“Aw, you’re a laugh, aren't ya?” He chuckled.
“What’s happenin’ guys?” Falcon fell beside me.
“We’re just talking,” I said casually.
“Right.” He looked at Tom. “Lookin’ pretty cosy over here.”
“Relax, man. We’re just talking,” Blade said, then sighed and stood up, heading for the fire.
“Talking? That’s all, huh?” Falcon asked me.
“Falcon, I know you think you’re cool with your newfound ability to hear and all, but it doesn't give you telepathy. So chill. Blade and I are just getting to know each other.” I stood up, too.
“That's the problem, Your Majesty.” He appeared in front of me, blocking my path. “It’s his job to protect you—not know you.”
“Yeah?” I looked over at Blade, then folded my arms across my chest. “And that’s the same as you—except you seem to think it’s all right to make assumptions about my intentions.”
“No,” he said smugly, “I don't assume. I know. And it is more than appropriate for me to make those assumptions, Majesty, because it is my job to protect you, and that includes from yourself.”
“Er!” I scoffed, turning away. “You're starting to sound like Mike.”
“Good.” Falcon stopped behind me. “I’d be proud to be only half the man he is.”
“Yeah. Well, he may be a good man, but when it comes to what’s best for me, he’s getting his clues from the wrong side of the line.”
Falcon appeared beside me, gently grabbing my arm. “Or maybe you’re just too immature and too naïve to know any better. Maybe it takes a man who is willing to step outside that line to tell you what you need to do.”
“Falcon.” I pushed his hand off. “Now you are being inappropriate.”
“I know.” He stepped back. “But I’ve had to watch Mike fight with you, day after day, worry over the simplest things, because you refuse to listen.” He leaned forward and spoke quieter, “Do you have any idea what you put that guy through?”
“It’s none of your business.”
He leaned back and folded his arms. “Yeah, well, I got news for ya, Princess, it is my business. Everything you do, think, feel or say is my business—and I am not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
“Bad? By talking to Blade?”
“By crossing boundaries with him.”
“So, now I can't have friends?”
“Not if they’re in your Guard. It’s against the rules—a dischargeable offence. Blade knows that.” Falcon pointed toward the fire. “He shouldn’t be talking to you that way.”
I looked at Blade, who looked down at his feet. “Would Mike really kick him out?”
“He’s already been warned.”
Without looking back at Falcon, I nodded. “Okay. Fine. I won’t talk to him anymore.”
“You can talk to him, just…keep it light. No first names.” He smiled at me as he trudged past.
“You heard all that?” My arms dropped, and I followed him, hearing only a soft laugh from ahead.
Chapter Seven
The early morning sun shone down on the colours in the dome above my bed, making the eyes of what I’d recently concluded was Drake, and the greens of the gardens around Little Lili rich and bright. I twisted my wedding ring around on my finger, imagining David beside me, talking about the strokes and textures that made up the roses and grasses in the stained glass. We had many pretend conversations like this. Somehow, talking to him in my mind helped ease the troubles in my soul. It was like I could predict his answers, then get advice from him about stuff I could never tell him, all while he wasn't even in the same room.
“Knock, knock,” Mike said as he opened my door. “Hey, baby. Brought you coffee and toast.”
I pushed my hands into the mattress to sit up. “No garlic today?
“Garlic?” he said.
“Never mind.” I shook my head; he clearly didn't know about David's visits.
“You okay?” he asked, setting a tray down beside my leg.
“Mm-hm.”
“How’s your throat?”
I touched my fingertips to my neck, lifting my chin slightly. “It stopped burning a few hours ago. How are the knights?”
“Fine. They’re starting to notice changes—small things, like their hearing.”
“Have the bite marks healed?”
“Blade’s has.”
I grabbed a coffee cup off the tray and sipped the brown liquid casually. “I think I had my teeth in his flesh longer than the others.”
“You did?” He sat beside me and grabbed a cup, too. “Why’s that?”
“I…I don't know.” I looked down at my fingertips, wrapped around the warmth of my mug, while my mind flipped to the darkness of last night. The fire had burned down to embers, and the only remaining knights were the ones who were still human—the ones I had to change, aside from Mike and Falcon, who stayed to watch over us, since they were the only sober men at Loslilian. There was so much anticipation in the air, a kind I understood, because once, I had been human, and once, I had wanted David to change me.
As it got later, Blade took my hand and led me through the trees until we could no longer hear Mike and the boys talking. I remembered my heart skipping in my chest as he turned to face me, taking both my hands in his and gently helping me to the forest floor. I knelt in front of him, breath responding to my panic, and he so sweetly brushed my hair over my shoulder and planted a very soft kiss to my cheek. I felt each sharp rise of bark under my bare knees, down the length of my shins and my ankles, but the fear of what I had to do consumed more of me.
“You're so scared,” he whispered, cupping my face.
I closed my eyes and rolled my cheek into his warm, human hand. Each time his heart beat, his blood pulsed, making his flesh rise like ribs with a breath. I listened to the sound, heard his blood, thick and rushing, move through his veins. With a deep breath, I pinpointed where it pulsed closer to the surface—the place I needed to bite. I knew what I had to do, but wasn't really sure how. When I had bitten Mike, just a small nick in his skin was enough to change him, but it took him weeks to transform. When I bit Falcon after electrocuting him, I left my teeth in him until his heart started again, and he was fully transformed within a few days. I weighed up the two options in my mind.