Chapter 7

CHAPTER7

Gavril hadn’t called on me last night.

After our lunch, he left me in the garden, and I hurried back to my room where I had locked myself away until now.

Thoughts of fate plagued me through the night, and I tossed and turned and searched the starless sky outside my window for more hours than I was able to sleep. It was torturous. The thought that what lay in front of me could be simply changed with only one decision. A decision that wouldn’t be easy, but it would be fate-altering just the same.

“It will just be you and the royal family tonight.” Eletta was braiding my hair into a thick plait over my shoulder. “The king may have his counsel present, but otherwise this is a family dinner.”

I snorted at her insinuation that I was a part of this family. Even if I was to marry the crowned prince and go forward with my dealt fate, these people would never be my family.

I would become one of them in name only.

I would become Evren’s sister in marriage and his queen in duty.

I would be his brother’s wife, and everything about it would be agonizing.

I was dressed in another white gown, this one much simpler than the one before, but my back was still on full display. It was as if the queen was dressing me so that she may see my mark and nothing else.

The fabric was beautiful and chaste, but it felt obscene against my skin. The queen had wanted to know if I was pure, but she also wanted to put me on display in a way that made me feel exposed.

Eletta stood at my side the entire walk through the palace. I was to dine with the Achlys family in their private hall, and the room we walked to hadn’t been a part of the tour yesterday.

There were guards standing outside the doors, and I absently wondered if any of them ever went anywhere without one of their royal escorts. One of them motioned me forward, and I lifted my chin as I passed through the door and into the room.

A large wooden table was centered in the room beneath a monstrous chandelier, and the king and queen were seated at opposite ends. Two men I didn’t recognize sat to one side while the two men that I was trying not to think about sat at the other.

“Ah, Starblessed.” The king lifted his wine goblet in my direction before motioning me forward. “Please join us.”

Evren stood before any servant could head in my direction, and I tried not to look at him as I slid by him and into the chair he had just pulled out for me. Gavril was sitting to my right, at the hand of the queen, and as soon as I was settled into my seat, Evren took the seat to my left.

I didn’t know what to do or say, so I simply sat there and looked ahead of me at the grand tapestry that draped down the wall. It held the gold emblem of the royal crest, and the deep red of the fabric unsettled me in some way.

It reminded me of what this kingdom desired of me.

“Starblessed, these are my advisors, Draven and Erebus. They both wished to have a better look at you than they were able to get the other night.” Both the name he called me and the words the king spoke begged of me to recoil.

Instead, I simply nodded my head once in their direction before looking back to the tapestry.

“Adara.” My name slipped from the queen’s lips like a curse. “How are you finding the palace thus far? Is it to your standards?”

I looked at her, and I could feel her watching, assessing.

“I have never seen another palace before, so compared to the home I grew up in it is quite grand.”

“I’m sure it is, but I hope what we provided for your family before you were summoned kept you comfortable.” She drank from her wineglass slowly, but her gaze never fell from mine.

“What you provided for my mother and me, you mean?” My hands tightened into fists in my lap. “My family was ruined the moment you all stole my father and slayed him for trying to fight against this betrothal.”

A hand skimmed across my knee, and I flinched. Evren’s fingers gripped my leg in his hold and tightened. A warning.

I knew why.

The queen’s eyes had darkened with venom and the words she spoke felt like they were laced with poison, eager to destroy me. “Your father sealed his fate, my dear. Not the crown. If he had been loyal, then he would still be with his family. If he were loyal, he wouldn’t have died a traitor.”

My chest heaved, and I opened my mouth to speak, but Evren’s hand tightened again, stopping me.

“The blood that runs through your veins strengthens our kingdom and the human lands. Without your fealty, we could easily allow the Blood Court to move into Starless as they please.” She cocked her head and narrowed her eyes as she studied the way her words were affecting me. “Who would be there to protect your mother when the vampyres decided to feast upon her flesh?”

I didn’t answer her because I could hardly breathe, let alone speak.

“No one, my dear. You and your mother have been protected because we offered you that protection. Your father couldn’t see that, and he wouldn’t have been able to provide you with the life that we so graciously did. You should remember that.”

My hands trembled in my lap, and I could feel tears burning in my eyes as she spoke of my father. But I wouldn’t dare allow them to fall in front of her.

