A Castle of Sand

It took me a while to finish studying him. When my gaze fell on his blue eyes and saw them moist with tears, I was taken aback. I had no idea what to say to him or even how to conduct myself around him.



“How’ve you been, Ben?” I managed to croak out. I hated the awkwardness we had between us. It was never this way before.



“I’ve been better,” he admitted, his fists clenching as he said the words. “And you? Has he been treating you well?”



“Derek?” Just saying my fiancé’s name put a smile on my face. “I just agreed to marry him. I guess that should answer your question.”



I expected a violent reaction from my best friend, but apart from the spark of surprise in his eyes, he just nodded with resignation and said, “I’m happy for you.”



His reaction was enough for me to realize that something had changed in him and I wondered what could have happened to bring about such a change. “Why are you here, Ben?” So many questions were whirling in my mind regarding his return to The Shade and I had no idea where to begin. “How could you have possibly known how to get here? Ben, please…you can’t give away the location of The Shade to the hunters…”



“I really just wanted to see you, Sofia, find out if you’re alright, if he’s treating you the way you deserve to be treated.” The longing that I saw in his eyes as he stared at me made my heart ache on his behalf. “I missed you so much.”



No matter how much I tried to harden my heart against him, to try and figure out why he was at The Shade out of instinct to protect the man I loved, Ben still mattered too much to me, and I couldn’t help the tear from running down my cheek as my shoulders sagged. “I missed you too, Ben.”



He spread his arms in a welcoming gesture and I quickly responded by running to him for an embrace. I sobbed as I nuzzled my face against his neck. “I thought you’d never be able to forgive me for leaving.”



“I did too,” he admitted, “but you’re Sofia. You’ll always be my Rose Red and I couldn’t bear the idea of always being resentful of you. I realize now that you were right to leave. It seems Derek Novak deserves you far more than I ever will.”



I could sense the sincerity in his words and despite all the qualms I had over his sudden appearance at the island, I could honestly say to myself that I was glad to have Ben back.



CHAPTER 38: DEREK



I was anxiously pacing the floor right outside the cell where I’d left Sofia and Ben.



“You just left them there?” Xavier asked. “Without even bothering to interrogate the lad?”



“Shush,” I snapped at him.



He was my second-in-command when it came to all military matters at The Shade and I was expecting him to question my judgment over why on earth I would leave Ben—an obvious risk to the island—to have a grand reunion with Sofia, who in truth was also a risk to the island. Despite what Xavier might have been thinking, however, I hadn’t gone entirely mad. I still had my protective instincts toward The Shade completely intact. I wanted to listen in on every word coming out of both Sofia and Ben’s mouths. I felt bad not trusting Sofia and eavesdropping on her conversation with her best friend, but I couldn’t help but give in to the temptation to do it.



If I was to be completely honest with myself, I knew that my reasons for eavesdropping on them weren’t purely because of my desire to keep the island safe. Ben was the only person who had ever posed a real threat to what I had with Sofia. The fact that he would just suddenly show up at The Shade right after Sofia became my fiancée rubbed me the wrong way.



Beyond that, the onslaught of fears that came with his appearance was something I could not deny.



Of course, whatever fears I had completely washed away when Sofia made it known to Ben that she had agreed to marry me. I was expecting the young man to react with anger. He had never liked me after all, but I was surprised—and made suspicious—by his reaction.



I couldn’t believe my ears when he told Sofia that he thought I deserved her more than he did. Why exactly is this man back here? Risking his life to return “just to see Sofia” seems too good to be true. Unable to hold myself back, I barged inside the room in time to see them withdrawing from an embrace. The idea that he was touching Sofia—much more hugging her—made me sick with jealousy.



Rein yourself in, Novak. Don’t do anything you’ll regret, I reminded myself as I tried to look unbothered by their embrace. I kept repeating in my head that they were best friends and that it was perfectly normal for them to hug each other after being apart for so long.



“Derek?” Sofia cast me a questioning look. “We were just talking and…”



I shook my head. “You don’t have to explain. I understand. You understand that I do need to interrogate, Ben? I know he’s your friend, but the threat he poses to the island is too great to ignore.”



Sofia nodded. “Of course.”



