B00C8324IS EBOK (25 page)

By the time she pulled away from me, we were both panting for breath. Her eyes focused on me.

“What was that?” I asked in between breaths.

“I couldn’t help it. You shouldn’t have kissed me before I left
The Shade. I’ve wanted the taste of your lips on mine from the moment I woke up on that damn shore in Cancun,” she admitted, her cheeks flushed pink, her lips swollen red. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You can kiss me anytime you want.”

She bit her lip and grinned. “Anytime?”

I smirked and nodded
. To my surprise, she pushed me back and placed her feet back on the floor. “It’s so hard to think straight when I’m around you!”

I fought the urge to laugh when she hit me on the shoulder, wincing when she felt more pain than she actually inflicted.

“Have you gone mad, Sofia?”

“I’m
supposed
to be mad. After what I saw, after what you did… You attacked Ashley. It took me weeks to finish the Sun Room and you destroyed my masterpiece in a span of a few days.” She hit me again a pout forming on her lips. She looked absolutely adorable. “I should be
flaming
mad…”

“And I’m assuming that this is you being
not
mad?”

She began pacing the floor in front of me as she shook her head. “I’m not mad, but I should be.”

“Why aren’t you?”

She stopped pacing, heaved one deep sigh and stared at me with burning emerald green eyes. “Because it’s you… How can I get mad at you when you’re standing right there… looking like
that…
distracting me?”

I began chuckling. “So I’m distracting you from being mad at me?”

She pouted before a giggle escaped her lips. She’d been back only an hour or two and she’d gotten me to laugh and smile more than I had during the whole time she was away. In that short span of time, she managed to make me forget even for a while all the pressures weighing down on me.

I cupped her cheeks with both hands. “I adore you, Sofia Claremont.” I then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead,
breathing out when her arms snaked around my waist.

She buried her face
against my chest. “Let’s just get out of here.”

“Lead the way.”

We left the penthouse and took our time meandering aimlessly through the woods, enjoying the silence and the privacy. We were silent for the most part until I found the guts to ask her the question weighing heavily on my mind.

“What did my twin tell you to get you to come back?”

“We were at Ben’s championship game. Football. Vivienne arrived and asked me to talk to her.”

Her mention of her best friend made a sick feeling settle
in the pit of my stomach. I’d completely forgotten about him. The idea that she was with him the whole time she was away from me introduced me to an emotion I felt only with Sofia: jealousy.

“We met up at a nearby coffee shop and she told me that I needed to come back here, that you needed me. She told me that you blacked out and attacked Ashley. She told me that you were headed for a dark path.”

“That’s it?”

She hesitated and then nodded. “That was the gist of it.”

It felt like she was holding something back from me. “And that’s what got you to come back? Because she said I needed you?”

She stopped walking, her eyes focused on the dirt ground below as she leaned one hand against a sycamore tree. “I guess you could say I came back because I was hoping it was true. The fact that it was Vivienne of all people who came to convince me meant a lot. I don’t think she was one of my biggest fans.”

I smiled bitterly. “You don’t know my sister. She thought very highly of you.” I eyed Sofia longingly, reminding myself that Vivienne believed she was important enough to sacrifice herself to the hunters for. I wasn’t about to take that sacrifice lightly.

“I know her more than you think…”
Sofia continued her story as we both once again continued our aimless walk through the woods. “Just before the hunters arrived, I think she sensed it. She did something to me… I’m not entirely sure what, but she said something about sharing memories with me and showing me the way back here. And then she held me and the memories just came…”

“She
shared
her memories with you?”

Sofia
nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth.”

“I don’t question that you’re telling the truth. I’m just surprised that she would risk doing it to a human like you. Transferring of memories has been known to leave many memory recipients in a state of coma. The human brain simply can’t handle the sudden influx of information… The human subconscious wasn’t made to contain and absorb the memories of others.”

“I passed out after she did it,” Sofia reasoned with a shrug. “I saw just enough to see the hunters take her away before blacking out.”

Silence followed, neither of us knowing what to
say. We just walked, relishing each other’s company. Enveloped by the darkness of night, I pocketed my hands in my jeans and asked her a much lighter question.

“What was the sun like?”

She smiled at the memory. “Warm. Hot. Everything the moon isn’t. Our first few days back in Cancun, Ben and I couldn’t stay out of the sun.”

Ben again.
Jealousy reared its ugly head once again.
“What became of him?” I dared ask.

“I’d rather not talk about him if you don’t mind…”

I nodded.

The rest of our walk continued in silence until a familiar sight came to view.

“The Sanctuary!” Sofia exclaimed, excitement lighting up her eyes as she bound forward. “I want to see Corrine!”

The Sanctuary, befitting its name, was located southwest of the island. The white marble structure, with its large round pillars and domed roof, was originally built to honor and house Cora, and later became home to every other witch
who succeeded her. One of its chambers also served as my mausoleum during my four-century slumber. Surrounding the structure were lush gardens, complete with a labyrinth, a gazebo and a fountain.

When Corrine saw
Sofia, delight showed in her eyes, but she didn’t seem the least bit surprised that Sofia returned, almost like she was fully expecting Sofia to eventually come back.

“
Sofia!” she exclaimed. “It’s good to have you back.”

It was
one of the few times I remembered seeing Corrine smile since I first met her.

