the orders.You come willingly, and your pet gets to live.’
‘Freely,’ Raleigh said.‘She lives freely.You can’t take her too.’I knew, then, what he meant to do.I wanted to scream, to throw open the door and stop him from saying whatever was coming next.
‘You’ll have to take the semantics up with Her Majesty.But I promise you, darling, we won’t harm a hair on her pretty head.’
