Page 75 of The Crimson Princess
Tabby’s eyes glow with approval as she looks me up and down, and confirms I’m unscathed. “You didn’t fight like the princess who got taken down by two werewolves tonight.”
“There were dozens of werewolves and I made a mistake I won’t ever make again.”
“That’s the way to do it,” she approves. “And you made no mistakes tonight. Thank you for fighting with us.”
“Yes,” Gideon agrees. “For a yoga-loving pussy warrior princess, you did okay.”
Tabby scowls at him. “Have some respect. Consider who she is.”
I laugh and Toren slides an arm around me. “I need a minute with Satima before we head to Ravengale.”
They all nod, a palpably darker mood amongst us all. Stefan steps in front of me. “You really were a warrior princess tonight. My respect to you.” He blinks away and the others follow their marshall.
Toren catches my hand in his and leads me into the alcove outside a stone encased cottage I’ve come to know as the way the villages’ retail stores and restaurants are designed. It’s a tiny space, the stone sheltering us from prying eyes, and I’m barely against the wall before he’s kissing me, a wild, passionate, desperate kiss that leaves me panting.
“You were incredible out there,” he says, his voice rough, urgent, “the way you fought by my side.”
“I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.”
“There are many things I want to say to you right now, Satima, the clock has run out on us. We have to go back. And we don’t have the net I’d planned for travel. We won’t have any time together when we get to Ravengale. You have to return to the castle.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I figured that out already.”
“This isn’t over. We aren’t over.” He kisses me again, and when his lips part mine, we’re standing at what we call a “divide” between worlds, in this case the one separating Bloodstone and Ravengale. Both sides of a divide are protected by each kingdom’s magic with only one well-guarded door used for approved passage.
“I crossed over last night to find out where the werewolves are hiding,” Toren informs me, proving he is still quite capable of bypassing the approved entrance into Ravengale. “They’re spread throughout all the villages on the east side of the forest.”
“There are dozens of villages. And you went without me?”
“You need to be able to tell your father where you were for the hours you were missing. And yes, there are dozens of villages.They’re all infested. I purged the Essex village. The rest require attention.”
In other words, he went to my world and fought our enemies, and without knowing this, I stood beside him tonight to fight his. There has to be a way that translates to peace between the vampires and the gales, but Toren doesn’t give me time to express this or ask questions about the werewolves. He blinks us to the other side of the divide, no push back from my father’s magic. None. Not even I should be able to pass in this part of the divide, but then I have more of Toren’s ancient vampire blood in me now than I do gale, and a part of me fears my father will know. Abigpart of me fears my father will know.
Toren blinks us again and we’re in the forest, a location close to the castle. He cups my face and kisses me hard and fast. “Just remember,” he says speaking in earnest, “everything I do from this point forward is about securing your kingdom and mine.”
“What does that mean?”
But it’s too late.
He’s gone.
Chapter thirty-one
Iwalkintothecastleto find Mikhail on guard just inside the foyer. “How did you become a doorman?”
“There seems to be a need for heightened control over who enters,” he explains. “Your father doesn’t trust anyone but me to screen visitors.”
The only one my father trusts, and yet Toren is surrounded by loyal friends. Toren was right. My father thinks the book is all that matters. It’s as if it enchanted him in some way. As if Crya enchanted him and I think maybe that’s exactly the truth.
“He’s been asking for you,” he adds. “He’s in the gardens.”
“Who else is with him?”
“No one at present. Idris was here to update him on the werewolf extermination operation last night but left looking rather, shall we say,tense.”
Aren’t we all after talking to my father? “Thanks, Mikhail,” I say, and head to the gardens, nervous as heck over my father potentially knowing I’m not only part vampire, but that Toren’s blood fills my veins. Can he sense it? Smell it? I really don’t know what he’s capable of at this point. I really don’t know him at all.
The table comes into view and I find my father eating a plate of sweet bread quite heartily. He reaches for his coffee cup, and pauses, his eyes lifting on my approach. He sets the cup down. “Where have you been?”
