Chapter 40 – Neve
Chapter 40
NEVE
T wo long, slender blades flashed in the moonlight as one vampire soared our way. Vale shoved me back, pulled his sword, and deflected the projectiles.
The vampire’s lips formed a cunning, deadly smile. “This will be far more fun than I’d thought.”
She leapt and Vale met her in the air, their swords clashing together.
“Neve, run!” Vale grunted.
I wanted to call him an idiot for thinking I’d leave him, but the three new figures with glowing red eyes rushing into the square were far too distracting.
“Vale, there are more!” I pulled the sword on my belt from its sheath.
“Fly!” He grunted.
But like in his suite, my body wouldn’t let me, and neither would my heart. I might be filled with shame over what we’d done, who we were to one another by blood, but that didn’t change the pull I felt to Vale, nor how much I wanted him.
I would not see him killed for me.
So, as the new trio rushed for us, I pulled my blade back and prepared to attack. My best shot would be to decapitate one of the bloodsuckers in one fell swoop and then turn my attention to the others. If I lasted that long.
As they neared, a sense of cold washed over me, dread, I supposed, but I kept my stance, watched, and waited for them. Vale was busy with the female and, as the others were here for my head, I was sure they’d run right past them and come for my jugular.
When I could see the whites of their eyes, the cold spiked, deepened, as if it pierced me through the heart. I began to glow. I gaped, but before I figured out why, the vampires skidded to a stop in front of me.
“You’re the one who killed our prince?” one asked, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “And you face us like this ?”
Another sneered. “What did you do, glow him to death?”
I tried to answer but couldn’t. Like in Vale’s suite, I was immobile, but this time, it was my entire body. My mouth froze. Arms and legs too.
My heart fluttered wildly. What was happening to me?
“She’s struck dumb!” The third laughed and hooked a finger toward Vale and the female vampire. “Looks like Samiya gets all the fun tonight. Take the moonstruck one’s head and earn our bounty.”
No, no, no! I tried to move again but couldn’t, and when one of the trio took a step toward me, I was sure I was doomed.
But I wasn’t. They took another step, and for a second, it was like icy fingers squeezed my insides. Then a blast of blue light shot from me, cold as ice, and froze the trio in place.
I gasped when the light stopped, catching my breath and blinking as the cold that had immobilized me loosened and my sword arm fell.
Had that happened? Had my magic saved me?
The answer was plain. The vampires stood before me, frozen in a strange light blue ice. Behind, Vale and Samiya fought, both as skilled as the other, but the vampire was faster.
My fingers glowed brighter.
Maybe not for long.
I raised a hand, and again, frigid fingers squeezed me from the inside.
“Please,” I whispered. “Save him.”
And when Samiya’s blade arched for Vale, cutting the end of his cloak off as he spun out of the way, my magic did as I asked. Blue light surged from me, uncontrollable and wild, and hit the vampire.
She screamed, slowed.
I sucked in a breath as Samiya blinked and her arm twitched. The second blast hadn’t been as strong as the first, so she wasn’t frozen like the others. However, my power immobilized Samiya’s arms long enough for Vale to swipe his sword. Her head soared away, and he spun, his eyes going wide at the sight of me .
“What in the nine kingdoms was that?”
“My magic,” I said, teeth chattering because the cold lingered deep inside me. “I-I-I don’t know how.”
“Is that ice ?” He gestured to the trio, covered with glinting blue ice. At the motion, I glimpsed beneath his cloak to his tunic. It looked wet, probably with blood. My handiwork had not held well, though Vale was not likely to admit as much.
Seeing as he was still standing, not on the ground in pain, and awaiting my answer, I swallowed down the truth. “I don’t know, but we can’t leave them like this. They’ll drink from more fae. Let’s kill them and run.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but I raised my sword and, with as much might as I could put behind the swing, decapitated one vampire. Seeing me act brought Vale back to the moment, and he took care of the other two.
Once done, we stared at each other, four bodies surrounding us and red blood—showing that the assassins had all recently fed—spilling on the snow.
“Are you hurt?” I asked.
“I’m fine. The stitches opened but I can push through. You?”
Guilt clawed through me that he’d been injured, and I had not. “Not a scratch. Let’s get to Luccan’s. We’ll be safe there.”
“You will die here ,” a voice growled.
I craned my neck around Vale to find three more vampires slinking off the street. By the stars, how many were there ?
One with long white-blond hair lifted a bow and arrow and aimed.
Vale gripped my hand, and his wings opened. “Fly.”
My wings snapped out, and together we launched into the air. We rose above the roof of the tallest building and even though the snow swirled and wind battered us, I was thankful for Vale’s quick thinking. That we’d been fast enough to avoid another fight. That?—
An arrow flew between us, then another to my right, but either the archer had poor aim, or the snow and wind were throwing him off. I was guessing the latter, for it was slowing us too.
