Chapter 41 – Sera
Chapter Forty-One
SERA
The days and nights have passed in a haze.
I’ve barely eaten anything, keeping vigil at Alex’s side.
Jade stayed for two days until I insisted she go home to get Gabriella.
The court needs her. I need her. Other than a few servants popping in every once in a while to try to get me to eat, I’ve been alone except for the swan’s comforting presence in the back of my mind.
Glued to Alex’s side, I’ve been waiting and watching, occasionally drifting to sleep, hoping for a sign of life.
The utter silence and stillness deafening, my own heart beats far too loud in my ears until—
Hazel eyes pop open, and Alex bolts into an upright position, gasping for breath.
“Alex!” I cry out, throwing my arms around him. He stiffens, and I pull back, noting the way the muscles in his jaw tick as he clenches his teeth. “Are you okay?” I ask, putting a little more distance between us.
“I-I’m sorry, Spitfire,” he croaks. “You just smell incredible, and I’m afraid I’ll bite you.”
Warmth floods my cheeks, and he scoots farther away. I’m confused yet somehow turned on?
“You won’t hurt me,” I say with confidence.
“I might.” He grimaces.
“You’re alive,” I breathe, tears pricking at my eyes.
“Sort of,” Alex says, showing his teeth. A hint of fangs peek out, and the changes to his body, to him, become all the more real.
“You’re a vampire.”
“So it would seem,” he agrees, clenching his jaw again. “I really don’t want to hurt you, Sera.”
“I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t. The goddess who sent me back, she told me I would struggle, and it’s truly taking all my self-control not to sink my teeth into you.” His fingers curl into the sheets, every muscle in his forearms taut.
I squeeze my thighs together before I even realize I’m doing it. I’d let him sink his teeth anywhere, the need for my mate burning strong since accepting the bond, especially after thinking I might have lost him forever.
“Spitfire.” His eyes glint with something primal. “I can smell you from here.”
“So?” I shrug. “You already know I’m attracted to you, and beyond that, you’re my mate.”
Alex’s pupils dilate, and he lets out a low growl. “You can’t say things like that. I will devour you.”
Seven hells, that does it for me. It takes all my willpower not to cross the distance between us.
Alex palms his face. “Is there somewhere I can get blood? Perhaps it would take the edge off.” He jumps off the bed, and in the blink of an eye, he’s across the room.
Damn, he’s fast. This will take some getting used to.
“I can ask someone what the queen used to drink,” I reply.
Alex grimaces. “I don’t want anything to do with that bitch. She’s dead, right?”
I nod. “Yes, Alex, you don’t need to fear her anymore. Her hold over you is gone.”
Alex rubs at his chest, and I remember the mark branded into his skin. It has faded a little these past days.
I slip out of bed and pull on a robe, making my way to the door. Alex watches me like a hawk, and I’m careful not to make any sudden movements. His predatory gaze thrills and frightens me at the same time.
“I’ll be right back,” I say before disappearing into the main living chamber.
I hold a hand to my beating heart, wondering if he can hear it from the bedroom.
After a breath, I open the door to the hallway, relieved it’s still unlocked.
There’s the tiniest fear that my people will think I’m a threat after being gone for so long.
Well, that, and the swan attempting to burn down the terrace.
While the door is unlocked, I do find a guard stationed outside.
“Hi, um, is it possible to send for . . . blood?” I ask.
The guard looks at me warily. “The vampire has awoken?”
“Yes.”
“And he didn’t attack you?”
“No?”
“Surprising,” he admits.
“Wait a minute, you thought there was a high chance Alex could have attacked and killed me, and you’re out here just casually, what, waiting to put down a blood-thirsty vampire if he made it this far?”
“Uh—” the guard fumbles for words. “We, uh, didn’t know for sure and, uh, we were told you requested to be left alone.”
Damn it. He’s right. That sounds like something I’d ask for.
