Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 261(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
And then…peace.
9
The meadow is greener than before, and Rogan’s face even more handsome than normal. I float gently on the soft grass, staring into his emerald eyes, feeling the love, the completion. His aroma intoxicates me, yet I don’t crave his blood. I need only him for fulfillment. Just him…and this perfect garden of Eden that surrounds us—
“Ah!”
I gasp in a breath as a knife slices my heart open.
At least that’s what it feels like.
God, my baby!
“You heal quickly,” a voice says above me. “More quickly than some full-blooded vamps I’ve seen.”
I shoot my eyes open, but I can’t make out the face hovering above me.
“She’s awake, my king.”
Great. My father is here. Except I don’t sense his nearness. Perhaps that truly was all in my head. Perhaps I was never bound to him. Perhaps it was all a twisted mind game. My father is the king—no pun intended—of mind games. He’s always been a manipulative bastard, but even I never imagined he could manipulate Rogan and me into believing that we’re fated mates.
A figure looms forward, casting a shadow over me.
“Oh, shit,” I manage to croak.
It’s not my father, the vampire king. It’s Richard, my stepfather.
The demon king.
“I apologize for your injury,” he says, his voice low and grating. “You were never supposed to be harmed.”
What did you think would happen when you sent your minions out with those fucking flaming arrows?
The words don’t make it out of my throat, though. Only a grunt.
“The person who did this to you will be dealt with,” Richard says. “In the meantime, you need to rest. I’m going to inform your mother that you’ll make it.”
I shoot up into a sitting position. My mother knows I’m here? Why would she know about any of that? Does she know about the baby?
I can’t let them know about the baby. I can’t let them—
“Lie down.” He pushes me back onto whatever I’m lying on.
“Fuck that,” I grit out. “Tell me. Tell me now what my mother knows.”
“She knows you’ve been injured. Nothing about the war here. Nothing about anything else.”
“How does she—” I launch into a coughing fit. My throat is parched, and it hurts, as if small blades are cutting into the flesh.
“Quiet,” he says. “I’ve told you I won’t harm you out of respect to your mother.”
“Resp—”
Another coughing fit takes hold, and someone holds a straw to my mouth. I willingly suck the liquid, knowing full well I could be poisoning myself.
Rogan will come for me. He still thinks we’re mates.
My father will come for me. He doesn’t harbor anything close to love for me, but he won’t leave me in the clutches of the demon king. I’m still heir to his throne. I always was, for he knew Rogan wasn’t my mate. He knew he’d never have to turn to my sister, Larissa. Now Larissa won’t have to marry Rousseau.
Once I’m done drinking, Richard hovers above me once more. “Sleep, Hannah. We have a lot to discuss once you’re up for it.”
“I have noth—”
Damn it! The coughing starts again.
“We have a lot to discuss, I assure you,” he says. “Beginning with who your father really is, and what he’s done to you.”
“I already know,” I choke out.
“Do you? Then you know that you and Victor Rogan—”
“Don’t say his name.” I swallow back another cough.
“I’ll say more than his name. I know the truth. I know who cut out the hearts of those two vampires after Rogan killed them. It wasn’t you, Hannah.”
I close my eyes. He thinks he’s going to surprise me with my father’s treachery. Joke’s on him. I already know how treacherous my father is. I know how treacherous my stepfather is too.
“Rest,” he says. “When you’re stronger, I have a lot to tell you. But in the meantime…”
Something nuzzles my neck, and my vision goes blurry. I’m floating. I think. Or I’m dreaming.
“Hannah…” A soft hand touches my cheek.
I open my eyes, but I don’t jerk back upward. Instead, I squint, because I can’t possibly be seeing what’s there.
A beautiful face. A resigned face. A face not at all like my own, as I resemble my father. Except for the dimples. Those I got from her.
From my mother.
How can she be here? In the ether? In the demons’ lair?
How can she not be here? She’s his fucking wife.
I close my eyes again.
Succumbing to sleep. To the green meadow with Victor Rogan.
To complete and utter fantasy.
Rogan claims me, holds me, kisses me. We lie together in the perfect paradise, naked. Were we ever wearing clothes? I don’t know, and when he sinks his cock into me, I don’t care.
I want only Rogan…
Only Rogan…
The hunger then. The snap of my cuspids.
I sink my teeth into his neck and drink.
10
But…nothing.
No blood flows into me.
No nourishing elixir sustains me.
No—
My eyes pop open.
The blurred image is still there. I inhale. It’s her. Short brown hair, green eyes, pretty round face, and lips that no longer smile.