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He spun to leave the room, and I jumped to my feet. My body protested, and I winced, swaying a bit. He turned and pointed at me.
“Stay.”
“Is that an order?” I asked, but my tone had lost its usual sass.
“Dianna.” It was a warning. He said it as calmly as possible, but I saw the fury of emotion behind his eyes.
A storm made flesh is what I’d called him, and right now, I felt the pressure of it radiate through the castle.
Deciding not to push him any further right now, I nodded. With one more turbulent glare in my direction, he turned and left the room. I stared at the doorway, too tired to even care that he’d ordered me around like a mangy mutt. I eased myself back onto the bed and took a slow, shuddering breath. My hands trembled, and I looked down at them, covered in blood and ashes—Seraphine’s ashes.
I married into that coven to save Drake and Ethan. Her words chased each other in my head.
She and I were not all that different. We were both prepared to give up everything for the ones we loved. All that time, Drake thought she’d left him, abandoned him because she didn’t love him. He had been so wrong. Seraphine had loved him beyond reason. It would have shocked Drake to learn that the woman he loved more than anything wanted to fight me to the death to avenge him. Maybe they would find each other in the afterlife.
“This is not a game or any other childish endeavors you two wish to partake in! You had strict orders to watch and protect her! Instead, you decide to drag her to Onuna!” Samkiel bellowed, thunder cracking in the distance.
I was on my feet in a second, not caring that he’d told me to stay or that my back and body screamed in pain with the movement.
“Look how easy it was to be ambushed by simple vampires.” I had never heard Samkiel raise his voice before, never like this. “He could have taken her. Do you understand that?”
“We wouldn’t have let that happen,” Cameron said.
“Just as you did not let this happen, correct? All it would have taken was a single portal, and she would have been gone! I would never see her again.”
I stopped. A foreign warmth filled my chest and made my throat go tight.
“I’m sorry,” Cameron said, his voice subdued.
“Me too,” Xavier agreed, regret dripping from his tone.
No. They shouldn’t apologize. I pushed through the door and limped down the stairs, clutching at the banister.
“Don’t be mean to them. It’s not their fault.”
Every head turned toward me. Cameron and Xavier looked at me with identical expressions of shock. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little surprised, too. Why was I standing up for them?
Samkiel glared at me, and Cameron and Xavier looked between the two of us, seemingly stunned that my words had stopped him.
“Are you defending them?” Samkiel gritted out from between clenched teeth.
I shrugged. “It’s my fault. It was my idea. I antagonized Cameron. I just wanted out of here for a little while. The place we went to is usually less crowded, and since you opened the world again, no one would want to screw it up. There weren’t even cameras. So just drop it.”
It was a lie, but Samkiel didn’t need to know that.
Cameron and Xavier stared at me, an emotion I didn’t recognize flashing in their eyes.
“Your idea?” Samkiel asked, rubbing his hand across the growing stubble on his jaw.
“Yes. You know me and how convincing I can be. They didn’t stand a chance.” My eyes darted toward Cameron and Xavier, willing them not to say anything. Respect grew in their eyes, but they remained silent.
Samkiel nodded, still furious. “Regardless. They should—”
“It’s over now. Let it go.” Cameron’s brows rose, but I went on. “I don’t see the point of me being stuck here. Either drop it or take me to the council yourself. A prison is a prison, no matter how beautiful, Samkiel.”
The room got deathly quiet, but I meant every word.
Samkiel remained focused on me but said to Cameron and Xavier. “Leave. Make sure the council knows there was a vampire attack but that it’s handled. I don’t trust a no-technology policy. Make sure there is no footage out there that contains images of Dianna or either of you. I don’t want any word of this reaching the council. Understood?”
