Sleeping Beauty (29 page)

L
ucette closed her eyes, not wanting to look at either Tristan or Alex. She tried to be strong, but it was hard to hide her breaking heart. She opened her eyes and said, “Tristan, can I speak to you in private?”

Alex put his arm possessively around her shoulders. “Anything you want to say to him, you can say in front of me.”

Her mouth suddenly felt dry. Alex shouldn't be putting her in this position, even though she knew his motives were based on affection and truly believing he could help her break the curse. She glared at the young vampire—no one told her what to do, not anymore—but perhaps not talking to Tristan alone was for the best. Alone with Tristan, she might cave in and blurt out that her childish infatuation had morphed into a full-blown crush.

Another rejection from Tristan would be so humiliating, and at least Alex claimed to have feelings for her. Thinking too much about Tristan would just confuse her and hamper her chances of developing a romantic relationship with Alex, or one of the sleeping suitors in the tower.

Even if true love never came to be, as she suspected it wouldn't, she needed Alex's help and inside information on the vampire queen's plans. Tristan wouldn't stick around forever, spending so many waking hours in the dark. Alex might.

“Tristan,” she said, forcing herself to look into his eyes, even if it made what she'd decided to say so much harder, “Alex and I have been working together for over four weeks, and, well, we've grown close and become really great friends. I couldn't survive if he left.”

Tristan's shoulders shifted sharply back and his expression flickered with hurt, but then hardened so quickly she wasn't sure she'd read it correctly.

“I'll always appreciate your role in training me to slay,” she told him, “but things are different for me now. I've learned more about vampires.” She looked up to Alex, who beamed down at her, his eyes flashing with the happiness of triumph.

Yes, she was sure she had made the right decision. “Alex is right,” she told Tristan. “The two of us were doing fine before you got here. I really appreciate you bringing the roses, but I need to concentrate on falling in love and, well, you're a distraction.”

Tristan took a step forward. “That's crazy, Lucette. If you're really in love with this—this vampire—then me being around shouldn't matter.”

She knew he was right and secretly hoped Alex would cave on his demand and let Tristan stay.“But you've already been bitten twice,” she said to Tristan.“It's such a huge risk for you to be here. You should go back to Judra to keep safe.”

Tristan lifted his chin. “Whether or not I go to Judra isn't your decision, Lucette. This isn't just about you. If you die, the curse might never lift, and if your father dies or leaves, Xandra will fall. You need
my help. Your kingdom needs my help. I promised your father I'd stay, and I've accepted the risks.”

Lucette's throat caught. The truth of his words hurt, and although she selfishly wished his reasons for wanting to stay had more to do with her, she needed Alex's help more. And at least he claimed to love her, even if she had the sneaking suspicion that his ultimatum and love declarations were more about besting Tristan than they were about winning her heart.

“It's all well and good that you're willing to risk a third bite,” she told Tristan. “But have you thought about it from my side? What happens if you're bitten? How much help will you be to me then?”

His head snapped back, and she couldn't believe she'd said that herself, but she had to convince him to go. An ache rose in her throat, threatening to close it off and bring tears. But she could not let him see how horrible she felt. What she'd said was true: the thought of him being bitten a third time terrified her. He had to leave. “Tristan, I've made my choice. Please leave.”

Tristan looked stricken, but he bowed. “As you wish, Princess.” He kept his eyes on her as he backed toward the staircase. It was time for Lucette to let go of her childhood fantasy.

“Keep safe,” Tristan said as he disappeared from view.

She stepped toward the balcony to watch him leave, but Alex pulled her back.

“That's better,” Alex said. He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned and his lips hit her cheek. Kissing Alex somehow didn't feel right, no matter how much she wished it did.

“We should keep guard,” she said as she broke free from his hold, not wanting him near right now. “Which wing do you want to guard tonight, my mother's or my father's?”

“I need a rose!” Lucette shouted to Alex as a vampire appeared, seemingly out of nowhere. She'd just staked another one in the shoulder, but he'd managed to escape by running away from outside her father's bedroom.

Alex, holding extra weapons and his hood pulled down over his eyes, tossed her a rose and she forced it into the vampire's face. He staggered back and collapsed, clutching his throat.

“Leave and I'll let you live.” She hoped her threat sounded genuine. It usually worked. The vast majority of the vampires breaking in each night weren't motivated enough to stay in the palace once they realized they faced live opposition.

Lucette heaved a sigh of relief when the vampire ran out, a terrified look on his face.

“That one played rough.” She rubbed her arm. The vampire she'd staked had shoved her against a large table at the side of the corridor during their battle.

Alex raced to her side. “Are you okay?”

She still had trouble comprehending how quickly vampires could move, especially since, in so many other ways, Alex seemed perfectly normal—in human terms, anyway.

“I'm fine,” she told him, and felt comforted by his concern.

Gathering up her weapons, she realized she also felt something more, but not for Alex—for Tristan. Ever since he'd left, she'd experienced persistent pangs of sadness and longing.

