52. Anything for You
A t the palace, Rose ignored Adrian as she’d ignored him for the entirety of the ride. She was so mad she couldn’t think straight. She kept her hand in Ciel’s fluffy lion mane as he walked beside her.
Ahead, the King and Queen walked arm-in-arm like young lovers. Their flirting was unusual since they were always at odds. She’d think the Queen would be more put-out with her party ruined, but she sashayed, whispering excitedly to the King as if it had been the best day.
Maybe, for her, it had been.
Because not only were she and Adrian now at odds, as she’d wanted since Rose had come to the palace, but the nobles were willing to publicly attack her on the Queen’s birthday .
It was everything she’d wanted to get rid of Rose.
It was everything she’d wanted to maintain power over Adrian.
Even the King was on her side now.
It twisted something inside Rose. The lonely outcast in her grieved at always being alone, always being acted out against .
Her mate . . . her love . . . the one meant to always stand with her, beside her . . . recalling what he’d done made her sick. His misguided reasoning . . . She didn’t know how they moved forward.
She wasn’t sure they could.
Ciel, only Ciel, was truly hers.
“Father!” Adrian called in annoyance.
“Yes, Adrian?” The King turned with a smile on his face. When the Queen kept walking, King Florian tugged her back beside him, wrapped his arm around her waist, and held her there. She giggled. Noticing Rose’s stare, she gave a catty smile and ran her hand over the King’s vest.
“You lied to me.” Adrian threw the words at his father like daggers, advancing on them. “One of yours tried to get to Rose. I expect it from her.” He motioned to his mother with a knife that he remained holding out until she took it, smiling deviously. Returning his attention back to his father, he said, “We had a deal.”
Rose stilled. Even her breathing stopped as her interest piqued.
“Don’t be simple, Adrian,” King Florian chided. “We both know there’s only one way this can end. Stop being a child and do it . Or I think you’ve seen that someone else will act. And no one will have your back.”
Adrian clenched his fists. “So, I cannot trust even you.”
Rose’s heart pinched for him, even as the Queen sighed dramatically. “This is how angry you’ve made everyone, Adrian. This is how offended they are. I recommend damage control before things escalate even more.” She gave him a pointed look, sent a fleeting glance at Rose, and then tugged the King into the palace.
“Come.” Adrian tried to take her arm, but she jerked away, her sympathy forgotten and anger flaring at his reverting to his controlling, lying, deceitful ways. She had never been so pissed.
He’d made a deal with his father and kept it from her.
She wondered what else he’d done behind her back.
Gods, she hated this place. She’d truly believed Adrian had changed. Every day she realized more and more that she was stupid, foolish, and gullible.
But a storm brewed within Adrian. The turmoil all but crackled the air as they made their way to his bedchamber. As soon as the door shut behind them and they were alone, he unleashed. Roaring his anger, he overturned tables, threw statuary and one of his lamps, and punched the wall. He broke the plaster in several places, bloodying his hands, and then stood with them braced above the holes, chest heaving and head hanging.
Rose stood quietly, waiting him out. Though her heart raced at the violence, she knew he’d never hurt her. Ciel, reposing, stretched out on the bed with his tufted tail slowly curling and uncurling, watched his once-master’s meltdown with a decided lack of concern.
“Everyone is against us,” Adrian eventually said. “Even who I thought were allies.”
“What else were you expecting?” Rose asked.
Pounding the wall, another portion crumbled. “Even you . . .” He laughed sarcastically, motioning to her. “Even you will not fight for us.”
“What would you have me do? I am not like the Lady Julianna—”
“I don’t want fucking Julianna!” Adrian exploded, throwing another piece of statuary, a soaring bird this time. Watching it shatter over the floor made Rose’s heart ache because it reminded her of Ciel.
“Fine! But you must know that you’re being incredibly foolish! What did you expect tonight, flaunting me, someone so beneath everyone? Did you think they’d accept me with open arms simply because you deemed it so?”
“I had hoped to begin changing opinion. I had hoped—”
“I had hopes too,” Rose interrupted. “When we were with the wolves, I thought you learned to compromise. I thought you realized that you can’t dictate everything and that some people deserve to be worked with instead of ordered to fall in line. And then we get back to this godsforsaken city and you revert to your old self.”
“The male you fell in love with.”
“The male I saw the good in,” she corrected. “The vampire in whom I saw such potential, such compassion and kindness and mercy .”
“Fuck mercy when someone tries to harm what’s mine.”
Rose laughed again and it hurt because it only hid tears. “And this is who you want me to fight for,” she said, motioning to him. “Someone who thinks he is his own authority. Someone who thinks of only one slave and forgets all the rest.” He blinked, stunned at her words. “Someone who—”
“Would do anything for you.”
“And what of the rest? What of the rest of your kingdom living in oppression? What of the rest of the slaves living in forced servitude? What of the way you promised to stand for the werewolves and then immediately turned your back on them?”
“I did it for you!”
“That makes no sense!” Frustrated, Rose turned her back to him and paced away. “You are such a fucking liar. Why are you lying to me ?” Turning back, she fisted a hand at her heart. “If you had no intention to stick by your word, you could have at least had the courage to be honest with me. Forget everyone else.” She waved her hand through the air. “If we were really in this together, you would have told me the truth. You wouldn’t go behind my back and make dirty deals with your devil of a father.”
