My eyelids flutter open, my body aching like it’s been split in two. As the events of what occurred before I passed out emerge, I start to worry that’s exactly what’s going on. That the cracking overtook my body until it split me apart.

“Oh my vampires, please don’t say I’m like two halves now,” I groan as light stings my eyeballs. “How am I supposed to walk if that happens? Or eat? Or wear clothes… Wait, please say I’m not like naked right now.” I cringe at the idea, especially since I have no freakin’ clue where I am or if I’m alone.

A soft chuckle touches my eardrums as a finger lightly grazes my hairline, brushing my hair away from my face. “I think you might be okay.”

I cringe again. “Great, you’re here. Please don’t tell me I’m naked.”

“Now, now, sweetheart, don’t pretend like you don’t want me here while you’re naked.” Kingsley’s smirk is evident in his tone.

I roll my eyes, my mind briefly flickering back to the memory I had right before I woke up. If I had to guess, it was a real memory from my first life, back when Kingsley and Rhyland first became friends with me. Our relationship had felt so light, so real. It felt—still does—sort of nice. But then my mind floats back to the memories of this life when we were the same age, only Kingsley and Rhyland were sitting beside Nadine in the cafeteria, mocking and tormenting me right along beside her.

My emotions get all wonky, dancing between liking Kingsley and loathing him.

Seriously, all these contradicting memories are so confusing.

And what’s even more confusing was the whole scene in the cafeteria, when Kingsley swore he was going to be my Blood Protector and how Rhyland said we were going to be king and queen. Then Nadine said they’d end up cursed. And somehow it all actually happened, yet that memory was from my first life. So how did we know what we would end up becoming? And what was that thing hiding in the alcove?

“What’s the matter?” Kingsley’s face comes into focus. Worry is creasing his brow as he slants forward in the chair he’s sitting in that’s beside the bed I’m lying in. “You look upset.”

My gaze drags across his face. His hair is askew and he has a strange red handprint shaped mark on his cheek. He’s also shirtless, but I think I remember him taking that off to give to me.

“What happened to your face?” I lift my hand and graze my fingers along his red tinted cheek. “It’s red and feels puffy.” My lips quirk. “And mushy.”

His eyes light up. “Did someone remember something?”

“Yeah, how mushy your face is.” I pat his cheek then gasp. “My hand! It’s not cracky!” I bolt upright so swiftly, I smack my forehead against his. “But apparently my spazziness still exists.” I wince as I press my hand to my throbbing forehead. “I’m so sorry. Is your head okay?”

“Maybe. You may have cracked my skull a bit. Might have to kiss it better,” he says with a wink.

I lower my hand to my neck to check to see if perhaps the dragon fire burns are gone too, but nope, my skin is still all flakey. “Not funny.”

He tugs on a strand of my hair. “Then why’re you smiling?”

I roll my tongue in my mouth, the edge scraping against my fangs. “That’s what my evil villain smile looks like.”

His lips threaten to turn upward. “And why exactly do you have on your an evil villain smile?”

“Because…” I search my mind for an excuse and then decide to just pinch his chest. “Because of that.”

A laugh bursts from his lips. “That’s the best you can come up with?” He shakes his head. “You just might be the most adorable vampire I’ve ever seen, even when you’re trying to be an evil villain.”

I pinch his chest again, this time a bit harder, but all he does is laugh again. Giving up, I take a look around at the room and discover that we’re not in a room at all. “Are we inside a tree?” I line my palm to the rough edged wall beside me. “Because this looks an awful lot like bark.”

“Actually, we are.” His laughter fizzles, the glitteriness in his eyes dimming. “How much do you remember about after we left camp?”

“Well, I remember walking for a while. A lot of snow. I remember getting really cold and my feet hurting. Then I started cracking apart so Rhyland put a freezing spell on me.” I rest back against the headboard of the bed that’s made of bark. “After that, everything becomes hazy.”

He rests his arms on the bed. “I figured you probably wouldn’t remember much. Freezing spells have a tendency to freeze the mind as well.”

