“Yeah.” Mike looked at me. “I know.”

“I'm going.” My hands fell on my hips. “I don't care if you try to stop me. I’ll be coming with you.”

Everyone looked at me.

“Guys?” Morgaine piped up. “Ara won’t be strong enough after the coronation. The whole process will weaken her.”

“Don't care. I'm coming.” I held firm when Mike looked at me again.

“What if we leave it for a week or so—the attack?” Falcon asked Morgaine. “Will she be strong enough then?”

“I would bet my life on it.”

Mike nodded, exhaling heavily through his nose. “Fine. Okay. You can come—”

I jumped in my seat a little, clapping.

“But, we can’t leave it too much longer,” he continued. “Drake’s rebuilding his forces—killing humans every day to do it. We need to act soon.”

I hugged my arms to my chest. Maybe he was right. Maybe we should attack now. I couldn't stand the thought of all those people dying every day for a thing as simple as not having the gene to become a vampire. “Will he make them immune?” I asked, breaking through their conversations. Everyone looked at me. “If he plans to attack our vampires, they’ll need to be immune. How will he do that without our blood?”

A cool calm washed over the room. “No one but us knows about immunity, Ara. Hopefully he hasn’t figured that out.”

“But…he survived an attack with a tipped blade. He must know about it.”

Mike looked at Falcon, who looked at me. “We’ve already thought of that, Princess,” Falcon said. “You needn’t worry. Let us do that part for you, okay. You need to focus on your coronation.”

I nodded. I wanted to argue, but I knew Falcon was right.

“Right,” Mike said, then looked at the four guards. “And, guys? I want to brief you again over the knighting ritual before afternoon training today.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ryder smiled.

“Second that,” added Blade.

“Great.” Mike looked around the room, cupping his hands together. “Then, let’s do this.”

Morgaine touched my shoulder and squeezed gently, looking at Mike. “Okay, can you call this meeting, Mike. I need to brief Amara, too.”

“Right then.” Mike picked up the phone. “Meeting adjourned. David? I’ll call you later,” he said and hung up without letting me say goodbye first.

“Mike?” Emily practically snarled.

“What?”

“Ara might’ve wanted to talk to David.”

“Oh.” He looked at me then the phone in his hand. “Sorry.”

I shook my head. “Never mind.”

The rest of the knights fled up the stairs in a crowd of excited hurry, laughing and bumping each other until their noise disappeared. Eric touched my shoulder, smiled sympathetically at me, then followed them up, taking two steps at a time.

“I’ll see you up there.” Mike kissed Emily on the cheek, then disappeared too.

“Nervous?” Emily sat beside me.

“A little. How’s David?” I asked.

She looked over my shoulder at Morgaine, then smiled back at me. “Actually, he’s a mess.”

“A mess?”

“Yeah. He’s like a mopey teenager. He’s fine when he’s focusing on work, but he hasn't got a lead on your family history or word on what's happening in La Château de la—lysium,” she corrected. “He’s miserable.”

“Hence the pizza.” I smiled to myself. “If he starts eating ice-cream, we know things are serious,” I joked, but Emily bit her lip. “Oh, Em—don't tell me he’s that miserable.”

“He just misses you. He hates being away, and he hates that he can't be here tonight—to see you take your oath.”

I swallowed. “I hate it, too. But I’ll bet you're happy you’ll be here for the knighting ceremony?”

She nodded. “Yeah. It was hard choosing between my mum’s fiftieth or seeing my fiancé become a knight.”

“Do you think that’s why he was so insistent we move the ceremony?”

Emily shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I'm sure it was,” Morgaine said. “Then again, he is pretty anxious to get in there and kick some evil Blood King butt.”

I laughed. “Yeah, maybe I should be letting them go without me. I mean, it’s better for the people, right?”

“And what if you’re right, Ara?” Emily said. “What if they do need you there to kill Drake?”

I nodded. “That’s the only reason I didn't pipe up and say something.”

Morgaine took my other hand and pulled me to stand. “Well, none of that matters, right now. We need to go dress you for your big night.”

“Okay.”

“Right, and, Em?” Morg looked back at her as we reached the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“Come by and give Amara some blood in about an hour, okay?”

“Really? I thought she wasn’t allowed to eat today.”

Morg smiled. “No one said she couldn't have a little blood to get her through.”

“Rule breaker,” I said; she just shrugged.

* * *

“Now, remember, there are strict rules to adhere to—formalities that you must not corrupt,” Morgaine said sternly. “No smiling, waving, say nothing except your oath, show no emotion, no pain, no joy, no fear—”

“I know,” I moaned. “You’ve only told me fifty times, Morg.”

“Right. And remember, when you reach the edge of the forest, after the Walk of Faith, you must smile.”

“Yes, Miss.” I saluted, smiling at her through the reflection of my dresser mirror.

“I'm sorry, Amara. I don't mean to be hard on you—it’s just…we have these rules for a reason. Royalty is something highly valued among our people.” She sat down on my bed. “In the world you grew up in, Princess, no one cares about formalities anymore. But we still do. You must adhere to our traditions.”

“I will, Morg.” I rubbed my temples, leaning on my elbows. “I’ll be fine.”

“I know,” she said in a soft, high tone, then stood up. “Now, let’s go over this one more time; you carry the dagger to the Stone and use it to make the first cut along your mouth.”

I ran my tongue over my bottom lip. “Right. The blood of the lips to bind my words to truth.”

“And…?” She prompted.

I spread my fingers and showed an open palm. “Blood of the hand to hold the promise.”

