Chapter 51

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

FRANKIE

We stopped at the end of a grand hallway where the wall behind us was made of limestone instead of marble. The ceiling was vaulted with wooden beams. My focus went to the wall in front of us, which was a row of massive stained-glass windows running the entire stretch of the hallway. Each window held a different image. They were Sweyn's lie, images to literally teach vampires an incorrect version of history where the vampires were the victims. My stomach rolled.

But I remembered standing right here with Everest. I didn't want to go back to those days, to those memories, yet my mind and heart had a different idea. Suddenly I was right back there with him, begging him to run away with me.

"And I'm the enemy in disguise."

He reached up and tucked my hair behind my ear, then traced the backs of his fingers across my jaw. "No, Gali, that would be me."

My heart sank. I looked up at him, and my chest felt tight. I wondered just how long he'd been playing this game. Hiding. Scheming. I wondered if he was as lonely as I suspected. My heart hurt for him. This palace was a ruthless, cold place. I reached out and took his hand. "Run with me."

He closed his eyes and cringed. With a sigh, he leaned into me and pressed his forehead to mine. His breath swept over my face. For a brief moment we stayed like that, just breathing each other in. Then he pulled back, his eyes dark and distant and refusing to meet mine. "One day."

I wanted to scream. "Why? What's stopping you? Be on the side where your heart lies."

He cleared his throat and stepped back. A cold draft filled the space between us. "My heart died a long time ago."

"No, it didn't." I glanced left and right, then reclaimed the spot right beside him. "Your heart shines through the darkness brighter than a full moon's reflection on the snow. Just because this palace is too cold to recognize the warmth, it does not mean it's not there."

He looked up at me with the most unreadable expression I'd ever seen. It broke my heart, and I couldn't even explain why. I had no idea where these emotions or these words in me were coming from. I barely knew him. But I knew him.

"Run with me, Everest."

He gave me a soft smile that melted my heart a little. "I shall meet you there and count the hours between."

My eyes burned. A hot lump formed in my throat.

" Come, we can't get caught out here ," Cooper whispered in my ear as he squeezed my hand.

I gasped and shook myself out of that moment. I may have been invisible, but Cooper, Bentley, and Lily were not. We'd gone to Sweyn's throne room first, but her throne had not been there, which meant it had to be in the ballroom. I tugged on Cooper's hand to get us moving. The others couldn't see me, so we had to improvise. I led them down a flight of stairs made of stone to a grand wooden door that had to be twenty feet tall. When I pulled the door open just enough to slide through, my pulse quickened and my palms got sweaty.

Like Sweyn's throne room, this room's ceiling was made entirely of glass, as were three of the four walls. The stars twinkled in a navy-blue sky beside a crescent moon. The wall of windows were all shattered, so not only was snow pouring inside but we would be visible to the battle raging outside. We were going to be on full display.

All four of us froze with our backs to the closed wooden door.

Straight ahead, sitting in the middle of the room, was Sweyn's throne—a throne that was a smaller and more polished version of the one in the other room. This throne was made of marble. From the marble within her lair, Retrieve the stolen without flair. I'm such an idiot.

" Can any of you make yourselves invisible?" I whispered.

They shook their heads.

"Okay, stay here. Watch my back ," I whispered. " If I need help, I'll shoot my magic out. "

"I've never been able to sneak up on any of you," a voice said from right behind us.

We all gasped and spun around. My eyes widened. Braison stood in the open doorway. We hadn't heard him approach. Hadn't even heard the door open. Cooper, Lily, and Bentley all breathed his name. They were statues beside me. I glanced up and saw the tears in their eyes as they stared at their friend, their former family member.

Braison stepped inside the ballroom, silently closing the door behind him. He wiggled his fingers and thick gray smoke shot out of his palms. He strolled forward, whistling softly as his magic blocked the view of the throne from the outside. Then he stopped and leaned against the window frame at the far end of the room and looked at us. "This will not hold them, it may even make them more curious, but it will act as a speed bump."

