The Vampire's Mark 4: Crimson Mist by Rachel Jonas

Author:Rachel Jonas [Jonas, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Corina

This was against the rules. It went completely against the code I swore to my parents I would always uphold. Only, circumstances had changed. They would have understood that if they were still here.

“You’re shaking.”

I peered over at Silas while he drove down the winding road, under the cover of night. He’d placed his hand on mine after observing how nervous I was.

Breathing deeply, I tried to relax.

“I’m not supposed to be doing this, bringing you two back to the base.”

Without saying another word, I knew he understood.

I’d already been toeing the line these days. Now, heading back to my team’s only safe-haven felt like a betrayal. It didn’t matter that Silas and Aaric had both clearly proven that we fought on the same team. It didn’t matter that I’d called ahead to bring Liv and Felix up to speed, and to get their input and permission. This was simply hard for me to wrap my thoughts around.

“You know you can trust me, don’t you?” Silas asked softly.

I nodded right away. “I do,” I admitted. “I trust you both, it’s just that … I want to make sure my team didn’t agree to this out of obligation. If it were me—”

“If it were you, you’d never have it,” Aaric chimed in, not bothering to hide the amusement in his tone. “Don’t feel bad about that. I wouldn’t either.”

That made me smile a bit, but did not relieve the guilt.

“They understand we have a lot of work to do,” he added, “and your base has the lab and equipment all set up for us to begin working on the serum. It makes perfect sense.”

And it did. All we brought with us was the blood samples from Abigail and her child so Silas and Fe could begin their analysis. Once they understood those components, the next time we met, it was possible they could create the vaccine.

This was my only comforting thought.

“You’re certain we weren’t being tailed, aren’t you?” I asked, hearing the panic in my tone as I turned to peer over my shoulder.

“I’ve been paying attention,” Aaric answered, although I’d been speaking to Silas.

I breathed a little easier, but not much.

We’d driven close enough. Following my instructions, Silas killed the engine and the three of us made our way toward the entrance on foot. Standing between them, I felt small, protected. It mattered little that I’d known Aaric—the real Aaric—for such a short time. It was strange how he’d gotten under my skin. In a good way, no less. There weren’t many hands I would put my life in, but his had somehow made that list.

The proof was that I had also entrusted my team’s life into them.

We were silent while we walked. Likely for very different reasons. I could only speak for myself, though. It’d been days since Empress Westower’s speech, and already the interview date had been set, which meant we had to also settle on a date for the ruse that was my ‘coming out party’. It was necessary to do so if the princes were to make the announcement on the live broadcast.

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