The urge to jump into the sea is high right about now.
“Sister, we could not retrieve the third orb, but she has taken one of them,” Cross tells her, almost lovingly. I glare at him, wishing I hadn’t been so stupid to fall for his lies.
“How could you lie to me!” I scream at Cross. “All I wanted was to go home!”
“That island is not your home,” Sabina replies, taking a step forward. She seems to think better of it and holds her hand up. Like a snake wrapping itself around me, I am jolted forward, the toes of my boots scraping across the floorboards as I try to get myself free. “Don’t think about moving, little boy. I will kill you and the other human on board. Both of you are useless to me but serve to make Riona play along.”
“Play along with what?” I breathlessly demand.
She turns her head to the side. “Your parents kept many, many secrets. Especially your sweet dear mother. My sister.”
“No...,” I whisper. “My mother isn’t a witch!”
“Oh, she is, and she was meant to be head of our coven,” Sabina sneers. My aunt sneers. “Then our mother sent her to this vampire island to work with the old king, to make sure our alliance still held when he died. Then she disappeared, along with an orb that decides the next ruler of the vampires and gives them incredible power.”
“My parents wouldn’t do that,” I reply, gritting my teeth, trying to fight the invisible hold on me. Sabina walks up closer, so close I can smell the deaths she has caused stuck to her skin like a perfume. “They just wouldn’t lie to us for years!”
“Oh, they have lied to you for a long time. I don’t know what happened on this island or what your father did to convince my sister to leave everything she ever knew to run away with him, but it happened, and now I’m finally understanding it. When I met you, I saw why.” She pauses and looks at Cross. He tensely smiles at her before they both look at me. “The king gave the orb to your mother, and she did a spell to absorb the magic when she was pregnant.”
“So my mother had the orb?” I ask.
She smiles at me like I’m stupid for not knowing this. “Yes, and that is why you can’t be compelled, and it’s why you feel at home on the island. The orb might have even made you feel out of control, uncomfortable, because it drew you in. The orb seeks its counterparts, and now you have successfully taken the second orb. When you have the third, which will be soon, you will die by my hand, and I will rule the vampire island, taking back what is rightfully ours.”
I shake my head. “One small problem with your plan.”
She steps closer, grabbing my chin roughly with her hand. “What is that then, my niece?”
“Maddox will never give up the orb,” I laugh out. “He would rather kill every witch in his way.”
“But the mad prince has never been in love before,” she softly replies, forcing my hand into the air with her magic. I stare at my hand with her, seeing white root-like veins crawling all over my hand.
“What is that?” I question, tears pricking my eyes as I already know.
“The curse of being in love with the Mad Prince. You have a year, Riona Dark, and one way or another, you will die.”
Epilogue
Prince Maddox
Wiping blood from my mouth and eyes, I lift my foot and kick the door open. My brother is slumped on the dining table, his arm hanging off the side of the table. Bricks have fallen from the ceiling, destroying most of the room. The vamp girl he is always with is collapsed on the floor under a wooden beam, and I ignore her.
“Wake the fuck up!” I growl, moving to Reign’s side in a second and kicking his foot. He jolts awake like a lion, roaring as he looks around and finds me.
“Your human poisoned me!” he shouts in frustration, and then he sees the room. “And she fucking destroyed my house!”
I wait for him to finish his meltdown. “The human girl is more destructive than you, and that is saying something.”
“Yes, I am aware,” I bluntly state. “And I need to get her back. Now. We are leaving to murder an island of witches and start a war. Grab your swords.”
“I’m not helping you get her back if the witches have her,” Reign calls after me. I come to a stop. “Let her go, Maddox. She isn’t safe around you, and you will only lose her. Starting a war over a woman is not a good move.”
I told myself the same thing a million times as I ripped apart every human in my way on that port, but when I saw her on the edge of the ship, it felt like my heart was leaving with her. I’m fucked up and cruel. I’m a monster, but she is my redemption.
I can’t let her go.
“I love her.”
I’ve never said that about anyone, not my mother, or father or my brother. I never knew I could feel what I do for her so intensely. But I realised it the second I woke up, the second I read Cross’s note explaining who he is, how he has lived with me for so many years as a spy, and how Riona is theirs.
His.
Fuck no.
Reign sighs, leaning back on his table. “Then Riona Dark is a dead woman walking.”
“The witches have her,” I explain. “And I need her. I want her. I love her. Fucking hell, are you going to make me force you into helping me?”
“Perhaps begging will work,” he coldly responds. “It didn’t work for my human who you killed.”
“Fuck you,” I snap. “That was an accident, and I am sorry.”
He slowly smiles. “I never thought I’d see the day you asked for my help or apologised. Alas, I promised our father I would help you if you ever asked for it, and I promised my mother to always forgive our family.”
“Help me burn them all down and make them respect our rule,” I respond. He inclines his head, and I slowly smirk.
The witches are going to pay.
And I’m getting what is mine back in blood and fire. The witches are going to burn.
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G. Bailey is a USA Today and international bestselling author of books that are filled with everything from dragons to pirates. Plus, fantasy worlds and breath-taking adventures.
G. Bailey is from the very rainy U.K. where she lives with her husband, two children, three cheeky dogs and one cat who rules them all.
A few random facts about her...
She loves tea. (She may be a little obsessed but what Brit isn't?)
Chocolate and Harry Potter marathons are her jam.
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Her Guardians Series
Her Fate Series
Protected By Dragons Series
Lost Time Academy Series
The Demon Academy Series