I barely knew him, too young to even remember the look of his face, but he had fought for me when no one else had. He showed me more love in that one act than anyone else ever had.

“Have some wine.” Gavril lifted the decanter and poured the red liquid into the glass that laid before me.

I looked at him for the first time since I had arrived at the table, and I hated how his mother’s words had felt like nothing to him.

“Please.” His whispered word had me searching his face, and his gaze softened as he stared down at me.

Evren’s hand slipped away from my leg in that moment, and even though I felt desperate to look back at him, I didn’t. I wrapped my hand around the glass and slowly brought it to my lips. I welcomed the bitter liquid, drinking more than I should have, as the king began speaking to his advisors.

I wasn’t listening to a word he said. I was too busy trying to calm the rage that was consuming me.

Food was laid on the table by the servants as the king laughed at something that was said, and Gavril spooned something onto the plate in front of me.

The queen answered the king, and my gaze flew back to her at the sound of her voice, but Gavril blocked my view. He leaned forward, his fingers touching my braid, and he whispered, “Eat,” low enough for only me to hear.

The tenderness in his voice caught me off guard and made me even angrier. He had acted just like his mother at lunch yesterday, but tonight? The look he was giving me felt like he was taking pity on me for things she had said.

I didn’t need his sympathy. It made me feel weak, and I refused to show any fragility to them.

I lifted my fork and took a bite of food as he had directed me to. The warm potatoes tasted divine, so I quickly dove into the meat that Gavril had just served.

“Son, when do you head back to the border?” The king drew my attention to him.

“In a week’s time.” Evren said it so calmly, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking at him. “I will be back in plenty of time for the ceremony, though.”

“Good.” The king clapped his son on the back before taking a large pull from his wineglass. “We need to make sure the border is secure to ensure our future.”

Evren nodded his head in understanding before he glanced over at me. His gaze was cold and harsh, but somehow it still made me feel like I was burning inside. “Nothing will stop the joining of Gavril and the Starblessed.”

He said the words like a promise, but they sounded bitter on his tongue. I had no idea what Evren wanted from me, but that want felt like it was in contention with the way he had looked at me and spoken to me before.

“You are correct about that, Evren.” The queen barely looked at him. “And we have much to plan before the nuptials take place and Gavril is blessed with the powers he has been carrying all along.”

Part of me wondered if that was true. Would my blood simply be awakening a power inside Gavril, or would he be taking from me something I didn’t truly wish to give?

“The people of Citlali will gather from afar to watch the crowned prince marry the Starblessed, and they will bow before his power.”

I heard her words, and I knew that they should have been what I was focused on. But all I could think about was the fact that Evren was going to be leaving.

This man was the son of my enemies and the brother of my betrothed, but I knew I didn’t want to be in this palace without him. It was a thought that was both foolish and reckless.

“You may be the Starblessed, Adara, but there are many things you must be taught before you can become the princess of Citlali. Things I have no doubt your Starless upbringing will leave lacking.”

I set my fork down against my plate as my stomach rolled. This woman hated me. She had wanted me here so badly, but she hated me just the same. And her venom was lethal.

“May I be excused?” I looked away from her and directly up at the king. If the queen wasn’t going to show me even an ounce of respect, then neither was I.

The king faltered and looked to the queen before glancing back at me. “Of course.” He nodded once, and I quickly stood before anyone could reach for my seat to help me out of it. I didn’t need their help. I didn’t want it.

I didn’t offer any of them any sort of pleasantries as I walked away from the table and pushed out of the doors that were still guarded heavily.

I wanted to escape their judgment and superiority. I felt like I was drowning in it. I pushed through the hall, one foot after another, as I tried to calm my racing heart.

I rounded the corner to my room when I felt someone’s hand slide over mine and jerk me to a stop.

“What are you doing?” I searched over my shoulder and tried to pull my hand away from Evren’s touch, but he refused to let go.

“Are you okay?” He practically growled the words at me, and the sound infuriated me.

“Am I okay?” I laughed. “Why in the gods would you care if I am okay?”

He stepped closer to me, and I retreated. “I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?” I jerked away from him again, and this time he let my hand fall from his. But that didn’t stop him. He pushed forward until I had no choice but to press my back against the wall.

“About your father. I had no idea.”

