Page 32 of Darkest Heart

I stopped mid-step, slowly turning my head back. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He placed his tea on the table. “You know I have foresight.”

“Then tell me what happens.”

He glanced to his upper left. “It doesn’t always work like that. Mostly I get intuitions, strong feelings or flashes.”

My stomach grumbled, and I brought my hand to my throat. “What do youfeelthen?” I clarified, growing thirstier by the minute.

He closed his eyes, bringing his fingers to his forehead. I let out a sigh, triggering a ‘shush’ from him. If he wasn’t helping somewhat….

“You will lose your girl.”

My anger dissipated. “Gwen?”

“I can’t see who, but the one you care about.”

How would she get hurt in the tournament? “Will she die?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not worried.”

His eyes flashed gold as they opened. “There’s more than one way you can lose a person. You should know that. You are a century old, no?”

I thought back to faded memories, to times when I’d felt everything so much that it almost destroyed me. I’d hardened against them overtime, only letting in things that were enjoyable. It was a far better existence. Not even torture fazed me. “Perhaps, but death is the worst. It’s an absolute end.”

“A fear of endings,” he stated, stroking his small beard. “Interesting.”

“I don’t have time for this, and I’m not a fan of prophecies. Canceling the tournament on an intuition is ridiculous. Gwen will be fine.”

I felt his glare bore into me as I swung the door open, and strutted down the path. He was trying to scare me. Everyone knew I had a thing for Gwen. Always had. Although, admittedly, now that I had her, it wasn’t quite as fun as when she was unattainable. Regardless, I suppose she was the closest person I had to feeling anything for. If Azia thought he could make me stop the tournament by making up some bullshit prophecy to try, then he would have a rude awakening. I wasn’t like Sargon or his students. There was little that shook me, and Gwen getting hurt wasn’t one of them. She was strong, immortal, and smart, for the most part.

I glanced up at the lit windows of the east wing. Before finding Gwen, and doing anything else for the tournament which was only days away, I needed to feed, and I only craved one neck tonight.

***

My stomach was growling as I opened the door to Elizabeth.

“I’m reading.” She waved a book in the air before I could approach. “So please, feed on me later. I’m busy.”

A smile built on my lips as I arched a brow. “You’re refusing to let me feed because you’rereading.”

“Yes.” She turned a page, her eyes glossing over the words, entrapping her in a world probably far better than this one. “Now go away.”

I took a step closer, doing what I always had, and taking what I wanted. But I stopped before I reached her. The library was filled with them, fictitious tales to escape into. I’d collected many over the years before I left the castle, when Gwen had ruined my reputation. Two of the bookshelves were filled with books about war and the art of politics. I’d lost my desire to read anything except non-fiction since then, but seeing Elizabeth’s wide eyes, filled with such heavy emotion, it reminded me of the wonder in losing oneself to a world where anything could happen.

After a minute, she let out a heavy sigh, and placed a bookmark in the middle, closing the cover. “Are you some kind of stalker?”

“Would you be afraid if I said yes?”

Her eyes climbed to meet mine, an incredulous look on her face. “At this point, not really.”

“No?” I asked, intrigued.

“It just wouldn’t surprise me.” She placed the book on her lap, then rolled her neck back, closing her eyes. “You know, in books, the vampires are nicer.”

I laughed heartily; the sound was unfamiliar as it bubbled from my lips. “What a terrible misconception.”

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