Chap 27
The hallway looked like a battlefield.
Blood coated the stone.
Bones littered the floor.
Something wet dripped from the walls.
Penny froze.
The hem of her white wedding gown slowly soaked up the spreading crimson.
Turning white silk red.
"What happened?"
The words escaped before she could stop them.
Evander immediately looked at her.
Surprised.
"You speak the common tongue now?"
Penny's stomach dropped.
Beside her, Wade answered before she could.
"It was the kiss."
His response came so quickly it was almost suspicious.
"I gave her some of my magic to ease the pain."
Penny stared at him.
Wade stared right back.
The message was clear.
Do not ruin the lie.
Servants moved around them carrying buckets and brushes.
Others scraped pieces of something from the walls.
Penny followed their movements.
Then wished she hadn't.
A chunk of flesh slid into a bucket.
Her stomach lurched.
"What was it?" Evander asked.
Wade studied the remains scattered across the corridor.
"Hmm."
He pointed toward a claw attached to part of an arm.
"A chupacabra, I think."
Penny looked where he pointed.
That was a mistake.
A hole large enough to fit a horse had been blasted through the wall.
Blood covered the surrounding stone.
Something that might once have been a head was pinned beneath a twisted candelabra.
Wade grinned.
"I did that."
Penny made a strangled sound.
"The candelabra went through one ear and out the other."
Penny immediately bent over.
Her breakfast returned with enthusiasm.
The servants sighed.
She collapsed into the mess.
Her body lurching under heaves as her breakfast came up.
By the time the heaving finally stopped, blood had soaked deep into the skirts of her gown.
Evander and Wade helped her up, gently as she looked down at another ruined gown.
The white wedding fabric now had streaks of red blood trailing up the skirt past her waist and into the bodice.
A nearby servant went still.
Her eyes widened.
"The prophecy."
The words were barely a whisper.
Evander looked down.
Followed her gaze.
Saw the gown.
The white of a human flower of the garden resting across her shoulders in silk flowers.
The red fingers of blood running up the gown as if reaching for the white.
For the first time all morning, the crown prince looked afraid.
"We have to hide her."
Then he grabbed Penny's hand and pulled her deeper into the castle.
The crown prince immediately guided her deep into the castle.
Every time the servants saw them pass, they gasped.
Some repeated the prophecy words again, but they always kept moving.
Her bridal gown brushed softly across the marble behind her like funeral offerings, leaving a trail of blood to them.
Upstairs into a tower that was vacant of people.
The crown prince broke the silence first.
"If the queen learns what they're saying, she'll find supporters."
Evander didn't slow.
"Supporters for what?" Wade asked.
Evander's jaw tightened.
Then he recited the prophecy from memory.
From the garden a flower,
Will rise the true queen,
Married in blood,
Three generations bound,
Will return the old bones to the sea,
And leave no blood for vampires to drink.
The words echoed through the empty stairwell.
Penny frowned.
"It doesn't even make sense."
"It does to them."
Evander glanced over his shoulder.
"Half the kingdom believes it means salvation."
"And the other half?" Wade asked.
"The other half believes it means extinction."
Silence followed.
Penny suddenly understood why people whispered the words like a curse.
Why servants looked afraid.
Why the sight of her gown had turned faces pale.
Why the king had filled her wardrobe with white silk and crimson roses.
Evander looked directly at her.
"And today you walked through the palace in a white wedding gown covered in blood."
The image flashed through Penny's mind.
White flowers.
Red blood.
The prophecy.
Only then did she understand why everyone had gone pale.
Evander's expression darkened.
"If they discover the old magic has bound you to three members of the royal family, the queen won't need to search for supporters."
Penny's stomach dropped.
The crown prince looked at Wade.
Then at Penny.
Her face was so pale she looked ready to join the ghosts in the catacombs.
Every terrifying piece of information made it harder to maintain the ruse that she didn't understand.
The queen wanted her dead.
Half the kingdom might agree.
A blood-soaked wedding gown had just turned her into a walking prophecy.
And apparently, she had become the center of it all without ever meaning to.
Evander rubbed a hand across his face.
"I really wish you hadn't kissed her."
A large wooden door swung open as he approached.
Old magic recognized only the royal family.
The lock released with a soft click.
"She'll stay in my chambers."
Penny stepped inside.
Then stopped.
The room was a disaster.
Not dirty.
Not neglected.
Just thoroughly lived in.
Books were stacked against every wall.
Open journals sat abandoned on chairs.
Maps covered nearly every available surface.
A desk occupied one corner of the room, though judging by the mountain of papers, sketches, and notes piled across it, nobody had actually seen the top of the desk in years.
More maps climbed the walls.
Some overlapped each other.
Some had notes scribbled in the margins.
A few had been pinned directly over older maps.
One had even begun invading a stained-glass window.
Penny slowly turned in a circle.
The room felt less like a prince's chambers.
More like the headquarters of a man plotting his escape.
The king's words drifted back to her.
He wants adventure.
For the first time, Penny understood.
She hadn't seen it in Sebastian.
But she saw it here.
Every map.
Every journal.
Every scribbled note.
Evander's room ached for places beyond the castle walls.
Wade looked around and snorted.
"You live like a cave troll."
Evander ignored him.
"Well, if she's staying here," Wade continued, "then I am too."
"She doesn't need a translator anymore."
Evander's voice shifted.
Gone was the patient soldier.
Gone was the man who danced with her.
The crown prince stood in his place.
"And she needs someone gathering support."
His eyes moved to Wade.
"I need you talking to servants. Listening. Reporting everything back to the king."
Wade folded his arms.
"And if someone asks where she is?"
