Page 42 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Kiss

Her laughter echoed, turning heads from passersby, and I couldn't have hidden my smile even if I'd tried.

The signal beneath the ground was spotty at best, so I headed away from the direction of our rooms and instead towards the exit. Cal answered on the first ring.

“Cal's babysitting service,” he drawled and my mouth twitched.

“How would you like to know the future?”

“Don't tempt me,” he replied and a short pause followed before he continued. “But I'll be there in ten.”

“Nora's room,” I clarified and Cal didn't bother to reply before hanging up. I could only hope that whatever Emerson saw was better than the cards we'd been dealt thus far.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Leonora

Emerson and Novalie were in bed when I knocked. Novalie answered the door naked, cheeks flushed and hair rumpled.

“Mid-day nap?” I smirked at her and she bared her fangs.

“Sure. Do you want something? Or can I get back to napping?”

“Be in my room in ten, okay? And bring Em.”

The door shut in my face and I laughed as I turned away in favour of my own room opposite theirs. My bed sheets were still unmade and the lingering combined scent of me and Hayes made the bond purr in satisfaction. Things with him were... good. Surprisingly so. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, for another secret or betrayal, and the longer that passed without one, the tenser I felt. Despite that and myself, I'd missed him.

“You're so sweet when you think nobody's listening.”

I jumped, not having heard Hayes creep into the room behind me. “Bite me.”

“I intend to,” he growled, the challenge there making my body perk up.

“That's quite enough of that,” Cal said and I swore, springing away from Hayes as I took in the mage now leaning against the desk I’d been using as a vanity.

“Why doesn't anyone know how to knock?” As if on cue, Novalie sprung into the bedroom, now clothed, pulling Emerson along behind her, and I gestured vaguely in their direction.

“This better be good, I was having very sweet dreams,” Novalie huffed and I rolled my eyes as Emerson closed the door, looking between us curiously.

“Gross,” was all I bothered to reply, voice peppy. “Actually?—”

“I was hoping to get some help from you, Emerson.” Hayes cut in, as if he knew the meeting was about to be derailed. He wasn't wrong, but I frowned at him anyway.

Em raised an eyebrow. “I'm happy to help, but what—Oh. You want me to try and see something for you.”

“Yes.” There was no demand in Hayes' voice, just fact, and something about the control in his tone had me suddenly feeling very distracted. “I need to know how to get into the royal chambers. Nora could sense magick in the walls, but we don't know how to bypass it.”

The floor creaked as Emerson sat down with her legs crossed and a steely glint in her eye. “I can't promise it'll help, but I'm willing to try.”

Maybe most people wouldn't have noticed it, but I saw the tension leave Hayes' broad shoulders at Em's words. “Thank you.”

She nodded before gesturing to the spot in front of her, nodding in satisfaction when he sat down. “Tell me more about the place where you and Nora felt the magick most strongly.”

Hayes recounted as Emerson nodded with her eyes closed until she lifted her eyes and in place of her brown irises, there was only darkness and blood.

Her voice echoed slightly, as if multiple people were speaking at once through her mouth. “Every lock has a key.”

Novalie wrinkled her nose. “She's like a creepy fortune cookie.”

I stifled my laugh and Cal threw us both a bemused glance. What we really needed to know was how to find the so-called key—and ideally whoever had sealed the chambers in the first place.

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