“That’s enough,” Queen Adrielle says.

Rhain has taken a lot of blood. Enough to make me feel light-headed, enough for me to sway on my feet. I am fighting the urge to faint. The experience had not been pleasant. There were none of the erotic feelings I’d had when Ezra bit me, and my heart aches a little at that. Rhain pulls his teeth from my arm, then ever so gently licks the puncture wounds. To those watching it looks as though he is savouring the last drops of my blood, but I know differently. The firm press of his hand on my lower back and the slow draw of his tongue across my skin tells me he is sorry, that he didn’t want to hurt me so.

“I said ENOUGH!” Her order echoes around the hall. Rhain lets me go and steps back. Without his support I stumble. My vision blurs, dark spots dance in front of my eyes. The vampires around me seem to loom closer. Some of them are laughing. Queen Adrielle definitely is.

I stagger back, expecting to find myself in a heap on the floor, only to feel an arm wrap around my waist, hauling me upright. It isn’t Rhain, he is standing in front of me, my blood still dripping down his chin. His eyes are glazed, unfocused, as though he is feeling the effects of my blood as much as I am from losing it. And it isn’t Ezra, he is further away. I see the muscle in his jaw jumping, the look of quiet rage rippling just beneath the surface of his outwardly uncaring countenance. If it isn’t either of them, then who? By the look on Ezra’s face, it isn’t someone I want to hold onto me.

“We meet again,” the voice says, whispering into my ear. I am so weak and disorientated that it takes me a moment to register who the voice belongs to.

“Ether. So good of you to join us,” Queen Adrielle says sarcastically.

Ether props me up. I am like a child standing next to him, he is so tall. I get the familiar feeling of both deep dread and attraction. Not the same kind of attraction I feel for my men, not at all. More like a moth to a flame. He is dangerous. Deadly.

“Apologies, my Queen. I would have escorted Rhain and Ezra here, but Devin required my assistance in the South tower.”

Queen Adrielle is about to speak when a chink of light cuts through the dark in the corner of the hall. A door opens and in steps Lissandra. She looks briefly at me in Ether’s arms, but her expression remains impassive. Uninterested. “Queen Adrielle, may I enter?” she asks.

“What is it?” Queen Adrielle says, annoyed.

Lissandra looks at the other vampires in the room. “Perhaps if we were to step outside a moment?”

She raises an enquiring eyebrow at Lissandra.

“My Queen, this news shouldn’t…” Lissandra starts. Clearly, whatever she has to say to the Queen she wishes to do so in private. I hope Lissandra isn’t about to betray us. The Queen saunters over to her, and they leave the hall for a moment. I don’t get a chance to worry about what they are discussing as my skin ripples with a strange sensation. I feel as though I am getting sick, real sick. A bone chilling cold creeps over my skin. Ether is holding me gently, helping me to stand in fact, so why then do I feel a million times worse? What had Rhain said earlier? This man is an Angel of Death. It certainly feels like death is coming for me now.

“Ether, the woman,” Ezra says, his eyes flicking to me. “I’m not done with her yet. It would be such a waste if you suck the life from her before I’ve had my fill.”

Suck the life from me? Is that what Ether is doing? I try to pull free, but find that I have even less strength than I had a moment ago. Rhain seems to snap out the blood coma he is in and lunges forward, grabbing hold of my arm.

“You heard Ezra,” he says, his voice steady, controlled. “Let. Her. Go.”

“As I thought,” Ether murmurs under his breath. The moment he lets me go my body temperature rises. I step away from him, my teeth chattering with the aftershock of his touch.

“Fear not, Dark Knights, I am not interested in this woman,” Ether says, moving away from me. The other vampires in the room creep closer. Every single one of them has a look of hunger on their faces.

“Back off,” Ezra snarls at the approaching vampires, just as Queen Adrielle returns to the room. Lissandra is nowhere to be seen.

The vampires fall back. I wonder why the Queen says nothing, it’s not as if she doesn’t notice. Then I realise, Ezra is one of her Dark Knights and I am his property in her eyes. It is one thing for her to order Rhain to feed from me, but quite another for Ezra to allow these vampires to do the same. I don’t feel any safer knowing that. All it would take is one order from the Queen and I would be devoured by these vampires, should she allow it.

“Ezra, Rhain, Ether, stay. The rest of you leave. I have things to discuss with my Dark Knights, with my Angel of Death.” With a flick of her wrist, the vampires surrounding us file out of the hall. Once they are gone the Queen settles back onto her throne. Something close to satisfaction flickers across her face.

Rhain wipes my blood from his lips, his eyes flicking to the puncture wounds on my arm. They are already healing. He knows it, and without saying a word is warning me to make sure no one else notices. I place my hand over the area and pull my arm to my chest as though to stop the blood flowing, but really I am trying to hide the fact that I have already healed.

“Now that we have some privacy, I need you to explain why it has taken you so long to return to me,” she says. Her voice is light, unhurried, but even I note a distinct undercurrent of anger beneath it. “I understand you’ve been preoccupied with Clan Spiritus these past ten moon cycles.”

