Page 40 of Battle for the Shadow Prince (A Bargain with the Shadow Prince #2)

40

Disappointment

ELOISE

I ’ve barely settled into a new room in the infirmary when Marabella storms in without knocking. Her strides are quick, her arms stiff with her agitation.

I lean my head back against the pillow and stare out at the garden beyond the window. “Relax. The doctor says I’ll be good to go tomorrow. You won’t have to reschedule any donation sessions.”

“Is that what you think this is about, Eloise? Donation sessions?”

I turn my head slightly so that I can examine her face. “Don’t tell me you’ve started to actually care about me.”

She turns around, pokes her head out the door and looks both ways, then locks us both inside the room.

“Why are you locking the door?”

“Because we need to talk.” She strides back toward me and pulls a chair up to the bed. “Today’s loss cost us all.”

“Is this about money? Did you lose something betting on me? I can’t be responsible?—”

“It’s not about money,” she retorts. “The resistance is losing hope.”

“The resistance?”

“Haven’t you put it together yet, girl?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She frowns. “You need to know what’s at stake for the entire vampire species if you don’t win the next trial. Most of the masters whose covens make up this hive never agreed to be a part of it, Eloise. Valeska and her sire conquered them one by one. She’s already so powerful that there are rumors that even the forebears—the most powerful of their species—won’t be strong enough to stop her with Damien at her side.”

I groan and look at the ceiling. How many times have I heard that dire warning? “Obviously I’m doing everything I can to keep that from happening. In fact, I’ve almost died twice trying to prevent it. In case you can’t tell from the safety of the observation area, I’m doing the best I can.”

She meets the daggers I send her way and holds her ground. Blowing out a held breath, she takes my hand in hers with a tenderness I doubt she feels. “The day you challenged Valeska, people were afraid to dream that you might be the answer to our prayers. But when you won the first challenge, everyone in the resistance celebrated. You proved you were capable of winning this thing, and we dared to hope. You are the first real hope we’ve had of stopping her. Abolishing the hive in favor of independent covens is what’s best for everyone, and you can be the catalyst to make that happen.”

I snatch my hand away. “If you think I need more pressure to succeed, let me set you straight. I’m at capacity. None of this is helping. But yeah, if it will make you feel better, I’ll keep in mind the future of the vampire species when I’m wrestling a shadow bear or swimming a river of lava next trial.”

Marabella turns away with a huff of exasperation. She paces toward the window, looking out over the Japanese garden. “You’re strong, Eloise. Much stronger than I ever expected. If you believe you can win the next challenge, you will win.”

“I think I can win,” I say. “I won’t know until I see what?—”

“No.” She slashes a hand through the air. “You will win. You were strong the day you came here. I’ve made you stronger every day since.”

Something in her voice gives me pause. “How exactly? Providing me with powerful allies is great, but they aren’t in the challenges with me, Marabella.”

“The charmed shakes, Eloise. The herbs, the enchantments, the blood that flows into you now from that bag in your arm. You had magic the day you came here. Everything I’ve given you since has been to make you stronger and more resilient.”

The shakes definitely helped me recover faster, but did they make me more resilient during the challenges? I don’t think so. I owe most of my survival to training with Cassius and Maeve and help from Phantom.

I close my eyes, suddenly exhausted. “As soon as I’m able, I’ll train with Damien again between my donations. The only reason Valeska won this time was because Olivia spied on us and gave her the map of Tenebris that Damien gave me.”

“Olivia spied on you?” Marabella’s voice drops in disgust, then her eyes widen as she puts it all together. “She exchanged the map for her turning. That bitch!” She points a finger at me. “She and that slimy sire of hers are officially banned from Marabella’s for life.”

I nod. “Thanks. It isn’t the end. The map might benefit Valeska again, but I’ll make sure I know everything there is to know about Damien before I step through that archway.”

Marabella folds her arms over her chest, chin lifting. “You are officially off the schedule for now, although I insist on one more donation for George. I will clear out a room for you down here, and you will have guards. I should have suspected Olivia. That snake has always had her eye on the prize of immortality. This time no one disturbs you without being cleared by me first.”

My lashes flutter in surprise. This is very unlike Marabella. “That will be helpful.”

She waves a hand dismissively. “The only way I want you to thank me is by winning the next trial and…”

“And?”

Marabella approaches my bed again and looks me directly in the eye. I get the sense that this entire conversation is really about this, what she’s about to tell me. The air between us suddenly grows thick and heavy. “If you kill her, you will be queen, Eloise. You will have the right to take her place. No human has ever been a master before, let alone a queen, but Lazarus tells me that technically you earn the title if you kill her.”

“I don’t want it.”