“And blood of the heart,” she said. “A pledge to rule with that which guides the soul.”

I touched a hand to my chest. “How am I going to stay alive if I have to jab a dagger into my heart?”

She scratched her nose. “Just don't dig too deep. It only has to be from the place surrounding the heart, Amara—you don't actually have to stab your own heart.”

“And what if I do?”

“Then you fall to the floor and we do the coronation on the next full moon.” Morg looked at my face in the reflection then turned around and grabbed her purple velvet cloak from the bed. “Here—” She ripped off one of the wooden toggles. “Just bite down hard on this—it’ll help.”

I studied it. “Right. A pop-stick’s going to ease the agony of cutting myself open and splashing my blood on a piece of rock.”

“I said it would help.”

“Yeah, help me not bite my tongue off.”

“There now, that's looking on the bright side.” She patted my arm.

I glared up at her, unamused.

“Could be worse.” She shrugged. “You could have to make the oath naked, like Lilith did.”

I shuddered, then smiled down at the small scar on my wrist; the one Jason left when he attacked me. It was minuscule now, barely a sliver of a memory, but still there, still visible in the light. “The tatt—er, markings, they fade, right? Like, you're not lying about that part, are you?”

“No. When the crown is set atop your head, the ritual is over, and they will fade. I promise.”

“Promise?” My wide eyes forced my brows up. “Look, I never liked tattoos. I really don't want to—”

“Amara. You’ll be fine. Stop worrying.” She massaged my shoulders. “It’ll be the best day of your life. And we’ll all be there waiting for you at the end.”

“I know, Morg. I'm just…I mean, what if I forget the words for the incantation?”

“Just say them in your head as you walk to the Stone, and you’ll be fine. Now—” She unclipped my hair and let it fall loosely down my back, then took my hand, standing me up. “You remember what Eileen said? How, instead of nakedness, they’re letting you take your oath in a fabric made of nature.”

“Yup. Patesco Silk.” I closed my eyes for a second, rolling my head as if it’d help bring the information to the surface. “Spun from spiders’ webs, dyed silver as an offering to the Goddess of the Moon.”

“And…why the Goddess of the Moon?” she asked in a tone one would use with a child in primary school.

“Uh, I know this—” I held my finger up, racking my brain. “It’s the spirit which strengthens Lilithian power.”

“And what else is She?” Morg asked leadingly.

“Um, and…” I stopped, closing my eyes: “She also represents purity and serenity.”

“So you were listening the other day?” Morgaine laughed, helping me out of my bathrobe. “I thought you might have gone to sleep at one point.”

“I thought I had.” I chuckled, covering my bare breasts. “I mean, the first three hours were okay, but after that I lost interest.”

Morgaine grabbed the silver cloth from the bed behind her and wrapped it across my front, tying it around my ribs and over my hips, leaving it hanging loosely from my thighs downward, with a split on each side that revealed my legs. If I moved the wrong way, everyone would see my nakedness beneath.

“Man, could this be any more revealing?” I ran my fingers over my stomach and turned slightly to see myself in the mirror.

“It’s supposed to be, so your people can read the runes of your promise as you head toward the Walk of Faith.”

“But I feel so naked.”

“You look amazing.” She stood behind me and swept my hair back. “When we get outside, I need to get a picture, okay. David wants to see how it looks.”

I laughed. “He was relieved when I told him I wasn’t doing the coronation as close to nature as Lilith did.”

“Well, nakedness wasn’t taken sexually back then. It was a thing of beauty, of perfection.”

“I know. That’s what the Council tried to tell me when they argued with me about it.” I touched my hand to my collarbone, wishing I could grab my silver locket. “I just wish David was here to actually see me like this.”

“He is.” She reached around and placed her hand over mine. “In here.”

“Even that’s still too far away.”

“I know.” She nodded. “When I was dating him, even I found it hard to be away from him. He’s…for all his darkest depths, he’s something pretty special.”

“He’s not just special to me, Morg. He’s my soul.” I dropped my hand to my side, feeling the emptiness of his not being there to catch it.

“Do you mean soul-mate?”

“No. I mean—he’s my soul. He’s just the part that broke away.”

Morgaine studied my eyes for a second, her chocolate gaze stealing my emotions to decipher them. “Well—” She cleared her throat. “Then, let’s hope we catch Drake soon, so you and David can be together again.”

“I think, at this point, I’d happily kill Drake just to have David back.”

“Which scares me,” she said. “Don't lose who you are, Princess, for the sake of heartbreak. You never know what the future might hold.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said, spinning around.

“Nothing,” she said, looking back at me from her distraction, then cupped her hands on my arms and made me sit on the dresser stool, facing her. “One more thing. Remember how we chose that dress for the crowning?”

“Yeah, the black one.”

“Right, well, you need to be wearing that when you come out of the forest. I know it’s tacky, but you have to change in the bushes before you emerge.”

I nodded. “It’s not tacky. It’s just like a ballet concert. We had to change on the side of the stage sometimes. It’s what the crowd sees that counts, right?”

Morgaine smiled widely. “I love how agreeable you are.”

“Agreeable?” I scoffed. “You’ve got to be the only person who would ever say that.”

“That’s not true. Your people love you, Amara—all of them.”

I rubbed my nose a few times to get the itch of Morgaine’s musky perfume from it. “So, the dress, does it just slip over this one?”

“Yep. It’ll hide it perfectly. Then you just have to walk to the throne, smiling, and sit in the chair all day for your first Court session. Once that’s over, you can knight the Guard and you’ll be free for a few hours until the ball.”