“That is correct, my Queen. They were elusive. We eventually tracked them to the mountains in the north,” Ezra says.

“They did not return to the desert plains? How strange.”

Ether is frowning at Rhain and Ezra. Queen Adrielle notices. She narrows her eyes at him.

“Something wrong?”

“Wrong?” Ether laughs lightly. “You could say that. I’m just trying to figure out why Ezra and Rhain are lying to you.”

“WHAT?” Queen Adrielle screeches. “What do you mean, lying?”

Ezra opens his mouth to speak but his voice is silenced with one flick of her wrist. Rhain attempts the same, but he too is prevented from saying a word.

“Speak, Angel!” she demands.

“One of them got away. They did not kill them all.”

Queen Adrielle is too busy scowling at Ether to notice the surprise on my face. What is he talking about, one of them got away? The whole story is a lie, why the hell would Ether perpetuate it with another lie? I glance at Ezra and Rhain, both of whom are frozen by the Queen’s powers. This time there is no hiding the fear in their eyes. They are every bit as worried with what Ether is playing at as I am.

“Who?”

“A wolf-shifter named Blake,” Ether confirms.

Blake? The man who helped kill the halflings back on Earth? The man who was looking for their own missing clan daughter. I let out a surprised gasp. Queen Adrielle comes striding over to me and grabs my face between her fingers.

“What do you know?” she screeches, digging her nails into the soft flesh of my cheeks.

“I… I don’t know anything,” I stutter. Her face is so close to mine I can see swirls of black smoke in her eyes. Just like the clouds in my dream. It’s not pretend, this fear I feel, I am terrified. But I am not afraid for me. I’m afraid for the men I love, but there is also a rage within me too. A rage I am trying hard to not let show. If she sees it then I know, without a doubt, it will be the end of all of us. So, I push it down. I play my part.

“Blake was found in the flatlands hiding amongst the common folk. He was injured, one of the families took him in. He is in the South tower now,” Ether says nonchalantly.

The Queen lets go of my face and whips around to face him. “Took him in? Why would one of the families take him in? Clan Spiritus are feared by the common folk,” she screams. It is so loud I must cover my ears.

“Fear not, my Queen. I shall deal with the family,” Ether says, his eyes colder than ever.

“Make sure they suffer,” she says, her lip curling in hatred.

“As you wish.”

Seemingly satisfied, the Queen stalks towards Ezra and Rhain. She raises her arms wide and as she does so they are both lifted up into the air, hovering above us. I watch helplessly as my men are held aloft by Queen Adrielle’s dark magic.

“You dare lie to me?” she seethes. “You dare cover up your inadequacies. You dare come back to my castle defeated! I should kill you both now for such insubordination.”

No. No, please. I take a step forward, but Ether holds his arm out in front of me. He shakes his head. The icy stare is gone, replaced instead with concern. I stop. What is going on here?

“My Queen,” Ezra starts, his voice back now. “I am sorry. We failed you.”

“You lied to me!”

Ezra and Rhain start to choke. They grab at their throats; their faces start to turn red then purple as she squeezes the air from their bodies. I move forward, but this time Ether grabs hold of my arm. He looks at me, and I am caught by the shards of white ice within the blue of his eyes. That same ice-cold feeling creeps up my arm just as my heartbeat begins to slow. “NO,” he mouths, then lets me go.

The Queen releases her hold on them. They suck in air, the colour returning to their skin.

“You are lucky I am feeling generous today. Tell me why you failed, and I shall review my decision to return you to the Light.” She keeps them floating above her, not quite ready to release them from her magic.

“We killed all of the pack bar one, Blake. We tracked him for weeks, but we lost his trail at the edge of the Forbidden forest. We thought he had entered. We assumed that he wouldn’t have survived the Fae… We thought he was dead. We did not knowingly lie to you, my Queen.”

“Devin arrived two days ago. Why were you not with him?”

“We split up so we could cover more ground. He must have headed back early after tracking Blake to the forest before us.”

Queen Adrielle considers them both for a moment. She stares at me, a sneer spreading across her face, then she claps her hands, as she does, Rhain and Ezra crash into each other. I can hear bones crack at the force. They fall to the stone floor, groaning from the impact. She flicks her wrist again and Rhain and Ezra kneel at her feet, their heads downcast. Ezra’s arm is hanging limply at his side and Rhain’s nose and leg are clearly broken. I clench my fists at my side at the pain she’s caused them, at their enforced submission. But Queen Adrielle is far from done.

“Your lie cannot go unpunished. Now, let me think,” she says, tapping her chin. “What shall it be?” She practically skips with excitement, her long black hair swinging behind her. She stops in front of me once more and presses her finger against my nose. I try not to flinch.

“Tell me, Ezra, what would it feel like to know this delightful creature is being devoured by another? Rhain has already had a taste…” She turns to Ether, a slow, cruel smile curving her lips. “Take her to Devin. Tell him he has free rein to do as he pleases.” And with that she flicks her wrist and I hear Ezra and Rhain’s necks break.