“Let go,” Vale said. “And make your flight path erratic.”
Though releasing his hand was the last thing I wanted to do, I understood his line of thought and complied. As two targets, we were harder to hit and as the arrows came at regular intervals, only one of the vampires had a bow and arrow. All the others could do was track us as we flew through the gales and the snow. And if we got to Luccan’s and dropped into his yard, inside the warded gates, they’d never reach us.
It took forever, and at least two dozen arrows flew by before I caught the lights of Lordling Lane below.
“That’s it, right?” I yelled into the wind.
“Yes. Luccan’s is the one that— bleeding stars !”
An arrow sliced through Vale’s wing, and he grunted as he dropped toward the ground before catching himself.
“No!” I zoomed toward him and extended my hand. It was miraculous enough that he’d caught himself, speaking of too much training and a strong will, but any minute now the wind could fail. “Let me help.”
“I’m too heavy for you.” Vale winced, though he still took my hand. With both hands, I squeezed his fingers as tight as possible. It was taking all that he had to stay in flight.
“We need to land,” Vale panted.
“They’re down there. Can you make it to Luccan’s?”
His answer came as he dropped again, this time pulling me down with him. Retaliating, I strained my wings to stay aloft, but Vale was right. He was far too heavy. We were so close, and yet close only spelled death. To get us to safety, I had to think of a different way.
“Vale, I’m going to try to use magic again.” My pulse fluttered at the mere idea. “But I have to let go.”
“Do it. Buy us time.”
I had no idea if I could do so, if I still had enough power left inside me. My magic shouldn’t even be making an appearance until tomorrow at the earliest, but something was affecting it. I hoped that something was the desperate need for survival.
One of my hands released Vale and together we descended like a rock tossed into a lake. With each passing second, the vampire’s red eyes glowed brighter. The one with the bow nocked another arrow, and I seized the moment.
Unsure if it was necessary, but not knowing any better, I aimed my free palm toward the white-blond archer. “Please work!”
Again, a deep cold settled over me. Vale hissed, hinting that he felt it too, but I didn’t take my eyes off the archer as he pulled back the arrow.
A second before the arrow would have flown, cold burst from me again. This time, I was more prepared for the sensation. Frost grew, as if from the cobbles, up the vampires, leaving only their necks and heads bare.
I sucked in a breath. So the cold didn’t fully come from me. It felt like it did, probably because I was unused to using magic and it overwhelmed me.
“Brace,” Vale yelled because the ground was coming at us fast.
I shifted my attention in time for my feet to slam into the ice-covered stones. The impact shot up my legs, ripping a scream from my lips as my knees buckled. I fell forward and shot my hands out so that they caught me scraping against the stones. Blood welled, but Vale took those bloody hands and pulled me up.
“Next time, bend your knees a lot.”
“ Next time . Bleeding moon, there had better not be a next time!” I muttered.
“There might be, if we don’t hurry.” He gestured to the vampires and then pointed to Luccan’s home, now within sight. “I don’t think your power was as strong this time. Can you run?”
Though my legs cried out in agony, I had no choice but to make them work. “Yes.”
We ran, and against my better judgment, I twisted to locate the vampires.
Though they were still stuck in place, their arms were moving, ripping at the thick frost so that they might free themselves. Seconds before, frost had covered their entire bodies, and now there was much less.
Pushing through the pain in my legs, Vale and I sprinted down Lordling Lane, which, thanks to the weather and late hour, was empty. We were nearly there when another arrow cut across the top of Vale’s injured wing. He stumbled and fell.
“Vale,” I stopped.
“Get up,” he hissed, clearly in pain. “Run.”
I held out a hand. “With you. Only with you.”
He took it and though it was his wing that had taken the arrow, the fall impacted him too. He limped ever so slightly.
Fates alive, would we make it?
“I love the chase!” one vampire roared, and I just knew if I turned, I’d see them blurring toward us.
“Come on, Vale!” I pulled ahead of him, tugged at his arm, hoping I wasn’t ripping his injury open even more as I tried to get him to move faster.
He grunted but picked up his speed, and through the swirling snow, Luccan’s gates appeared.
We closed in, my heart thundering with each step. Somehow, the vampires weren’t on us yet, but with their great speed, they might be within seconds.
“Blood, Neve,” Vale ground out. It was taking everything he had to run. I had to do the rest. “Blood releases the wards for us.”
I pressed my bloodied hand into the gate and the metal turned hot. The lock opened. Panting, I pushed it open, and we stumbled through .
I slammed the gate shut behind us and the lock latched in time for the male vampire with long white-blond hair to run into the metal. I cringed as Vale stumbled and went for his sword once again.