Adrian let out a deep, defeated sigh. “Father said that if I didn’t cause waves in this war, he’d let me keep you.”
Rose stared at him with her mouth agape .
“That’s the truth.” Adrian stepped forward to set his hands on her shoulders. “I didn’t want to go back on my word. You showed me . . . You showed me how things could be. But things don’t work that way here and change takes time. I have a plan. I have set the foundation. It’s still shaky because Father is right that no one stepped up to help us today.
“But right now, this ultimatum over our heads could be the end of us. I had to take drastic action to keep you with me. I had hoped that by solidifying the rumors of you, by showing the court your face and our hearts, they’d back off. Maybe it was na?ve and foolish, but I’ve heard that love makes one act the fool. I would act a fool every day if it meant we could be together.”
Part of Rose melted. But as she tried to imagine the plot he’d concocted, it soured. She didn’t know what it could be, but his keeping it from her could not mean anything good.
“The deal with my father was wrong,” Adrian admitted, sliding his hands down her back to settle at her waist. “I knew I shouldn’t have agreed, but he knew exactly what card to play. He knew exactly what would move me. I would do anything to keep you here with me. I love you, Rose, heart and soul, body, mind, and bond, and I can’t let you go. You are the most important part of me.”
“I am not worth selling yourself. I should not come between you and your people. They should be more important than anything else. They need you.” She took a deep breath, staring into his eyes. “I think—”
Just then, the entire palace shook, and they both stumbled. Regaining their balance, still holding onto each other, Rose fought memories of the night of her kidnapping. The shaking was just the same. Chest tight with panic, roaring filled her ears. Chills ran down her spine, raising gooseflesh.
And then a yell, loud and resonating through the palace: “AMbrOSIA! ”
Fire lit inside her, flames engulfing the whole of her consciousness as she felt about to suffocate with the weight. And then she was weightless as her awareness flew to the main entry hall of the palace, where there was fighting.
Elves. Battalions of elves clashed with and cut down a flood of vampires. Some wielded sword and dagger, others bow and arrow, and others were bare-handed, using their magic to fight. Fire streamed from outstretched hands, ice spikes whistled from others, water slicked the floor in strategic places, and mini-tornadoes of air swept others up to then smash onto the floor.
Debris flew—pieces of wood from broken furniture, shards of stone from the walls and ceiling, and more from fallen statuary. Glass from lamps exploded over the floor, vases of flower arrangements shattered, and two large paintings fell.
It was chaos, complete chaos as servants ran to escape the violence as more vampires tried to make their way in. Bodies were cut down. Blood sprayed and splattered. It was horrific, devastating madness.
But then she saw him in the center of an elfish formation marching through the huge front doors. More knights progressed around them to secure the hall from the defending force. Rose hardly saw them; she was too focused, too drawn to the stately red-headed figure of her father as he lifted his staff and slammed it down on the floor, causing the palace to shake again, more dust and rubble raining down.
“AMbrOSIA!” He looked up suddenly and somehow met her eyes. His crinkled the tiniest bit in the corners. Lifting his staff, his eyes still locked on hers, he slammed it again, causing a wave to rush through the floor, knocking over many vampires. Only his knights remained steady and standing.
He spoke quietly, but Rose heard in her head, “It is time to come home. ”
Sobbing, Rose’s chest heaved as she returned to herself in a rush. Dizzy, breathless, sick, and shaken, she clutched Adrian. Disoriented and without a clear grasp of reality, her entire world felt askew, as if it had been thrown off-axis.
Her father was fighting in the entry hall. Her father with sprinkles of white in his red hair and beard. Her father with the staff that helped him focus his wind magic. Her father, full of power and purpose and majesty, just as she remembered him.
Her father, Tiberius Luminis, King of the Elves.
This was a rescue mission.
Because she wasn’t the slave Rose. She was Princess Ambrosia Luminis, once heir to the elfish throne.
How had she forgotten? How had the memories been buried so deep?
She remembered them now, recalled history lessons of the great Leander Luminis, whose magic had saved the kingdom from the vampires during the time of a failing King. With his mighty familiar beside him, he fought off the invasion and assumed the throne.
The Luminis family had reigned ever since.
Elves had always been enemies to vampires. The same vampires that kidnapped her, whisked her away to their lands, locked her in shackles and degraded her in slavery, stolen her memories, and hoped to forever keep her hidden to weaken her race.
But she was hidden no longer. She was weak no longer.
And the elves were back for vengeance.
It filled Rose with fury, what had been stolen from her—her home, her magic, her family, her self .
But the sins of the father did not belong to the son. Adrian had no part to play in her past.
But he was also not innocent. Blood stained his hands as well .
And she didn’t know where they went from here.
They were mates, their souls woven from the same fabric, weaved by the Gods, and meant to complete a wondrous tapestry of beauty.
But what they had was not beautiful. It was filled with betrayal and pain.
He’d made his choices in dirty deals and lies.
She was so tired of the dark. She wanted light and warmth and honesty and love, the kind she knew she’d find at home.
Home , in Constalaysia.
With her family.