I scrunch my nose. “Well that sounds lovely.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s thawed by now,” he says, brushing his fingertip along my temple.

“Is everything always a joke to you?”

“You tell me. You’re the one remembering things. So tell me sweetheart, am I always the lovely jokester I am now?”

“No. From what I can remember, you’re usually cruel, at least to me.”

“Raven,” he starts, his eyes softening.

I dazzle him with a sassy smirk. “And there you go. You’re not joking now.”

“Well, aren’t you just a little brat.” He dives forward, his fingers finding my sides.

I let out a squeal as he starts tickling me. I’m not even sure I’ve ever been tickled before, at least in this life. And here I am in a tree bed, inside a freakin’ tree, getting tickled by, of all vampires, Kingsley.

Seriously, what the crazy trolls is happening? How did I go from hating him and his brother to letting them carry me around and tickle me? It almost feels wrong, yet at the same time, right. I blame the latter on the surfacing memories. They’re confusing me.

“Kingsley, stop!” I beg through my laughter as I roll to my side. “You’re going to make me crack apart again.”

“Actually, that won’t happen for a while.” He slides onto the bed as he continues to torture my sides with his fingertips. “And, with the help of the witch doctor, we might be able to put a stop to it altogether.”

“A witch doctor,” I manage to say as I curl onto my side. “But I thought Rhyland said it wasn’t magic causing it?”

“Witch doctor’s don’t just deal with magic.” He ceases the tickling, but his fingers remain on my sides. His chest is pressed against my back, his breaths coming out uneven, which is super weird since technically, he doesn’t need oxygen. “They deal with strange, foreign diseases as well, along with a lot of other things.”

“You guys think I have a disease?” I shudder. “Yuck.”

“If you did, it’d be a lot better than it being from magic,” he promises. “Diseases are way more curable.”

“True…” I tense as his fingers gently trace circles on my side. “Um, is this part of your Blood Protector duties?”

“Is what?” Puzzlement etches his tone.

“Tickling me. Tracing circles on my side.”

His fingers pause then he sketches another circle on my hip. “Didn’t realize I was doing it.” He pushes away from me. “Sorry about that, my queen.”

I roll onto my side and give him a dirty look. “Please don’t call me that.”

He retaliates with an innocent look. “Call you what?”

“My queen. I mean, first of all, from what I’ve seen, I’m not even sure I’m supposed to be the real queen. And second of all, at the rate I’m going, even if I am the real queen, I’m probably going to fall apart before the crown ever makes it on my head.”

Any of his humor evaporates as he cups my face between the palms of his hands. “No one’s going to let that pretty head of yours fall apart. As your Blood Protector, I can promise you that.”

My Blood Protector, just like he vowed all those decades ago.

“How did you know?” I whisper, shaking my head, so, so confused. “How did you know you were going to be my Blood Protector? And that Rhyland and I were going to be king and queen?"

“I didn’t.” A pucker forms between his brows. “I know why you asked that, though. I remember. And Rhyland and I have discussed it before, but we haven’t…” He growls in frustration, withdrawing his hands from my face and rolling onto his back.

I roll to my side and prop up onto my arm. “You look upset.”

He rakes his fingers through his hair. “That’s because I am.” His gaze skates to mine, his lips tugging into a forced smile. “I guess you’re right. I’m not always a jokester.”

“But why are you upset now?” I wonder. “Is it because you know something you can’t tell me?”

“Not really. What I was trying to say… about that night in the cafeteria… It’s not really important…” He dazes off, his hands absentmindedly drifting toward my hair and his fingers start playing with the strands. “Our words constantly being censored just gets frustrating. I thought maybe because things were different this time around, that the curse seemed to be breaking—or at least changing—that maybe for the first time since our first life, we’d be able to have a normal conversation.” His gaze finds mine and a drop of sadness resides in his eyes. It’s a strange, unfamiliar look for him and makes me swallow hard. “You know, like how we used to.”

“I don’t remember everything yet,” I remind him. “But yeah, I guess from what I’ve seen, the time we spent together wasn’t too awful.”

