Chapter 1
Nothing smells better than potting soil and baby plants. And yes, I can smell seedlings. A vampire’s sense of smell is no joke.
The high tunnel is heated, so even though a fresh layer of Colorado snow blankets the ground, it’s warm in here. Too warm, maybe. I’ve already shed my jacket, and I’m working in a tank top. A vampire’s metabolism is no joke either.
It’s late January. We’ve started prepping annuals for the growing season, so I’m surrounded by flats. It’s just me today. Noah is working overtime, but he said he’ll be home by dinner.
It’s my favorite sort of day—hours of uninterrupted time with the baby plants.
Well, uninterrupted until the door behind me opens, letting in a cool breeze.
“Close that quickly,” I say to my visitor, turning from my task of potting decorative succulent arrangements for Valentine’s Day. “The seedlings don’t like the—”
Cassian offers me a roguish grin, enjoying my shock. I’m truly stupefied to see the man standing in my greenhouse. Or, you know, the country.
“What are you doing here?” I ask dumbly.
“Is that any way to welcome the head of your house?”
Coming to my senses, I dust potting soil off my hands and hurry across the space to greet him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Europe ruling the vampires, Your Grace?”
“I’ve escaped.”
I hug him tightly and then pull back, grasping his arms. “Have you seen Noah yet?”
“I just came from the administration office.”
“Oh, sure. You visited him first.”
“Don’t get jealous. You’re still my favorite.”
I smirk as I return to my task. “I very much doubt that. How is Sophia?”
“Difficult as always.”
“Did she come to the states with you?”
“You didn’t hear? She’s been in Georgia since September.”
“Are you two fighting again?” I ask, though I suspect a few months of separation isn’t that long to vampires who have lived hundreds of years.
“No. She’s flying into Aspen this afternoon. She dislikes Romania.”
I eye him as I tuck a tiny aloe into the potting medium. “What about you? How do you like Romania?”
The handsome vampire shrugs. “I’m thinking of moving my office to Colorado.”
“Can you do that?”
“I can do whatever I want.” His eyes sparkle. “I’m king.”
“Hmm, that’s a new title. And here I thought you were our archduke.”
“King, archduke. Is there really a difference?”
In truth? Probably not.
“Now that I’ve established my authority, I can fly back whenever the heads of the houses need to meet.”
“So, you’re back?” I ask, liking that idea. I’ve missed him these last few years. Sure, there have been a few visits. But it’s not the same as having him invading my kitchen.
“Not quite, but soon,” he promises. Clasping his hands behind his back, the vampire does a slow turn, surveying the space. Hundreds of flats rest on elevated workbenches that Max, Noah, and my dad constructed from heavy two-by-fours and plywood.
Heavy greenhouse plastic covers the high tunnel, trapping in the heat. The HVAC system is set with a thermostat. On a sunny day, the program automatically opens vents to release excess heat and let in some fresh air. On cool, cloudy days, like today, the heaters run intermittently.
There are three other high tunnels on the property, along with the currently dormant flower fields and the cutest little garden shop you’ve ever seen.
My flower farm has grown so much since I started it in my grandma’s old vegetable garden.
“You’ve done good, bunny,” Cassian says, his voice so full of admiration and affection that my heart gets a little squishy.
“You’re happy with your investment?” I ask lightly, though deep down, I want to make him proud. He poured a lot of money into this place. Sure, it wasn’t much to him. But it meant the world to me.
“Very happy.” With a contented sigh, he turns back to me. “Now, it’s time to talk about business.”
“Garden business?” I ask, curious because he’s more of a silent partner.
“Vampire business.”
“Ew, no thanks. I’ll leave that to you.”
Blatantly ignoring me, he says, “I have a new prescription for you. My labs have been working on the daylight drug, and we’ve had a bit of a breakthrough. This new version also controls the bloodlust, which means you could cut back on your prescriptions.”
Intrigued, I raise my brows. “Cut back on how many?”
“All but this one.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, loving the idea of clearing out my medicine cabinet. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but taking all these medications wears on you eventually. “Is it safe?”
“What’s it going to do?” He chuckles. “Kill you?”
“That’s not as funny as you might think.”
Especially when there’s been speculations that the daylight drug might be the key to finding an actual cure. But as far as I know, we’re a long way from that.
“It’s safe,” he assures me. “But if you agree to this new clinical trial, they’ll need to observe you.”
“Observe me? Like a rat in a lab?”
“More like a bunny in a lab.” He grins at his joke.
“Sorry, Cassian. I don’t want to be a test subject.”
He wanders down a row of zinnias, looking at the seedlings that are just breaking through the soil. “It’s not really like that. You’ll go in for monthly blood draws and talk to the lab director every few weeks. It’s not much different from the clinical trials for the original daylight drug.”
“And you’re confident it’s safe?”
“I wouldn’t recommend you for the trial if it wasn’t.”
“All right… When do I start?”
He pulls a prescription bottle from his pocket. “Today.”