Everything’s going to be all right, I told myself, only to scoff at the notion. Nothing is all right.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw terrifying red eyes looking directly at me. I saw his sneer. I saw the manic look on his face as he stabbed Natalie Borgia in the kneecap, smiled at her scream, watched the wound heal only to stab her again.

Natalie had died for betraying the Elder the same day the Elder took over The Shade. In the back of our minds, we’d known that the Elder wasn’t just going to stop at opening The Shade’s side of the portal. We were right. They wanted full control.

On top of Natalie’s death, three hunters were also tortured and killed. None of us understood what was going on with Arron, and why he would bail like that when he seemed so adamant that the portals not be opened, but one thing was for certain: in the world we were entangled in, we couldn’t trust what we did not understand.

After they were done punishing those who had crossed them, Kiev had burned the Sanctuary down. Though we never found her body, we’d concluded that Corrine had met her death within its walls. Unless she used some sort of magic in order to escape, just like the temple, she was nothing but a pile of ashes now.

Along with her demise, we were certain that the protection over the island was going to disappear, right along with its endless night. We were mistaken.

Kiev grinned at our cluelessness. “Don’t worry. The Shade will be safe as long as you comply with our demands.” He grabbed a clump of Vivienne’s hair and dragged her to the ground. He seemed to know how much her struggles to break free from him were killing Xavier, because he glared at the vampire before announcing to us what the Elder had planned for his new conquest. “Your princess here will remain in power, but she is, of course, to do as the Elder instructs. Without question. Remember that the true rulers of this island are still within our grasp. One error from Princess Vivienne here and we won’t mind killing Sofia’s offspring right in the womb. Besides, cross us once and we won’t hesitate to end The Shade’s endless night, let the sun out and burn every vampire here. Will you comply, princess?”

Vivienne’s eyes betrayed how revolted she was by him, but we all knew she wasn’t being given a choice. She had to comply. She was the Elder’s puppet and anything she did that displeased the Elder was to receive “just” punishment—Natalie’s torturous death was the public example.

I was expecting Vivienne to wither away, to return to the empty shell she’d become after what we put her through at hunters’ headquarters, but the strength and defiance never left her eyes. I wondered if Xavier had something to do with that, but whoever was to thank, I was more than grateful that she still had fight in her.

We needed her to be strong. She needed to be strong. She couldn’t give up, especially now that she, just like the rest of us, had just become a pawn in the Elder’s game.

After proclaiming her as the ruler of The Shade, Kiev, Clara, and the Elder’s minions left for The Blood Keep and it seemed like we could do as we wished. The first thing Vivienne did was to make sure that all those who were lost would be honored. Hundreds of bodies were buried in the days that followed. Gavin’s family—his mother, Lily, his brother, Robb, and his sister, Madeline—among them. Rosa, one of my daughter’s dearest friends, had also met her end.

I could only imagine how heartbroken Sofia would’ve been to find out about the loss.

A memorial service was held to honor the dead’s memory. At that time, it didn’t matter what any of us were—vampire, human or hunter. We became one in our grief.

I was standing beside Zinnia during the candlelit service, listening to the sobs and the cries, the broken hearts, grieving the loss of loved ones. Zinnia was deathly silent for most of the service, except for one haunting moment when she whispered to herself in a voice so low she probably thought I wouldn’t hear, “The vampires cry as if they’re human. Who knew they could be capable of grief?”

Despite all the walls the young huntress had made to convince herself that devoting her life to killing vampires was a life worth living, she was beginning to see that misery existed on both the vampires’ and the hunters’ sides. Both had suffered loss.

Still, the solidarity that came out of our grief didn’t last long. The hunters still hated the vampires and the vampires felt the exact same way. Especially considering that blood was scarce, tensions were beginning to rise.

Any thought of leaving The Shade ended when after a handful of hunters attempted to escape, Clara arrived, bled each hunter dry, and with a bloody mouth and a blood-curdling grin, announced that anyone who tried to leave the island was going to answer to her.

“We have plans for you little hunters,” she said to those who remained at The Shade. “You didn’t think that you could just get away with everything that you did to us vampires, do you? No, each of you is going to pay very dearly for all the vampires you killed.”

Her words were a bone-chilling clue to what the Elder had planned for his captives.

In the months that followed, the Elder’s minions began bringing their captives to The Shade. It seemed the Elder saw the island as his very own Alcatraz. Vampires from other covens—most of them opponents of the Novak clan—began to occupy The Shade.

We weren’t told how to handle their arrival. They were just dumped at The Shade and it was up to Vivienne to figure out what to do with them.

Protecting the humans began to be a challenge the more outsiders were brought to The Shade, but we had control of the Black Heights—and both the Cells and the Catacombs within it. All outsiders were simply kept outside of the cavernous mountains.

As for the portal, none of us knew what had become of it. We weren’t given any information on whether or not anyone had crossed through any of the realms.

I really didn’t care until Vivienne showed up outside my bedroom one night.

“I’m sorry. I just… I can’t sleep,” she explained when I found her standing outside my door.

As if I’m the person you always go to when you can’t sleep. “Neither can I,” I admitted.

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

Intrigued, I stepped out of the bedroom and we both made our way to the living room. We made ourselves comfortable on separate couches before the vampire heaved a deep sigh.

“What’s going on, Vivienne?”

“It’s been months, Aiden. Do you think they’re still alive?”

“I have to believe that they are. Sofia is important to them. They won’t just…” I thought of my teenage daughter going through her first pregnancy. Possibly alone, a captive of a psycho freak like the Elder. I found myself unable to breathe. I hated that I couldn’t be with her. Sofia was strong, but I was her father and she’d been away from me for so long. I was never going to forgive myself for not being there for her through this.