A smile quirks at his lips. “Too awful? Try not awful at all.”

“Maybe that’s not how I felt,” I say with a straight face. But deep down in my cold vampire heart, I’m only messing with him. Deep down, I know Kingsley, Rhyland, and I used to be besties, kind of like how Effie, Anders, and I are in this life, although Kingsley, Rhyland, and mine’s connection was much deeper. I can feel the link between them and me every time I recall something about my original life. If only that were the case in this life. Maybe things would be easier, not just between us, but with figuring out what I need to do to make everything go back to the way it was.

That is, if that even happens when the curse is completely broken.

“What happens when I break the curse?” I ask, even though he probably can’t answer me. “Does everything just go back to the way it was?”

“If I could tell you, I would. But unfortunately, I can’t.” He ravels a strand of my hair around his finger. “I’d tell you a lot of things if I could.”

“Maybe you should just try—”

A door carved into the tree wall just across from the bed swings open and Rhyland steps through the doorway, looking a bit pale, and shadows reside underneath his eyes. He takes one look at Kingsley and I lying side by side on the bed with Kingsley’s fingers tangled in my hair, and he freezes.

Kingsley stiffens. Then just as quickly, he shakes off his tension, untangles his fingers from my hair, and sits up on the bed, lowering his feet to the floor.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up.” He stands up, stretching his arms above his head.

“I’m sure you were.” Rhyland’s gaze is cold, his body rigid.

Tension grasps the air, which seems odd at first—I mean, they’ve always seemed close, even in our original lives—but then I remember something…

“Um, guys.” I scoot to the side of the bed, planting my feet onto the hardwood floor that’s webbed with leafy vines. The ceiling is weaved of tree branches mapped with leaves and blooming midnight flowers. Who would’ve thought that the inside of a tree could be so pretty? Then again, maybe this is all a magical illusion. “I have to tell you something important.”

Kingsley and Rhyland tear their gazes off each other and focus on me.

“What is it, sweetheart?” They say simultaneously.

I elevate my hands in front of me. “Okay, that was some really weird twin in sync thingy there.”

Kingsley grins. “Is it freaking you out?”

I shrug. “It was a little weird.”

His gaze skates to Rhyland and Rhyland cracks a tiny smile.

“Okay, can you guys talk telepathically or something?” My gaze bounces between the two smiling idiot vampires. All right, they’re not really idiots, but they’re driving me mad with their secret looks. “Or is those cryptic looks you’re always giving each other something else?”

“What cryptic looks?” Kingsley asks then gives Rhyland the exact look I was just talking about.

“Oh fine, whatever. Keep teasing me, because apparently, that’s what you guys do.” I stand up. “But just so you know, you when you give each other those cryptic looks, it makes you look super constipated.”

Rhyland slants back, his brows rising in shock while Kingsley gives me an unimpressed stare.

I smile innocently. “What? You can hand it out but you can’t take it?”

“Oh, we can take it,” Kingsley assures me. “It’s just been a while since you handed it out.” As a wicked smile tugs at his lips, I brace myself for his comeback. “And just so you know, our little Raven, when you try to tease us, you’re utterly adorable.”

I scrunch my nose. “What sort of comeback is that?”

He gives a half shrug. “Who said I was trying to get you back?”

I shrug, sinking back onto the bed. “No one, I guess. But you sure looked like you were going to. You had on your playfully mean face.”

“Playfully mean face.” He rubs his scruffy jawline. “Didn’t realize I had one of those.”

“Oh, you do,” I tell him. “And you wear it a lot.”

Rhyland unexpectedly lets out a sharp cough as he enters the room and shuts the door behind him. “You said you had something to tell us,” he interrupts, crossing the room and taking a seat beside me on the bed.

“Oh yeah, I was going to say before Kingsley so rudely interrupted me,” I toss him a smirk and he retaliates with a grin. “That…” I suddenly grow nervous. After all, that kiss between Kingsley and I played a huge part in the curse. And now I have to tell them that the queen was behind that too. “Well, the thing is that…” I scratch the back of my neck. “Remember how Kingsley and I… kissed that night the curse happened?”

