Prologue
Seven years ago…
I stood alone, the only tangible thing in the all-consuming darkness. The visions of my dream dissipated into thin air. Gone was the house full of smiles and laughter, and the sweet, fuzzy feelings that eluded me by day. Only the void remained in their stead. Lucidity seized me like a vise. I was still asleep—I must have been—but this felt far too real.
“What an unusual tragedy has befallen you, human. I admit, you are all that I expected and more.”
The voice called to me from the dark. It was everywhere and nowhere, surrounding me without a source. The soft, melodic tone made me shudder. My chest tightened. I searched the shadows, looking for the voice’s owner, but I couldn’t find him.
“Who’s there?” I asked. “Stop hiding like a coward. Show yourself.”
I dug my brogues into the pitch-black ground beneath my feet. Alarm bells rang in my head, a subconscious warning that I wasn’t theone in control. His footsteps broke the silence. Words followed on his heels.
“Very well. Let us speak face-to-face.”
The darkness that surrounded me receded. It lifted like a veil, exposing my surroundings. I stood atop a stone cliff, rough-hewn into some kind of courtyard lit by braziers filled with wild, blazing fire. Even with their light, thick shadows lingered beyond the courtyard’s bounds. In the center of it all stood a lone man. I looked him over, stunned by his appearance.
He was beautiful.
Long blond hair framed his angular face and glittering golden eyes. It cascaded down his broad shoulders before yielding to an emerald-green chore jacket and matching carpenter’s pants. Despite their utilitarian purpose, they flattered his tall, muscular body. They looked to be custom-tailored. There was something deeply uncanny about the man, the way he watched me like a lion sizing up its prey. When he smiled, his lips curled back to reveal razor-sharp teeth that chilled me to my core.
This wasn’t a man. He was a monster.
“Forgive my rudeness; I shall be forward, dear human. You appear to need a mentor.” His eyes swept me from top to bottom, drinking me in. “I see you. A child in an adult’s world, without adult freedoms and the guidance you deserve. Your kind know me as Vapula, Duke of Scholars and Savants. You are alone, you are hurting, you are powerless. I can help you—for a price.”
He stood a car’s length away from me, too close for my liking. Vapula moved to shorten the distance. With every step forward he took, I stumbled backward two. Each moment of hesitation cost me ground, pushed me closer to the edge of the light. The heels of his work boots thumped against the stone as he approached, and the sharp sound made my heart sink.
“This is just a dream,” I whispered, willing the words to be true. “There’s no reason to deal with you. When I wake up, this will all be gone.”
“That’s what you’d like to think, dear human, but it is not so. Your wishes cannot change reality. Your parents are proof of that.”
“And what would you know about my parents?”
“I know they are sending you away. And judging from the fact that you dress as an adult, even in your dreams, I’d be willing to wager it isn’t a child’s life that awaits you.”
I halted in my tracks. Vapula paused, near enough for me to reach out and touch him. He was more imposing up close. Danger radiated off him in waves, and the fear he commanded soaked into my soul. It wasn’t fear that had stopped me, though. It was something that ran much deeper than that.
He was right. My parents were sending me away at only fourteen years old.
Tonight would be my last night at home with my family before they shipped me across the country. Alone. They’d bought me a place at a preparatory boarding school, hoping I’d secure a college scholarship, and saying ‘no’ wasn’t an option. This would make them proud, they said. Proud in a way they weren’t already. Proud in a way they had never been.
Though I wanted to dismiss him, Vapula’s words opened a wound I’d done my best to close. A deep ache seized my heart, and I blinked back tears—not of pain, but of rage.
“As you will learn, Lillia, I know many things. I will use that knowledge to help you. Perfect grades, slack in your lead, money to spend as you wish? We can attain it together.”
“That’s too good to be true.”
But if it wasn’t…
I looked him over, taking in his pristine clothes, his golden eyes, his broad frame towering over me. He offered something my parentsnever had. They shaped my path for me, ever demanding, never asking, making decisions that weighed on me like a ball and chain. If I could break that chain, if I could be free… there was nothing I wouldn’t give.
Vapula’s smile widened as he watched my face twist. “Is it too good to be true?” he asked. “Or is that a lie you use to deny yourself?”
“Even if it is a lie, I have nothing to offer you. I don’t have any time, any skills, anything you would value.”
Vapula raised an eyebrow. “Oh, but youdohave something to offer, and I think you will find my price quite affordable.”
He stepped forward, stealing the last of my precious space. I held my ground and my breath, watching him closely as he pressed in on me. Every step he took made my heart beat faster. I wouldn’t let him see it, wouldn’t let this… thing, whatever he was, push me around. With only inches between us, Vapula raised his hand and swept his fingers along my cheek.
