𝐒𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 | 𝟏𝟖+

☽♡ 14 ♡☾

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕱𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

❝Life's twisting paths hold joy at every bend and in the chaos, hope softly assures us that happiness can wait just around the corner.❞

"...glad you omitted, that I am very much alive," Quinn's voice was sly, playful and her crimson eyes were scanning Saphyrine's face with a deep curiosity as her short dark hair flew in the wind.

In the heart of Whispering Woods Saphyrine found herself in a dilemma what to do, standing across her 'long lost' cousin — a label bestowed upon Quinn by the Roselight family. Nobody knew about Quinn. Only Saphyrine had been found by her more than a year ago — shortly after fleeing the school in shock upon learning from Adryn that she had targeted the wrong vampires.

The discovery that Quinn not only had been very much alive but had also possessed a ring from another royal bloodline had come as a startling revelation. Darkhelms were the only vampires Saphyrine placed her trust in. Compared to the other three royal vampire families, they were far from evil, because they had actually helped her with potion inventions.

Watching Quinn's golden ring to avoid her glare, tightened a knot of urgency in her chest — she needed to reach the academy early enough so Adryn would arrive there after her and wouldn't suspect a thing about her travels with Rowan.

"I would never tell—" Saphyrine started but was cut off by Quinn's firm hands cupping her face to have a better access to her consciousness, watching everything that happened for the last two days — as a vampire like her could do. Saphyrine in that situation couldn't help but wonder, how long it had been since Quinn drank blood? Because she didn't want to have a premiere of feeling what it felt like to be drained.

The afternoon's golden sunrays and icy March's wind helped her to ground herself and concentrate to gather her strength from the exhaustion lately. Perhaps she would be gone before losing herself in deep conversation of her lately very helpful but maddening cousin.

No, those few months without visiting her weren't enough.

Quinn's eyes were still pinned into hers and she snickered at all the things she could read. "You know well, that I am not a snitch either, right, love? And you could have told your boyfriend about me. I don't trust your brothers since they are strained in Roselight's manners too deeply, but Rowan seems as a keeper."

Being in Quinn's grip made Saphyrine uneasy and memories of the vampire jail floated her head. When Darian's fiancé tried to kill her, choking her, just to escape. Recalling the frigid feeling of being strangled that day, and the fact that Rowan had been bitten on top of that, made her swallow heavily.

"You don't have to worry about him, Saphyrine," Quinn reassured, her tone oddly cheerful — and she always had a tendency to talk too much. "Bleeding is normal in vampiric transformation. The healing potions only delay the next seizure and without them, he would not bleed out." A smile crept onto her lips as she definitely watched him in Saphyrine's thoughts. "He will be fine... and he's quite the looker, isn't he?"

Even with ignoring her cousin's insinuation, Saphyrine winced in her grasp and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out her invasive telepathy, pleading. "Please."

Quinn attempted to soothe her, but her voice remained thick with amusement, cunning. "Shhh, it's okay. I'm only curious. You know our secrets are always safe between us. I've promised you that."

Saphyrine, panicked by the time pressure, attempted to flee the situation. "I trust you, I just... Sorry, I really have to go."

"I know. Adryn would be suspicious," Quinn said but didn't move an inch still cupping her face and staring holes into her eyes. "What a bastard... Cancelling your research like that and informing your parents about it. You wanted to do good for magic people..." Her red eyes sparkled as she delved deeper into Saphyrine's thoughts. "I thought he would let you be after we worked on that Amnesis-brew together. I can only imagine he makes everyone around him forget with it, reveling in the power of your inventions. And he is mostly likely using this ScentLure elixir... Actually, this little information would be wise to tell my husband Percival."