Kingsley smashes his lips together forcefully while Rhyland’s eyes widen.

“You remember that?” Rhyland asks.

I nod, rubbing my neck, right on the spot where he bit me that night on the balcony. “I do… I remember a lot about that night.”

Rhyland’s gaze strays to where my hand is resting and then he rubs his pierced lips together, his gaze searching mine. “Just how much?”

“Well, the memory starts of us on the balcony…” I quickly clear my throat as desire flashes in his eyes. “And it ends with me walking into the forest and the queen saying some stuff to me. Then my mind goes blank.”

A crease forms between his brows. “The queen said something to you then?”

I nod. “She did.”

“What was it?” they both ask, Kingsley plopping down on the bed on the other side of me.

Memories press at the back of my mind.

“You’re cursed,” the queen whispers in my ear. “And no matter what your lover thinks, you’ll never get close to breaking it. Because the moment you do, I’ll kill you.”

I stare down at my hands. “That no matter what my lover thinks, I’ll never get close to breaking the curse. Because the moment I do, she’ll kill me… And I guess she wasn’t lying since she’s trying to do that right now.”

Silence encases us for a sluggish vampire of a minute. Then Rhyland breaks the silence, quietly asking, “Did she say anything else?”

I lift a shoulder. “Maybe.”

The queen’s words replay through my head: “Because the more you suffer, the more my powers grow, my little moonlight abomination.”

I swallow back the words, too afraid to say them aloud.

“Raven.” Rhyland places a hand over mine. “If you tell us, it could help us figure out what’s going on with you. Why everything’s different this time around. Why you were cracking apart.”

“Why am I not cracking apart anymore anyway?” I purposefully change the subject.

“Because the transport to here pulled us all apart and then put us back together again. And when it put you back together, the cracks healed,” Rhyland explains, softly stroking the back of my hand. “But we’re all pretty certain it’s going to happen again, so we need to figure out what’s causing it.”

“Kingsley said it might be a disease?” I glance up at Rhyland and find him staring at our interlocked hands as he traces the folds between my fingers.

“Maybe.” Rhyland sucks on his lip ring, contemplating something. “Honestly, it could be a lot of things so hopefully the witch doctor can give us some answers. I just hope we’re making the right decision in trusting her.”

“It’ll be fine,” Kingsley mutters. “Harper has assured me that this witch doctor is completely trustworthy and I trust her, so…”

When I look at him, he’s staring down at mine and Rhyland’s interlocked hands with a pained expression.

“I hope you’re right.” Rhyland glances at Kingsley, his expression hardening. “Because a lot is riding on it.”

Kingsley mimics Rhyland’s hard look. “I understand that, my king.” His tone is carved with an edge.

“Where are we even?” I interrupt before they end up throwing fists at each other and snapping their fangs. Seriously, it’s so tense inside this tree that even I feel wound up as tightly as the vines above my head and below my feet.

“I already told you, in a tree.” In the snap of a vampire fang, Kingsley goes from uptight to playful, tugging on a strand of my hair. “Maybe we should check your head again if you’ve already forgotten.”

I roll my eyes. “I meant where is this tree exactly? And are we safe?”

He nods, serious once again. “Of course we’re safe. We wouldn’t settle for anything less.”

“So then where’s the tree?” I ask again and when they don’t answer right away, uneasiness stirs inside me. “All right, what’re you two not telling me?”

“A lot of things?” Kingsley shrugs when I scowl at him. “What? You already knew that.”

“I know, but I meant about where we are right now,” I say. “And that you can tell me.”

“We know that.” Rhyland laces his fingers through mine, drawing my attention to him. “But we don’t want to freak you out.”

I glance between the both of them. “Why would it freak me out?”

“Because it freaked us out when we first found out,” Rhyland replies warily. “It’s a little hard to take in.”