She gave me a curt nod to acknowledge my presence. “Prince.”

Sofia’s hands found mine. “I’d like to speak with Corrine privately.”

“Of course. Go ahead. I don’t mind.”
Liar.
I minded. Now that she was back, I wanted to be around her as much as I could. Sharing her with someone I didn’t fully trust didn’t exactly thrill me. Still, I gave in to her request. I found myself alone, sitting on a bench by the fountain, waiting for what felt like hours for her to return to me.

I marveled at how the Sanctuary’s pure white marble façade seemed to glow under the light of a full moon. It was quite a sight to see, but the price paid for such a lavish structure lessened its value in my eyes.
Here at The Shade, everything beautiful and worthwhile comes at a price.

I shifted my focus from the witch’s temple to
what was straight ahead of me: Sofia was walking along the stone pathway leading to the gazebo. I’d already been there for what felt like an eternity, so seeing the women walk out, though they appeared to be completely oblivious of me, was a relief.

Sofia
locked arms with Corrine as the older woman spoke to her. I could only guess what they were talking about, but that didn’t bother me as much as seeing them walk side by side. The sight brought about a strange nostalgic sensation largely due to Corrine’s uncanny resemblance to her ancestor, Cora. It felt like I was watching two of the most important women in my life conversing with each other.

Sofia
’s emerald gaze found me. That’s when it struck me.
Sofia saved my life. Ashley meant to drive the stake right through my heart.
Her eyes left me for a moment as she nodded and thanked Corrine, who gave me a quick, harried glance before heading back indoors.

That left me,
Sofia and the numerous unanswered questions between us.
Finally. I have you to myself.
I stood up and approached her as she took steady strides toward me. The moment we reached each other, she took my hand and held it tight. We walked forward in silence, away from the Sanctuary and headed for the woods that would eventually lead to the Vale, the island’s town.

I dared catch a glimpse of her. Illuminated by the moonlight, she was quite a vision to behold.
Her eyes were downcast, focused on the ground. She stopped walking and made me face her with a squeeze of her hand on mine. I found myself suddenly anxious when she said:

“
Your few hours are over. We have a lot to talk about.”

Walking through the woods, along the familiar gravel pathway that led from the Sanctuary to the Vale, I found myself bothered by the things Vivienne told me – about how Derek was veering towards his dark side. I witnessed that first hand with the scene I walked in on upon my arrival. The conversation I had with Corrine further heightened my anxiety over Derek when she confirmed the things that he’d been up to during my absence – how he seemed to be gearing everyone up for war, the census, the ban from all further abductions and what that could imply…

I didn’t know what to make of all the things I’d been told and I felt unsure
about what I was supposed to be doing at The Shade.
What impact did Vivienne think I could have here?

My eyes were beginning to moisten with tears as I looked up at Derek. I needed to talk about what happened. I wanted to understand him again, because the time I spent away from
The Shade felt like a giant rift between us.

“Where do you want to begin?” He sounded nervous.

I forced myself to keep my eyes on him as I expressed what was going on first and foremost in my mind. “Ashley… you were about to…” I choked, unable to say the word out loud.
You were about to rape her.

His gaze left me. He said nothing. It was almost as if he was hoping that I would just forget what I saw, that we could just move on without ever addressing what happened.

“Vivienne told me that you attacked Ashley… in the Sun Room…”

His eyes darkened and once again focused on mine. I didn’t know what I said, but something triggered his ire and he began walking forward until he managed to back me up against the trunk of a giant willow tree. “
Vivienne
is
why I did it. When I heard that the hunters had my sister and that you were the reason she left The Shade, I couldn’t understand it. I couldn’t understand what it was with you that she had to risk her own life just to get you back here.”

I swallowed. I didn’t know how to respond to that.
I don’t understand either. Not completely.
I was back at The Shade, because it had this hold on me, because
Derek
somehow managed to forever etch himself in my mind. Standing there, however, with him so close to me, I found that I had no idea what Vivienne thought I ought to accomplish by being there.

Derek was in turmoil and it was easy to see that not having Vivienne around was ripping him apart inside. I knew how precious she was to him, but I couldn’t understand why he would take out her loss on Ashley.

“I don’t see how
that
justifies what you did to Ash…”

“I’m a
vampire,
Sofia. The only reason I was trying to control my impulse to kill Ashley after having fed on her was because she mattered to you. After I lost Vivienne because of you, I wanted to punish you. You weren’t here, so I punished someone you cared about instead.”

His reasoning and all the flawed logic it was
based on was making my mind reel with anger. I couldn’t believe that he meant what he was saying, and I looked at him, wondering if he thought that “I’m a vampire” was reason enough to harm a defenseless innocent like Ashley. Unable to control my rage, I thought myself insane when I gave in to instinct and did the unthinkable.

I gave him the most defiant glare I could manage and steeled myself against the consequences of what I was about to do. “I’m here now, am I not?
I’m
the reason the hunters have your sister.” Trembling, I loosened the top two buttons of my blouse and pulled my right sleeve down my shoulder.

“
Sofia? What are you doing?” His voice sounded choked and breathless, his eyes wide with both anticipation and shock.

I responded by gathering my
hair over my left shoulder and tilting my head sideways so that the skin on my neck was exposed to him. I took note of how his body tensed as his fists clenched when he realized what I was doing.