Before Midnight (9 page)

Etienne cursed himself. He should have approached the secret room more slowly, waited for his parents to finish the change and leave before coming this way. If only he’d been thinking ahead instead of thinking about what he’d left behind…

You didn’t need to come this way, you fool, a voice in his head screeched. You can’t turn into a wolf! You could have gone out the front door.

“Etienne, your mother asked you a question.”

His father’s voice was still calm, but his eyes were piercing and his mouth was set in a grim line. Etienne let out a breath and straightened his spine.

“I’m coming out on patrol tonight.”

“You—”

“That’s wonderful, dear,” his mother interrupted his father. “But why didn’t you go around to the stables and have Maurice saddle a horse for you? You can’t think you’re going to patrol on foot?”

On two feet you mean,
Etienne thought glumly. He shrugged his shoulders. “A horse is too conspicuous. I’ll patrol on foot.”

“Etienne, be reasonable,” his father protested. “You are the prince, your safety is paramount.”

“And I’m too weak to patrol now, is that it?”

His mother frowned and Etienne had to clench his hands into fists as he steeled himself against the urge to apologize. He hated upsetting his mother, but he couldn’t let this go. Blessing or no blessing, he still had a duty to protect his kingdom.

“Where is all this coming from?” the king asked, bewilderment furrowing his eyebrows. “I thought we agreed—”

“Etienne, where is Loupe?” his mother interrupted.

Etienne scowled at the flood of heat that washed over him at the mention of Loupe’s name. An image of her flew into his mind and he swore for a second he could feel the ghost of her body against the palms of his hands…

Frustration sizzled up his body like the wick on an explosive. Etienne growled and swept past his parents, ignoring his mother’s raised eyebrow and his father’s hanging jaw. He ducked as low as he could to pass through the tunnel carved in the stone that led out of the secret room.

He’d never been this way in human form. The exit had existed when his family had taken over the castle, an old escape route in case the palace was ever under siege. His family used it to come and go in wolf form without raising suspicion, but what was comfortable for a wolf was awkward for a full grown man. Etienne briefly considered dropping to his knees and crawling out, but his pride wouldn’t let him. Humans were not nearly as graceful as wolves on all fours.

Holding his breath, he paused at the end of the passageway. The bushes that had been so carefully cultivated around this wall of the palace were thick and had their share of thorns. It was yet another reason it was best not to use this passageway as a human. Without thick fur to protect him, Etienne was going to have a difficult time getting through the bushes without offering a little blood to the thorns.

Picking his way through as carefully and slowly as he could, Etienne tried to keep his mind from turning back to Loupe. He thought instead about the upcoming patrol. As a wolf, he would have covered a great deal of distance, starting around the palace and making ever widening circles toward the village. He wouldn’t be able to cover nearly the same amount of ground as a human.

Etienne gritted his teeth as he pulled a gnarled, thorny branch from his sleeve and stepped out into the night air. His black jacket hid any droplets of blood that might be oozing out from the cuts he could feel burning on his arm. Fighting the urge to howl in annoyance, he looked around to be certain no one was near and then stalked toward the edge of the forest to begin a perimeter walk.

Just as he reached the forest, a shadow dropped from the trees. In a flash, Etienne had his sword drawn, his body relaxed into a fighting stance. He used his peripheral vision to check for more signs of movement, but kept his gaze locked on the figure crouching in front of him. A soft laugh drifted from the cloaked figure and Etienne tensed.

“It’s true then, is it? The prince has lost his bite?”

“Who are you?” Etienne said, his voice tight with the effort to keep from beheading the man where he stood.

The intruder dropped the hood on his cloak and grinned at Etienne. Etienne hissed at the sight of pale white skin and the sharp points of fangs.

“Vampire,” he spat. “What are you doing here? You are a long way from Dacia.”

“I’m not here to fight, Your Majesty,” the vampire drawled, straightening up and examining his fingernails. He shrugged. “I am simply here because my king was…concerned about you.”

“If your king thinks he can take over my kingdom by attacking me now, then he is sadly mistaken. I am no human to disappear in the night never to be heard from again.” Etienne raised his sword, letting the moonlight glint off the blade.

The vampire eyed the blade with a bored expression. “My king has no interest in your death.”

“His reputation precedes him,” Etienne snarled. “He has an interest in everyone’s death. If they have land to claim, so much the better.”

The vampire smiled. “You speak as if you know him. I’ve no doubt you’ll be pleased to know that recent events have excluded you from the rather long list of individuals that would suit his majesty better dead than alive. I’m here to make sure you’re not thinking of doing anything that would render that null and void.”

“You make no sense, leech.”

“Name calling? Juvenile.” The vampire took a step forward, not even sparing a glance for Etienne’s sword. “Word has reached as far as Dacia. You are not the wolf you once were, and people know. Already my king has been forced to maneuver our troops to block two attacks, one from the trolls and one from the goblins.”

“I don’t need your—”

“Shut up and listen, Your Majesty. Your secret is not safe. In fact, it is no longer a secret. Now be a good boy and get back in your palace. Stay safe, stay alive, and for the sake of the Old Religion, find some way to get your claws back before—”

The blade was silent as it arced through the air, biting into the side of the vampire’s face in a spray of blood. Etienne’s vision had gone red with rage, and satisfaction filled him at the sight of the vampire clutching his face. He stepped back and raised his sword to prepare for another strike.

“You are a fool, Prince Etienne,” the vampire hissed. He dropped his hands and the blood covering half his face glowed like liquid rubies in the moonlight. “For that strike I should—”

A giant wolf crashed into the vampire, snapping its jaws in its face. The vampire shouted as he was shoved back into a tree, held there by giant paws. Etienne cursed as he recognized his father.

