Page 68 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

“Carver didn’t return from his hunt last night,” he says simply.

My heart stammers. Did Svenn somehow slip into the night?

“The bastard didn’t report to the Creed. He broke our caste’s oldest oath. Now the guild will send the wolves for him,” Shade says without feeling.

“Wolves?” A shudder grips my spine.

“One wolf. But I think he’s efficient enough.” Shade yawns lazily.” I’m tired of picking up after his fuck ups. I know he’s been stealing stuff from the Silverra’s house.”

My heart crumbles a little. I came running with the thought of saving a life.

“But maybe he’s made a run for it,” Shade suddenly says. I suspect he just adds that to comfort me.

Well, now that I’m here…

“I want to see my uncle,” I tell the Grimsbane.

The male briefly stares at me.

“He’s still not his usual self. Might not be a good idea,” he says, fixing a black leather glove over his scarred, tattooed hand.

My shoulders slump at the rejection. I take a look at the behemoth of a mansion before me. A memory plays in my head, one that happened many years ago in front of an entrance of us just like this one.

“I don’t want to cross.” I shake my head furiously, refusing to jump over a puddle. “There’s a monster in the water.”

Mother gave a disappointed sigh and Aerin looks at me with pity.

“But there really is something in there…” I tell them desperately. All the entourage and guards are staring at the strange second child of the Wiolant family.

Rainer takes one look into the murky puddle and throws his coat over it.

“There,” he says. “Come now, child.”

My uncle is practical, efficient, and kind. That person is still there and I need his wisdom in moments like this.

“You can’t keep me away from him,” I say, storming past the assassin. He does nothing to stop me when I sprint as fast as I can across the garden.

I reach the front door in no time. It’s locked, but that’s no issue for me. I take my hairpin and jam it into the keyhole.

“Your Highness.” The assassin clears his throat from behind me.

I turn my head slowly to look at him.

“It’s this way,” he says, cocking his head in a motion that tells me to follow him. “You might not like what you see.”

I inhale a deep breath over Shade’s warning and trail behind him from the courtyard into the maze of the mansion’s hallways.

The house is eerily silent. Lady Deirdre told me that Rainer had dismissed the maids and servants in the household.

“I’ll go fetch him.” The assassin’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “He might kill me for bringing you here.”

I shoot an apologetic look at him.

Glorious paintings cover the walls of the sitting room from the previous generations of Wiolants, Mother, Father, Aerin. My uncle lives with ghosts of our family… and Shade.I can almost feel their spirits moving in the walls, looming around my uncle.

My heart warms at the heroic portrait of my father in the Dovanor battle. Handsome, broad-shouldered, clad in Wiolant’s battle armor, riding a handsome Völundr bred steed. Other than his larger built, my father looked so alike to Rainer they could be twins.

I miss him. I miss Mother. I miss Aerin. I miss them all.