The Deabru castle was a glowing gray sword stabbing the clouds. The structure was an awe to behold and impossible to breach without the ability to fly.

Four men landed on the road in front of us. At least they were mostly men. They had pitch black eyes, and multicolored wings. When Max said that he’d been battling demons, I assumed it was a euphemism. But as I stared at these strange men I realized he was being quite literal.

Behind them a dragon-like creature sat a silver cage on the road. One of the men spoke. “Our queen is eager to see you. Please step into the lift and you’ll be taken directly to her.”

Well, wasn’t that something to look forward to. I looked at the height we were meant to go. If that dragon-thing at any time decided to drop the cage, we were doomed. I would have liked to have at least one conversation with her to assess whose side she was on before putting my life in her hands, but Max was already moving forward, so I followed behind.

I clutched onto him in the ornate death cage and the giant winged lizard carried us up to the castle. It sat us down on a balcony that led into a throne room. The queen’s delicate black throne was empty. Claudia sat on the king’s throne, one leg dangling over the other. I prepared myself to hate her guts no matter what she said or did, for Max. My mood wasn’t helped any since I was wearing ripped and bloodied rags. Damn Lucius’s determination.

As we approached, I made note of the lack of guards in the room. That was a better sign than last time. When we were six feet away, Max stopped and bowed. “Your Majesty.”

I stood there watching him through the corner of my eye. I didn’t bow. She wasn’t any royalty I recognized.

Claudia rose from her husband’s throne. Instead of the massive dresses I’d gotten used to seeing, she wore a leather dress with thigh high boots and slits that didn’t leave much to the imagination.

I whispered to Max. “Why couldn’t I have gotten that dress? Do you know how easy it would have been to walk in that?”

I shook his head at me. “I’ll get you one later.”

I folded my arms, still trying to figure out how she got to wear that when I spent a day carrying around eighty pounds of satin and lace.

Claudia stood in front of me. She was almost a head taller. Taller, thinner and blond. Yep, hating her for Max was going to be easy.

Her eyes trailed over me as if she was studying a specimen in a dish. “You’ve turned her,” she said to Max even though her eyes were still locked on me.

My fist clenched at my side. She tore his heart out of his chest and used it as a paperweight. The very least the bitch could do was make eye contact.

I expected Max to explain how I was dying and turning me was a last ditch effort to save my life. Though that was probably evident with the condition of my clothes. Instead he simply replied, “Yes.”

And to that, all she said was, “Interesting.”

Max interrupted my staring contest with Claudia. “Do you know why we’re here?”

“You wish for me to use my army to remove Lucius from the throne, so he is no longer a threat to Julian.”

“And will you?” Max asked.

“No.”

My mouth fell open. No matter how many times Max tried to explain to me vampire pragmatism, it just seemed like coldheartedness to me.

“But he’s your brother,” argued Max.

“Yes, and I will not plunge this realm into a war that may never end to secure for him a throne that he abandoned. The cost is too high and I believe my brother would agree with me.”

“So you’ll just let him die?” Max looked as though he couldn’t fathom her words, but she seemed consistent with the woman he’d described. The one that would leave him scratching at the door while she married another man.

“Of course not. I was waiting here for you to make sure you got back to Julian safely. We have a mage here who can open a portal to that realm. After you leave I will head directly to Lucius and try to reason with him about Julian.”

“I doubt it will work. You vampires don’t seem like very reasonable people. You seem to be drawn to whatever will cause the most damage.” Man, it felt good to get that out.

But she simply ignored me. She got up again and walked over to Max. “If our business is done, I’ll have a mage open that portal for you now.”

“That’s it?” I snapped. “Not even an apology?”

“Our relationship was a long time ago. It’s clear to me that we’ve both moved on. But if it makes you happy…” She looked into Max’s eyes. “I apology for any pain I may have caused you.”

Her apology was just as cold and as stilted as the rest of her. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to make her feel anything, but especially pain. I wanted her to suffer the way he’d suffered all those years to balance the scales. But that was impossible.

So I did what I could. I grabbed Claudia of House Corvus, Queen of the Deabru, Princess of the Sanguinese, by her long blond hair and tugged like I was trying to repo that shit. It wasn’t what I planned and it certainly wasn’t dignified and it went all downhill from there.

Turned out, somewhere in vampire finishing school, someone taught Princess how to fight. With claws and fangs out she broke free of my grip and we each struggled to grab the other while Max watched dumbfounded.

She was just too fast and capable of blocking everything I threw at her. I needed more. More strength. More speed. I needed to be powerful enough to make her pay.

My arm bent back in the opposite direction sending shooting pains through my body.

With the fight forgotten, I screamed, “What the hell did you just do to me?”

She stood there, with every hair in place. “Nothing. You’re shifting,” she said in her even tone.

The guards came rushing in at the sound of my scream. Claudia waved them away.

Max hugged me to his chest. “Just relax. You’ll shift back if you calm down.”

I took deep breaths and watched as my clawed hand returned to normal.

Claudia smiled at Max. “I like her. She’s spunky.”

Spunky? Spunky!

“And she defends you fiercely, it’s charming, even though I’m much older than her and she didn’t stand a chance.”

Max was trying his best to bite back laughter. “Yeah, but she managed to get a fistful of your hair before either of us could react.”

“Yes. She did manage to do that.”

Max’s smile faded. “I think it’s time for us to go home.”

Claudia nodded. “I’ll go fetch the mage.” She was almost out of the room when she turned and looked back. “I’m glad to have seen you again Maxwell, and I don’t think you could have found a more suitable mate.”