‘My son does not hate you. I highly doubt he is capable of it,’ said a voice, eloquent and undoubtedly belonging to a woman.
I sat bolt upright and stumbled up from my bed – which wasn’t even my bed anymore – and back-pedalled into the wall. I hit the wood panelling and stared dead ahead, a breeze stirring the black voiles around the French doors, open to reveal the balcony outside.
Stood in front of the mantle was a woman, dressed in a long emerald dress which clung to her waist, cinched by the bones of the bodice. Her wavy brown hair clung to the curvatures of her neck and breast, long enough to reach her hips. She was smiling in my direction, revealing the tips of two small fangs. Although a woman past the years of youth, she was beautiful – most stunning of all were her eyes, which were a bright, vivid shade of emerald.
‘Your Majesty,’ I spluttered, bobbing into a curtsy.
Her lips came together and the corners of her mouth upturned, her eyes seeming to sparkle with the same amused half-smirk, half-smile I had seen Kaspar use on so many occasions. Her head bowed and she gathered the sides of her skirt, dropping into a low curtsy. ‘You have no need to bow to me, Lady Heroine.’
I could only stutter as she straightened, still smiling – a smile none of the portraits I had seen of her, including the one behind her, had ever done justice.
This was one hell of a dream.
‘I … How … What do you mean Kaspar doesn’t hate me? My father ordered your death.’ The words seemed surreal and stupid even as I was saying them. She bowed her head again and gracefully sat on the edge of Kaspar’s bed – her bed – and stretched out her hand, inviting me to do the same.
‘Kaspar, although often callous and devoid of civility, is a good man. His heart is true and I am in no doubt that it belongs to you. He is angry, I do not deny that, but his hurt will abate, in time.’
I clasped my hands together, uneasy. ‘You mean he will forgive me?’
She shook her head. ‘He has nothing to forgive you for.’
‘But—’
‘Hush,’ she breathed, taking my hands in hers. Her skin was warm too, as though she had bathed her hands in hot water. ‘Here,’ she added, pressing something cold into my palm. I looked down. Resting on my hand was the Queen’s locket – her locket – the chain dangling between my fingers. ‘My son chose correctly when he bestowed this upon you. Valerian Crimson had no right to take it.’
I closed my fingers around it, feeling the ever-cool metal burning my skin. ‘Is this really just a dream?’ I asked, believing that nothing was impossible anymore. Even the dead walking and talking.
The Queen did not answer immediately, but seemed to think for a while. ‘You must decide that for yourself. But we do not have long.’
‘I don’t want to wake up,’ I breathed.
The Queen shook her head. ‘You must, Violet, if you wish to keep your family from harm.’
I squeezed the locket in my hand and stared at the floor I was so familiar with now. ‘And how on Earth do I do that? I have to betray them to fulfil the Prophecy and I will turn if that is what I have to do, but I don’t think that is going to be enough.’
The Queen didn’t answer, standing up and rounding the bedpost, hurrying towards the French doors. I sprang up and followed her. The sun had appeared once more from behind the cloak of grey clouds and the morning was fast reaching its height. She stepped out, devoid of the elegance now and rushed to lean over the banisters of the balcony. I did the same, just in time to see my limp body being carried inside by one of the Sage.
That clears up whether this is a dream or not.
I recoiled, whilst the Queen leaned even further down, her hair dangling in mid-air. Slowly, I placed my weight back on the stone and listened as below the balcony, Eaglen and the Sagean prince, Henry, talked in undertones.
‘I understand, Henry, but the girl’s father will come tomorrow along with the Pierre clan and maybe even the Extermino too. We need you and your men, to keep the Varns from harm as much as anything else,’ Eaglen pleaded, pausing as two of the Sagean men he talked of walked past – the crowd of vampires that had gathered earlier had gone. ‘To keep the girl from harm.’
The Prince shook his head. ‘Can the vampires not fight their own battles? I have orders, Eaglen, and those orders are to remove the Lady Heroine from the second dimension to our own. The human family will be forsaken and the Prophecy fulfilled.’
Eaglen smacked the stone pillar he stood beside. ‘And you think that is the way to introduce the mortal child to her new life? Death and her removal from the man she is tied to?’
The argument continued but the Queen sprang back up, staring at me wide-eyed before dashing back inside. I followed her as far as the doors to see her scribbling something on a slip of paper that looked a lot like one of her own letters. She dropped the paper on the bed and hurriedly placed the pen back on the bedside cabinet before flitting back to me. She grabbed me and wrenched me away from the doors, out of view of the room. Her hand clamped down on my mouth just as I heard the door of the room opening and the sound of footsteps and Kaspar cursing loudly. Then the footsteps retreated and the door slammed, rattling the glass of the French doors we stood beside.
The Queen breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I cannot be seen, but you can,’ she whispered in my ear, pushing me down behind the railings as she leaned back over. I nodded, not quite understanding what had just happened.
‘Eaglen, the Lady Heroine will go to Athenea and that is not negotiable—’
Abruptly, the Sagean prince stopped talking and a third voice joined the conversation.
‘Violet is not going anywhere that I do not go, and as the heir to the throne, my place is here.’
My lips parted into a smile as I recognized Kaspar’s voice. Shifting a little closer to peer through the gaps in the stone railings, I could just see him beside Eaglen, who chuckled.
‘Well, that settles it then. Henry?’
I watched as the Sagean prince appeared and descended the steps, heading towards a young Sagean boy who had been standing aside from the conversation. ‘You are a messenger boy?’ The boy, who couldn’t have been any older than twelve almost squealed in fright as the Prince first addressed him and then gruffly relayed a message.
‘You are to go straight to King Ll’iriad and inform him that we intend to remain at Varnley until further notice.’ Henry turned back to look at Eaglen and Kaspar. ‘And that the Lady Violet Lee will remain here too. Do you understand what I want you to do? Hasten and do not relay the message to anyone but the King or the Lady Autumn Rose.’