Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
KYELLA
Despite it most likely being only minutes, it felt like Tristan was gone forever.
A nervous energy that was impossible to ignore continuously expanded in my chest as I considered all the ways this escape could go awry—starting with being caught, to his insistence that we could trust the three alluring Lords that could easily betray us.
Sure I felt a connection with them, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have their own agenda.
It didn’t mean they would help us. They were vampyres, after all.
Even if they did help, where would we escape to? Everywhere from the capital to the far-reaching lands of the empire was ruled by Malakai with an iron fist. There was nowhere we could hide that his power didn’t corrupt.
Swallowing down the panic in my throat, I stared at the heavy paned window that Tristan had opened.
A cold breeze filled the room, billowing around my skin in a gentle caress.
I had no idea what my guard’s plan was, which was probably part of the reason I felt so uneasy.
I hadn’t had a chance to ask how we were going to go about escaping before he’d opened the window, looked down, then dipped out of the room, saying he would be back.
I felt more and more on edge as time passed, wondering when this plan would collapse in on itself.
I couldn’t afford for this one to go wrong. There were too many lives on the line.
Anxiety festered in my mind. I was placing a lot of hope and trust in Tristan. I only knew the small tidbits he had confided, but in the grand scheme of things, he was still a stranger.
A nervous tremble worked its way through my body, my head spinning with a bout of dizziness. I hadn’t recovered yet from the blood I’d been drained of at the party—not in the least—but the cold air was at least keeping my eyes open, the uncomfortable briskness acting as a shock to the system.
What if Tristan never came back? What if I had imagined all of this?
No. He would be back, and we would leave. I just needed to be patient. Something I should’ve been skilled at by this point.
I put on several layers of my simple clothing, then tightened my hand on the small leather satchel that Tristan had instructed me to pack, which contained a few trinkets I’d collected over time.
I didn’t own much, but what I did own I was eager to hold onto—especially since I had no idea what would come next.
Voices rang distantly in the hall, pulling my attention.
My body tensed every time a sound echoed through the hallway outside of my door, wondering if our plans would be demolished by something as simple as a castle maid coming by my room and catching me ready to bolt.
Even worse, what if one of the other guards, or Malakai himself, came in here and found me dressed to go on a journey?
My stomach churned at the thought of what Malakai’s wrath would be with two escape attempts back-to-back. His ruse of being patient and ‘caring’ about me had its limits.
Calm down, Kyella. You’re being paranoid.
Realistically, I knew everyone was down at the party and that Malakai would never leave his adoring fans. But it would be just my luck to be caught escaping again.
Except this time, it wasn’t only my life on the line. Now the lives of Tristan and his family were held in the balance, so I would do whatever I could to not fuck this up. My chest seized as I thought about the one element of this plan that everything was reliant on…
The three Lords.
I didn’t know how to feel about them, truth be told.
There was a part of me that craved to see them, to feel that almost unnatural connection between us…
but that same part of me feared them. I didn’t want anyone to ever have any semblance of control over me.
If I was escaping, I wanted it to be a better situation, not another of forced servitude.
A prickle of unease crawled up my spine as I once again considered what motives they would have for helping if they did agree to Tristan’s plea. Did they want me to be their Thrall?
My door flew open, jolting me from my thoughts. This was it. Someone had found me out, and now I’d be locked up and starved again—
I breathed out in relief when Tristan strode in, determination plastered across his expression. There was a new sense of hopeful energy emanating from him, evidenced by the way he pulled his shoulders back and held his chin high.
Without a word, he strode towards the window and looked down before facing back towards me. “Are you ready to leave?”
My mouth dropped. He said the words like they were nothing, as if he wasn’t literally handing me my freedom on a platter. This was really happening.
Tears welled in my eyes, and I barely kept them at bay as I tightened my jaw and nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
As ready as I would ever be.
Nervous butterflies erupted in my stomach. This time it had to work. We had to escape; there was too much on the line. But I was scared to get my hopes up because the odds felt slim to none that we would be successful.