“Father, it is not what it looks like.”

The wolf whipped its head toward Etienne, its golden eyes glowing with fury. Etienne pressed his lips into a tight line as his father bared his teeth and jerked his head toward the palace.

For a second, Etienne resisted. He was not a child to be sent to his room, or a teenager too weak to participate in a fight. But as the vampire jerked free of his father’s hold and disappeared into the forest, he couldn’t help but notice a trace of sadness in his father’s eyes, a brief flicker of fear. Etienne’s throat tightened and he turned away. He would find a way to break the curse. Nothing would distract him now.

Chapter 5

“Leaving us so soon?”

Loupe cringed and shot the horse a death glare. If the beast wouldn’t have gotten so blasted riled up and had just let her climb up into the driver’s seat properly, she would have been gone by now. It was bad enough she’d slept so terribly late. She hadn’t really had a prayer of getting out of there without running into him anyway.

Etienne’s scent reached her even before she turned around. He didn’t wear cologne like she might have expected, but rather smelled clean and fresh as if he spent most of his time outdoors. It was a scent she could see herself getting used to all too easily.

“I didn’t want to impose on you any further,” she said lightly, trying not to flinch as the horse reared up again, snorting as if it was planning a mutiny.

“Your horse seems disinclined to let you board,” Etienne observed, keeping his distance from the beast. He gestured to the back of the wagon. “I daresay it doesn’t appreciate hauling around predators, no matter how young they may be. And you probably smell like a predator as well, as often as you’ve been holding them lately.”

The wolf pups yipped as if they knew they were being talked about and Loupe would have laughed if not for the lead weight sitting in her stomach. She knew it wasn’t the pups making the horse nervous—it was her.

“I will instruct the stable boy to harness one of my horses to your cart,” Etienne said firmly.

Loupe’s jaw dropped. “No, I couldn’t let you do that. You’ve been so kind to me already, I can’t take one of your horses.”

Etienne smiled and held up a hand. “I insist. I believe you’ll find that our horses are much less skittish around wolves—what with them being so plentiful on the grounds,” he added quickly.

Loupe wanted the ground to swallow her up right then. Etienne was everything she could have ever hoped for—kind, handsome, generous…human. Tears threatened to pool in her eyes and she turned away so he wouldn’t see. What were the chances of a young woman of modest wealth getting so much time with the prince? To think that he actually liked her only made it more painful that she could never accept.

And yet you let him kiss you.

The voice in her head grated on Loupe’s nerves. She knew she shouldn’t have let him kiss her, but she refused to be sorry. It had been the most wonderful moment in her life to date and—

“Loupe?”

Etienne’s soft voice was close. Loupe turned to find him mere inches away, staring down at her with concern etched into the lines around his eyes.

“Loupe, do I make you uncomfortable?” he asked quietly.

Seeing him so close, hearing his voice reverberating against her skin, scrambled Loupe’s brain. She backed up against the cart, practically falling against it for support. She couldn’t look away from his eyes…

He moved closer and her breath froze. Something flickered in the grey depths of his eyes as he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry if my advances last night were unwanted,” he said formally, bowing his head slightly.

“No!”

His eyebrows shot up and Loupe’s cheeks burst into flames of embarrassment. She cursed to herself as a smile tugged at the corner of Etienne’s mouth.

Oh, goddess, he’s even more handsome when he smiles.

“I mean,” she continued out loud, “I mean that it was nice.”

Etienne smiled wider and her blush grew hotter. That had sounded much better in her head. Out loud it had sounded…loud.

“Nice?” he repeated, a teasing tone in his voice.

Loupe was certain she was going to faint if any more blood abandoned her heart for her cheeks. “Very nice,” she mumbled.

“Your blush only makes you even more becoming, you know.” He raised a hand to gently stroke her cheek.

“I’ll be a beautiful corpse then,” Loupe said breathlessly. She fought not to close her eyes to better concentrate on the gentle caress.

Etienne burst into laughter, his head falling back with the force of it. He dropped his hand and Loupe briefly mourned the loss of the simple touch. Still, she couldn’t help but smile at the sound. She wanted to hear him laugh more often.

“Loupe, are you in a hurry to return home?” he asked as his laughter had finally subsided.

Yes.
“No.” Loupe mentally smacked herself, but continued anyway. “My stepmother and stepsisters have gone to visit with family. Some of her brothers were stopping at a nearby port to trade” —
stolen goods, probably
—“and they wanted to take the opportunity for an extended visit.”

“Wonderful. Then if I’m not keeping you from anything, you can come on a small tour with me while the stable boy replaces your horse.”

Before Loupe could object, Etienne walked off to make the arrangements. By the time he came back, Loupe’s overheated brain still hadn’t come up with a single reason for not allowing him to escort her around the grounds.

As they turned to leave, Loupe suddenly remembered the pups. An idea sprang into her head. “Wait!” She rushed to the back of the cart and lifted one of the pups out.

“You want to take them on a walk with us?” Etienne asked.

Loupe didn’t look in his eyes, unable to take her gaze from the pups. The little furballs stared up at her, their tiny faces as familiar as she imagined her own children’s would be. This was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.

“Actually,” she forced out. “I was hoping you’d let them stay here. On your grounds.”

She finally looked at Etienne’s face, reading his surprise.

“It’s just that I know they’ll be safe here,” she pressed, determined to do what was best for the pups no matter how hard it was for her. “You have so many wolves around, surely they would look after the pups?”

“They are young enough that they would likely be adopted, yes,” Etienne agreed. He fixed her with a soul-searching stare. Loupe’s eyes filled with tears even faster. “Are you certain you can part with them?” he asked gently.