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“Nava?”
Yes.
“Can you find Carmen?”
My cousins already search for her.
“Thank you.”
The door flings open, the wood splintering a touch as it smashes into the stone. My mouth drops as Raúl flies in, his hair disheveled and eye wild. His hands grip my face, turning my head back and forth. “Where did you get hurt?”
I raise my arm, and he seethes. Gently, he grasps my arm and kisses the scar, barely a whisper against my skin. “I will kill them,” he said. “I will rip out their throats for daring to even think about hurting you.”
Leaning forward, I touch my forehead to his. “First, let’s find your mother.”
“Henry is already on it.”
“Nava, too.”
Raúl strokes his thumb across my face. “I’m so sorry I left you alone. I should have been there.”
I shrug. “It’s okay. We both have our own lives to live and can’t be near each other all day and night.”
He hums to himself, then abruptly pulls away and kisses me on the forehead.
“I’m not letting you leave me behind when you go after Carmen,” I say, my voice determined.
He rubs a finger against his scar, above his eyebrow. “Penny. I’d love to take you. But how in all the realm will you be able to fight off even one vampire?”
“You’ve been training me every night. Aren’t I ready now?”
He shakes his head. “You are ready to fend off a drunkard accosting you in the street. But a vampire? Not even close. That will take years.”
My shoulders tighten, and I lift up my chin. “I took care of Niles by myself.”
His mouth drops open. “What?”
I bob my head in confirmation. “It’s true. I… don’t know what to call it. Drained? I saw the shadows around him, and when I pulled, they drained. They came to me.”
Raúl’s hand immediately goes back to his scar. “You took his shadows?”
“Yes. He couldn’t even get off the ground.”
He stands up, pacing the floor in front of me, muttering to himself. “Have you told anyone about this?”
I shook my head. “Good, good,” he says frantically.
“What’s the big deal?” I ask, tilting my head in confusion.
“Only one person has ever been able to steal shadows.” He flits to my desk, rummaging around the books there. He finds one and sits next to me on the sofa. I recognize the old leather cover as the one holding the five queens’ journals. He flips to the vampire queen, Queen Selene, and points to an entry in her journal. He reads it out loud. “Today, three vampires attacked a town. I dealt out punishment as usual, draining the shadows, keeping them alive but barely.”
I shrug. “So I have the same power as her. It surely isn’t that big a deal.”
Raúl shakes his head. “The vampire rebels will not believe that. You will be either a weapon for or against them. I will not stop you from helping find Mother. Promise me you will stay away from the vampire rebels after that.”
“I will the best I can,” I say. I am not about to make a promise, not knowing what the future holds.
He grunts and runs a hand through his hair. “Good enough.”
