Page 82 of The Crimson Princess
We hug one more time and she hurries away. Ambrose steps to my side. “She’s a survivor. She’ll be okay.”
“Yes,” I say, glancing over at him. “She is. And so are we. Let’s go kill some more werewolves.”
And that’s exactly what we do. We kill werewolves until dawn breaks in the skyline, and Ambrose and Idris leave me at the castle as we all head to bed for a few hours. When I finally lay down to rest, I reach for Toren but don’t feel him, and my mind conjurestrouble. What if Ruhn’s plan was to kill Toren before the Challenge?
By the time I’m up and in my formal gale uniform, I’m a wreck. Toren won’t answer me, and I keep hearing Raven in my mind saying,Something is coming. Anxious for the Challenge to be over, I head downstairs and find my father waiting on me, and dressed in his royal garb, he is a handsome man. And together, he and my mother were a stunning couple. Today will be his first Challenge without her in centuries.
I step in front of him and he settles his hands to my shoulders. “Princess Satima. My daughter.” He stuns me then and presses his forehead to mine. “She loved you so much.” And when he lifts his head and meets my gaze, there’s torment in the depth of his ancient stare. “You were right. I do not know you, and your mother would not want it to be this way. I vow to you now to be a better father.”
I know he must expect me to welcome this affection and there was a time when I would have gobbled it up. Now is not that time. “And yet,” I dare, challenging him, “you’d auction me off to the druids?”
His hand falls away from me. “When born a royal, you do what you must to protect your kingdom.”
“You will save your kingdom for this moment in time and lose it for the eternity that follows.”
The steel of his legendary temper, as my mother called it, sets in his jaw and hardens his voice. “Go to the limo.”
“You’re seeing enemies in the wrong places, and we will all pay the price. Stand with Toren against his brother before it’s too late.”
“Stop acting like one of Toren’s harem. You are a future queen. Get off your knees for that animal. Vampires are the sludge of all worlds. Don’t you forget it.”
I feel the words like a blade, slicing through my heart.Vampires are the sludge of all worlds. I swallow hard and fight back the burn in my eyes threatening to become tears. I want to scream at him. I want to tell him his queen was part vampire. ThatIam part vampire. But I don’t.
I walk away.
Once I’m inside the limo, I expect my father to join me, but he does not, almost as if he knows the truth and I’m not good enough to share a ride with him. No one joins me. The limo starts to move, and I sink back against the cushion, and I don’t even try to reach for Toren. I can’t feel him. He’s not going to answer, and I have a bad feeling all the way around. I’m not one of his harem. I will not let that comment get in my head. Toren was honest with me about his history. I trust him. I just want to feel him.
The limo halts in front of the building and when the door opens, Idris offers me his hand, helping me out and whispering, “What the hell happened between you and your father?”
“I dared have an opinion.”
“Bellar is seated next to you.”
That announcement lands as gentle as the two werewolves who ripped me apart, ugly and impossible to escape. “Wonderful. This day gets better and better.”
We turn toward the entryway as my father disappears inside. “I hate he has the druids sitting with the royal family,” Idris says, as we head toward the door. “There are murmurs all throughout the arena.”
“There’s nothing we can do about it at this point,” I say, pausing before we enter the stadium. “What is set in motion cannot be changed now.” With that, I enter the arena and Idris escorts me toward the royal seating. We’re about halfway there when I feel Toren’s presence and relief washes over me. He’s here. He’s alive. It’s as if a weight of a thousand pounds of magic has been lifted from my shoulders.
Unlike my previous visit to the Challenge, we are not in straight lines. There is a V setup, and one side is Bellar, me, Idris, and Mikhail. Across from us is King Darus, and my father, Ambrose, and Toren. Toren is directly across from me and when I enter and claim my seat, I can feel him in every part of me. He isn’t dressed as everyone else is, in formal royal garb, but rather an equally formal battle uniform. It’s all black, fitted, with etched blood-red armorbuilt into the chest and stomach. He also wears a black cape with a hood resting behind him, and I know from my training it’s meant to create movement that distracts opponents.
Bellar stands to greet me and I can feel the pulse of Toren’s irritation. I lift a hand at Bellar in warning, and he inclines his chin. “Princess.”
“Bellar.”
I sit and so does the prince who leans in close. “I sense discontent in the audience. They do not like us together.”
“Did you think they would?”
“I thought peace would matter to them.”
“The only druid they know is Macklemore. If you want them to accept you, I told you, you have to do something to win them over.”
“Fight. You want me to fight.”
“I want you to do something other than try to bed the princess of Ravengale.”
He laughs. “Well, that would have been fun, but I already figured out that’s not going to happen.”
