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The room was spinning.

The voices were getting louder.

My hands were shaking. My legs felt like they might give out any second.

Can I still stop this? Can anyone?

Four steps. He reached out his hand for me.

I couldn’t stop myself from recoiling. All the muscles in my body seized. The need to run was crushing me.

His eyes were on me,waiting. Then his smile dropped when he realized what was happening.

I can’t do this. I’m sorry, Mother, I?—

The sound of a sword being pulled was so fast and hidden underneath the intensity of the music that I almost missed it.Almost.

Until my eyes caught a movement behind the prince. A fast, dark blob that materialized as it got closer. It was so fast that if I had so much as blinked, I would have missed it.

Silver hair that shone in the setting sun was the first thing I could make out. The second was the pale face filled with battle scars. Chains were fastened around her neck and wrists. A startling image that had pain expanding through me.

But it was followed by hope.She came.

My dead heart felt like it would explode out of my chest.

Then, when she got close enough, I could make out her honey-colored eyes narrowed in on her target. She wasn’t fazed by the crowd or by the way my father was staring at her with a smile I hadn’t seen in years.

Just like the first time I had seen her, her heart was calm. Beating steadily and evenly. A sound that comforted me as soon as it reached my ears. There was no fear in her scent. No panic in her expression. Totally and completely focused.

I knew she was hiding something back then, but I couldn’t make it out at the time.

Not until I saw the monster hiding in her shadow.

Warm, thick blood splashed across my face as she shoved her sword through the prince’s chest and twisted it before immediately pulling it back. The blood seeped into his white clothing, painting a beautifully gory image of his last moments.

Suddenly, the white made all the sense in the world.

The smile on the prince’s face crumpled, but the light in his eyes was long gone before his body fell limply to the floor. It happened so fast. Much faster than every time she attempted to do the same to me.

He was gone.Just like that.

The music cut out. Screams filled the room. All the noise was drowned out by a rush in my ears.

Vesper stood there, her face covered in vampire blood, eyes trained on me. The relief that washed through me threatened to bring me to my knees. She looked even better covered in the blood of that bastard.

My shaky hand lifted to my face, trying to feel for any possible blood splatter. Instead, I came into contact with something worse.

My own smile.

And then Father climbed down the stairs, his hands up, trying to call for the crowd’s attention. He was back in the spotlight after losing it for mere moments.

His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear his words. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.

I’m free.Free.

But the relief didn’t last long. Because Vesper looked up at him, waiting for his command even when her true commander lay dead at her feet. And then the little mousekneeledat his feet.

Vesper