After failing as a vampire hunter, 17-year-old Cleo is sent to an academy full of vampires as a false peace treaty. Her true objective is supposed to be finding the hidden heir to the dark world while befriending the current one, but the current hei...
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Inside my room at my father's house, I stared at my palms, tears blurring my vision.
Felix was dead. Kieran was going after Claude.
I'd won my freedom from the cell— only to be locked inside my room instead. I couldn't leave. I hadn't even been allowed to see my mom.
Day one training, my father had said before locking me in.
I put my head in my hands, digging my fingernails into the skin, ignoring the pain. Why? Why had things ended up like this? How? What was Felix's plan? I didn't understand. Had he wanted to die? Why?
And now I was trapped in this room. It was all for nothing. It wasn't worth it. I should have been the one who...
I bit my lip, closing my eyes. No. I wouldn't waste this opportunity. Even if I couldn't save Felix, I still had to save Sura. I couldn't grieve right now. Felix had given me the chance to escape. I needed to take it. And if I could get back to the cell in time, maybe... just maybe...
Drying my eyes, I glanced toward my window. While only on the second floor, the high-ceilings of our manor made it more level to a third story. I hurried over to it, pressing my palms against the windowpanes. Rain slid down them, thunder rumbling in the distance as a storm picking up. I tried to open the window, realizing after a moment that it was screwed shut. I tried to pull at the screws, but knew it would be useless.
Could I break the glass with anything? Would my father hear it if I tried?
I heard the doorknob turn and quickly pulled myself away from the window, trying to appear as if I were checking the books on my bookshelf. I looked over my shoulder as my father entered my room, now donned in a long black jacket and carrying a black briefcase. "Are you settling back in?" he asked.
I nodded, pulling a random book off the bookshelf and holding it up. "Yeah. I figured I could get some studying in."
"I brought you something."
He tossed something at me and I caught it with my free hand. "What..." Bile rose in my throat as I recognized the object as a severed finger.
"Since you've lost your other royal periapt, I've kindly decided to replace it. Perhaps you'll be more careful with this one since you know who it came from personally."
Horror hit me hard. This was Felix's finger. Felix's finger. That once had been intertwined with mine. Now cut off from him, bloody and cold.
I didn't know how I didn't react. It took everything in me to calmly smile at my father. To hide how badly my hand shook. "Thank you."
He folded his arms over his chest. "You didn't have the reaction I expected."
"What reaction did you want me to have?" I asked, my eyes trained on the finger in my hand, my heart ready to explode in my chest.
