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The vampire was gone too.

Chapter 27

NEVE

Isprawled across the bed Vale and I had disheveled. The bed that still smelled of him and me and acts of passion that made my heart race.

The book I’d been pretending to read fell from my hands. Try as I might, the story didn’t hold my interest, not when a spicier one that I’d love to reenact with Vale had been playing in my mind. Wishing to feel closer to him, I reclined and scooted over to his pillow. I breathed in the sandalwood and snow scent and my toes curled.

Fates, I was in so much trouble.

I’d known there was a risk when I’d seduced Vale, known I already liked him too much for our tryst to be considered ‘just fun.’ What I couldn’t have predicted was how utterly perfect we’d be together.

How good he’d made me feel. How I’d brought him pleasure too and loved every second of it. How much I’d miss him the moment he left.

I set the book on the bedside table and looked aroundVale’s suite. My room too, for as long as I stayed in the Winter Court.

How long would that be? Probably a shorter amount of time than I wished . . .

Before, the question had seemed absurd, but with Prince Gervais dead, only Lord Aldéric, my old master, would recognize me for the blood slave I had been. To my knowledge, Lord Aldéric had never been to Winter’s Realm. It was possible, though not probable, that my past might never come to light.

Of course, there were still the vampire assassins. Whether the Blood Court believed me to be a normal fae turned princess, or they learned my true past, they would still send someone to avenge their fallen prince.

The truth was that if I had arealchoice, if my decisions didn’t put myselfandthose I cared for in danger, I’d choose to stay here. To be with Vale. To search the land of my blood, the place that felt so right, even if I’d barely seen any of it. And maybe, if I was lucky, meet my long-lost family.

A sigh left my lips as I sat up and searched the room again, desperate for something else to consume my mind. Something that wouldn’t root out so many emotions—some of them conflicting.

If only Vale was here to distract me.

I chewed on my bottom lip, my gaze going to the door as if to will him through it. When he didn’t appear, I decided I’d ask the Clawsguard on duty if he’d heard anything.

I walked to the door and opened it to find a guard Ididn’t recognize. The dark circles under his eyes spoke of exhaustion. He’d probably been one of the guards at the theater, or maybe searching the city all night for rebels.

“Have you heard from Prince Vale?” I asked, hopeful.

“Nothing yet, Princess Neve,” the guard replied, his face softening. “I’m sure he’s fine and will be back soon, though. Do you require anything?”

“No, nothing. Thank you.” I closed the door and began to make my way back into the bedchamber when I passed the place where the invisible door to the hidden part of the castle was.

I paused, turned to the wall, and feeling ridiculous but willing to try anything to keep my mind occupied, I spoke to the wall. “I have time to kill and no one else is here. Perhaps you’ll let me in today?”

The wall remained a boring wall. No glowing. No handle appearing from nowhere. Nothing.

Suddenly, annoyance rose inside me, and I glared at the wall. “You know, it would be great if I didn’t have to fear for my life to enter. I might need a distraction, so how about you open up and . . .” I trailed off as a memory from Luccan’s house bubbled to the surface.

Luccan made gateways, portals that worked within this realm but didn’t connect us to others like the human world. What wasthishidden door, if not a very short gateway? I held up my palm.

Did it need a blood offering? Would it recognize my blood as someone it had let through before? A safe person, I supposed.

I had nothing but time and a burning curiosity tolearn if I was on to something. I darted into Vale’s personal armory and plucked a dagger from the wall. The blade sliced shallowly across my shoulder, making me cringe before I returned to the wall.

Barely daring to breathe, I pressed my palm into my shoulder, wetting it before swiping that blood against the wall.

It glowed, and my heart raced with anticipation. It had worked!

Elated, I waited for the door to materialize before letting myself into the hidden part of the palace for the third time.

Like always, this area was quiet, as if it mourned a past it clung to. I shut the door behind me and drew a line of blood on the paint. Though I suspected that someone, at some point, came back here and cleaned, it was unlikely they’d stumble upon my marking while I explored.