Page 30 of Deadly Alliances

“I’ve never had a sister before,” he commented softly.

My lip pouted as my wax heart melted further. “Aww, Alex, I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “It’s not so bad most of the time.”

“What...?” I paused, unsure how to ask about his mom, especially when the loss of my own hurt so much. Finally, I decided to just bite the bullet. “Where’s your mom?”

His face clouded, his cherubic features hardening. “Shifters killed her. Father says they would’ve killed me, too, if he hadn’t discovered what was happening.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. Father says when I’m old enough, I’ll become a vampire, and then I’ll be able to take revenge. If I want.”

I felt the color drain from my face. To hear Alex talk like that—as if becoming a vampire was the most natural thing in the world—dispelled my growing comfort. “Do you...want to become a vampire?”

Alex pushed his plate away, glancing at the hidden servant’s door. “Wanna go for a walk? I’ve got something pretty cool I wanted to show you.”

I took the last bite of my breakfast and swallowed. “Sure. Lead the way.”

He led me to the stairs, and we made our way to a large room filled with the pillars—I’d since figured out there was only one of those.

The guards followed at a distance and Alex soon pulled ahead, making me hurry to keep up. When we reached the elevator, Alex swiped his card. But when the door opened, he darted in, hit a few buttons, and darted back out, tugging on my hand to pull me toward the far end of the room and using the pillars to hide us from the guards.

Clever little guy, losing the guards like that.

My brows furrowed as I tried to figure out where Alex was taking me. After the guards went down a flight of stairs to try to catch us, he took me upstairs—the same ones we’d just come down—to a blank wall. Squinting, I saw the faint outline of a door, hidden in the same manner as the servant’s entrance into Alex’s room.

Alex pushed on a stone, and the door eased open, revealing a bright late morning sky. This was the door to the roof, the one I’d been looking for ever since I’d arrived. To think I’d passed it so many times with no idea it was hidden in plain sight!

I wrapped my arms around myself as I stepped outside, the chill winter air poking through the holes in my sweater.

“Oh, hold on,” Alex said, and he darted back indoors.

I had a moment of panic as the door closed behind him, and I wondered if maybe he was playing a trick onmeinstead of the guards. But Alex came back a moment later with a couple of blankets, and he handed one to me.

“It’s almost always cold up here, so I keep some blankets near the door.”

“Do they know you come up here?” I asked, gratefully tugging the heavy fabric tighter around my shoulders.

Alex looked at the ground and kicked at a loose stone. “You’re the first person I’ve brought here. You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

I nodded. “Cross my heart. In a place like this, it’s probably nice to have a spot you can call your own.”

Alex smiled wide, warming me more than the blanket could. “We can talk more out here. The guards will be busy for a while trying to catch up to the elevator. And being vampires, they won’t be able to come out now that the sun’s rising.” He nodded toward the sherbet hues on the horizon, and I smiled.

“What you were asking before,” Alex continued, “about wanting to become a vampire?”

I nodded in patient encouragement.

Alex stared eastward, and I waited, not wanting to burst the moment.

“I don’t know.” He turned back to me, pulling his own blanket tighter. “In some ways, I do want to be a vampire. I mean, they’re so cool! Super-fast and strong and smart. And Father says I’ll bethe best of them all. I’m the next Denholm heir. I’ll get born with like, ten times the power. Or however many Denholms there are.”

“That does sound pretty cool,” I said. “But you’re still not sure?”

He met my gaze, the golden glow catching in his blue eyes. “It kind of scares me. And I’m not sure I want to take Father’s place as leader of the vampires.”

I nodded. “Big shoes to fill.”

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