“But you’re going to have to tell me eventually,” I point out. “And since you guys have spent a lot of time not telling me a lot of things, I’m hoping you’ll just tell me instead of dragging it out. In fact, you kind of owe it to me.”

Rhyland’s lips pull to a small smile then he glances at Kingsley. “We do sort of owe it to her, don’t we?”

“I think we do.” Kingsley stands up and crosses the small tree room to where a sheer green curtain is hanging. “Don’t say we didn’t try to warn you, though.” He tosses me a smirk before drawing back the curtain.

Blinding colorful light pierces the room and I immediately lift my hands to shield my eyes.

“What the shimmering pixies is that?” I squint to find out the answer, but I can’t see past the light.

“That is a shimmer blob,” Rhyland places a hand on my cheek and angles my head toward him as I shut my eyes.

“A shimmer blob?” I crack open one eye and lift a brow. “I’ve never heard of such a thing. Are you sure you aren’t making up words to confuse me? I know it’s one of your guys’ favorite past times.” I give him an accusing look.

Rhyland appears positively pleased for who the hell bats knows why. “That might be true, but I promise we’re not making this up. Kingsley and I didn’t know what one was either until a couple of nights ago—”

“Wait, I’ve been out for a couple of nights?” My jaw drops as he reluctantly nods. “Why? Because of the spell you put on me?”

Rhyland shakes his head. “Coming here took a lot out of all of us and it took us some time to recover. Since you were already weakened by the cracking, it took you a little bit longer.”

My lips form an o, the light fizzling out as Kingsley lets the curtain go. “So then what is this shimmer blob thingy that made me lose a couple of days just so I could get here?”

“It’s…” Rhyland wavers. “Kind of like a faerie, I guess.”

“We’re inside a faerie?” I pull a disgusted face. “First of all, ew. And second of all, how is that safe?”

“Well, we’re not really in a faerie.” Rhyland looks to Kingsley for help.

“It’s a type of pixie, not faerie, made entirely of light. In it’s forced form, it looks like a six-inch blob of shimmer. But in it’s natural form, it’s an entire world created of light that can travel anywhere and also carry passengers. It’s practically one of the safest places we can be since no one can just walk in. You have to be permitted.” Kingsley shrugs when Rhyland gives him a strange look. “What? That’s how Harper explained it.”

“That was very detailed,” Rhyland says suspiciously. “You must have been paying very close attention to Harper.”

“I always pay close attention to everyone,” Kingsley insists, reclining against the wall and crossing his arms.

A blood drop of a beat drips by and then they both bust up laughing.

“I take it Kingsley doesn’t always pay attention,” I say, strangely feeling left out.

When Kingsley’s gaze lands on me, his laughter fades into a smile. “Aw, does someone feel left out?

“No,” I lie, crossing my arms. “Because that’d mean I’d want to be included in your silly joking world and I don’t.”

“Liar,” he accuses, crossing the room toward me, his gaze growing intense. “You want to be part of our world. Now that you can remember some of it, you miss it. Admit it.”

My eyes narrow to slits. “I may be able to remember some of our original lives, but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgot this life. And I never want to be part of that.”

He stops in front of me and I angle my head back to look at him, keeping my scowl in place despite the intensity blazing from his eyes.

“Deep down, you know nothing about this life is real.” His low tone causes a shiver to coil down my spine, not necessarily in a bad way. “You know the truth, Raven, of how we used to be and you want to be part of it again.”

A wave of frustration rolls over me. Sure, most of what I’ve seen from our original life is all laughs and jokes and smiles. But towards the end, there was so much distrust; me distrusting Rhyland and questioning if he wanted to be with Nadine, Rhyland distrusting Kingsley and I about the kiss. Then Rhyland stabbed us all in the back by making a deal with the queen, at least from what I’ve seen.

“Want to be part of what exactly?” I question, rising to my feet and completely invading his personal space, but he doesn’t step back. “The distrust. The backstabbing. The hurting each other.” I poke him in the chest and surprisingly, he winces. “Because toward the end, that’s all we really were.”

