“You’re grounded.”

“What?”

“For the whole weekend.”

I huffed and puffed, but there was no budging my father. I pushed past him and entered my room, slamming the door shut behind me.

I couldn’t have expected my father to act any differently. I’d gotten myself into enough trouble recently. It was only to be expected that my parents’ discipline would tighten now.

As I collapsed in bed, I found myself worrying about Micah. When I didn’t reappear, he might think that it was something he’d done or said. And despite him almost dropping me from the Black Heights, I wanted him to know that it really wasn’t.

Chapter 22: Caleb

Annora gave me space after I returned. I supposed that she’d seen the state I was in and thought it was best I recovered my strength before she visited me again.

But I wasn’t able to give my body the sleep it was crying out for. My mind was too alive. I tossed and turned in bed, trying to fall into slumber, but eventually gave up.

Rose had left a flavor in my mouth, familiar, yet distant. A flavor I hadn’t tasted since Annora’s better days. And now I hankered for more of it.

I sat up in bed, looking out the window, watching as the sun began to rise beyond the boundary. My conversation with Mona still plagued me. Lilith. She was the only straw I had to cling to.

* * *

The next day I waited for Annora to leave her apartment before sneaking inside. I headed straight for the library and began pulling books off the shelves, searching for any mention of Lilith—any clue as to what she was and where I might find her. Most of Annora’s books were written in the ancient witch tongue. I’d picked up a little of it over the years, and I could understand enough to look out for Lilith’s name.

After twenty minutes, I was already realizing that this was an impossible task. For one thing, Annora had many dozens of books in this room. Even if I had the time to search through every page, there was no guarantee that I would find mention of Lilith.

Careful to replace everything in the room exactly as I’d found it, I slipped back out of the apartment and headed downstairs to my own quarters. But my apartment suddenly felt claustrophobic. Instead, I went down to the ground floor and began to pace from chamber to chamber, seeking to avoid bumping into anyone. Thankfully, solitude wasn’t hard to come by in this castle.

Annora was the only witch we had contact with. If I didn’t know who Lilith was after all these years of serving the witches’ cause, there was no way any of the vampires would know about her.

It seemed that the only way to Lilith was through Annora. I guessed I’d known this all along. But I’d been hoping to avoid mentioning Lilith to her because it would bring about awkward questions. How would I know about Lilith to begin with? I began to wonder what possible explanation I could give her.

As I walked from hall to hall, the solution finally hit me.

If I can’t mention Lilith to Annora, I just need to get Annora to mention Lilith to me.

I shuddered as a plan started to formulate in my mind. There was only one way to do this. I had to convince Annora that I wanted to become like her.

Chapter 23: Vivienne

I turned my back on Xavier as he sat at the dining table. I busied myself at the kitchen counter, trying to hide the way my hands were trembling. I poured two glasses of deer blood and passed one to him before taking a seat myself.

I tried to keep a calm demeanor, but inside I was burning up. I’d begun to feel the disturbance when we were held hostage by Annora. It had taken root in the pit of my stomach and I’d had to bear it every day since. Then, once I’d had the vision, it had intensified tenfold.

“What’s wrong, Viv?” Xavier asked, his gorgeous eyes settling on me. “You haven’t been yourself lately.”

His eyes always made me feel like he could see right through me.

I cleared my throat and reached out to touch his hand resting on the table. Squeezing it, I forced a smile.

“I’m fine. There’s just something I need to talk to you about.”

“What is it?”

I held my breath, anticipating his reaction. “Xavier… I want to have a child.”

His jaw dropped. It took a few moments for him to find his voice again.

“Are you serious?” he choked.

I nodded.

A smile broke out on his face. He stood up and walked round the table to me, pulling me up and drawing me into an embrace.

He looked down at my face, studying me closely. “Why now? After all this time… What’s changed?”

I nestled my head against his chest, breathing deeply.

“The time we spent trapped in that dungeon at Annora’s mercy… it just made me realize that I need to stop taking this life for granted. Even as vampires, it can end at any moment. I need to stop delaying what I know we both want.”

The joy on Xavier’s face made me feel like my heart might burst. Xavier had wanted children for a long time. Since the day we got married, he’d made no secret of it. I was the one who’d been delaying it. Because I was a coward. I knew the risks that came with having a child. I’d already suffered the loss of most of my family—my mother, father and brother. And I had come so close to losing Derek on more than one occasion. I didn’t want to risk losing Xavier, or myself, by taking the cure. Derek had told me how agonizing it was. And then, even if we managed to become humans, I was afraid of being a mother. I didn’t know if I was capable of being a good one. My head was so in the clouds sometimes, I was worried that I wasn’t present enough to properly care for a child.