She breathes out a sigh of relief. “Then you will have no problem doing the right thing and rejecting it. Once you reject it, you must do three things. First, order Marcel to dismantle the troops and split the soldiers among the separate covens. Second, order Lazarus to transform the palace into a library for all covens, and third, tell Everald to sell Valeska’s personal wealth to fund the transition of power. The covens will need capital and goods to make the transition to self-sustaining units successfully. Everald is in the best position to lead that transition. George will use his position as master to help other covens peacefully make the break.”

“You’ve planned this from the beginning. You made sure that three powerful vampires had my blood. Lots of my blood. You made sure they were blood bonded to me so they must obey me.”

She nods once. “I took a chance, you understand.”

“Because I might lose?”

She snorts. “You won’t lose. Despite that awful performance today, you want him more than she does. You know him better than she does.”

“Let’s hope you’re right about that.”

“No, I took a chance that you wouldn’t want Valeska’s power for yourself. That you wouldn’t want to be queen of Night Haven.”

“I’m human. I can’t lead a vampire coven.”

“You say that now, but you’ll be tempted.”

I shake my head. “Not for every dollar that’s ever been printed, mama.”

She laughs. “Good. Then we have an understanding.”

I send her an exaggerated smile. “That depends.”

Her eyes narrow. “On what?”

“Technically I owe you another month of service after the challenge. If I win…”

She rolls her eyes. “If you win, I will ride with both of you to the surface and throw confetti as you walk through the doorway. Time served.”

“Time served and with my cut of the money I’ve earned for you. I’m done being taken advantage of.”

Marabella taps her foot, considering. “Deal.”

We shake on it and say our goodbyes. The lock clicks as she lets herself out of my room.

A few hours later, Ren comes back and removes my IV. “You’re good at that, you know. I didn’t even feel it going in.”

Her cheeks pinken. “I think, maybe, when I leave here, I want to do this. Be a nurse, I mean.”

“You’d be great at it.”

She holds pressure on a piece of gauze over the tiny hole in my arm. “I’ve paid my debt. Technically I could leave, but…”

“But?”

She shrugs one shoulder. “I want to, but I’m afraid. No one is waiting for me up there. I’m sure everyone thinks I’m dead. And I deserve that. The drugs were a problem. I’m lucky, really, that Marabella fished me out of the gutter. But now when I go back, I’ll be starting over from scratch. I’ll have no support system. No friends. No lover. I’ll be alone. Really, truly alone.”

I frown and place my hand on hers. “You’re a beautiful person, Ren, and I don’t just mean how you look. You’re kind and a hard worker. I’m willing to bet you won’t be alone for long.”

She tips her head. “I’m not so sure about that. It’s a big world out there, and we’re all just running around loose in it, trying our best to carve out an existence.”

“Running loose is better than being held captive. The pro and the con are identical in this situation. Nothing will happen to you if you stay here. Then again, nothing will happen to you if you stay here.”

She looks at me and smiles. “I wish I were as brave as you, Eloise.”

“You think I’m brave?”

“You challenged the queen. It’s like you’re not afraid to die.”

I scoff, but the truth of it settles in quickly. I knew I’d probably die if I came here. I did it anyway. “I am afraid to die. I’m just more afraid to live without Damien. If we’re lucky, we find someone worth dying for. I hope that you meet someone someday who inspires you to be brave. But I don’t think that’s going to happen if you allow fear to keep you here.”

“You’re right. I know you’re right.” She takes a deep breath and blows it out.

“You’re strong and you’re smart, Ren. You’ll meet people, good people. Besides, what good is reading all those romance novels if you never get to live your own story?”

“You’re a good friend, Eloise.” She stares at me for a heartbeat, then hugs me in my hospital bed. “Oh God, I hope you survive this.”

I laugh to keep from crying. “Me too, sister.”

I’m in deep sleep when footsteps in my room wake me. Damien stands next to the bed, his expression dark. He extends his fist and drops a handful of ash onto my hospital tray.

I rub my eyes. “What’s that?”

“Olivia’s head. Well, part of her head. It was hard to determine how much of her remains constituted her head.”

I try to process what he’s saying as I stare at the tiny pyramid of dust.

“You should know I killed her,” he adds in a voice that’s all grit and cinder without a hint of remorse.

I push myself up in bed. “You murdered Olivia and brought me her head?”

He nods slowly.

How do I feel about that? I try to find some empathy for the woman who betrayed me, but I can’t. I’m too tired. The old me might have challenged him, encouraged him to find a way without using violence. That girl is dead. I’ve endured too much. There’s too much riding on this next challenge for me to waste a single moment fretting about Damien being Damien.

Olivia had it coming, and the fact that he took her life so effortlessly is a reminder of the power of my mate. This is why Valeska wants him so badly. It’s also why his kingdom needs him. Damien is wired to be loyal. To be loved by him is to exist in the shelter of that love. This challenge has left him feeling helpless, like a cat without his claws. And good for him for finding an appropriate scratching post. I refuse to mourn a woman who traded my best hope of survival for a chance to become a vampire and then came to my room and rubbed it in my face. I refuse to mourn fake friends when true love is standing right in front of me.