“No. Get inside.” I wheezed because though the vampires could break metal, they weren’t. The wards had set back in place already. “Get to the front door.”
Pain cutting through my legs and palms, we ran the rest of the way down the path, up the steps. The moment our blood touched the door, it opened.
I exhaled and rushed across the threshold, only to be stopped at sword point.
“Get that out of her face, Thantrel,” Vale growled.
“Sorry.” The blade disappeared. “I’m the only one up and heard the alarm when the gate opened.”
“But we’re allowed through it,” I said, confused.
“That doesn’t mean we don’t want to know when someone, even a trustworthy someone, arrives.” Another voice joined, and I peered past Thantrel to see Luccan pulling a robe over his naked chest as he came down the steps. “Vampires?”
“At the gate. Three of them,” Vale confirmed.
Luccan looked at Thantrel. “Up for a bit of archery practice?”
“Always. I’ll join you when I’m done.”
“Be quick. And wake Arie.” Luccan rolled his eyes. “Arie would sleep through a dragon landing on top of the house.”
“Arrows won’t kill them,” I said before Thantrel left. “Only stakes to the heart, decapitation, and lots of fire. ”
Thantrel winked. “We have all sorts of arrows, beautiful. Trust that we’ve got it covered.”
I chose to believe them. After all, I’d killed a vampire with a small stake fashioned after a killing device from the human world. The Riis males could be equally inventive.
Thantrel left, and Luccan waved for us to follow him down the stairs. “To the sparring room. You have to go.”
He was right. Even if those vampires were dead, we had no idea how many more roamed the city. And they’d already proven they could enter the castle. Avaldenn wouldn’t be safe anytime soon.
Slower than I would have liked, Luccan led us downstairs. At the bottom, we found the sparring room, dark and cold.
Luccan waved his hands and the faelights in the corners blinked on, converging on the hidden gateway. “We will join you once we finish off the vampires and make sure no more have followed. You remember what to do?”
“Yes,” I assured him and held up a bloodied hand.
“The others will find you healing supplies when you arrive.”
“ Others ?”
“You’ll see. Go.” Luccan pointed to the portal. “My brothers and I will be right behind.” He ran back up the steps, leaving Vale and me alone.
“Ready?” my voice wavered. The portal wasn’t only an escape route, but a chance at the freedom I’d been grasping for so long. And yet, even though things between Vale and me could not be as I’d come to hope for, I was scared.
Once we walked through, once I made this first step to leave Avaldenn, I would truly leave behind the life I might have had. One with Vale. Maybe even in a messed-up way, the one I had been born to.
“Let’s go,” Vale said and, pushing aside my inner turmoil, we staggered to the portal and swiped our bloodied hands across the wall.
It shimmered, and a circle of light appeared and expanded until it was large enough for us to walk through. I peered inside, seeing nothing but smelling something familiar.
Snow lilies?
“Together?” Vale held out his hand.
“Together,” I replied, and we stepped into the light.
Not ten seconds later, the gateway spat us out and a scream met my ears. My heart leapt as my eyes adjusted to the darkened room, lit by only the blazing fire in the corner, and found Anna and Clemencia, slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
“What in all the nine kingdoms?” Anna whispered. “You scared the crap out of me, Neve!”
“I wasn’t planning to do so.”
“Yes, well . . . why are you here?”
Clemencia shook her head. “I’m still mad at Lord Riis for making us ride for days through all that snow when there’s a gateway to here.”
I laughed. “A valid annoyance.”
In fact, I was annoyed that the Riises hadn’t told us the gateway came here so we could visit our loved ones. Lord Riis claimed that it was to everyone’s benefit that we didn’t know where they were. While I understood his reasoning, I didn’t like it.
Sir Caelo entered the room, a tray with three wine goblets in his hand. He blinked when he saw Vale and me. “I didn’t know you two would be joining our party. Good to have you here, Princess Neve. Brother.”
Only then did I remember how late it was. Vale had been out for hours, then sleeping, and then we’d been chased by vampires. And this lot had just been drinking all night!
Life was so unfair.
“Why are you two bloody?” Clemencia asked, coming closer, her face paling as she took in our hands. “Oh, Prince Vale—your wings!” She bolted to the door and stuck her head out to speak to someone in the hallway. Once done, Clemencia turned back to us. “A servant will get a healer. Now, tell us what happened.”
“It’s a long story, but we’re fine. Nothing vital was injured.” Vale shucked off his cloak, wincing as he did so, lending less sway to his words.
“He has an injury to his chest too,” I admitted. “I tried to suture it, but I didn’t do a good job and it was reopened.”
