4. Montana

Erik didn’t come back during the night, and in the morning, I found my eyes stinging from the tears I’d cried but dry at last. My body felt heavy, numb, but I had several reasons worth rising for today. Callie sat at the heart of them all, but vengeance sang louder than the rest.

I finally left my room dressed in jeans and a black sweater, my feet firmly in sneakers, the notion to run never too far from my mind. But Wolfe’s death would be mine first. And what I needed to secure that was Nightmare. Erik may have been planning some vague punishment for what the general had done, but I didn’t trust his word on it being enough. Wolfe deserved a slow, agonising descent into hell and nothing less.

I embraced the quiet of the house as I moved to the door, turning the brass knob, and opening it. Alone time was how I coped with things best, and I was glad of it now.

I stepped into a bright corridor with dark wooden floors, sunlight streaming through high windows in the roof above. It felt like an attic space, the roof tapering into a triangle above me. The rafters were engraved with odd symbols and words written in a language I couldn’t decipher.

Gammel kjærleik rustar ikkje.

I moved along, passing sun-drenched potted trees sitting beneath high windows, their leaves tilted towards the light like a thirsty creature taking a drink. I found a twisting staircase that wound down through the house like a vine curled around a tree trunk, following it deeper into the belly of Erik’s home. I passed corridors leading this way and that, glimpses of light and lustre beckoning me to them, but I kept heading down until I reached the ground floor, figuring I would start my hunt at the bottom and work up. But from the size of this place, it looked like I was gonna have one helluva job finding Nightmare. I tried to listen for its voice, or perhaps sense it, but all was still.

I found myself in an expansive kitchen-lounge area where the walls were cream, and the wooden floor was a soft hazel. I walked toward a large fridge at the far end of the room, surrounded by a nest of cupboards. I tugged it open with a scowl, expecting my fury to sharpen at the sight of the blood hidden there, but my brow creased in surprise. There was no blood; it was packed solid with food. More food than had ever been stocked in my family’s kitchen, an obscene amount. Enough to feed my entire apartment block.

My stomach felt leaden this morning, and I had no desire to eat anything in front of me, despite knowing the insult that would offer the people of my Realm if they knew how I’d dismissed it.

Shutting the fridge, I moved to the wide basin and poured myself a glass of water, drinking it down in a few gulps. I placed the glass on the side, focusing on the quiet that stretched out into the house, wondering if there were any guards lurking close by. There could be fifty hiding in the shadows and I’d never know, their footsteps lighter than a breeze against the floorboards.

I moved through the living area where plush sofas sat angled towards a giant TV on the wall, then stepped into another empty hallway. At the far end of it was a colossal bookshelf covering the entire wall. My mouth parted as I approached it, running my fingers over the bound spines, my heart longing for all the words inside them. So many stories, so many truths. I’d only had a handful of books to read my entire life, and I’d often imagined what it would be like to have access to more. The information they held about our world was unfathomable, knowledge I had never had a chance to claim.

I dragged my mind back to the task at hand, wondering where Nightmare might be hidden. Though a doubt flittered through my mind. Perhaps it wasn’t here. Maybe it was back in the castle or even somewhere else in the city. But as I focused, a very faint feeling made my heart jolt with hope, just the touch of a vibration in the air. Excitement fluttered through me at the possibility that I could find it with my mind somehow, like I was linked to its very essence. I shut my eyes, trying to reach out to the blade so it might draw me to it, and the sensation grew a little stronger.

I moved on through the house, playing hot and cold with the blade as I tried to narrow down where it was, the hum of it increasing and then decreasing depending on where I went. My path always led me back to the bookcase, but after searching all over it, I had to accept it wasn’t there.

I gave up and headed to the exit I’d found further down the hall, the wooden door arching at the top and set into a beautiful alcove where coats hung on iron hooks. A small, frosted window allowed the daylight in from outside, creating a circular pool of gold around my feet. I reached for the latch and turned it, wanting to test how far my freedom really extended. Or if Erik’s word was bullshit like I suspected.

To my surprise, the door opened and a frosty breeze caressed my cheeks, the grass in the yard twinkling with morning dew.

“Good morning, Miss Ford.” A guard stepped into view like a ghost materialising from the afterlife, making me jerk back in alarm. She had a large sword strapped to her back, her black uniform criss-crossed with leather straps that held other sharp daggers in place. Her face was a vision of soft angles, and her eyes were glowing with intrigue. “Prince Erik has asked me to keep an eye on you.”

“Of course he has,” I muttered, folding my arms. Just as I’d suspected, I was no more free now than I had been before the choosing ceremony. “He also said I’m not a prisoner anymore.”

“You’re not. It’s entirely for your protection. After the attempt on your life the other night, the prince wishes for you to be given the highest security available.”

“And that’s you?” I asked, narrowing my eyes. She was slim, slightly taller than me, but she held hardly any of the intimidation some of the other vampires did. She had an easy nature about her that didn’t seem all that threatening, and yet I knew I’d be a fool to dismiss her. The wickedest kind of monster might wear the friendliest face.

