I shook my head and searched her eyes. A single tear ran down my cheek. The thought of losing her was breaking my heart already. “I won’t be able to go on without you.”
“Don’t be so dramatic.” She cupped my cheek and smiled. “You’d find love again. But why are we talking like this? It’s not going to happen.”
But it did happen, and I lost a part of me right along with her.
I slumped against the bed,a star chestnut clutched in my palm. I pressed it against my forehead, breathing through the pain that never seemed to diminish.
Sammy’s words echoed in my head:“I promised her to take care of you and make sure you move on.”
Had I moved on? The rage that had consumed me at seeing Sammy with Val and Amari felt too real. I’d walked away from what could’ve been with Sammy not because I didn’t want her, but because I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else.
My protection wasn’t just physical. I could do things that would terrify most demons. There was a darkness I kept buried deep inside, a power that flowed through my veins.
I dragged myself onto the bed, still clutching my small hoard of rescued nuts. I would move the furniture later to recover the rest.
Exhaustion settled over me, my muscles aching from days of tension and vigilance. I let it pull me toward sleep, my mind finally quieting as darkness claimed me.
The hairon my arms stood on end as I woke but didn’t open my eyes. Someone was in the room with me.
I inhaled slowly through my nose, trying to identify the intruder. The only thing I could smell was the freshness of the sheets. Not Samara’s light floral fragrance, which always made something in my chest ache. Not Amari’s earthy, predatory musk that set my teeth on edge. Not even Val’s cold, metallic undertone that reminded me of blood and wine.
This was someone else entirely. Or something. In this castle, I couldn’t rule anything out.
There was movement to the side of the bed.
I sprang toward the intruder and shoved them into the wall. The man under my grasp had shocked, wide eyes, and he looked like he was about to shit himself.
I sniffed again, and all I could smell was the clean sheets. I narrowed my eyes. “Why are you in my room?”
“I-I-I…” he stuttered and took a shaky breath. “F-f-forgive me.”
His gaze was locked on the ground, and he trembled under my grip. What had he expected to happen by coming into the room unannounced?
I let him go and backed up several steps. “Who are you?”
“M-my n-n-name is... My name is K-Kage.” He looked as if he were about to burst into tears. He had pressed himself against the wall as if he hoped it would swallow him whole.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Kage.” He tensed even more, so I softened my voice. “Again, I’ll ask, why are you in my room?”
He held up a rag, and I snatched it out of his fingers, examining it. Was he going to stuff it in my mouth to stifle my shouts and then smother me with a pillow? I wouldn’t put it past the vampire to hire a hit on me.
The rag had dirt smudges on it, and I handed it back to him. “It might be better to clean when I’m not in the room.”
He nodded and then rushed out the door. I popped my head out into the hall to see which way he had run off, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Amari’s eyes met mine from down the hall. “House mage.”
I raised my eyebrows. A fucking house mage?
With a shake of my head, I shut my door again. I didn’t know much about the demons who crept around, but I knew they were a class of demons that had been systematically eradicated.
My attention landed on the nightstand, and I rushed over to it, picking up my hip pouch. If that fucker had taken my nuts, I’d hunt him down and make sure he paid.
But the weight of the pouch was as it had been before all my nuts had spilled. I emptied them onto the bed, quickly scanning them.
He’d picked them up and not sampled a single one.
I repacked the pouch slowly, one nut at a time, more to settle my nerves than anything. By the time I finished, my stomach had announced itself. Loudly.
