Kole raced to the bathing chambers. Using a handheld mirror, he inspected the back of his neck in the larger mirror hanging on the wall. “I don’t see anything. Are you sure?”
I joined him, but his cut had healed, likely because I’d burned away the vamfeer blood, which allowed Kole’s healing magic to rise, but I knew what I saw. There’d been black blood.
“It’s gone. But it wasthere.” I pointed to the area on his nape. “I know it was.I saw it.”
He turned to face me, and along our bond, I felt his trepidation. “I’ll wash, just to be safe.”
He shed his burned armor, then used his own cleansing magic, and following that, soap and water. He scrubbed relentlessly, not missing an inch of his skin on his entire body, but a sickening feeling formed in the pit of my stomach anyway. An image of the droplet of black blood had seared itself into my mind.
When he finished, he pulled on the softer clothing he wore beneath his armor, charred in some places, but clean now from his relentless scrubbing, then gathered me into his arms. “Princess, it’s all right. I’ll be okay.”
“But you were exposed?—”
He brought a finger to my lips, but the connection between us dimmed, and a part of me wondered if he was trying to shield me from whatever he was truly feeling. “I understand, but right now, I have to show the king and queen what’s occurred, then I have to show the Council, which means I have to go, but I’ll be back soon.”
Tenderly, he gave me a kiss. It was lingering and filled with promise. Even if he’d been infected, I knew our touches and joined bodies wouldn’t affect me. I was already turned. It couldn’t infect me again.
But as for Kole . . .
Reluctantly, I let him go, and he strode from the room. I followed him out, just to the door, and when he stepped into the hall, Xaven gave him an alarmed look. “Everyone’s been wondering where you and the princess were. Did you just get back?” Xaven’s gaze scanned Kole, widening more as he registered Kole’s charred clothing.
The door began to close, and Kole cast me a reassuring look. “It’s a long story,” he replied to Xaven. “I’m going to explain everything to the king and queen now and the Council after.”
The door shut, sealing me inside, and I wrapped my arms around my middle.
Now was the hardest part. The waiting game.
At my uncle’s estate, before we left, Kole and I had agreed that he would have to go alone to my parents, to show them everything contained in the looking glass. He didn’t allude further to what he would tell them. I didn’t know if they would deduce that I was a vampire or not, or if they even knew what such a thing was. I also didn’t know if Kole would tell them and explain it to them.
Essentially, I knew nothing of what Kole planned to fully reveal, but that was for the best. If I became cognizant thatmy parents were aware of what I’d become, or if they voiced anything that alluded to it, I would be forced to use my magic on their minds to erase it all. And ifthathappened, we would be back to square one. No understanding of what Arnel had done. No knowledge of the vamfeers. Nothing.
At least Kole and I had used a looking glass. If mistakes were made over the seasons, by myself or my parents, they would forget everything, so it was possible Kole would have to show them time and time again what’d occurred at Arnel’s estate. Essentially, without the looking glass, we wouldn’t be able to prove anything to anyone.
But while all of that should have made me feel relieved, all I could think about was Kole’s open cut. That droplet of vamfeer blood.
Alone, I paced in my chambers and twisted my fingers together. I tried to focus on Arnel’s demise and my future moving forward. I still didn’t know how my parents and I would co-exist, not with them knowing about my uncle and possibly figuring out that Arnel had turned me into a vampire...if Kole didn’t tell them outright.
Focusing on that, I clung to the hope that if I didn’t know for certainwhatKole was telling them or revealing, it theoretically would keep my uncle’s command from swaying me to manipulate them.
But I still had to live with the manipulations that I’d already placed on powerful fae around me. I’d confessed to Kole the shameful thing I’d done to my father at Arnel’s instruction, and Kole already knew about Lordling Torleaf. And King Riverling was still scheduled to arrive next week.
I let out a frustrated sigh and continued pacing, forcing myself to concentrate on those problems. Anything to keep my mind off of Kole becoming infected.
But as much as I tried not to think of Kole’s potential infection, I couldn’t help but remember the beginning stages that my uncle had dealt with. Initially, it’d started with indigestion, then a fever, fatigue, then weakness.
Each day it’d grown progressively worse.
I knew at the moment Kole felt fine, but I would have to stay alert for any signs or symptoms of vamfeer infection.
The minutes ticked steadily by. Betsee came by, and since I’d used magic to whisk away the grime that’d covered me at my uncle’s, she was none the wiser that I’d spent the night hacking and slaying vamfeers hundreds of miles away, and only hours ago had their ash coating me.
But my fake smile began to dim as the most arduous battle of my future awaited me. Because my uncle’s commands still held. For the rest of my life, I would be forced to hide my new nature, which meant it was inevitable that eventually, I would hurt every fairy that I loved.
But if Kole turned into a vamfeer, if he became one of thosethings, none of that would matter anymore, because my soul would be shattered that my decisions had led to Kole’s fae death.
Two hours passedwith no sign of Kole. I had no idea if he was still talking to my parents, or had perhaps returned to the Imperial Council headquarters, or if something had gone drastically wrong, and my parents had banished him. Or maybe, already, he’d begun showing signs of infection.
The waiting was beginning to drive me crazy, and I was tempted to contact him mentally to get an update, but if he was in the midst of discussing something important with my parents or the Council, or even seeing a healer and trying to find a way toeradicate any traces of vamfeer infection that was already inside him, I didn’t want to distract him.