She laughed softly. “I assure you, I am one of the finest bodyguards in the New Empire. Prince Erik sired me himself.” She inched closer, her chin rising. “I’m adept in all forms of combat, I have served the Belvederes for four hundred and eleven years, and not one vampire has crossed me and survived the interaction.”

My brows lifted. “Oh.”

“My name’s Sabrina. Would you like me to show you around the garden, Miss Ford?”

“No, that’s fine.” I moved to step past her, but she barred my way, still smiling.

“I’ll have to follow you. I can remain twenty paces behind if you’d prefer, but those are Prince Erik’s orders.”

My lips pressed together. This was my new way of being chained, I was sure of it. I’d been a mutt in a cage and now I was upgraded to a dog on a leash.

“And what if I want to leave the yard?” I asked, eyeing the large sword on her back.

She shrugged. “I’ll come with you. You have a car at your disposal.”

I frowned, figuring I couldn’t exactly drive myself anywhere anyway. “And what if I want to leave the city?”

She laughed in surprise. “To go where?”

“I don’t know...back to my Realm?” I suggested, curious to see how far I could push Sabrina.

“Well, you need a passport to travel out of the state, Miss Ford. You’d have to ask your husband-to-be to organise that for you.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, feeling like she was countering me on every move with annoying grace. “And will the prince be informed of wherever I choose to go within the state?”

“Of course. But only if he requests the information. He isn’t spying on you, Miss Ford.”

“Montana,” I corrected, growing annoyed with the formalities. I wasn’t nobility. She was just doing as she’d been told by my captor.

“Oh... I really must insist.”

“Don’t call me Miss Ford,” I pushed. “Montana, okay?”

“Okay,” she gave in. “So, Miss Montana-”

“Cut the Miss,” I said. “Just Montana.”

Sabrina hesitated, obviously struggling to let this go.

“Alright...Montana.” I could tell how uncomfortable she was about this. She was probably going against Erik’s wishes, but if she was my bodyguard, I wasn’t going to have her talking to me like I was one of the royals.

“So, Sabrina...Erik hid a gift for me in the house,” I said, faking a bright smile as if I was enthralled with the game. “I’ve been looking all over for it, but I can’t find it.”

Her eyes lit up. “How romantic.”

“Yes, but I think he’s taken the game a little too seriously because I’ve searched everywhere with no luck. Do you have any ideas where he might have hidden it?”

“Hm... come with me.” She strode into the hallway, heading toward the bookcase which encompassed the far wall. My heart sang as she paused in front of it, sure Nightmare was near and maybe Sabrina held the answer.

She gave me a mischievous look before taking hold of a red leather-bound book and tugging it backwards. A click sounded and a secret door swung inwards at the centre of the bookshelf, setting my pulse racing.

“It’s his favourite place in the house,” she whispered with a glint in her eyes.

“Sabrina, you’re a genius.” I hurried toward the door, stepping past her and entering a room which took my breath away.

A spiralling wooden staircase with an intricate iron railing sat at the heart of the room between shelves that reached all the way above me to a circular skylight. The stained glass cast the place in deep red and amber tones, making the floor ripple with colour, the image at the centre of the glass a tree with delicate branches and an equally intricate fan of roots below. The same symbol that was housed within the royal crest.

I moved further into the room, taking in the shelves which were stacked with beautiful objects. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. Giant stones that glittered, items made of gold, brass, iron, glass, wood. All in different shapes with different purposes I couldn’t even begin to fathom. There were books too, looking so old that their covers were brittle, spines cracked, and pages bent from how often they’d been pored over. Some of the names were written in that same language I’d seen in the rafters, but others I could read.

“Prince Erik adds to his collection regularly. He travels often, and always returns with an old artefact or two,” Sabrina said as she followed me into the room then pointed to the staircase. “There’s a seating area up there. When he’s not working, he can always be found here. But only me and a few other guards know about it. When the prince is here, he doesn’t want to be found.”

“What is all this stuff for?” I asked, moving to a pedestal where a large spherical object sat in bronze clasps.

“Well, that’s a globe,” she said, moving to admire it. “A map of our world.”

I reached out, pushing it to make it spin, hundreds of countries winking at me as it whirled before my eyes.

Sabrina stamped her finger down on it like a cat catching a fly between its paws, pointing to a location marked New York.

“We’re here,” she said, and I peered closer, trying to match this map up with the torn one Dad had shown us of our country. I grazed my fingers over the ocean which was so tantalisingly close to where we were now, grief slamming into me again so fast that it was like being thrown into that ocean and sinking away into its depths. We had often dreamed of finding our way to the sea, the three of us on a sun-baked shore where the sand was golden and the water brightest blue.

I withdrew from the globe, turning to the shelves and swallowing back the emotion welling in my throat. I didn’t want to break down in front of Sabrina. I just had to keep it together. Find Nightmare.

My eyes prickled as I walked to the closest stack of books, trailing my fingers over the spines. Dad would have loved the chance to read through these. He’d often spoken of the library he’d visited before the Final War. He said a book was a portal, and when life got tough, you only needed to enter one to forget your woes for a while.

