Page 21 of Tempted By the Vampire Prince

“It was her fault,” I reminded myself. “It was all her fault.”

Angry tears stung my cheeks as I dodged pedestrians and pushcarts. Children and older women selling cockles. I didn’t stop running until the crowded streets opened up to fresh sea air, and at last, I reached the harbor. My lungs burned, and my legs ached. My chest heaved as I tried to pull in a full breath. I braced myself against the first solid thing I came across, which ended up being the bronze statue of Maris and Rosa overlooking the harbor. The metal was warm on my back as I stared out at the ocean, counting the waves as they broke.

“I need a gods-damned drink,” I said to no one.

I didn’t think there was enough whiskey in the world to make me forget that night, but I was willing to try. I was willing to drink a sea of it to drown the memories. Unfortunately for me, no one was selling little shots of booze from their pushcarts. The only thing I had to center me was the sound of the ocean as the waves continued their never-ending assault on the wooden docks.

Placing a hand over my ribs where my relics were hidden, I prayed for a solution. “Please, Damien. I need a plan. A real plan. Help me.”

I waited. And waited. Hoping to hear something of use. But if Damien had an answer for me, he wasn’t sharing it. Deflated, I stared blankly at the docks, which were crowded with travelers and trunks being loaded onto small ferry boats. A large sailing ship sat off in the distance, waiting for them at the deep-water mooring. Brightly colored flags flying from the main mast.

“Last call for the Isle of Markal!” shouted a dockhand waving a red kerchief.

Was this my answer? To keep going. Perhaps I needed to leave the Unified Territories and go somewhere new. Somewhere where my mother’s ghost wouldn’t dare to follow. I might not have a heading or a destination in mind, but it didn’t matter. So long as I had Della and my magick, I would be alright.

Wherever that bird may be.

A group of sailors hauling in nets were singing their damned song.

“Come back again, little goddess, little goddess,

Come back again with the tide,

For the sea grows cold and the harbor grows lonely,

Since the night you left us behind.”

A salty breeze hit my cheeks, cooling my heated skin. I didn’t know anything about this lost goddess, but I knew, better than most, what it meant to be left behind.

I regarded the small gold coin that had the power to summon a vampire. To activate it, all I’d have to do was say his name, and Yves would appear. Ready to swoop me up and solve all my problems. Gifting me money and a room in his castle. A job helping raise his son. A place, not just in his home, but in his family. And while I did want money to care for myself and Della, it wasn’t what I really wanted.

The echo of Gran’s voice filled my ears. “Witches of the Darkness draw their power from the deepest desires of their heart. We draw our magick from demons, after all.”

I stared down at the tips of my boots, trying to fight back tears. As a child, my deepest desire had been simple enough: to be loved. In our family that meant obedience. So I’d been obedient. For so long, I studied hard. I read the rules about dark magick. Listened to my family. Prayed to Damien. Understood why my ancestors had signed the Blood Treaty that had finally brought peace to our land and united us under the protection of the vampires.

And when Mama decided otherwise, when she decided that peace was a cage the Kemps had outgrown, I had been the only one in the graveyard that night who didn’t follow her.

The only one who’d raised her wand against her own blood.

I gripped the gold coin until its edges bit into my palm. I tried to draw in a full breath, but even that hurt, like a shard of glass was stuck in my chest, ripping me open.

I couldn’t bear to lose one more person. This hole in my heart couldn’t get any bigger without killing me. I was barely hanging on to who I was. Being swept inside Yves’s world only to be dumped on his doorstep when Adrien no longer needed me was more than I could bear. The torment wasn’t worth all the gold in the world.

Quick steps took me to the docks. The tide was high, and ocean water was lapping against it. With every ounce of strength I had in me, I chucked the gold coin into the harbor. As it broke through the surface and disappeared, I had to swallow a sob. “Let the fishes summon you!” I choked out.

This was what I wanted. To be truly alone. To belong to no one but myself.

Chapter 8

Poursuivie

CORA

Iwas three streets deep into Old Town when my mother’s ghost reappeared. But unlike before, I didn’t spare her a second glance. I was done chasing my mother. In fact, I was done chasing everyone.

“Not this time, Mama,” I said, dismissing her. A woman with a basket of bread shot me a sideways look, but I ignored her too.

I walked through her ghost, and Mama dissolved around me, burning away like fog once the sun came out. Good. Maybe she was beginning to understand I couldn’t be controlled any more.