Page 32 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

“Well, it sounds like you’re stuck here for a little while longer. You should see if Cal will help you set up some wards on the rooms for protection.” Hayes’ hand flexed, like he could still feel the ghost of my palm against his skin. “But while you’re here?—”

“No.”

He blinked. “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

“I know that you’re the one asking,” I said, smiling sweetly before pushing past him. Maybe I was being unfair, but I couldn’t help it. I was fucking pissed. All the time. And he wanted me to act like he didn’t lie to me? Maybe if I’d known who he was?—

“What, you wouldn’t have bit me?” Hayes laughed and the sound was cold as he took the thoughts straight out of my head. “We were inevitable, Leonora. I get that you’re mad. You have every right to be—I did keep a big secret from you, but I barely knew you and then, when I did, I didn’t want my burden to become yours.”

The corridor blurred around us as I tried to walk away and he kept pace, blue eyes burning into me. I pulled to a stop and he stumbled a little at the abrupt change.

“You lied. Just like he did. Just like my… Just like—” My chest felt tight, and pinpricks stung my eyes. Even though I knew logically that I didn’t need to breathe, the wave of panic still surged through me. If I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t just that he’d lied and hid parts of himself while I’d been excruciatingly bared to him, not even my thoughts private—I’d trusted him. And when the time had come, when I’d realised what Rowan had done… Hayes had tried to stop me.

He was already shaking his head before I could say a word. “You did what you had to do. I don’t fault you for it.”

I looked away, not wanting him to read the emotions on my face even if he could feel it through our bond. At least this way I could pretend to have privacy, that he couldn’t feel how deeply broken the spaces inside me were, where my heart and soul should have been.

Cool fingers touched my chin, bringing my face back to his. He’d moved closer and I hadn’t noticed. For once, the bond was quiet, only my own emotions rolling through me as his eyes searched my face, a tilt to his eyebrows that made it feel like I was the sole occupant of his mind. “I didn’t choose Rowan over you. I wasn’t trying to save him, I was trying to save you from this. The guilt. The pain and anger. Because he was your friend,” Hayes said softly and the words hit me like a blow.

I’d done what I had to do. Everything in me had screamed for revenge, even as a smaller part of me watched from a distance, the part of me that was Rowan’s friend unable to stand up compared to the instincts of the vampire.

“He was my friend,” I whispered and Hayes pressed his lips to my forehead and brushed a curl off of a cheek that I realised had grown damp.

“I don’t know if he’ll wake up, but if he does… We’ll deal with it. Together. Okay?”

Together. I swallowed hard. “No more secrets.” He nodded and I knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as snapping my fingers and forgiving him, but it was a start. “And I’m sorry. Rowan was your friend, too.”

“Speaking of friends,” Hayes said, smile vanishing and replaced by a smirk as we resumed our walk down the corridor and back to my room. “I’ll let you break the news of our extended stay to Novalie and Emerson.”

Bastard.

“So we’re stuck here?”

“Unless you have another plan.” I sighed. “Do you think every day is going to be like this?”

Emerson sat up, leaning forward to look at me from her place on the bed. “What do you mean?”

“Being a vampire.” I shrugged. “It’s just so much… drama.”

Novalie snorted from the armchair opposite. “You’re a magnet for trouble. Besides, you’d get bored without our antics keeping you entertained.”

Maybe she was right, but I couldn’t help feeling like maybe I wouldn’t mind a bit of boredom. Some time to just sit and process and, in many ways, grieve what we’d all lost.

“Did you make-up with Hayes yet?” Emerson and Novalie shared a look and I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t tell if they thought my anger towards him had been unjustified, or at least a little over the top. But they also hadn’t had the past few months that I had.

“We talked.”

“And?”

“And he’s still alive.” I rolled my eyes, concentrating on the empty fireplace instead of the knowing looks they wore plastered across their faces. “I hate that he lied.”

“We know.” The words should have sounded snarky, but Novalie’s voice was soft and I wondered how much things had changed for her, now she was undead. “What if we just left?”

As I’d suspected, Novalie was on the same page as me. “Without Adrian’s permission?”

Novalie half-shrugged, half-nodded. “Hayes is here at court and he’s basically the new big-bad. I say we just go.”

“And if he comes after us?” Em raised an eyebrow and I hummed thoughtfully.

---