"Braison," Cooper whispered.

He held his hand up and shook his head. "Now is not the time for our emotions. I can feel her in here, which means they can too. Whatever you're doing, do it fast or I fear that little Headless Horseman act out front may make a repeat."

"Braison—"

"Be fast." He nodded once, then leapt through his gray smoke and out of sight.

Lily whimpered. Cooper let out a shaky breath.

"Go, Frankie," Bentley whispered.

I cursed and raced for the throne, dropping to my knees at the base. And then I realized I hadn't asked anyone for advice on finding a hidden compartment. The pages of the book were dark in color but this whole throne was white—so it wasn't part of the throne, which meant it had to be inside of a drawer or something.

" The window, " Bentley whispered.

A moment later a handful of vampires leapt through Braison's smoke and landed inside the ballroom. Their eyes spotted my friends instantly. Cooper threw out his magic and put them to sleep. Lily drenched them in sunlight, burning them to ash in seconds.

"Frankie, hurry," Bentley said in a rush.

"Any tips how to find a drawer or something?" I cursed. "I'm still new here?—"

"Push your magic into the throne, like pouring water. Follow it to where it pools. That'll be the compartment."

I pressed my palms flat to the seat of the throne and pushed my magic out just like Bentley said, imagining it was water. The neon-blue flames slid over the seat and down the sides. The magic flowed to the bottom left, at the base of the armrest that went all the way to the ground. I glanced up and realized Sweyn's staff was usually propped right here, so that would be a great way to hide a secret drawer.

It took me a moment or two, but finally I managed to pry open a tall, narrow door in the armrest. Relief washed through me. But it was short-lived because the compartment was empty. Nothing but empty, cold air greeted me. I stuck my hand into the dark crevice, yet found nothing.

"It's empty." I shook my head and turned on my knees to face my friends. "It's gone."

Cooper scowled. "What do you mean?"

"Are you sure?" Lily asked with panic in her eyes.

Bentley cursed and lifted up his left arm that was covered in a white sleeve. "Pull my sleeve up. Pull it up."

His other arm was in a sling so he couldn't, but Cooper was quick to yank that sleeve up—he cursed violently. "You cannot be serious."

"Read it," I whisper-shouted but didn't move in case it had a clue for me.

"Remember where thy forsaken, A ruse we now must awaken. To play with rules that can't be broken, For only one can claim the spoken. But drop thy sword, flee the scene, This quest becomes evergreen. For upon the dawn my word shall come—" Cooper gasped, his face paling. He licked his lips and looked up to meet Bentley's eyes. " The Angel of Tides must ring his drum."

Bentley squeezed his eyes shut. Lily grabbed his wrist and re-read it.

The last line meant something to them, but not to me.

The lines flee the scene, This quest becomes evergreen meant something to me though. It meant Valathame knew the missing page wasn't here. She knew we had to come here for some reason, but we weren't going to find this missing page.

Black smoke billowed all around me. My skin sparkled and I knew Tegan's spell wore off because my friends cursed. Before I could even scramble away from whatever this was, Everest emerged from within the darkness.

He reached down and grabbed me by the jaw, his fingers digging into my skin. I hated how much I loved it. He lifted me up to his eye level. "Cooper is not your soulmate," he snarled.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I frowned. "What?—"

Everest shot black magic into my chest, then blasted it across the room toward Cooper. He turned my face to watch as the green heart-shaped crystal on his chest vanished. My eyes widened. He dragged me over to a column a few feet away, then dropped me to my feet and spun me around to face my own reflection in a mirror. The soulmate glyph on me was gone.

My pulse was flying. He gripped my hair, tipped my head back, then sank his fangs into my throat. I gasped and my whole body flinched. My body lit on fire inside. I watched my reflection as my blue eyes changed to pink . . . as those lines slid down my throat to my shoulder.

" You're mine, " Everest growled. "Not his. MINE."

An explosion rocked the castle so hard dust rained down on us. Everest tossed me to my knees on the ground, then vanished into darkness and completely out of sight.