"Don't tell them."
The answer came instantly.
Then Evander hesitated.
His expression tightened.
As though he couldn't believe the words he was about to say.
"Unless they're one of us."
Silence followed.
The meaning hung heavily in the room.
One of us.
Bound.
Wade glanced toward Penny.
For all his jokes, his expression softened.
"Are you going to be okay here alone with him?"
Penny nodded.
Wade studied her a moment longer.
Then turned and headed back toward the door.
The moment he disappeared down the stairs, Penny realized something.
For the first time since he carried her through the gardens...
She was alone with Evander.
The cool touch of his hand against her shoulder sent a small shiver through her.
"Do you want help getting out of that dress?"
Penny turned toward him.
"What am I supposed to do?"
The question escaped before she could stop it.
All the fear she'd been trying to hold together strained through the words.
Evander's expression softened.
"I suppose whatever you want, Your Majesty."
The joke landed badly.
Penny immediately stepped back.
Shaking her head.
"I don't want to be this queen."
Her voice broke.
"I just wanted to go home."
For the first time since entering the room, Evander looked away.
His gaze dropped to the blood-stained gown.
The white silk.
The red spreading across it.
The prophecy made real.
When he finally spoke, his voice was quieter.
"You look exactly like a queen married in blood."
A sad smile touched his mouth.
"I think fate has other ideas."
Tears immediately filled Penny's eyes.
"Oh, clotted blood."
Evander rubbed a hand over his face.
"I am terrible at this."
A laugh escaped her at his using a swear she had heard Nyx use so often.
Which only made him groan.
"There it is. I made it worse."
He crossed the room.
Slowly.
Giving her every chance to step away.
Instead, Penny stayed where she was.
His hands settled gently on her shoulders.
"I'm sorry, Penelope."
The humor disappeared completely.
"I joke when I'm frightened."
That confession surprised her.
More than anything else he had said.
Evander guided her toward a chair.
Then paused.
Looking at the mountain of scrolls covering it.
With a sigh, he swept several onto the floor.
The chair reappeared.
"Success."
Penny laughed again.
A little wetter this time.
A little closer to crying.
"Now," he said gently, kneeling beside the chair instead of looming over her, "how about we focus on surviving tonight?"
She nodded.
"Good."
His smile returned.
Smaller this time.
"Then let's get you out of the dress that started a political crisis."
She stood as his hands settled on her waist, looking at the complicated ties in the back and groaning.
"Maybe I can find a knife to cut you out of this instead?"
Penny tried to hold back her laugh, but the soft chuckle escaped with her words,
"Let me guess, you have never taken a gown off a lady before?"
The surprise was that both princes were given every luxury,
both lived in a castle with a garden of human flowers that begged for vampire attention,
and neither had taken advantage of it.
Evander coughed as he tried to hide his embarrassment.
"Is it that obvious? And for your information, you are asking me to remove my bride's gown."
Penny gasped softly as the magic pulsed through her, confirming his claim. She heard him gasp, too.
"You felt that?" she whispered.
He was silent for so long she looked over her shoulder and found his hands still on her waist as he looked at her.
She turned and placed a hand against his chest.
"You didn't choose this."
The words came softly.
Understanding.
Forgiving.
"I won't expect anything from you."
For a moment Evander simply stared at her.
Then something in his expression shifted.
Not anger.
Hurt.
He caught her hand before she could pull away.
"Penelope."
The use of her full name made her look up.
"I did choose this."
The words landed with surprising force.
His thumb brushed across her knuckles.
"I had already chosen you."
Silence filled the room.
The blood-stained gown.
The maps.
The prophecy.
All of it seemed to disappear.
Penny blinked.
"What?"
A small smile touched his mouth.
"I had already spoken to my father."
His gaze drifted away briefly.
"I told him I would give up the adventures."
The words sounded difficult.
Not because he regretted them.
Because he loved them.
"I told him I would stay."
His eyes found hers again.
"I told him I would marry you."
His other hand touched her face.
"He could save the kingdom from the queen by taking her far from here after we married."
Penny looked shocked. "What did he say?"
He stepped closer as his eyes penetrated into her.
"He told me he wouldn't take away my chance to see the world,
And he had things already in motion to get rid of Kaida."
Penny felt the twinge of magical binding as the king's string tightened at the words;
She could feel him trying to protect everyone, including her, at the price of his own heart.
Evander lowered his mouth to hers. "But you were already my world."
His kiss resonated through her entire body, igniting the magic and locking into place.
Penny found it hard to separate all that she was feeling from the others, from him.
His hands reached behind her and tugged at the laced gown as he continued to kiss her.
Then, stopping himself, he laughed.
"I admit defeat, you are going to have to turn around."
She learned some new swears from him as he tugged and pulled.
Swears that she would have to share with Nyx someday.
The gown finally let her free.
His hands peeled it off her as his lips kissed across her shoulders.
One arm sliding around her waist, pulling her back into his chest, his kisses trailing up her neck.
Penny gasped, leaning into him as her body responded to him.
When she noticed he had stopped, she turned.
His fingers brushed the mark the king had left on her throat.
The touch sent a shiver through her.
"Are you really what Kaida said?"
His voice had grown quieter.
"A witch?"
Penny nodded.
For a moment, Evander simply stared at the mark.
Then back at her.
"Is it true?"
His expression turned unexpectedly boyish.
The look of someone standing in front of a locked cabinet labeled Do Not Open.
"That a witch's blood makes vampires drunk?"
Penny laughed softly.
Then gathered her hair and swept it over one shoulder.
Offering him her neck.
"Do you want to taste and find out?"
The room went very still.