EmoryI wake up sore in places I’ve never felt before, and it takes me a moment to remember why. I try not to even roll over because of the muscle pain I feel in my core. Blinking against the sun streaming in from between the splits in the curtains, I feel a pain that radiates from my forehead, where I’d crashed into Rainer the day before, through my skull, and out the other side. But that pain is nothing compared to the one I feel in my heart.A groan escapes my lips as I note I can still smell him on the bedding. I can still smell him on me. I push my head beneath the pillows, wondering what time it is but simultaneously not caring. I want to go back to sleep and wake up three days ago when I still had some control over my life. I want to remember all of this so I can avoid making the same mistakes twice. I want to take Lola and run away from home, but when my father tells me we are coming to visit the Vampire King to discuss his spoils of war, not his debt that he is rightfully owe

EmoryIt’s almost dinner time. But I’m not going back to the dining room today. I haven’t been told by King Kane that it’s okay for me to skip again. Maybe I need his permission. Maybe I don’t.I figure, if he wants me to know I should be there, he can come and tell me. And if he realizes he wants me there after dinner has started, well, he can send someone for me. I’ll just tell them I’m not feeling well.Either that, or I will show up at dinner wearing my baggy T-shirt and joggers.For most of the day, I’ve sat in the reading area with a book on my lap not looking at the words. Nellie asked me if I wanted to go to the library. She says it’s spectacular, with hundreds of thousands of books, and plenty of comfy areas to sit and read a book. There’s even a loft with a lovely view out the window of the lake on the east side of the castle.It did sound nice, but I’m not going anywhere. If my job now is to hang around the castle until the king or one of his noble people is ready to feed o

KaneI am walking through a meadow in the darkness. The tall grass waves in the breeze as the moonlight glints off of the trees in the distance. A slow fog rolls in from the edges of my vision. I am all alone, yet I know that Emory is somewhere nearby.I’m not sure if I’m looking for her or if I’m just cognizant of the fact that she is here, but as I near the tree line, she steps out, barefoot. Her hair is blowing in the same wind that stirs the trees, and the light makes her jade eyes glow.She looks lovely as always, but also a little wild as she stands there in a long green dress, her hands folded in front of her.“You should have told me,” she says.“I know. I’m sorry.” She has to be talking about the cherry blood, how I nearly tore her apart because I didn’t know she was a virgin and had to leave the room before it was too late. “I have been wanting to speak to you all day. I just didn’t know how to say it.”“Like you just did,” she says, her tone very direct. “I accept your apol

EmoryI hear a beeping sound, faintly, in the background, and I know that it’s some kind of machine. I remember hearing them in the hospital when Lola was born. For a moment, I am back there, and I am wanting to hold the baby but also want to see her mother, and I’m told that she died in childbirth. Sadness washes over me as I wonder who will take care of this little girl. Then, I vow it will be me.“Lola,” I mumble, but the voice I hear in response isn’t hers. It’s another familiar one, a voice that stirs all kinds of feelings within me as I begin to process the events of the last few days.“Emory.” He sounds relieved, like he wasn’t sure I’d ever speak again. “You’re okay, Em. You’re safe. I’m right here.”Kane. He’s with me. Wherever I am, with all of this beeping, he’s by my side. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can feel his hand in mine.I can’t feel much else, though. I wonder if that’s because those two bastards drank all of my blood. I remember now. I remember the note that led me

KaneIt’s difficult for me to decide what to do first, call Vampire King Peter to see if he has Opal and demand justice for what his bitch daughter has done here or to go interrogate Jacob. In the end, I decide to head to the dungeon first. I want to see the face of the asshole who tried to kill my Emory. Even though I can’t kill him like I wish to because it would essentially be an act of war, that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt him.I wish that Rainer would’ve killed him in battle, to some degree. After all, if that was the way it had played out, Jacob would be dead, and I could use the fact that he broke my laws and ran from my guards as an excuse for his death. His father would still be mad and come at me with his military, no doubt, but Jacob wouldn’t be alive to know about it.I’d originally told Rainer to bring them both back alive if possible because I wanted to hurt them myself. Now, I am fairly certain I will kill him if I’m not careful, and I don’t want his father to be able to