Page 78 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

But before I can get any focus, Baspin hits me again and I fall to my knees as the shock reverberates through my hips.

Blue flames flicker around the clearing and my fear and anxiety at being hit again and feeling another well-spring of pain has me lurching to my feet, hands balled into fists.

The snow falls harder, swirling around us.

“What do you feel?” Baspin asks again.

I’m breathing heavy, a coiled heat in my belly.

At the front is the anger still, the frustration, the embarrassment.

And shame.

Shame at being the daughter of a king who tortured Baspin. The daughter of a woman who betrayed her own court and joined her new husband in trying to overthrow the entire fae realm.

I’m their flesh and blood.

A symbol of their love.

What if I’m destined to become them?

What if everyone’s worst fears about me come true?

What if I’m also destined to hurt those I love?

“There it is,” Baspin says.

The snow goes sideways and then turns to sleet.

“Whatever you’re thinking about right now,” he says. “Tell me what it is.”

I can feel my chin wobbling as the realization takes over. “I…I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

“What if I really am the villain? What if it’s impossible to fight it? What if I’m no better than my father, who hurt you again and again?”

Baspin goes still, his blue flame sizzling out. “But Jessie…what if you aren’t? You’ll never know until you try. Stop getting in your own way. Stop being afraid of your own power.”

The sleet blows harder, pelting us in the clearing.

I squint as the wind picks up, whipping my hair in my face.

I spot Bran across the clearing, watching me intently, his eyes bright gold ready to come to my rescue if I need it.

But I don’t want to be rescued anymore.

I don’t want to fall victim to the anger or the power or the greed for more.

I want to be exactly as I am.

So be her, a voice whispers in my head.

You are a girl first, who deserves the freedom to decide exactly who she is.

You are a princess second, who deserves the chance to prove she is good.

But most importantly, you are a powerful fae, not because you were born to a cruel king, but because you were raised by a family who loved you unconditionally, with everything they had.

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