Lucette and Alex looked over the railing as they crossed the center point in the long balconied corridor between her two parents' wings to
make sure no vampires were in the entry hall and that the barricades on the main doors were holding tight.

“Let's go check on my mom,” she said. Every night they paced back and forth between her parents' two bedchambers.

“Why don't your parents sleep in the same room?” Alex asked.

She shot him a raised eyebrow and stepped away from him. “I don't want to talk about it.” It was too sad and too embarrassing to talk about her family's problems.

Alex stepped in front of her and followed her down the hall. “Hey, it's not like I had a model family growing up, either. Mom killed Dad, remember?”

She cast him an empathetic look. “Neither of us had perfect family lives, did we?” Maybe that was why she felt close to Alex, in spite of their differences.

“It would sure make things easier for us if they at least stayed in the same wing,” he said.

“Drop it!” She hated how harsh her voice sounded. “Do you think I haven't asked them? They can't even stand to be around each other anymore!” Lucette's attempts to get them to share a room via suggestions in her letters had been met with terse replies, telling her to give up her childish dreams—the marriage was over. Her mother made it clear she was living in the palace for Lucette's sake, not her father's.

Rounding the corner to her mother's corridor, Lucette saw a flash of blond hair as someone ran from her mother's door. “Tristan?” She called after the fleeing figure and then rushed forward, but whoever she'd seen was gone. Had it been a vampire? Her eyes were playing tricks on her.

“Why did you call out ‘Tristan'?” Alex asked. His face hardened, and he turned to the hall, stomping in front of her.

“I thought I saw him.” Although she knew it was wishful thinking, it had been nice, even for that brief moment, to believe he'd been guarding her mother's door while she and Alex took care of the vampires attacking her father.

“Looks like we're clear here.” Alex's voice was gruff. “Shall we go back to the balcony or each take a door?”

“Balcony.” She did not want to be alone.

Silence deepened the uncomfortable chill between them, and once at the balcony, Lucette looked over the railing. Alex sat on the floor against the opposite wall and pulled his knees into his chest, a stark contrast to his normally jovial self. She felt bad that she'd been short with him. Her hallucination of Tristan wasn't his fault, nor was the fact that she missed him. Alex had made the ultimatum to ask Tristan to go, but it had been her decision and she had to live with the consequences.

She took the weapons off her back and slid down the wall to sit beside Alex. “Before all this started, my parents were getting a divorce.”

“I'm sorry.” Alex kept his eyes ahead. “But at least they're both alive.”

She put her hand on his forearm. “How did you find out your mom had killed your dad?”

He stretched his legs out. “I heard stuff. I couldn't ask her, of course, so I talked to one of the generals. I figured he'd reassure me that it was all rumors.” Alex looked down. “He didn't.”

She squeezed his arm. “How old were you when you found out?”

“About nine.”

She winced. “That must have been horrible.” It was time to stop
feeling sorry for herself, or at least to stop complaining about her family to Alex. “How did you face your mother after that? Did you ever confront her?”

He shook his head. “I couldn't. Not without endangering General Adanthas's life and probably my own. He took a huge risk to tell me what he knew, the circumstantial evidence they'd found.” He shivered. “The general also told me what my mother did to the vampires who had the guts to accuse her.”

She cringed, not wanting the gory details. “I'm so sorry, Alex.” She leaned over to wrap an arm over his shoulder. At least her parents weren't murderers.

The next night, Lucette started down the stairs to see if Alex had made it through the dog door yet, and was shocked to find him coming up, a rose in his hand.

He really was so generous and thoughtful, and as he handed the rose to her, she asked, “Did you pick this outside in the garden?” The bushes Tristan brought when he first came were now planted and yielding fresh blooms each day.

Alex looked disappointed. “It was downstairs. I thought you left it for me.”

She shook her head, wondering who had left a rose sitting around. It might have been left by anyone, but made her think of Tristan. She missed him so much, she expected to see him around every corner.

As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, Alex leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, but she pulled back.

“You look beautiful this evening, as usual,” he said, undeterred.

“Thanks.” She smiled, but felt slightly awkward. “You look nice, too.”

“Really?” He beamed and ran his hands down his linen shirt.

She nodded.

“Better than Tristan?”

She swallowed, but said nothing.

Alex stiffened and she felt uncomfortable at her unintentional insult. But she couldn't lie. Both of them were handsome, but when she looked at Tristan, her stomach fluttered and her mind went fuzzy. And the thought that he might still be here, still in the palace watching out for her, even though she'd so rudely turned him away—her entire body tingled with the thought. Even if it was just her imagination.

Alex broke the silence. “So, we've been alone again for a few nights. How do you think it's going?”

“Okay. But I still say keeping guard would have been easier with three of us—”

“No,” Alex said sharply. “That's not what I was asking. I meant, do you think you're finally falling in love?” His voice lowered and he slipped his arm around her waist. “I'm thinking maybe it's time to take this to the next level.”