Anna stood too. “In this tower, we seem to have nothing but time. Not that I’m complaining.” She took the goblet Sir Caelo offered. “The service here is immaculate.”
“She has gotten far too used to thinking of me as a servant.” The knight’s tone was dour, but his smile said he actually didn’t mind. That same smile dropped when he took Vale in more closely. “Are those silver hawks on your sleeves, Vale?”
“They are,” Vale muttered. “Again, long story.”
“I can’t wait to hear it.” Anna sat once more and gestured to the empty chairs around the fire, eagerness in her dark, upturned eyes.
We took the offered seats as Sir Caelo slipped out of the room, only to reappear with two more goblets and three bottles of wine. He handed me a goblet. “I figured we needed a lot more than one bottle for the tale you’re to tell.”
“Thank you, Sir Caelo.”
“Just Caelo,” he said as he poured for me. “You’re married to this one here, and despite all his flaws, he’s a brother to me.” He threw Vale a mischievous glance before meeting my eyes again. “That means you’re family.”
I smiled. Though we’d spent little time together and didn’t know each other well, I’d already begun to think of Caelo less formally. After all, I’d allowed him to guide Anna and Clemencia here and had heard many tales about him and Vale. I felt like I knew the knight and hoped that we could deepen that feeling into something true.
Vale took the goblet and let his friend pour his glass. “We do have quite a tale. But let’s wait for the Riis brothers to arrive. They?—”
The gateway shimmered prettily again, and the Riis males entered the room. Arie swore as he stumbled and Luccan caught him.
Thantrel grinned at the sight of the wine. “You’d better fetch more goblets, Caelo.”
“I’m not your servant.” Caelo’s chin lifted. Apparently, acting as one for us and Anna was fine, but not for Thantrel. “Get your own.”
“Blazing stars, I’ll get them.” Arie shook his head. “And when I return, someone had better explain why I was ripped out of my bed in the middle of the night and brought to Riis Tower.”
So that was where we were! Riis Tower was the home of Lord Riis’s family before the king raised him to be a lord. If my memory served, it was in the midlands, near House Vagle’s castle.
We settled in with our drinks, and the others caught us up on what they’d been doing since arriving at Riis Tower—which seemed to be a lot of relaxing. When Arie returned, he did so pushing a small cart weighed down with bottles and tins and the like. At his side, walked a healer, her occupation obvious by the wheel and star pendant on her necklace, identical to the one Master Healer Nissa wore.
It was Vale’s and my turn to tell our story, but with the healer present, I was unsure. I studied the female faerie. She had long black hair, and the first signs of lines around her eyes, hinting that she was at least a century old. Her dark brown eyes looked kind and serene. Trustworthy?
“Should we . . .” I asked the Riis brothers, eyes slicing to the healer .
“The servants in this tower are the most loyal you’ll ever meet,” Luccan replied. “They’ve served my family for many turns—long before Father’s line was noble. They will say nothing.”
“The young lord speaks true,” the healer piped up. “I’m loyal to House Riis and if you are a friend, I am loyal to you.”
“She’s a friend,” Luccan confirmed. “Now, please Healer Yellana, help Prince Vale.”
“Of course.” The healer continued her inspection of his chest, which was still bleeding, though not as badly as I’d feared.
Before Vale began telling our tale, I did so, and as I spooled the thread, I made sure to leave out the use of my magic and Emilia, as the knowledge of both would create more questions. Most of which I wasn’t prepared to answer. Not even from Vale, who eyed me as I omitted both. The story worked anyway and the idea of the hidden palace and fighting off Red Assassins entranced our friends. When I was done, I leaned back and sighed. “And here we are.”
“Far more exciting than Riis Tower,” Anna breathed. “I can’t believe you went through all that. Fought off so many vampires!”
“I’m envious of you ,” I said to Anna, Clemencia, and Caelo. “Frostveil has been trying.”
Vale frowned. “But not all bad.”
“Not all bad,” I amended, sensing he had taken my claim personally. Although, if he learned the truth, perhaps he wouldn’t agree .
Though I tried to reassure him, questions brimmed in Vale’s eyes. He hadn’t brought up my use of magic, or Emilia, and as I’d left them out, I’d trust that he wouldn’t say a thing around others. But that did not mean I wished to remain under that curious, pain-filled gaze any longer. Vale had questions, and I had secrets to keep.
“Is this balm for minor cuts?” I asked, plucking a familiar-looking balm from the healer’s cart.
“It is, my lady.”
“Can I take it? For my hands?”
The healer blinked. “Of course. I have more.”
“Good.” I cupped the balm. “Anna and Clem, can you show me to a room? I think I’m ready to retire for the night.”
We left the den, and though my heart screamed not to, I cast a glance back at Vale. The look of hurt, confusion, and betrayal on his face nearly shattered me.