The guard shifts his stance, uncomfortable with my immediate lack of response. “I was told to stand guard in case a vampire got loose. I don’t know why in the realms they’d even allow a potential vampire to be put up in the royal guest suites, if I’m being forthright,” he grumbles.
I take a deep breath, knowing this isn’t entirely his fault. The whole court is in shambles after the queen’s death. Perhaps I should go a little easier on him, but something about him rubs me the wrong way.
“I’m Princess Fiona Seraphine Emberwood,” I say, rolling my shoulders back and trying to look more regal. “As the only heir to the Emberwood throne currently in residence, I request your protection and respect, for both me and my mate.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” the guard simpers, bowing at the waist.
“Have the maids bring up some refreshments, including blood. Something fresh. Nothing the queen stored.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” he repeats, keeping his eyes trained on the floor and backing away.
I close the door and lean against it, letting out a loud exhale. It’s a foreign feeling, being back in the position of giving orders instead of taking them. This will certainly take some time to get used to. I send a quick prayer to the Mother for strength.
“Is everything okay?”
Alex stands at the threshold of his door, gripping the edges, as if to keep himself from coming after me.
“Everything is fine, I promise.”
The wood of the doorframe starts to splinter beneath his grip. “Oh no, I’m sorry,” he apologizes, letting go.
I smile and move toward him. I don’t want him to think I’m afraid, and I’m really not. He’s my mate and I’m his.
“I sent for fresh blood,” I tell him. “It won’t be whatever the queen had stockpiled, though, to be honest, I don’t know what or who she drank from.” I wrinkle my nose at the thought.
“Thank you,” Alex replies, eyes darkening as I make my way closer.
“I’m sorry. I should have thought to have some on hand for you. I honestly didn’t know when or if you’d wake up.”
Alex straightens, eyes darting to the windows and the moonlight shining in. “You’re not a swan.”
I laugh. “You’re right.”
“How long have I been out?”
“Three days.”
“And your curse?” There’s almost something like hope in his gaze.
“Still cursed . . . well, sort of.”
A wrinkle forms between his eyes, and I so badly want to go and smooth it out with my thumb.
“I don’t understand.”
I move a little closer and note a gilded vial in his grip. Where in the hells did that come from?
“Jade actually helped me realize I needed to accept this curse and consider it a new part of me instead of constantly fighting it.”
“And that worked?”
I laugh again. “Not right away, but we were finally able to come to an understanding. When the queen—” I pause, fighting back a wave of nausea at the memory of her latched on to his throat.
“Uh, when she was hurting you and Loche was forcing me to her, the swan helped me. She wants me to let her out occasionally, but she doesn’t control me anymore as far as I can tell.
We’ve found a way to accept each other.”
Alex looks relieved and concerned at the same time before glancing at the vial in his hand and then back at me. “I got you a cure, from the goddess.”
My heart skips, and I pause my steps, gripping the chair next to me. “That’s a surprise,” I say, uncertain of how I feel. Isn’t this what I wanted?
Alex holds out the vial in offering. “Take it. It’s yours.” He swallows.
He’s not telling me something; I can sense it through the bond.
“I don’t need it,” I say. While there is the tiniest part of me that considered it, no. The swan is a part of who I am now. “Can it help you?”
Alex closes his palm and his jaw clenches once more. “I’ll save it for you in case you change your mind. The goddess won’t grant such a boon again.”
“Alex, what aren’t you telling me?”
He blows out a breath. “It’s nothing really. She said it could be used to save you, or it could give me protection from the suns.”
Idiot man. So selfless. “Take it, fool!” I exclaim. “The swan and I are tied for life, and I’ve accepted it. I can fly whenever I like. That’s pretty amazing, no?”
Alex’s lips twitch into an almost smile. “Perhaps that’s not so terrible.”
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot you’re afraid of heights.”
Alex snorts.
“You would not be able to handle flying on Jade’s dragon, nor the horrific way she basically pulled me off his back from above the clouds without warning me.”
“You jumped off a dragon?” he asks, brows raised.
“More like fell.” I sigh. “But yeah, no repeats please. Though the flying part wasn’t so bad.”
