Unveiling the Past

AYA

“I was trying to forget a past that didn’t end well,” I confessed.

Tom’s lips tightened into a thin line.

“That’s a significant piece of your past you kept hidden,” he pointed out.

I shook my head, dismissing his concern.

“It doesn’t change anything.”

“You chose him over me,” he stated.

“He needed me,” I defended.

Tom let out a heavy sigh, his eyes locking with mine.

“Even though it ended badly, you still chose him.”

I took a moment, sipping my drink.

“Our bond is complicated,” I admitted. “He needed me, and I couldn’t resist him. He couldn’t resist me either. Even when I hated him, I never stopped loving him.”

Tom finished his drink and stood to get another.

“I can’t pretend to understand the bond between a vampire and their maker. I barely knew mine. But I thought we were close enough for you to trust me with this.”

He returned to his seat with a fresh drink.

“Can I trust you now, Tom?” I asked.

The sound of the shower water stopping indicated Anthony was done.

“You didn’t go to Berlin; you followed us, didn’t you? If the Skotádi discover my identity, what will they do to me? Do you know?”

Tom shifted uncomfortably, swirling the wine in his glass.

“They don’t need to know. They’re after him, not you.”

“He’s not here,” I stated.

Tom nodded slowly.

“We heard he’s in Corfu,” he revealed. “He’s on trial.”

My heart seemed to stop—my mind spinning.

He’d made it to Corfu.

The bathroom door burst open at that moment.

“What did you say?” Anthony demanded, freshly dressed in black pants and a crisp blue shirt.

Tom turned to face him.

“The banished prince is on trial. Again. In Corfu. We’re all planning to go tomorrow evening,” he explained.

“On trial?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“He’s not back in exile?”

Tom looked between us.

“Where have you two been? The rumors are everywhere.”

“Tell us everything,” Anthony commanded.

Tom frowned but began his explanation as Anthony drank from a blood bag and opened another.

“We were tracking you down south. You, the prince, and the princess. I recognized your scent, but I didn’t know who you were,” he admitted to Anthony.

“Hunting us,” Anthony growled.

“I never intended to harm you,” Tom retorted.

“No, just sell the siblings to the royals,” Anthony replied sarcastically.

“And what did the Skotádi plan for them?”

Tom stiffened.

“I would have protected you,” he said, turning to me. “They needed me to lure you out. To get his attention. They said he’d do anything for you. But I planned to grab you before they could hurt you. They only want him. I was never going to let them hurt you.”

I tried to ignore the hurt his words caused.

Tom was a follower, not a leader.

“Continue,” I urged.

“We were close, maybe just hours behind. We were in Sarandë when we picked up their scent leaving the city. We followed, but then we heard a battle. It was chaos. We tried to intercept them at the beach. It was clear you were heading for the Night mansion in Corfu. But we were too late.”

“Too late?” My voice was high-pitched.

Tom shrugged.

“We heard they’d swum to Corfu where the royal family picked them up from the beach and imprisoned them.”

Anthony and I exchanged a glance.

“They’re locked up with the rest of the family?” Anthony asked.

Tom shrugged again.

“I only heard they’d been captured on the beach. There’s a trial planned in two nights for the prince. But it was confusing because their scent led in another direction. No one was sure.”

“What’s the trial for? Breaking banishment?” I asked.

Tom shook his head.

“No, for the murder of a pureblood. The Shahalias are claiming Alexander Night killed Jahan Shahalia. He’s on death row.”

My blood turned to ice, my breath hitched, and I couldn’t tear my gaze from Tom’s confused face.

My hands clenched into fists.

“They’re going to kill him?” I whispered.

“Aya,” Anthony murmured, moving toward me, his hand outstretched to steady me.

But I was far from steady.

My heart pounded like a drum in my chest, my muscles coiling as I sprang up, distancing myself from both of them.

My thoughts were a whirlwind.

I shook my head with a fervor that matched my disbelief.

“No, no, no, no,” I muttered under my breath.

This couldn’t be real.

Alexander had made it to Corfu. He had reached safety. They couldn’t just ~end~ his life.

But Anthony’s face told me otherwise.

It was a foregone conclusion.

Alexander had taken the life of a pureblood, a crime that demanded the ultimate punishment.

My breaths came out in sharp, ragged gasps.

I shook my head, denying the reality.

No, we hadn’t just handed him over to the royals for execution.

We should have fled.

We should have hidden.

Panic surged within me.

“Aya,” Anthony attempted again, stepping closer.

“Don’t touch me,” I spat, my eyes flashing crimson—fury coursing through me.

“He’s on trial,” Anthony persisted, his voice a loud echo over the blood roaring in my ears.

“I know! They’re going to execute him,” I spat back. “We just delivered him to them!”

“It was his choice—to set things right,” Anthony tried to reason.

I hissed at him, my body vibrating with rage.

“How dare they,” I seethed.

“They’re within their rights,” Tom retorted. “He violated his banishment and killed a pureblood.”

I whirled toward him, my fists clenched, ready to strike, but Anthony caught my arm and held me back.

I growled, wrenching my arm from his grip.

“I have to go. I have to prevent this,” I pushed past him toward the door.

“No!” he caught me, pulling me back, his hands gripping my shoulders, shaking me as I struggled to break free.

“Aya, look at me!”

I glared up at him.

“You can’t stop anything. They’ve taken him. They’ve taken both of them. You can’t halt the trial,” he snapped at me.

“I can’t just stand by and let it happen! Alexander didn’t abandon me when I was captured by the Shahalias.”

“That’s a different situation, Aya, and you know it. He violated his banishment and killed a pureblood. The royal family has to put him on trial. If anything, the fact that there’s going to be a trial is a mercy. His grandfather would have already beheaded the offender.”

I growled.

“What do you suggest then? How do we rescue them?”

Anthony lowered his gaze to meet mine. His face was etched with worry.

“We can’t. We can run, Aya. We can vanish,” he whispered. “Tonight, we just slip away.”

My body trembled.

“I love him,” I confessed. “I can’t abandon him.”

“There’s nothing you can do to save him,” Anthony’s voice softened. “He needs to atone for his actions. He knew the repercussions. He chose to kill Jahan, despite the consequences.”

“For me.”

“No,” he shook his head. “For himself. You were already safe. It was for revenge.”

I could only stare at Anthony, my heart pounding, my blood alternating between hot and cold.

“I can’t abandon him. They will execute him, Anthony.”

“What can you possibly do?” he asked softly. “You have no influence in pureblood politics. No voice.”

A bitter taste filled my mouth. I felt a chill creep over me.

My mind flashed back to that dark night, my sister’s blood on my hands. The sheer terror that had consumed me—the horror.

He was right. Of course, he was right. I was insignificant. There was nothing I could do to help.

I was utterly powerless. Alexander was going to be condemned to death—and there was nothing I could do to save him.