I shifted my attention to Ben, expecting to find the usual haughty and defiant expression on his face. Instead, he just seemed…exhausted and somewhat jaded by the time that had passed since he last stepped foot on this island.



I gestured toward a small wooden chair in one corner of the small room. “You may take a seat.”



He shook his head. “I prefer to stand, thank you.”



I leaned my back against one of the walls. From the corner of my eye, I could make out Sofia taking a seat on the edge of the cot. Xavier was leaning against one post of the open door. All attention was now on our unexpected visitor.



“I understand that you’re a hunter now?” I asked as I crossed my arms over my chest.



Ben nodded. “Yes. That’s correct.”



“That makes you a threat to us. Do the hunters know about the location of The Shade?”



“No one knows I’m here.”



“And I should just believe you?”



“I don’t care what you believe or don’t believe, Novak. Prepare for a hunter attack for all I care, strengthen your defenses, put everyone on alert if you must. I’m telling you that it’s a waste of time. If the hunters knew about the island, then it would have been blown to pieces by now. They don’t care about all the humans you have here. They just want you dead.”



That they wouldn’t think twice about blowing up the island was something I could believe. It’s what I would’ve done if I were still a hunter. It was how the hunters operated. Collateral damage and the loss of human life were acceptable as long as they fulfilled the mission of wiping out every single vampire from the face of the earth.



“How did you make your way back to the island, Ben? How could you have known how to return here?”



“Your brother, Lucas, sent me,” Ben said flatly.



“Why on earth would Lucas Novak risk his own neck to contact a hunter and make him come here?” I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand what my older brother’s motivations could possibly be.



“He wants Sofia out of here. He was threatening to kill my family—my father, my mother and my little sister. Although that was a bluff. I’m sure he’s aware that the families of hunters are always closely monitored; he’d be a fool to come within a mile of our house. He got in touch with me through Natalie Borgia. He sent me here to coax Sofia out of the island.”



He said every word with such blunt honesty, it felt like a huge blow to my senses. “So all this time, my brother is still after Sofia.”



CHAPTER 39: BEN



“He doesn’t trust me,” I told Sofia as she laid a plate of stir-fried vegetables on top of the wooden table inside her quarters in The Catacombs.



“Of course he doesn’t.” Sofia shrugged nonchalantly. “Why on earth would Derek trust you? Nobody here trusts you, Ben. No one has any reason to trust you.”



“Not even you?” I asked, swallowing back my hurt, knowing how much truth rang in her words.



Loose strands of her auburn hair fell to her face as she sat across the table from me. “I want to trust you, but I have so many questions running through my mind. I just…am I really supposed to believe that you had a complete turnaround and are now willing to protect The Shade?”



“I have no desire to protect The Shade, Sofia,” I clarified. “I still want to have my vengeance on Claudia. I still want to see her die for what she did to me. The only reason I’m here is because I want to make sure you’re alright. I want to make sure that he’s treating you right. Lucas was the only way I could get to you. If I was going to betray The Shade, I already would’ve done that.”



“Well, now that you’re here and you’ve seen me, I guess you can see that I’m perfectly fine, that Derek has treated me well. Now what?”



I stared at her in wonderment. After Derek released me and allowed me to go to The Catacombs with Sofia—under close surveillance at all times—Sofia, Ashley and Rosa had updated me on what’d been happening at The Shade since Sofia’s arrival. I was saddened by the news of Paige’s murder, shocked by Ashley’s choice to get turned into a vampire and moved by the stories about the culling and how Derek stood up for Sofia at the town square. More than anything, however, I was stunned by what Sofia had been able to accomplish at The Shade.



“She’s practically the princess of The Shade now,” Ashley had said proudly, as she cast an affectionate gaze toward Sofia.



“She’s about to become the queen.” Rosa smiled as she fingered the ring on Sofia’s finger. Derek had given it to her shortly after he released me from the port.



The sight of the ring made my heart ache with a sense of loss as I wondered what could’ve been if I’d done things differently, if I had been the one who treated Sofia the way she deserved to be treated.



Every time I looked at Sofia, I couldn’t help but regret how things turned out between us. I felt the same way as I had supper with her.



“Stop looking at me that way, Ben,” she said as she took a sip from a spoonful of soup.