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“What’s the next plan?” I asked, speeding up to walk by her side.

“No plan, little mouse,” she replied, sending me a bitter smile. “That was my last shot.”

My hand shot out to grab her shoulder and turn her to look at me.No.There had to be something else.

The Princess Aurelia I had come to know during my short time here wouldn’t just lie down and take it.

“Ask me to help you,” I all but begged. “Anything.”

I couldn’t watch her do this to herself.

“Kill him,” she said. “That’s the only way. There are more of you, right? Use them. Whatever you need to do.”

I gritted my teeth, trying desperately to stop myself from saying what I wanted.

The prophecy made you a target, princess. If it gets out that I abandoned my duty and am not actively trying to kill you, they will send someone else in a heartbeat.

While the prophecy dictated that I would be the one to end the Castle family, the secret organization that ruled us all would overlook it if it meant that they could still get the desired outcome.

Her death.

The prophecy was merely a tool to keep our families in line. To keep us feeling important. It became clear as soon as I stepped into the palace that this wasn’t so much of a destiny as it was a spiked collar, with the organization holding the leash.

“Anythingelse,” I whispered. “Please.”

I would do it. Anything else. Anything that would guarantee our safety.Her life.The medallion in my pocket began to burn.

Atlas sensed it too, didn’t she? Just how far gone I was for the princess?

I couldn’t deny it anymore. Whatever delusion had kept me trying to kill her was gone.

I didn’t want to. I never wanted to. There was no joy in making the princess suffer. No joy in watching her prepare for her death.

I could lie to myself before, say thatIwanted to be the one who killed her.

But that’s all it was.A lie.

The unvarnished truth was that I wished for nothing more in the world than for Princess Aurelia to live. And to live happily.With me.

She shook my hand off and cast her eyes down the hallway.

“I’ll only be safe if he’s gone,” she said. “If you can’t help me with that, you’re useless.”

And without another word, she left me there in the hall, feeling more lost than I ever felt in my life.

Aurelia

Earth-shattering things never came with a warning.

Just like on the eve of my mother’s death, it was a calm, sunny day. It was misleading. Lulling you into a false sense of security, and then it would strike.

At least this time, I knew it was coming, no matter how hard I tried to deny it. No matter how hard I tried to avoid it. My destiny was about to hit me right in the face.

The one day every vampire princess was born to go through was coming faster than I could stop it. The same day they lived—and sometimes died—trying to obtain. For most, it was a sign of their power. The more powerful the family a princess married into, the more power she had.

But for me, it was a death sentence.

I was born for more.So much more.My potential was not that of a vampire princess who would just sit there looking pretty while her husband conquered the world.