“Wild.”
“Yes, it was.” I smile. I close the distance between us, grip his hand holding the vial, and hold it up to his heart. “Please, take this. You need it more than I do. I know how much you enjoy sunlight.”
Alex’s throat bobs. “I feel guilty taking this from you. I’d gladly accept the night if I got to spend it with you.”
“But you’re not taking anything from me. I’m not really cursed; it’s a gift. One I never thought I’d want, but a gift all the same now that I’ve accepted it.”
“It’s just sunlight,” he reiterates. “I’ll grow to tolerate it eventually . . .”
“Stop playing the martyr. This is a good thing! Take it!”
He nods, barely, and then opens his palm, looking at the vial. He unstoppers it and gives me one final look that screams last chance.
“Take it,” I repeat. Firm.
He knocks it back, and a whole-body tremor ripples through him after he swallows. His eyes open, and the hazel shifts and moves in the dim light. Breathtaking.
“It’s gone,” he says, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
“What?” I ask.
“The overpowering desire to sink my teeth into you and drain you dry.”
“Um, it was that bad?”
He shakes his head. “Worse.”
“I knew you wouldn’t hurt me,” I breathe, closing the gap between us and throwing my arms around him.
This time, he doesn’t stiffen or pull away but melts into my embrace. I could stay here forever, in the safety of his arms. My head is flush against his chest, and to my utter surprise, I hear the faintest rhythm.
“Alex, your heart is beating.” I gasp.
His laugh vibrates through me. “I thought something else felt different. She said it held a drop of life.”
His tunic shifts with his movements, and I suck in a breath. “Your rune mark. It’s changed.”
Alex looks down at his chest, pulling the tunic a little more, and his eyebrows raise. Instead of the angry red rune mark, the skin has smoothed out, and in its place is a tattoo of intricate leaves and vines.
“A gift from the goddess?” he asks. “She did place her hand there right before I came back . . .”
“Whatever it is, it’s beautiful. Wait, are you still a vampire?”
I pull away just a little, and he looks down at me, baring his teeth. “I still have fangs.”
“But you don’t want to eat me?”
Alex smirks. “I still very much want to eat you . . . just not in a murderous way.”
“Alex!” I exclaim, burying my head in his chest again, heat flushing my cheeks. His body temperature is still on the cooler side, but his heart is beating. “I don’t know what it is the goddess gave you, but I’m grateful you didn’t waste it on me.”
Alex grips my chin, forcing my eyes to his. “It would not have been a waste. I would spend a lifetime holding myself back just to be in your presence for one glorious moment if it meant you were alive, happy, and whole.”
Our gazes hold for what feels like an eternity until there’s a knock at the door.
I reluctantly pull away and call out, “Come in.” One of the maidservants enters pushing a cart covered with food and drink.
“Thank you,” I say and give her a dismissive nod.
Her attention flits uneasily toward Alex, and he shoots her a lazy grin.
She scurries out so quickly, it’s almost like she thinks Alex will lunge for her throat.
When we’re alone again, I grab the dark bottle I assume is filled with blood. “Would you like me to pour you a glass? Are you still hungry for blood?”
Alex appears to consider before nodding. “The hunger is still there, but it’s manageable. It’s more thirst than hunger, to be specific.”
“Does any of this food appeal to you?” I gesture toward the spread.
He frowns. “Not particularly.”
“I’m sorry, I really don’t know enough about actual vampires. They are only spoken of as legends from the past. I thought they were completely gone from our realm.”
“I suppose I’m not even a normal vampire either, with whatever the goddess gave me.”
“True,” I muse. “I guess we’ll have to experiment and find out what you need.”
In a blink, Alex is at my side, whisking the bottle out of my grasp and pouring it into one of the glasses.
“Impatient,” I tease. “I was just about to do that.”
Alex smirks. “I know you’re used to serving everyone back home, but you’re a princess for goddess’ sake.”
I pout. “You better not start treating me differently. I’m still Sera.”
“That you are.”