meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.
There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.
“Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You ’ re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek ’ s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I ’ m not sure that ’ s even possible.”
Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only myself to rely on. That, I thought, was the most frightening aspect of my predicament. After all, how could I rely on someone whom I couldn ’ t trust?
Chapter 4: Derek
The moment my eyes shot open, I could hear everything, smell everything, feel everything within at least a quarter mile radius around me. I was sure that the sensation alone would bring my body into complete shock, until my vision settled on a familiar face. The woman I had trusted enough to provide my escape from everything.
“Cora?”
It was strange. The last thing I remembered was Cora ’ s face as I ’ d faded off into slumber. It felt like I had only slept for a few moments before being jolted awake. I wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell. Looking at the witch, I couldn ’ t help but wonder how it was possible that she looked younger. I found my answer when the buxom beauty with light brown skin and long, cascading locks of chestnut hair shook her head.
“I ’ m not Cora. I ’ m Corrine.”
I lifted myself up from the slab of stone that served as my resting place…for how long, I could only muse. I took in my surroundings - I was in a candlelit hall with marble floors and giant pillars. The first word that came to mind when I surveyed the place was sanctuary.
I eyed the young woman I was alone in the room with, wary of her intentions. It took a moment for her strange clothes to register. I became aware of how I was dressed and realized that perhaps more time had passed than I initially thought. At that point, it didn ’ t really matter.
The bottom line was that I wasn ’ t supposed to wake up. Ever.
Contemptuous that I would wake when I so explicitly asked to be given an escape from which I would never wake, I shouted a command as prince of the Blood Shade.
“I want to see Cora. Bring her to me.”
I hated the authoritative tone my voice naturally took on. Who was I to issue commands? I was no prince – much less the savior Vivienne painted me to be.
The prophecy she spoke soon after we were turned into vampires immediately haunted me as I recalled it.
The younger will rule above father and brother and his reign alone can provide his kind true sanctuary.
I still remember the look on Vivienne ’ s face when she uttered those words. More than that, I saw the expressions of my father and brother. Resentment.
I snapped myself out of the bout of nostalgia I was sinking into and raised a brow at the woman before me. Why isn ’ t she moving? I was surprised by my own indignation at the idea of her not immediately jumping on my order.
Despite my misgivings about ruling, I wasn ’ t used to others not obeying me. After a hundred years of fighting for survival and leading my coven to the Blood Shade, I ’ d grown accustomed to being revered and followed. I wasn ’ t sure I liked that about myself, but it was what it was.
“Would you like us to dig her grave up, your highness? I doubt her corpse will do much good to clarify whatever questions you have in mind.”
I grimaced. Your highness. A reminder of the day my father took to heart the coven ’ s silly notion to establish himself as king of the Blood Shade. However, the title did not bother me as much as the news of Cora ’ s demise and this young woman ’ s manner of addressing me. I swallowed hard as I grabbed the edges of the stone slab I was then sitting on.
The