Page 33 of Battle for the Shadow Prince (A Bargain with the Shadow Prince #2)

33

Gathering Allies

ELOISE

I ’m sitting on the green velvet sofa in the parlor of Harcourt Manor, a cup of hot tea in my hand and a book in my lap. My grandmother is singing in the kitchen, the smell of her favorite grilled cheese wafting from the hallway. The grandfather clock ticks from the corner of the room beside a cozy fire.

For a few beautiful moments, it feels real, but then Phantom is there, curled near my feet. The fox wouldn’t be in the house if my grandmother was still alive. I’m dreaming. Still, when I sip the tea, it’s my favorite flavor, peach.

“Oh, thank the goddess!” Maeve stands in the center of the room, looking like she was dropped unwittingly into my dream. She’s wearing a set of Evil Queen pajamas, and her hair is wrapped in a messy bun. “You are a difficult person to catch dreaming.”

“Maeve?” I squint in her direction.

She nods. “It’s me. I mean the real me. I used your parents’ Hitch and Cast spell to enter your dreams. Not an easy feat for an animator, I might add. This type of magic is like using my left hand to write. I can do it, but it’s fucking draining and inefficient. I’m just relieved it finally worked.”

My best friend is really standing in front of me! I bound off the couch and yank her into a tight hug.

“Yeah, yeah. I love you too,” she says, hugging me back. “So you’re still alive. That’s good news.”

I straighten and lift my chin. “I am. At least for now. I rescued Damien and challenged the queen. My first trial is the day after tomorrow.”

Maeve blows out a full breath. “Goddess protect you, Eloise.”

I nod, refusing to give my anxieties a voice. Damien and I are together now. After last night, I’m more convinced than ever that we’re meant to be. Nothing can stop us. “I will compete. I will win. Valeska will rue the day she took Damien from me.”

Her eyes glisten as she says, “That’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

“Thank you for risking the spell. It means everything to me to see you today.”

Maeve frowns. “Unfortunately, there’s something else I need to tell you.”

“Oh?” Shit. Of course there is. And it must be important for her to risk walking into my dreams to tell me.

“If… I mean when you win, you can’t come straight home to Harcourt Manor.”

“Why not?”

“The FBI found Jared’s car in the caverns under your house. They’ve been searching for you for weeks. They’ve sent certified letters. They’ve visited my office on more than one occasion. I told them I didn’t know where you were. It’s the only answer I could give. It’s true. I don’t know exactly where you are. If I did, I might be compelled to contact you. Anyway, they seem to believe me. They’ve been asking about you all over Echo Mills though. And as of yesterday, you’re officially a missing person.”

I sigh. “Great. I’ll have to come up with one hell of a story when I get home.”

“There’s more.”

I frown.

“The Denardis know Jared’s dead. His body was never found, but he never checked in. Nick Denardi visited my office. He’s less convinced I’m telling the truth about not knowing where you are. In any case, he’s been asking around Echo Mills for you as well.”

“Both the FBI and the mob? I’m a popular lady.”

She gives a maniacal laugh. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“There’s more?”

“Vampires. The woods around your place are crawling with them.”

I wave a hand through the air. “Valeska knows who I am. She compelled Damien to reveal my name before I challenged her. I’m sure she sent vampires to kill me before I showed up right in front of her.”

Maeve massages her eyes under her glasses. “I don’t think she’s called them off though, hon. Some of these hired guns are paid in advance, and they don’t stop until the job is done.”

“Oh. So what you’re saying is, on top of the FBI wanting to question me and the mob wanting to torture me to find out what happened to Jared… and then likely finish the job of trying to kill me that Jared started, vampire assassins might be waiting in the wings even if Valeska is dead?”

She nods. “That’s why I’m here. If you… I mean when you win, come to my apartment, not Harcourt. We’ll figure out a plan together.”

I drift toward the fire. I know it’s a dream, but it feels warm, comforting. “Thank you for letting me know,” I say toward the flames.

“I’m so sorry, Eloise. I know it’s a lot?—”

I whirl back to her. “No, really, thank you. When it’s done, I’ll call you first before I come home.”

She blows out a breath. “Exactly.”

The clock ticks louder. “What did you use as your anchor anyway?”

She points at the tea set on the coffee table. “My grandmothers.”

I look down at the floral cup I’ve been drinking out of and recognize the set as Maeve’s. The cup is almost empty, although I barely took a sip. “We don’t have much time, do we?”

“No.”

I take her hand in mine and squeeze. “No matter what happens, Maeve, you are the best friend I’ve ever had, and I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and Damien.”

“Stop.” She shakes her head, tears streaming now. “You’re going to win. You’ll be back. We’ll work it all out.”

I kiss her on the cheek. “Of course.”

“See you soon,” she says. And then Maeve and the tea are gone.

I wake at twilight, the streetlights outside Marabella’s growing brighter and the sound of voices in the marketplace filling the room. I stretch long in my bed, turning over to kiss Damien good morning.

But he’s gone.

“I cannot bear it.” Damien’s outline comes apart at the edges with his anger. The moment the sun rose, he visited Marabella and tried to buy out all my available donation slots. But as I suspected, the three vampires I’ve fed, some of the wealthiest and most powerful of their kind, Marcel, Everald, and George, had booked out months in advance. They could not be persuaded to reschedule with someone else, and Marabella refused to deny them. It didn’t hurt that they were paying three times the regular price for my blood.

“I told you last night, Damien, it’s in our best interest to have supporters. These are powerful males. It will be better if there are voices in the crowd cheering me on even if that cheer is a whisper.”

He growls. “These males want you for themselves. They don’t want you to die, but they don’t want you mated to me.”

I sigh and take his hands in my own. “They don’t have a choice. I’m only offering blood.”

