Page 45 of Clash of Kingdoms

“I’m fine,” he said quickly. “It’s just a little raw.”

I’d never seen my father injured before. “What happened?”

He grabbed my shoulder, his smile still there because the sight of my face seemed to be all that mattered. “I heard you spent a lot of time with that snake while we were gone.”

“Yeah, he’s really cool.”

“Never knew they were such fascinating creatures.” He moved back to the head of the table. “Have some breakfast.” He pulled out the chair for me.

I looked at the table, expecting to see Aurelias and the other vampires, but they were absent. I took a seat and kept my questions to myself. A bowl of oatmeal was brought to me topped with nuts, fruit, and honey.

My father’s plate was full of his usual breakfast, twelve eggs and a steak.

Mother sat across from me, and instead of being dead behind the eyes like she had been lately, her features were soft, her eyes light. “We received a scroll from your brother this morning. He’s begun the evacuation. It’ll take a couple weeks, but they’ll be here shortly.”

“Oh good,” I said. “I’d started to worry.”

“Nothing our son can’t handle.”

We ate in silence for a while, but I was riddled with questions, questions I never asked Aurelias because we were occupied with other matters throughout the night. “So, what happened with Rancor?”

Father continued to scarf down his food as if I’d never asked a question. After a while, he provided an answer. “It’s a very long tale. Ready to hear it all?”

“Yes.”

My father told me how they’d forged a new alliance with the Teeth and ventured underground to confront the demon Vine, who turned on them and forced them to escape…and then they were aided by an unlikely ally.

“A huge snake?” I asked incredulously. “Seriously?”

My father nodded. “Her name is Beast.”

“Wow…”

“She saved our lives. I’ve never cared for snakes, but now I have a new appreciation for them.”

“You’re lucky Aurelias can communicate with them,” Mother said. “I’d say he’s also a hero in this story.”

Father didn’t say anything to that.

“So, did you find where the crystals are?” I asked.

“It’s one crystal,” he said. “And yes. But getting to it will be complicated.”

“But it can be done?” I asked hopefully.

He turned away from his food and looked at me directly. “Yes. It can be done.”

I was in my bedchambers when Aurelias made his return. It was obvious that he had fed because he carried himself differently, had a more substantive vitality in his veins. There was more color to his face, and his eyes…they looked different.

“You’ve been gone a long time.” He’d left in the middle of the night and had been gone for the first part of the morning. He fed when I wasn’t around, did it in secret because I was only aware it happened when I saw the change in his appearance. I noticed the other vampires had been missing from the castle as well, meaning that they must have gone together.

He turned his hard gaze on me, and he must have felt my disappointment because he was guarded. “Lost track of time.”

“You were gone all night?—”

“What do you want from me?” His stare was sharp as a dagger, aimed right between my eyes. All the bliss of our reunion had been stripped away the moment this subject was broached.

My arms crossed over my chest.

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