Turning back towards the window and looking down again, he tilted his head before a sharp, high-pitched whistle rang out in the night, causing me to raise a brow in question. Apparently though, that was the signal he was looking for.
“Alright, up you go, onto the window ledge,” he said with a smirk. “The Lords are waiting.”
I blinked at him repeatedly. “I’m sorry, come again? Up on the ledge?” Swallowing the knot that had suddenly formed in my throat, I added, “Of the window?”
My quarters’ positioning in the castle had been purposeful.
The stone turret it was located in gave me gorgeous views of the empire, but the drop from my window was sizable—more than several stories.
There was no texture to the stone for me to grip onto, no plant life to help me climb.
A vampyre could survive the fall, but unless I was about to be turned right here and now, I wouldn’t.
The fragile human, completely at the monsters’ mercy.
“Yep, they’re waiting. Come on,” Tristan urged.
“Are we positive we can trust them? Are they even real Lords?” I asked, assuming he was talking about the three Lords. I approached the window, feeling my pulse race at the prospect of what I was about to do—not only escape, but jump out of a fucking window.
“I promise that you can trust them, and yes they are Lords,” Tristan swore while holding my gaze.
I nodded, stepping up onto the window ledge. I gripped the stone frame to balance myself as my nerves shook my entire body.
It would be just my luck to accidentally trip and fall in the wrong direction, plummeting to my death instead of into a handsome vampyre’s arms. Wait, why was I thinking about how much I wanted to be wrapped in their embrace when my life was literally on the line?
They had somehow burrowed themselves into my brain like an infestation I couldn’t rid myself of. Not that I think I wanted to. That was a thought for after I jumped, which I was currently putting off.
“How are you so sure?” I whispered breathlessly, my knees feeling wobbly as my hands tightened on the stones.
“Because I know that look I saw in their eyes when I spoke of you. They won’t hurt you,” Tristan murmured, distracted by something on the ground, I guess, as he kept his gaze down.
“Just trust me, Kyella. I have no reason to lie, considering my family’s life is on the line as well.
This will be okay. It will work. Believe. ”
His words had chills pebbling my skin…or perhaps that was the wind gusting around me full-force.
“Okay,” I conceded after a moment, nodding to myself. Glancing back at him one more time, I asked my final question. “Are you following right behind me?”
“I need to gather a few things and go grab my family. I’ll meet you at the dock,” Tristan said before nodding downwards. “Now go before our window of opportunity evades us.”
Dock? Questions filled my head, but I put them to the side. I could ask questions once we were out of here.
“Just hang on tight to your shit and jump, Kyella.”
My gaze darted down to the dark void below me, and the world spun a bit. I felt like I was going to pass out.
A hard shove had me falling out of the window. That bastard had pushed me!
I couldn’t even scream, a breathless gasp catching in my throat.
Tightening my hold on my things against my chest, my body dropped like a heavy sack of potatoes, my hair flying around wildly.
I closed my eyes tight and gritted my teeth, fully expecting to splat on the ground, almost craving an instant death because I didn’t want to die bleeding out on the stone pavement outside of my prison—
Warm, muscled arms caught me, my breath whooshing out on impact.
Instant relief filled me as a whimper escaped my lips, so fucking glad to not have hit the ground.
I grabbed onto the muscular chest holding me, keeping my eyes squeezed shut as I tried to reorient myself.
Something that was difficult, considering the man holding me had the most alluring cedar scent in the world.
My heart began to beat double-time, and when I tilted my head back, slowly opening my eyes, everything in my world stilled as hazel eyes, so unique in color, held mine.
A manic laugh filled me as I realized I’d just fallen from a fucking window and lived to tell the tale. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t giving Tristan shit later for pushing me. The fucker.
Those beautiful eyes pinched together in worry, probably at my hysterical laughter, causing me to quiet down and fully take him in now that the adrenaline was fading.
Oh wow. He was so much more handsome up close than from a distance.
“I’ve got you, Kyella.”