A growl percolates in his chest as he glares down at me. A knock comes at the door. “That’ll be breakfast. My first appointment will follow.”

Damien’s lips twitch. The key turns in the lock, and the door begins to open. He shakes his head, his eyes closing tight for a moment. When he opens them again, he doesn’t look at me. “So be it.”

He shatters into a confetti of shadows that dart from the room. It’s for the best that he’s gone. He needs to stay far from here while I do what I have to do. Ren enters with a tray almost overflowing with food, coffee, and Marabella’s special charmed shake. She set’s it down on the desk.

“Are you alone?” she asks. “I thought I heard a man’s voice.”

“I’m alone.” I feel alone, all the way to my bones. Damien can’t be in the room when I donate. As a mated shade, he’d likely rip any vampire who touched me in half. But the way he left leaves me feeling empty.

“You must be the bravest woman who ever worked here, Eloise,” Ren says, handing me another book. I take it and give her back the last one I borrowed.

“Not brave. Desperate,” I say sadly.

She gives a sad laugh. “I was desperate once. I took pills. I didn’t feel desperate anymore. I didn’t feel anything. You… you challenged the queen . That’s fucking brave, Eloise.”

I blow out a deep breath. “Yeah, maybe it is. Brave or stupid.”

“I think the same thing about my decision to come here and get sober.”

Our eyes meet and hold and then she slips out my door.

Marcel enters my room later that day in full uniform. It’s the first time he’s visited since I challenged Valeska, and I brace myself, prepared for anything. Will he feel betrayed that I didn’t tell him the truth about my identity? Will he try to hurt me out of loyalty to the queen? The magic of the challenge provides me some protection, but it doesn’t do much to ease my fears when he walks into my room, looking deeply disturbed. I’m more thankful than ever for the daggers strapped to my thighs.

“Eloise, thank the gods you’re all right.” His face softens, his gaze traveling over me.

“You must have heard.”

His eyes narrow. “She commanded me to kill you.”

I take a step back, my hand dropping within easy reach of the hilt of my dagger.

He holds up both hands. “I didn’t know it was you. I knew your name was Eloise but not that you were the Eloise Harcourt who stood between her and the shade she was so intent on mating.”

“His name is Damien.”

Marcel backs up a step, leaning against the door. “I know your mate well. He isn’t happy about me feeding from you. I can’t say I blame him.” Longing flits through his expression. He catches himself and replaces it with an impassive mask.

“I make my own choices.”

“Right.” He takes a step toward me. “I’ve called off the men who were tracking you topside. Now that you’ve challenged the queen, there’s no reason for it.”

“Thank you.” A small but real sense of relief comes over me.

“The rules of the challenge are clear. She will not harm you while you compete.” His tone sounds protective. Marcel isn’t going to hurt me. I know it in my bones.

“Are you upset that I challenged your queen?”

His lids lower until he’s looking at me through his lashes. “No. I’ll be upset if you lose. She’d lock me in the tower until I met the sun if she heard me say it, but it’s true.”

“You’re unhappy with her rule?”

He scowls. “I will speak no more on this topic.”

I nod and offer him my wrist. At first I think he might reject it, might ask to feed from my neck again, but instead, he lowers himself to his knees in front of me. My eyes widen as he takes what I offer more gently than any vampire has ever taken my vein. And when I tell him to stop, he does.

He bows before letting himself out of the room.

Afterward, I pace my room, then try to distract myself with the book Ren left me. I hoped Damien would return before dawn, but he doesn’t. I take a long shower before crawling into bed and crying myself to sleep.

When I wake, Damien is lying beside me, holding me. “You came back.”

He kisses me breathless, long and slow. When he finally pulls back, he says, “There will never be a day when I can watch another male feed from you and not destroy everything within reach. I had to go, or there would have been violence. But I’ll always come back, little bird. Always.”

“You’ve fed,” I say. Not a question. The wrinkles around his eyes are smoother, and his cheeks and lips are full and pink.

“As you wished.” His voice holds an uncomfortable edge.

“I do wish,” I say, smoothing my hands up his chest. “I don’t want to know the details, but I’m glad you have more blood in your system that’s not hers.”

He strokes a hand along the outside of my arm and then my side. “I had blood bags at my apartment for an emergency. If I eat well—human food—I won’t need to feed again for several weeks.”

“Oh.” I wrap my arms around his neck and pull myself flush against him. “But…” I sigh. “We’ve come too far for petty jealousies, Damien. What would we do in your world if I was also a shade? I’d have to watch you eat, and you’d have to watch me.”

He caresses my shoulder, his touch trailing down my spine. The corner of his mouth quirks into a crooked smile. “We’d hunt together. My mother and father often roamed the woods behind the castle, hunting for mountain sheep. There are no humans on Tenebris to feed on. We eat only animals.”

“I thought you said there were witches? Wild ones who lived in the outlands or something.”

He nods. “Willowgulch. It’s true they look human, but no shade would ever try to feed on one. Not anyone who valued their life. The elves look human as well, but their blood is toxic. We don’t even drink it on the battlefield.”

“Cassius told me that one of the witches helped you with your mission to recover your father.”

He sits up, smiling. “He did?” He tucks in his chin as if truly surprised. “He told you that story?”

“When he explained his scar and the one on Morpheus’s face.”

He trails kisses along my neck to my ear. “Sometimes I miss those days.”

I take his hand. “I’m off until tomorrow. Last day before the full moon. How do you want to spend it?”

He kisses me again, until I’m certain we’ll spend the rest of the night in this bed. But when he draws back, his face turns serious. He lifts from the bed as if the laws of gravity don’t apply to him and holds out a hand to help me up. “Get your daggers. We’re going to train.”