The way he’s looking at me is halfway between patient and defiant. He did what he felt he had to do, and now he’s waiting for me to fight him on it.

I flop back on the mattress and smile lazily up at him. “Wash your hands before you come to bed. I don’t want her ashes in the sheets.”

The smile he rewards me with is lined with relief. He rolls the tray away from the bed, then strips off his clothes, never breaking eye contact. Brazenly, he walks into the attached bathroom, leaving the door open as he steps into the shower. Thank God I’m not hooked up to a heart monitor, because my pulse flutters as the water slithers along the moguls of his hard, toned flesh. Soap dribbles down the groove of his spine, disappearing in the valley between the two perfect mounds of his ass. I have half a mind to drag myself in there so we can take turns getting dirty and then clean again, but when I pull back the covers, the wave of fatigue that hits me warns me I’m not completely recovered. Not even close.

I don’t even pretend like I’m not ogling every part of him as he steps from the shower, dries himself off, and then climbs into bed beside me.

“Better?” He lifts a teasing brow. He knows he’s hot as fuck and just teased my still-injured ass into a puddle of lust.

I run my nails down his chest and lick over one of his nipples. His breath draws in on a hiss. I raise my gaze to his. “Thank you for defending me.”

His hand digs into my hair, his eyes taking on that blue-tinged intensity they do when he’s exceptionally passionate. “I’d turn this entire hive to ash and every vampire in it to be with you, Eloise. I’d burn this world down to protect you.”

I throw one knee over his hips and slide on top of him, brushing my lips against his. “I know. I hope you don’t have to, but I know.”

Our soft kiss grows deeper, his hands stroking down the open back of my hospital gown and cupping my ass, the tips of his fingers sending heat between my parted legs. As worn out as I am, I’m already wet for him. But there’s one more thing I need to know before I lose myself in him.

I draw back, my face close to his. “You didn’t tell me about the resistance.”

He nibbles my bottom lip. “I didn’t want to put you under more pressure.”

Unlike Marabella, who heaped it on like a scoop of mashed potatoes.

“You, your kingdom, my own life… What’s one more reason I have to win this?”

“I should have told you.” He’s quiet for a moment. “I realized something tonight when I was removing Olivia’s head from her body.”

I suppress a shiver. “What’s that?”

“From the beginning, I keep making the foolish mistake of underestimating you, my little dragon. You are no rabbit of a woman in need of my protection from the prowling lion. You are a fierce thing with sharp claws and teeth. And you’ve become quite good at cheating death.” He strokes my spine from the ends of my hair to the backs of my thighs. “Someday, when you are ready, I want to take you to my kingdom and make you my princess.”

I beam down at him. “Your princess, huh? I don’t know. Would I have to live in the castle and wear gorgeous dresses and a crown like your mother’s?”

He chuckles. “That wasn’t even her crown. It was just a tiara for casual use.”

I laugh so hard we shake the bed. “For casual use. Washing-dishes tiara. Mowing-the-lawn tiara.”

“Would you like to see the crown jewels reserved for my princess?”

“I think it’s important for me to make an informed decision.”

He holds out his hand, and shadows coalesce to form what appears to be a crown of black ice with sharp spires that rise higher in the front than in the back. “This doesn’t do it justice of course. It’s composed of black diamonds and carbon steel, befitting shade royalty. It will look radiant against your red hair.” With a turn of his hand, the image is gone.

“Do you think your family will accept me? A human?” A family of shades inviting a mere human into their royal ranks would be like a royal family of orcas inviting a seal.

He presses a kiss to my nose. “They will if they want their eldest son back.”

“But Damien, we can’t force?—”

“Shhh. Enough for now. We will discuss it when the time comes.” His hands begin to stroke me again, down my back, over my hips, fingertips brushing along my slit.

The room grows quiet except for the sound of our breathing. I meet his eyes again, thinking about his kingdom and the crown he showed me.

“I used to think I lost myself when I married Tony, that the abuse turned me into a shell of who I really was. When he died, when I helped to kill him, it felt like waking up in many ways. But now I understand more and more that I never actually knew who I was before you, Damien, before I was forced to grow taller to reach what I wanted. When this is over, I will never take that for granted. Someday, when we’re ready, I will accept that crown.”

“It will be yours,” he growls. He fists my hips, lifting me onto the head of his cock. I sink onto him, my body singing at the invasion. Damien knows this body better than anyone, and I see the concern in his eyes that I’m not fully recovered. He gently turns us over, supporting his weight on his elbows as he rocks into me over and over. Tenderly, he kisses my throat, my breasts, his shadows caressing places his lips can’t reach.

My climax snowballs slowly from a deep wave of pleasure to an elaborate and spectacular release that drags him over the edge with me. Afterward, he cleans me up and I nestle into his side. Content and safe, I drift off to thoughts of castles, crowns, and Damien.