He cleared his throat and sat back, dropping my hand. “What are you really asking, Ara?”

I stared at him for a long moment. “Did you sleep with her?”

“When?”

“Ever. I don't know. You share blood, you were clearly ‘best buds’ in high school.” I sat up, placing my feet to the floor in front of David's. “Have you slept with her?”

His gaze stayed on my feet. “No.”

“Look me in the eye and say that.”

He looked me in the eye, the pupil small and black, swimming in the green. “No. I never slept with Emily.”

“Was she your girl?”

“I just…she…” He ran his hand through his hair again. “When I first got to the school, Emily was the only nice person there. I had to work my way up in the ranks, Ara. I was pretty much the jocks’ punching bag for the first semester.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He laughed. “Good thing I can handle a punch. But it wasn’t until I joined the football team that people started to respect me.”

“And you let them treat you like that?”

He shrugged. “What can I say; I was pretty broken. I just didn't care.”

I took his hand. “I'm sorry.”

He pulled his hand from mine. “Emily was nice to me, Ara, and I found out a few things that made me feel kinda…I guess, bad for her.”

“Like what?”

He hesitated. “This is her personal business, my love. All I can say is that I kind of took her under my wing—told the jocks to lay off.”

“What were they doing?”

“Nothing. Just…they just treated her like a piece of meat. She didn’t deserve that.”

“In what way?”

He stood up, his shadow taking the warmth of the sun from my face. “It doesn't matter. It’s in the past. I protected her, I guess. Made it seem like we were some kind of item.”

“Like you owned her?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“And she was okay with this?”

He turned around to face me, dropping his hands from his head. “Yeah.”

“Did you know she was in love with you back then?”

He laughed. “Yeah. But…it was little-girl-love, Ara. Very different to how she feels for Mike now.”

I nodded. I understood that love only too well.

“Jason?” Walter said, coming down the stairs toward us.

“Walter,” David said, tipping an imaginary hat. “Lovely day.”

“Splendid. And I see you’re making yourself acquainted with our queen.” Walter clapped him on the shoulder. “So, there may be hope for this prophecy child after all?”

David turned his head and winked at me. “If I have anything to do with it.”

I nearly laughed. He played his brother so well even I was convinced; he became lighter—the weight of the world leaving his shoulders, his eyes and his voice for a second.

“Good. Good. Hopefully we’ll have word of an heir within the month, then we can name you king.”

David bowed, smiling, and Walter headed down the base of the garden, leaving us alone again.

“We’re going to announce it next month,” I said.

“What?”

“A pregnancy.”

“You can't,” he said, sitting down, the weighted, stiff version of David taking over the light-hearted act of his brother.

“Why?”

“They’ll check you if there’re no obvious signs.”

“But—”

“I know.” He held his hands up. “I know we said it would be good to flush out ulterior motives and to get Ja…me crowned, but things have changed. It won’t be so easy.”

“So, what do we do?”

He sat back. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nope. There’s nothing to be done. We’ll just catch Drake and leave it at that. If we drain him and starve him, his immunity will fade and then we can kill him.”

“So that's the plan? Just catch him and kill him?”

“Right now, yes.” He frowned down at his hands. “I just…I don't think you're ready for a child, Ara. And I know you’ll do it for the sake of your people and the Immortal Damned, but they’re not suffering right now and there are other ways we can kill Drake. I don't want to put you through a teen pregnancy if I don't have to.”

“So you think I can't handle it?”

He scratched his cheekbone. “It’s not to be insulting, my love. I just…you’re only nineteen.”

I wanted to be insulted, but I was a little bit too happy for that.

“What?” he said. “Why are you smiling?”

I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you, Da—son.”

“For what?” He laughed, patting my elbow.

“You’re right. I'm not ready to have a baby, but I…I just didn't want to let everyone down.”

He squeezed me tight. “I know.”

I smiled into his neck. “You always know.”

“But, for now, I need you to continue this fake relationship.”

“Why?” I gasped, sitting back.

“It gives me time. While the people are waiting for you to turn up pregnant, they’re not hassling for a wedding or pushing you to bare a child. They’re at ease. If you ‘break up’ with Jason, they may actually force you to fornicate with a man of their choosing, and something tells me it might end up being Walter.”

“Walter? Why him?” I nearly threw up.

David laughed. “The House want him in power. He’s one of the people we’ve been watching closely.”

“But he's Lilithian.”

“I know. Exactly why no one would suspect him.”

“Isn't he sworn to the throne of Lilith?”

David smirked, sniffing once. “Can you keep this to yourself?”

I nodded eagerly.

“You can't tell Jason—or think it around him.”

I nodded again.

“Walt doesn't have a Mark.”

“What?”

David sat back, making himself comfortable, as if he was Jason. “I snuck into his quarters and saw it for myself. He’s pretending to have taken an oath. In fact, I bet if you compelled him to do something, he’d do it just to keep that pretence up.”

“So, what, you think he wants the throne?”

He nodded, squinting in the sun. “Yep.”

I clicked my tongue. “All this royalty and conspiracy stuff really sucks. Will there ever be any rest?”

He laughed and sat up again. “When Drake is gone, yes, I trust that things will change. And…I actually feel better knowing my brother is watching over you.”

“Why?”