I swallowed hard as he searched my face. I didn’t want to talk about my father with him. Not when his parents were the ones who took him from me so ruthlessly.

“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head and looked away from him.

“It does.” He lifted his hand as if he was going to force me to turn back to him, but the markings on his fingers caught my attention.

“What happened?” I reached for his hand and turned it over in my own. The tips of his fingers were solid black, and the color seemed to be bleeding up his skin. I had no idea how I hadn’t noticed it earlier. I pressed my fingertip to his dark one and a flare of power shot through me.

“Nothing.” He pulled away from me and slid his hands into his pockets as if I could forget what I had just seen.

“Something happened.” I pointed toward him. “Were you hurt?”

A grin slid across his lips. “Are you worried about me, princess?”

“Of course not.” My chest felt heavy under my lie.

“You’re not a very good liar.” His voice was low, and his gaze dropped to my mouth as he spoke. The combination was deadly.

“I’m not lying.”

“You know that I face far worse every day than what lies behind the walls of this castle. I can handle myself.”

“Do you?” I blinked up at him. “Your mother seems pretty terrible to me.”

“The queen is not my mother.”

I shot back, my back slamming harder into the wall, and searched his face for the truth. “What?”

He pulled his hand from his pocket, and I could barely focus on the stain of his skin. He touched the bottom of my braid, exactly where Gavril had earlier, and he twisted it around his dark finger.

“I am the bastard son of King Riven. I was born a month after his wedding to the queen, and I was brought to the castle shortly after.” His muscles tightened as he spoke, and I felt dizzy as I watched him.

“Where’s your mother?”

He shook his head, but I felt desperate to know the truth of his words.

“Is she alive?”

“From what I know, she is.” His gaze darkened as he looked down at my braid which he was still toying with. “I am forbidden to see her.”

“Why?”

He bit down on his bottom lip as his jaw clenched. I should have respected his privacy. But Evren was such a mystery to me, and regrettably, he was one that I was desperate to figure out.

“Why, Evren? Because of the queen?” I practically begged for his answer.

“Because my mother resides in the Blood Court.”

My mind raced over what he had just said. I had never heard of a fae living in the Blood Court. “How can she? Is she safe?”

His hand tightened against my hair. “She is.”

“How? I don’t understand.” I shook my head as I tried to make sense of what he was saying.

“My mother isn’t fae, Adara. She is of Sidra.”

“What?” I jerked back and my braid fell from his touch as fear ran down my spine. “That’s impossible.”

He watched me for a long moment before he answered. “It’s rare, but it’s not impossible.”

In all the history and legends I had ever heard, no one had ever spoken of such a thing. Fae and vampyres were enemies and had been for centuries.

“So, you’re…” I trailed off as I searched his face, but he refused to finish my sentence. He didn’t move a single inch as he stared at me. “You’re of the Blood Court.”

“I am born of blood and magic,” he corrected me with a voice that was resolute. “I am neither of the Blood Court nor the Fae Court fully. But I choose to serve my father.”

“But you’re still—” My voice trembled.

“Yes, Adara,” he cut me off. “I am half vampyre.”

Even though I could see the seriousness in his eyes, I didn’t want to believe him.

He was a prince. A member of the royal family, and I didn’t want what he was saying to be true.

“You’re older than Gavril?”

“I am.” He nodded, and I noticed that he inched closer to me still.

“But you aren’t the crowned prince?”

He studied me before smirking. “Is that what you would have preferred?” He closed the gap between us again, and this time I didn’t retreat. Fear coursed through every inch of me, mixed with a lust that I didn’t understand. “Have you been dreaming of what it would be like if you were betrothed to me instead of him?”

“Why would I ever do that?” I whispered, but gods, he was right.

“Because, princess…”

I watched his dark fingers as they ran across his jaw.

“I think we both know that I could do things to you that my brother would never dream of.”

My stomach tightened at his words, and I reminded myself that I was to be fearful of him. He was everything I had ever been warned about, a mirror image of my nightmares, but I couldn’t stop myself from wishing that he’d close the distance between us and press his lips to mine.

“I’m not your betrothed because they wouldn’t dare put that precious crown on the head of the king’s half-blood bastard son.”

He slid his hand along my side and inhaled sharply when his fingertips met the bare skin of my back.

