To my surprise, Borys took out his frustration on Lucas. He let go of my jaw and threw Lucas against a wall. “How dare your brother touch what is mine! First, he takes Vivienne away from me, now he has soiled my betrothed!”
I winced when he grabbed a clump of Lucas’ hair and hit him right across the face.
“Borys, my dear, that’s enough.” Ingrid sounded almost bored. “You’re scaring my daughter.”
Borys hit Lucas one more time before turning his attention toward me once again. He grabbed my waist and pulled my body against his, yanking me like a rag doll. His free hand began groping me roughly as he pressed his lips against my cheek. I screamed with pain and terror when his claws came out of the hand that was touching my thigh, sinking into my skin as he scratched my thigh upward and drew blood.
Once satisfied that he had drawn enough blood, he used both his arms to wrap around me so tightly it felt as if he wanted to crush my ribs. He whispered into my ear, “Derek might’ve already had you before I could, but I still want you, Sofia Claremont. Don’t worry. I’m going to make him pay for what he did to you, for taking you away from me. Once I make a widow out of you, you’re going to be mine, Sofia—just as you were always meant to be.”
He then let go of me and pushed me to the ground. Delight sparked in his eyes when he saw the blood trickling down my thighs. I knew then that I was facing one sadistic man, and I could only shudder to think of all the horrors that Vivienne had to go through under his rule.
“Heal your daughter,” he instructed Ingrid. “I’ll see to it that everyone prepares for my wedding.” A spark of glee showed in his eyes. “We have to make sure that Derek Novak gets an invitation.”
CHAPTER 45: BEN
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I felt was a sharp pain in the right side of my head. I tried to remember what had just happened, and could recall Gregor Novak hitting me on the head with a hard object. After that, everything was a daze. I sat up, feeling slightly dizzy, and noticed that I was lying on a couch, my wrists cuffed behind my back.
I looked around the room and immediately saw Sofia, sitting over the edge of a large bed, her hand cuffed to the bed’s railings. It was clear to see from the tear stains on her cheeks and her swollen eyes that she’d been crying.
“Sofia? What happened? Where are we?”
She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Lucas says that we’re in Egypt, a place called The Oasis.”
I drew a breath. The Oasis was the stuff of legends. It’d been one of the hunters’ main quests to find it, because it was rumored to be the Maslen coven’s hideout. I wondered then why on earth Gregor and Claudia would bring us to the Maslens. That’s when what Sofia had said fully registered in my mind. That would mean they’d been working with Lucas all along, and Lucas had been working with the Maslens?
“Why would they bring us here?” I asked Sofia. “The Novaks and the Maslens are known enemies…”
“I don’t know why Lucas would work with the Maslens after what Borys did to his sister, but he’s a twisted, sick man… so I can’t pretend to try and understand the way his mind works.”
I studied Sofia and noticed the blood stains on her dress. Panic gripped me. “What did they do to you? Sofia…”
“It was Borys Maslen. He clawed through my thighs. He has this notion that I’m meant to be his, that I’m his betrothed…” her voice hitched. “They’re going to force me to marry that sick, sadistic bastard, Ben. They’re sending Derek a wedding invitation.”
“Derek Novak isn’t a fool. He knows that you love him. He’s not going to believe that you’re in this wedding out of your own will.”
“I know that,” she assured me. “They’re using the wedding—using me—to trap him. I think the Maslens want to take over The Shade.” She began to sob uncontrollably.
I wanted to run to her and pull her into my arms, assure her that everything was going to be okay and that all would work out fine, but I couldn’t do that. I wasn’t sure about what was happening or what was going to happen.
“Ben, I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to Derek,” she managed to say in between sobs. “I wouldn’t know how to live with myself. I’m terrified.”
I stared at her, my heart breaking on her behalf. I wondered if she’d ever cried for me the way that she did for him. I remembered all the times that I’d caught him looking at her and the way she’d looked at him. As I sat there watching my best friend break down over the man that she loved, I couldn’t help but be amazed over the amount of sacrifice Derek and Sofia were willing to make for each other.
It was the first time I truly began to accept that Derek and Sofia were meant for each other, and I knew then that nothing in the world could keep Derek Novak from storming The Oasis to get Sofia back.
“Derek is known to be the most powerful vampire alive, Sofia. If he comes, he’s going to put up a good fight and considering that it’s you who’s involved, I think it’s the Maslens who have reason to tremble. Don’t underestimate the man you love, Rose Red.”
She looked at me with hopeful eyes. It seemed the words were enough to console her.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Sofia. I know it.” As I said the words, I realized that I now meant every word. It gave me a sense of resignation, but also a sense of fulfillment, to know that she was in good hands, that my best friend really had found her true love in the person of Derek Novak.
Though I was still filled with dread over what she might possibly go through at The Oasis, a part of me was happy for her, knowing that unlike me, she would live her life knowing that she loved and that she was loved in return.
CHAPTER 46: DEREK
Since Sofia’s disappearance, I’d been turning The Shade upside down trying to find her. It helped that she was so loved by the citizens of The Shade, because their full cooperation was immediately given to me the moment news that she was no longer on the island came out.
During a council meeting called specifically to discuss what to do in order to find Sofia, I found myself losing hope.
“She most likely eloped with the boy.” Felix leaned back on his seat, not bothering to hide how bored he was by the entire thing.
At that, Gavin scoffed, earning himself Felix’s ire.
I shook my head. “No. She wouldn’t do that to me.”