He shrugged. “He’s one of the most powerful vampires here, Ara, and that’s…partially why I want him to pose as your partner.”

“So you want him with me twenty-four-seven?”

“Not that often.” He reached out and tickled my ribs, making me squirm; I grabbed his hand and held it tight. “But, yes, for the most part, I want him with you—especially now we no longer have your personal guard.”

I looked down. “Do you think I was stupid to do that?”

He lifted my chin. “No. I don't.”

“Mike does.”

“I know. But, I had my suspicions for a while that Mike’s intentions with those guards may not have been professional.”

“So, you think he’s, like, stalking me?”

He laughed aloud. “I think he’s…he’s not used to letting you go off by yourself. He’s always been there—always been your…bodyguard. Even when you were kids. And, I know you liked that because he made you feel safe—he was almost like the father-figure you needed. And that’s a twisted way to look at it, I know, but I believe he’s having a hard time not being the number-one man in your life.”

“You think he’s not over me?”

“I think he is. But it’s a habit for him to be this way with you. And you pulling against that, trying to grow up—go out on your own branch, it’s got him panicked.”

“Like he's gonna lose me?”

“Or just…that things will change.”

“But they have changed. We’re vampires.”

He shook his head. “Not much has changed, Ara. You’re still under his wing. You’re still his little ‘baby girl’.”

I smirked. “Are you jealous?”

He scoffed, straightening his collar. “With a face like this? I got no need to be worried about Mike.”

My mouth opened wide for the breathy giggle his sexy self-appreciation forced from my lips. “I love it when you play around like that. I miss that version of you.”

I saw his heart melt a bit in the warmth of his eyes. “I miss it, too. I miss us.”

“Me too.”

“Are you coping okay—being alone all the time?”

I sat back, clicking my thumbnails over each other. “Yeah, for now. But I miss having someone to talk to, you know—someone who listens and doesn’t roll their eyes at me if I ask a stupid question.”

“What kind of question?”

I looked right at him. “Don't roll your eyes at me, okay?”

He touched his chest. “Promise.”

“Okay. Well, um, Drake never made an oath. So…how come Ja—you could be compelled by him?”

He rolled his eyes, exaggerating the move, and we both laughed. “No, um, it’s actually because, without a true queen—a pure blood that’s connected to the Stone—an oath made to any ruler would be upheld—even the president of the Untied States.”

“Oh, so, now that I'm queen, Drake would have to kill me to get allegiance back?”

He nodded.

“Okay. And…when you’re king, you’ll be One with Mother Nature, too?”

“Yes, because you actually swear me in by your blood—as the one true king.”

I nodded. “Cool.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “It’s pretty cool.”

“So, like, I cut myself and bleed on your blood—that sort of thing?”

“Something like that.”

“Thanks,” I said softly, and slowly wound a finger under his, then slipped my hand all the way into his palm.

“For what?”

“For not rolling your eyes at me, like, well, for not meaning it.”

He laughed. “Ara, I love you. And I know how your mind works—” He tapped his head. “You miss things. It doesn't make you stupid; it just means you were thinking about something more important at the time.”

I smiled down at our hands. “It’s hard, you know.”

“What?”

“Being the fool.”

He squeezed my hand. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean…everyone thinks I'm an idiot. No one trusts me, or my opinion, and I just feel like—” I looked up and shrugged. “What am I even doing here?”

By command of a slight tug of his hand, we stood up and he wrapped his arms over my shoulders, kissing the top of my head. “My love, you don't see what other people see. You haven’t stopped to look back and realise what you've achieved.”

“I haven’t achieved anything.”

“Haven't you?” He tilted my chin up. “Did you not give Eric the dream he always wanted; did you not give hundreds of vampires a new home, did you not turn their loved ones immortal? Have you not seen the rescue and freedom of four hundred tortured Lilithians, and have you not changed the lives of those Damned, so dramatically that when I went to see them, one of those kids hugged me—actually hugged me, having remembered me from fifty years ago when I gave him an extra cup of blood?”

“Really?”

“Yes.” He smiled down at me. “And look at you, my girl in the yellow dress. You’re still her—still that same girl, but you’ve changed so many lives. Look how far we’ve come from that first day at school when I accidently called you Ara-Rose in the library and nearly bit my own tongue off for it.” He stroked his thumb over my locket as I laughed lightly. “Don't tell me you're not worth anything, Ara, because you are the blessing in so many people’s lives, and you don't even know it.”

I bit my lips in, unable to see through my tears.

“Come here,” he said, and pulled me in for the tightest, most loving hug I ever had. “I'm sorry I can't be here to tell you this every day, but you know I love you, and you know I am always here for you.”

I nodded into his shirt, letting myself cry, safe and loved in his arms.

* * *

As the conversations died down and the candles burned to the last, waxy remains under the wick, I looked over at Arthur and smiled. He shook his head, as if my mere presence annoyed the hell out of him, and I felt my gut sink.

“Hey?” Jason landed in Mike’s empty chair. Morgaine didn’t even bother looking up this time; she just sighed and pushed her peas around her plate with her fork.

“Hi.”

“Don't worry about Arthur,” he said quietly, reaching under the table to take my hand.

I curled my fingers over his. “I don't like it when people are mad at me.”

We both looked up at Arthur then, who turned his head a fraction, breaking himself away from a conversation.