“What happened to your hands?” I searched his face. “Did the queen do that to you?”

“I just told you that I am a half-breed, and you’re worried about the color of my fingers?” Those fingers in question pushed against me, and his touch thrummed with a barely controlled power.

I didn’t answer him because I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. I was more fearful of him than ever, but even that fear couldn’t stop my eagerness to understand him.

“It’s a consequence of my magic.” He lifted the hand that wasn’t clinging to me and held it up between us. “All magic leaves a mark whether it’s on the soul or on the skin, and dark magic leaves a notably more grim scar. Though it does fade.”

“You’ve been using dark magic?”

I didn’t truly understand what that meant, but I knew that it wasn’t good. Magic itself already felt so unthinkable to me, but dark magic? I couldn’t fathom the things Evren could have done to leave such a mark on his skin.

“One of the many costs of being a captain in my father’s army.” He clenched his hand into a fist before dropping it back to his side.

“And are there any advantages to it?”

His fingers tensed against me, and I almost lost my train of thought.

“Bastard son or not, you are the son of the king.”

A smile danced along his lips as he looked down at me and his voice felt so rough as he spoke the next words to me. “I was the first to find you just outside the cleave, was I not?”

“And that is an advantage?”

“That was an honor.” He stepped closer to me, and his knee pressed between mine. “I may not be the Achlys that gets to claim you, but I was the first to look upon you. The first to dream of your star-marked face and imagine what it would look like beneath me.”

“You cannot say things like that to me.” I looked away from him as my stomach hardened, but he lifted his hand and quickly brought my face back to meet his.

“Why not? Because you are betrothed to my brother or because your thighs just tightened around mine as you imagined it yourself.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he wasn’t finished.

“It doesn’t matter that you are destined to be his. Every part of you is begging to be mine.” His hand lowered, and I so easily allowed him to tug my hips forward until they met his. I was lost in the way he was looking at me, lost in the way his body felt against mine. “Tell me that isn’t true?” he whispered against my neck.

“It’s not.” I shook my head and my chest brushed against his. It was a lie, and we both knew it. Here he stood against me, the embodiment of my enemy, and he was right. I was ready to beg him for things I didn’t fully understand.

It suddenly didn’t matter to me what he was or how easily he could harm me. I was willing to beg him just the same.

“You’re really not a very good liar, princess.” He ran his nose along my neck, and I shivered as he took in a deep breath. “You smell fucking divine.”

I turned toward him, my lips so close to his, and I opened my mouth to say anything to make him do something that would stop the deep ache that began in my lower stomach.

“Evren.” His name was a plea, and he gently pressed his lips to the skin of my sensitive neck with a sigh.

I was shocked when I felt his teeth follow. Not hard enough to puncture my skin, but enough pressure to give me a mix of pleasure and pain that caused me to gasp at the sensation. I clamped my eyes closed and pressed my hips harder against his. His hand stiffened and his breath rushed out against me.

“Oh my!” I heard Eletta’s soft gasp just as Evren jerked away from me.

“Eletta.” Panic consumed me as I called out her name, and she stopped in her tracks in the direction in which she was trying to retreat.

“I’m sorry, Starblessed.” She shook her head gently, and I moved away from Evren as quickly as I could. “I didn’t mean…”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” I pushed my hair out of my face as I made my way toward her. Evren’s hand slid against mine as I passed, and I couldn’t force myself to keep walking. Instead, I stopped and looked at the prince who didn’t belong to me.

His face was hard and unreadable, the opposite of who he had been only moments before, but it didn’t lessen the way I wanted him.

He didn’t say anything. His eyes simply slid past me to where Eletta stood with her back now turned to us, and when he looked back to me, his gaze delved into me like a warning. Of Eletta?

I felt like I could trust her more than anyone else in the palace. She had been the most forthcoming out of everyone thus far, but something in my gut told me to trust Evren.

I let my hand slide away from his, and I continued in the direction of my lady-in-waiting. She glanced up at me with embarrassment marring her lovely face when I got to her side, but she didn’t say a word about what she had just seen.

“Would you like to head back to your room, my lady? I can draw you a bath.”

“Thank you, Eletta.” I looked back over my shoulder, but Evren was already gone. “But I think I would like to spend some time in the library tonight.”

“Of course.” She bowed her head gently before leading the way.