Page 10 of House of Royals

Flesh.

Snap.Bone.

“Hey now, share, Carl,” the man says, and I can almost imagine the sarcastic smile that had to accompany it. “There’s plenty for everyone.”

Second by second, I feel like my strength is returning and my limbs regain their usefulness. Very slowly, I push myself up onto my forearms, nearly sitting up.

Footsteps crunch over the earth, returning to the van.

“Hey, hey!” he yells, jogging over to me. “Slow it down there. I knew it wouldn’t take much longer.”

Again, I am blinded by his flashlight. He holds my chin to keep me still as I try to turn my face away.

“What the hell?” he breathes. Over and over, he flashes the light in and out of my eyes.

“Stop,” I say, pushing his flashlight away. “My head is already pounding. That is not helping.”

“You’re getting your strength back,” he says, once again flashing the light in my eyes. “You lost way too much blood, though. There’s no way you shouldn’t be changing. But your eyes, they’re still dilating.”

“What are you talking about?” I hiss angrily, once again shoving the light away from my face. “And what the hell just happened?”

The man stands straight, his hands on his hips. “Aw shit,” he groans. “You’re a Born.”

“I don’t know what that means,” I moan. My head is pounding. I push myself up into a sitting position and swing my legs out of the van to dangle to the ground. “But I’d really like to leave now. And find a cop to talk to.”

“Not going to do you a bit of good in this town,” he says. “Where are you from, and why are you in Silent Bend?”

My fingers rise up to my neck. I fully expect to find shredded skin, the shape of a set of teeth. But the skin is perfectly smooth. Just a slick mess of blood. “I just moved here last week.”

“No you didn’t,” he scoffs and shakes his head. “There are no houses for sale in this town and there are no open rentals.”

“Who are you, the real estate police?” I snap back in annoyance. “And I inherited the Conrath Estate for your information, you asshole.”

“Excuse me?” he says with complete disbelief. “No, I don’t think so. There is no way Henry is dead, and there’s not a chance in hell he had any kids.”

“Yet here I am!” I yell at him. I work my way onto wobbly legs and take a step toward him. “I’ve got a will back at the Estate and everything to prove it. I’d invite you over to take a look, but I don’t let murderers into my new home!”

“No,” he says, shaking his head. “It can’t be true.” He steps around me and closes the back door of the black utility van. “Get in. We’ll go clear this up with Rath right now.”

“Great. And when you get confirmation, I’ll be contacting the police to have your ass arrested for intending to kill me!”

“If what you say is true, you’ll understand why I intended to in about twenty minutes,” he hisses as he opens the passenger door for me.

“Why would I get in the car with you?” I shout, throwing my hands up in the air. “We werejustdiscussing your intention to kill me!”

“Circumstances have changed,” he hisses through clenched teeth. “I promise I won’t kill you. So unless you’d like to bunk with the gators for the night, will you please get in the damn car?”

I stare him down, unable to make out any features other than the heat in his eyes. But there isn’t murder in them, so, holding his gaze the entire time, I climb in and he closes the door behind me.

There are a million questions frantically racing through my brain as he gets back in the van, starts the engine, and rolls through the swamp. But I can’t make sense of a single thought.

I’ve been attacked. This man killed my attacker. And this man had planned on killing me until something I did changed his mind.

The entire ride back to the Estate is in confused and disbelieving silence.

The second the gates to the Estate come into view, they open. The gravel crunches under our tires and the headlights illuminate the beauty that is the plantation mansion.

Standing out on the porch, hands crossed in front of him, calm and composed, is Rath.

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