Chapter 10: Secrets in the Garden

The palace gardens were nothing like I had imagined.

They were untamed. Unrestrained.

Vines entwined themselves around ancient marble statues, black roses spilled crimson under the twin moons' silver glow, and some flowers looked like teeth instead of petals swaying although there was no breath of air.

It was lovely in an almost cruel manner. Deadly.

Just like the rest of this accursed place.

Kael had not allowed me to walk anywhere without him—of course not.

But tonight, following another night of sleepless nights spent playing courtroom games and cold laughter, the suffocating walls of the Solar Room had pushed me to desperation.

I slipped away under cover of the celebrations, my white slippers silent on the cold stone floors as I walked deeper into the inner recesses of the gardens.

Part of me wanted Kael to chase after me.

Another part wanted him not to.

Stolen liberty, stolen in stolen hours, was something I couldn't help but yearn for.

The farther I receded from the choking world of the palace, the more I felt the air break away into something primal.

Something ancient.

The vegetation grew wild here, the trails more unkempt.

Ghostly, luminous fruit dripped from distorted branches, and in the distance, the thrum of energy resonated on my skin like an invisible current.

I pushed through a tunnel of suspended vines—and fell into a clearing.

In its center, a weathered stone pedestal, half-hidden in moss and roots.

And atop it, a book.

It shouldn't have been there.

Even without reaching out to touch it, I could sense the malevolence of it.

The way the air curled around it, the way the garden itself took a step back from it.

I should have backed away.

Should have run.

But something compelled me forward.

Forced me.

I shivered as I raised my hand and stroked the cover.

It was tied in worn and cracked leather, markings I could not decipher carved into its face.

When I opened it, the pages creaked beneath my touch, thick and stiff with age.

The sentences inside were crude, in an alphabet unfamiliar to me—but the artwork was familiar enough.

A woman.

Human.

Tied at wrists, her body radiating power.

Her blood bursting from her arteries—and being molded into a crown.

I read on.

A child.

Child of union between humans and vampires.

A creature less than alive or less than dead.

A bridge.

I read on, my heart locked.

The Blood Oath.

An ancient custom before the vampire kings, that had united two hearts across death itself.

The images became somber as I twirled faster, hope consuming me.

There were predictions.

Whispered rumors of a child who would break down the ancient limits.

A queen not born of vampire royalty—yet something more.

Something dreaded.

Something taboo.

I took a step back, my heart pounding against my ribcage.

This wasn't some antiquated fairytale.

This was why I was in this place.

This was why Kael had purchased me.

Not for my blood.

Not for my body.

But for something so much, much more dangerous.

I clutched the book to my chest, mind reeling.

Did Kael know?

Had he known all along?

Or was I merely another piece in some game of centuries that he barely comprehended?

A twig cracked behind me.

I turned around, clutching the book to my chest.

Kael loomed on the edge of the trees, night swirling around him like a double cloak.

His ruby eyes weren't cold tonight.

They flamed.

"You shouldn't be here," he growled, voice low and menacing.

I tightened my grip on the book.

"You knew," I huffed.

"You knew there was something different about me."

His jaw muscle contracted.

"I suspected," he told me. "Now I know."

My knees shook.

"This—"

I waved with the book in my hand, my voice trembling. "This reads. I'm supposed to—"

"Change everything," Kael completed, approaching.

I backpedaled instinctively, the pedestal wedged between my shoulder blades.

He was a few strides off me, his face grim.

"The ancient bloodlines fear prophecy," he declared. "They fear what you hold to. A world where their dominance is not absolute. Where the ancient practices amount to nothing."

He was almost feral in the moonlight.

"That's why you must be mine, Scarlett," he growled. "Because if you're taken into their hands, they'll destroy you before you've even discovered what you are."

I laughed, a crazed, sick sound.

"I'm not some—some chosen one. I'm just. me."

"You are more," he said, closing in closer and closer.

"So much more."

I felt the urge to yell at him.

To slap him, scratch him, something to break the way he looked at me—as if I was something he needed to keep concealed at all costs.

"You used me," I snapped, my eyes clouding up with tears.

"You still are."

Kael's face became blacker.

"I am saving you," he snarled, his teeth locked.

"By holding me captive?" I spat.

He did not blink.

He simply leaned forward—and warily, so warily, took the book from my grasp.

"I would have done it if I did not have to," he said to me, his voice tight.

"But you and I. We are headed for this destruction whether we desire it or not."

The garden surrounding us drew in as one.

The vines trembled.

The black roses cried blood-red tears.

I seethed at Kael, at the man who had purchased me, and imprisoned me. And now insisted he was only doing this to protect me.

I had no idea whether I was supposed to hate him or sympathize with him.

Or both.

Or neither.

All I knew for certain was that the ground beneath me had changed.

And there was no turning back.

Without a word, Kael turned and vanished, a forbidden book clutched in his hand.

He didn't turn to look back and see if I'd be following.

He didn't need to.

Because no matter how much I despised him.

No matter how much I despised myself for it.

I lagged.

Because somewhere deep inside me, where I tried to keep it hidden, I knew—

This was only the start.

And my blood, my destiny, was no longer my own.

To be continued…