“This is a telescope,” Sabrina said, and I turned to find her picking up a long brass object. “One of Galileo’s very first creations.”

“Who?” I questioned, but she moved on, picking up a circular gold object.

“This is a compass, used by a naval officer to cross the oceans long ago.”

“I see,” I said, unsure how that thing could possibly help someone cross an ocean.

I noticed a brass instrument with a long horn-looking thing on one end, and my heart jolted as I moved toward it.

“I’ve seen a picture of one of these before. It’s a cumpit,” I said with a little smugness at finally recognising something.

“Oh, um,” Sabrina cleared her throat. “It’s called a trumpet, actually.”

“Right, yeah, that’s what I said,” I muttered quickly, mentally cursing myself. “Look, is it okay if I have some time alone in here?”

“Of course, Mis- Montana.” She bowed her head, placing the compass down and exiting the room, closing the door behind her.

A breath of relief sailed past my lips. This room was like a glimpse inside Erik’s mind, a look into his many lives, and I wondered what drove him to collect pieces of the past like trophies.

I crept up the iron staircase, reaching out with my senses as I tried to locate Nightmare, sure it was close, like a fragment of my soul was calling to me.

“I know you’re here. Where are you?” I whispered.

I reached the top of the stairs and found myself on a wide balcony, and between two rows of shelves was a red wingback armchair. Beside it was a table with a book resting on it, its cover black with a single symbol on its surface in white, similar to those I’d seen in the rafters. I moved toward it, the scent of Erik everywhere in this place, cypress trees and rain. I wondered if he’d care that I was trespassing on his sacred space, if he might be angry that I’d found my way to the heart of his den.

I stood by the chair, detecting a thrum of energy coming from beneath it. Bending down, I slid a wooden box out from under the seat and my pulse quickened.

I pushed the top off and found Nightmare wrapped in a thick sheath of leather, the weapon humming excitedly as we reunited. Unravelling it, I took the shining gold blade in my grip and released a sigh of relief.

Moon Child, it purred.

I had no idea why I was so attached to this thing, but it immediately swept calm through my veins, soothing the aching grief in my soul.

“My dad’s gone,” I breathed, unsure why I was telling a hunk of metal my darkest pain. But it had always brought me comfort before, and I needed that now more than ever.

We shall end the one who did this.

I nodded, my veins surging with energy at the thought.

Drive me into the culprit’s heart.

Determination gripped me as I tucked the blade into the back of my jeans and pulled my sweater over it. I spotted a row of scrolls lining a shelf and moved toward them, taking one in my hand. Carrying it to the box, I wrapped the leather around it and pushed the box back into its hiding place. I didn’t know how long it would be before Erik figured out I’d taken the blade, but I hoped it would be long enough for me to kill Wolfe with it.

I turned toward the staircase, but my eye caught on the book Erik had been reading, a niggling urge to know what lay within it taking hold of me. A page was marked with a raven feather and my fingers itched as I picked it up, carefully opening the large tome and taking the feather between my finger and thumb.

The words swam before me for a moment as I adjusted to the small, printed text. A paragraph was circled in red ink. Slowly, I deciphered the words Erik had highlighted, my heart hammering in my chest as I sensed I was crossing a line here that the prince would not be best pleased with.

Andvari: Master of gold. Mythology recounts him in many forms. From a god, to a dwarf, to a powerful mortal.

The legend speaks of a magical ring, Andvaranaut, which held great power. It was one of many pieces of treasure possessed by Andvari, and the other gods often tried to steal it from him.

“Montana!” Sabrina called to me. “Prince Erik has summoned you to the city, we must leave immediately.”

I nearly dropped the book in alarm, quickly placing the feather back inside it and resting it down where I’d found it. I pushed away my annoyance at Erik for beckoning me like a pet and hoped more than anything that this was to do with Wolfe.

Jogging downstairs, I hurried out of the secret room, closing the bookcase door behind me and finding Sabrina holding a fine navy coat for me. I put it on, adrenaline racing through my blood at the thought of what was coming.

Sabrina led me out into the yard, and we followed a winding stone path around the house. The building was built from wood, huge logs stacked high, one on top of the other, right up to a slate roof.

We reached a wide stone driveway where a black car was waiting, and two more royal guards stood either side of it, looking far more imposing than my present company.

Sabrina opened the back door for me, ushering me inside, and my heart climbed into my throat. As I settled into my seat, I reached behind me and quickly slid Nightmare into a pocket inside the coat. Sabrina followed me into the back of the vehicle, placing her sword over her lap, an air of severity falling over her, giving me a glimpse at the deadly creature she really was.

“What’s this about?” I asked as the two guards got in the front seats.

“I’m not sure,” she replied, then called out to the guard in the driver’s side. “Gus, what news do you have?”

Gus glanced over his shoulder at me, his eyes deepest chestnut brown and his face a picture of hard angles. “Prince Erik has made an arrest in the city.”

Resolve found a space in my chest and blossomed like dark flowers.

I’ll kill you for what you’ve taken from me, Wolfe. You’re about to find out what happens to those who hurt my family.