Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SAM
Something told me I’d just missed my only chance to leave.
It was a pit sinking deeper and deeper into my stomach as the seconds ticked by.
No, no, you’re just panicking. You’re just feeling trapped right now.
And I’d trapped myself. Somehow knowing I could flee the castle during daylight at any point had given me the courage to continue my espionage.
Now that the entire castle above ground was a pile of rubble and everyone was downstairs .
. . there were just too many eyes on me.
I wasn’t sure I could get into the sun without anyone noticing now.
I’d convinced myself my being here was helping The Coven, and I liked to think it had. So far I’d managed to trick Sweyn and Lilith, set Pierce free, get Vosen’s name to Tegan, and warn them Saber had been taken. Or Auryn, as apparently that was her real name.
And she was Everest’s daughter.
That blew my mind, though not as much as watching Frankie sprout angel wings.
I chewed on my thumbnail and turned to pace in the other direction, along the other windowless wall.
I should have left with them just now. I know it.
I didn’t know why or how I knew it, I just did.
I’d told myself I would stick around and spy for The Coven so long as the benefits of my being here outweighed the negatives.
The question was, had I missed the signal to run?
I knew I didn’t want to be on Lilith’s side of the war until it ended.
In the back of my mind, I’d assumed I’d stick around until Sweyn and the vampires were killed. But everything just changed.
Lilith’s aura reminded me of standing in the eye of a major hurricane.
At any second the next wall would hit and it would be destruction.
She’d been blindsided by her son’s betrayal, then she learned the depth of his deceit: he had a daughter, grandson, and a great-granddaughter.
He had a whole damn family all birthed from the same bloodline that ran in his veins.
I had a feeling if Lilith had been strong enough already to be on Earth in her own physical form, the final war would’ve just begun.
Instead, she was festering and brewing up a storm I was terrified to face.
And Sweyn . . . my stomach turned. Sweyn had always been cold and calculating.
She’d always kept her calm no matter what was happening.
Until now.
There was a mania in her eyes that scared me.
Lilith’s disapproval of her achievements was only making it worse.
She was a scared animal backed into a corner and ready to lash out.
There was no knowing what the crazed panic would make her do.
That was where I’d lost my window to leave.
The hesitation. If Sweyn was going to lose her shit and pull crazy stunts, then The Coven could use an inside man and the only person who could be that spy was me.
I just feared that decision wouldn’t be the one that cost me my life.
“Why didn’t you run?”
I gasped and spun around, my hand pressed to my chest. The Unseelie Prince stood just inside the door of the room I’d hidden myself in. Vosen, you know his name now. Then his words clicked. I frowned and cocked my head to the side. “Run where?”
He leaned one shoulder against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, one ankle crossed over the other. It was such a human stance, and yet it no longer seemed foreign on him. “To The Coven, of course.”
My heart stopped. I tried to keep my mask on my face, but no doubt he saw the reaction he was looking for. I licked my lips. “Why would I run to The Coven?”
He arched one navy-blue eyebrow. “Because you’re on their side.”
My stomach tightened into knots. “What would make you think so?”
“Well, your calm reaction to such a claim is the first dead giveaway.” He chuckled and pushed off the wall, then strolled toward me. Those yellow cat-like eyes watched me too carefully. “Imagine if you were loyal to Lilith and I had just accused you of such a thing . . .”
I swallowed roughly. FUCK.
A soft chuckle filled the small room between us. He prowled toward me like a jungle cat hunting its prey. “Precisely, Sam. Precisely.”
“That’s not evidence,” I said with my chin held high. I crossed my arms over my chest just in case they decided to start shaking. “Perhaps I can just keep my cool better than you. Not everyone reacts so . . . violently.”
He gave me a cocky grin. “Then there’s that too.”
“There’s what?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Sam,” he said with a growl. He took one step and then was suddenly right in front of me. His hand gripped my throat and shoved me against the wall. “You know what you did.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about—”
His thumb pushed my jaw up, forcing my eyes to meet his. Those vertical pupils narrowed. “You know damn well what you did.”
I sure do. I licked my lips and held his stare. “Remind me?”
“You used my attraction to you against me—”
“So you are attracted to me,” I said softly.