“Raven.” Rhyland’s voice is soft as he stands up and guides my hand away before I can poke Kingsley again. “That’s not all we were. We were way more than that. We just made some bad choices.”

“Made some bad choices.” I look at him, shaking my head. “Tell me this then, if we were such great, trusting friends then how the hell did the queen manage to turn us all against each other in a single night?” I wiggle my hand out of his and walk away from them. “Because that’s what she did. She played us all against each other, from interrupting us on the balcony to making Kingsley and I kiss.” I yank my fingers through my hair as my head begins to spin. I feel dizzy, like I’m spinning out of control, like nothing makes sense.

“Making you and Kingsley kiss,” Rhyland mumbles. Then a hand touches my shoulder and Rhyland steers me toward him, his eyes wild with uncertainty. “What did you mean by that?”

I shrug, my hands falling to my side. “It’s what I was going to tell you.” My gaze flits to Kingsley, who’s staring at me with an unreadable expression.

I wonder if he has an idea of what I’m about to say. I mean, at some point he had to wonder why him and I had a sudden desire to kiss each other, especially right after he found out that Rhyland and I had kissed and bit each other that night.

Ripping my gaze off Kingsley, I focus on Rhyland. “After you walked in on Kingsley and I… Well, you know... But anyway,” I clear my throat. “Kingsley immediately took off to find you and I headed to find you too, but then I noticed this wing-shaped barrette right beside the blood Kingsley and I drank minutes earlier. It was the barrette the fey queen tried to give me when you left me on the balcony and I ran into her. Only when she tried to give it to me, it had this vial attached to it that was filled with pale purple, glittering liquid.”

“Euphoric faerie dust,” Rhyland mumbles.

I can see the wheels in his head turning, the truth starting to click.

“That’s what it was—I sniffed the vial to be sure,” I tell him. “But the vial was empty when I found it, which means—”

“Someone put it into the blood that you and Kingsley drank.” Rhyland drags his fingers through his hair and breathes out, “Holy fucking shit.”

“Yep, that about summed up my thoughts when I saw the memory,” I say.

Rhyland lowers his arm to his side. “When did you remember this?”

“Back in the tent, when I…” My gaze skims around his neck and his chest and the memory of the taste of his blood floods my body, causing hunger to burn inside me. It’s been so long since I’ve had any blood… “Well, you know. And then Nadine knocked me out. That’s when I remembered.” I yank my gaze off his neck and stare at the space of wall just over his shoulder, too afraid to look at him, too afraid that I’ll lose control of my hunger. “I would’ve told you guys sooner, but we haven’t been alone since it happened, and I’m not sure how much Harper and Dex know about all of this, so I thought it’d be better to wait until we were alone.”

“It’s good that you did,” Rhyland says. I can feel his gaze burning into me, but I refuse to look at him. “Dex and Harper know a lot about the curse, but it’s good to keep some of the information between just the three of us. When we tell others, we risk it getting back to the queen.”

“That makes sense.” I dare return my gaze to Rhyland, but he’s no longer looking at me.

No, he’s staring at Kingsley, his face contorted in perplexity.

“Why didn’t you tell me that maybe you two were drugged when you kissed?” Accusation simmers in Rhyland’s voice. “I know you might not have known about the vial itself, but you did know what getting high of euphoric faerie dust felt like. You had to know something wasn’t right.”

“Maybe I did.” Kingsley’s calculated gaze is fastened on Rhyland. “Maybe I just never wanted to say it.”

My walls instantly go up. “Is there something you guys aren’t telling me about this? Is there more to it than I remember?”

“Not that I know of.” Rhyland stares his brother down hard. “But maybe you should direct your question to my brother, because I’m quite curious about the answer myself.”

“Even if I knew more, who says I can even tell you.” He pushes to his feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go do my duty as the queen’s Blood Protector and make sure everything is okay in the outside perimeters.” He strides past me without so much as making eye contact and slips out the door, leaving me to wonder if perhaps he knows more.

If perhaps in knew the vial was there all along.