“Do you think they’re together? Do you think Kiev is telling the truth? That Sofia is really pregnant? If she is, then they would keep them together, wouldn’t they? I…” Vivienne probably realized that it was pointless throwing her questions at me because she just stopped. “I’m scared, Aiden.”

“I am too,” I admitted, finally realizing why it was me Vivienne had come to. Of all the people in The Shade, only I could understand Vivienne’s fears regarding Derek and Sofia. I hadn’t wrapped my mind around the idea until that moment, but whether I liked it or not, since my daughter had married Derek, the Novaks were now our family.

In an attempt to appease both her and myself, I said the words that became our glue that held us together for the days to come.

“Sofia and Derek are strong and resilient. They’ll make it. Now, we have to do them proud and stay strong and resilient too. They can’t return to…” I gestured towards our surroundings. “This.”

Vivienne stared directly at the space in front of her. “We need to rebuild The Shade.”

I shrugged. “How hard could it be? You did it in…” I paused in wonder “How long did it take you to make The Shade what it is?”

“Five centuries.”

I couldn’t keep myself from scoffing. “Great. We’re attempting the impossible.”

Hope and determination sparked in the blue-violet eyes of The Shade’s princess. A smile formed on her face.

“Impossible never stopped us before.”

Chapter 20: Sofia

Eli Lazaroff and I had never gotten the chance to bond throughout my stay at The Shade, but the moment I saw him at The Blood Keep, he became my best friend.

“Eli?” I blinked several times to make sure I wasn’t just seeing things.

“In the flesh, my queen.” He nodded stoically as he scanned the room, his eyes settling on Shadow, who was seated by the door, busy lapping up a bowl of blood. Eli showed no trace of fear over the magnificent creature. On the contrary, he seemed quite taken by it.

He probably wants to poke it and study it. Curiosity might just kill Eli Lazaroff if he does that. I stared at him for quite a bit, still uncertain if he was some sort of apparition. I couldn’t explain how my heart was swelling with joy just to have a comrade, an ally at the castle.

I jumped off the bed and threw my arms around his neck. As I hugged his tall, lanky build, I began to sob against his chest, giving in to the emotions I’d been suppressing over the past months.

Eli stood stiff against my embrace. He clumsily began brushing his one hand over my hair as he cleared his throat. “Your highness, I… I’m sorry.”

I pulled away from him, not wanting to make either of us uncomfortable. “No, Eli, I’m sorry. I just… you understand. You’re the first person from home I’d seen in months, and…”

“I understand, your highness.” He nodded sympathetically.

“Please. Call me Sofia.” I pulled him toward one of the couches near the window of the finely-furnished bedroom. I sat beside him, eager to hear about home, but also dreading what he could tell me. “How’s The Shade? How’s Derek?”

He lifted his black-rimmed glasses over the bridge of his nose and creased his brows. “What do you mean? Isn’t the king here with you?”

I tensed. “You mean he isn’t at The Shade?”

Eli shook his head. “We haven’t seen either you or him since you both left after your wedding, and now…” His eyes focused on my stomach, a mixture of concern and excitement in his eyes. “I never thought I’d see the day when a woman would be carrying Derek Novak’s child.”

“Children,” I corrected him. If he isn’t here and he isn’t back home, where is he? I was tempted to think the worst, but I couldn’t allow myself to do that. “Eli, is there a way we can find out where Derek is?”

Eli shook his head. “Not from here, we can’t. Unless you can convince your captors to allow you to have your pregnancy at The Shade. Your father is concerned for you.”

A lump formed in my throat at the mention of Aiden. What I would give to be in his embrace right now… It dawned on me that Kiev had more cards against me than I had initially thought. If he could get Eli at The Blood Keep in a span of mere hours, I had to assume that they had control over The Shade.

“What’s happening at The Shade, Eli?”

I was nowhere near prepared to hear his answer to my question. All the lives lost, all the destruction left behind… by the time he was done, I was in tears.

I thought about the young lives that had been taken—Rosa, Lily and her children. Even Natalie, whom I knew more from Derek’s stories than anything else, left a hole in my heart when I heard about her sorry demise. It took a while before I was able to choke down the tears, but I knew… I sensed it somehow. I changed that morning. More than grief and sorrow, I felt something else… an emotion I wasn’t quite familiar with began to creep in. Hatred.

I wasn’t even sure exactly what it was that I hated, but I knew that its seed had taken root in my core as I began to sob uncontrollably. I was exhausted by the unfairness of it all, and try as I did to deny it, I felt like it was all my fault. Countless what-if’s began to plague my mind as the faces of those who had passed away during the Elder’s attack began to eat away at my teetering grip on my own sanity.

I wondered if Derek knew what had become of The Shade. I tried to comprehend why it was so important that they did not allow the gates to be opened.

“It seems that in our world,” Eli concluded, “if you want to survive, you can’t go about it without sacrificing the lives of other people.”

I couldn’t think of any objection, not when so many lives had indeed been sacrificed for my sake—for the sake of The Shade. I longed so much to have Derek with me at that moment, hear his deep voice remind me of the beauty in this world, but at that moment, the sense of loss kept me from even visualizing him in my mind.

Derek, where are you? We need you. He was alive. I had to believe in that. But at the same time, we had to make our move. We couldn’t just wait for Derek to save the day.

“Eli,” I said breathlessly. “Is there a way we can escape from here?”

Eli tightened his lips, a muscle on his jaw twitching as he gave the question some thought. “I’m sure there is, Sofia. There’s always a way, but I have to ask… if we do succeed in escaping, where do you intend to go? The Shade is also occupied by the Elder.”

I had no ready answer to the question.

Eli swallowed hard whenever he looked at me. It hadn’t registered to me that I was in that bedroom with a vampire until that moment. He must be craving me too. That’s why he’s acting so strange.