He forced my head to the side, then dragged his nose up the side of my jaw to that crevice beneath my ear. “I’m not the one who’s been trying to deny it,” he whispered in my ear, sending goosebumps across my body.
I shivered.
He chuckled and turned my face back toward him. “Only one of us has been lying to ourselves about how much we enjoyed that night. Or did you think I haven’t noticed your absence of late?”
I licked my lips and his gaze tracked the slide of my tongue. Heat rushed through my body. “Just because I enjoyed myself doesn’t mean I’m on The Coven’s side.”
“I heard my sister demand you get my name out of me. I heard her tell you what knowing an Unseelie’s name meant.” He ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “And you didn’t bother to wait more than an hour before you seduced me until I gave you exactly what you wanted.”
I was breathing through my nose now to stop myself from licking his thumb. “I just asked for something to call you—”
“After you repeatedly called me God and then Everest.”
I chuckled. I couldn’t help myself. “You really didn’t care for that one, did you?”
To my surprise, he smirked and shook his head. “I loathed it with every fiber of my being. It was a perfectly executed assault, my lady. Deliciously devious. The moment I spoke my name out loud, I realized what you’d done and how easily I’d fallen for it—”
“And you hated that—”
His lips crashed into mine. I moaned and pushed up on my toes to press into him, grabbing his coat to drag him harder against me.
He pulled back and pressed me against the wall, yet he only moved a few inches away.
“I’ve never been tricked. In all my years of life, no one has managed to outsmart me so effortlessly. I find I like that very much.”
I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip.
“Imagine my surprise when it is three days later and my name hasn’t left another’s lips.” He ducked his head down slightly to look directly into my eyes. “Imagine my surprise when three days later my sister has not used my name to control me like she so desperately wants to.”
“I never said I got it for her.” I arched one eyebrow at him. “Not my fault your sister volunteered such pivotal intel without provocation—”
“Yes, well, my sister is a fool in every meaning of the word.”
“Why should I provide her with information she’s too weak to discover herself? After all, it didn’t take me long to find out,” I said with a smirk and shrug, Then I lunged for him at the same time I yanked him down toward me. Our lips crashed together again, but it was his turn to melt into me.
He broke away from me with a chuckle and clicked his tongue. “I know what you’re trying to do—”
“You started it.” Right, real mature, Sam.
“And I finished it, if I recall.” He took my face in his hand. “You’ve not stated your allegiance—”
“You’ve not given me a shred of real evidence to suggest otherwise.”
His eyebrow twitched. Those catlike yellow eyes sparkled with amusement.
“You do not partake in any of the vampire activities. You were always sticking close to Everest’s crew, who have now all betrayed Lilith.
You distracted me with your body so that Pierce could run away, then did nothing when I took the blame for it.
You learned my name and how to use it to make me do your bidding, and yet you’ve told no one.
For if Everest had known my name, he would’ve used it to interfere with Lilith binding him.
Shall I describe your expression when Everest destroyed the Land of the Lore, when he stepped into the daylight, or even today when his angel wife demanded he be released—”
“Angel wife?” I scowled. “Frankie is his wife? Since when? What’s with the angel thing?”
He pressed his pointer finger over my lips to stop me. “Why would anyone on Lilith’s side even care?
I licked his finger, making his eyes flash with hunger. “Why would anyone be on Lilith’s side?”
His eyebrows rose. He opened his mouth, then shut it.
“Confused is rather adorable on you, Vosen.” I whispered his name, which made his nostrils flare. “I’ve been to Lilith’s realm. Tell me why I would want to help that become the fate of this realm.”
He narrowed his eyes and cocked his head to the side.
“Tell me, before your people were split into two separate realms, how different were the Unseelies from the Seelies?”
“We were one and the same,” he said with a growl.
I pushed up on my tiptoes to get closer to him, then reached up and twirled some of his hair around my fingers. “I’ve always loved midnight-blue.”
“What are you dancing around, Sam?”
I chuckled. “I saw you before your trip into Seelie. I recall the difference. You were alien, foreign . . . and now you fit into this realm as naturally as I do.”
He took my chin between his fingers and leaned down so his lips barely brushed mine as he said, “Lilith is the reason we’re getting life back.”